Back to the 80s, our website dedicated to 80s pop music, is back online with a new post about our old WXUT radio show Lost in the 80s.
Reminisce with us about old favorites from Dire Straits, Ray Parker Jr., The Police, and more.
Lost in the ’80s
Before the three of us started the Back to the 80s website, we hosted a weekly ’80s show on WXUT, 88.3 FM, the college radio station of the University of Toledo in Toledo, Ohio in the mid-90s. After each show, we would drop the playlist into a database, which we then fed into a script…
Peter Schilling – “Major Tom (Coming Home)”
In the beginning, there was David Bowie’s 1969 hit “Space Oddity,” the tale of Major Tom, an astronaut left stranded in space. Bowie followed with “Ashes to Ashes,” a sequel of sorts in which Major Tom’s vices are exposed. In late 1983, German pop star Peter Schilling cemented Major Tom’s pop culture status with “Major Tom (Coming…
The Top 100 One-Hit Wonders of the ’80s
Here are the top 100 one-hit wonders of the ’80s based on Billboard’s Top 40 chart peak. We’ve excluded people who had one solo hit but a lot of hits with a band (Bill Medley, Philip Bailey, Ric Ocasek, etc.), but otherwise, we just used the rule that if they had just one Top 40…
Kim Carnes – “Bette Davis Eyes”
Her chart career was too substantial for one-hit wonder status (ten top-40 songs, including three in the top 10), but Kim Carnes will always be best remembered for one spectacular effort: “Bette Davis Eyes.” Carnes, a vocalist from the Rod Stewart and Bonnie Tyler school of raspiness, is only partially responsible for the massive success of this…
The Village People – “Ready for the ’80s”
Chart debut: 12/01/1979 • B-side: “Sleazy” • Written by: Jacques Moralli • […]
Wall of Voodoo – “Mexican Radio”
It did not make many headlines when Wall of Voodoo co-founder, songwriter and guitarist Marc Moreland died of liver failure at the age of 44 on March 13, 2002. But Moreland and vocalist Stan Ridgway are secure in ’80s history, as their song “Mexican Radio” remains one of the songs people reference when they try to define…
Rock of the ’80s Volumes I, II, III
Rock of the ’80s compilations mix nostalgia, humor It is the year 2066. As I lift my grandson to my knee, he looks at me and asks, “Grandpa Michael, what was the music of the 1980s like?” I reflect for a moment, and misty-eyed, I begin to reminisce. “Back in the ’80s,” I say slowly,…
Yes in the 1980s
During the 1970s, progressive rock powerhouse Yes had gone through six different lineups and three different keyboardists. Although Yes was perhaps as famous for their numerous personnel changes as for their music, their 1980 lineup was by far the strangest. Having fired founding vocalist Jon Anderson and accepted the resignation of longtime keyboardist Rick Wakeman,…
Dire Straits – “Money for Nothing”
I have a confession to make. When I was a young boy growing up in rural Virginia, my family, like all of our neighbors, got only three televisions stations: Channel 7 (CBS), Channel 10 (NBC) and Channel 13 (ABC.) Sometimes, when the weather was just right, we could also make out the sound, and at…
Billy Joel – “Pressure”
“It’s Still Rock And Roll To Me” more or less explained Billy Joel’s attitude towards the New Wave movement. Acknowledging (or dismissing) it as the latest craze, he more or less kept doing what he had been doing in the ’70s. Rod Stewart may have switched to drum machines and synthesizers at the turn of the…
Ray Parker, Jr. – “I Still Can’t Get Over Loving You”
It’s near the end of 1983, and a new song has just hit the airwaves. Starting off with synths, drum machine fills and an electronic bass line, for a second you might think this was the new Men Without Hats single… Until you hear Ray start to sing. With that smooth, distinctive voice, you could always…
The Police – “Every Breath You Take”
“Every breath I take/Every move I make…” —Led Zeppelin, “D’yer Mak’er” At least once a week during the summer of 1983, I rode a city bus to downtown Toledo to visit the Abbey Road record store. At 17, I was at the zenith of my love for record collecting, but I would walk past the…
Michael Jackson – “Beat It”
It would be putting it mildly to say that in the spring of 1983, Michael Jackson was hot. Fueled by the popularity of “The Girl Is Mine” and “Billie Jean,” his album Thriller was three months into an amazing 37-week run at the top of the album charts. “Billie Jean” was #1 on the Top 40 and “Beat It”…
Lost in the ’80s without “Rock Me Amadeus”
You can have Joan Baez croaking about how many roads a man must walk down before they call him a man, or Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder agonizing because Jeremy spoke in class today. For me, no music is as near and dear as ’80s pop. Wagner might enjoy the Sturm und Drang of Seattle grunge,…
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