CHART ATTACK! #18: 2/11/89
Hey hey, it’s Friday, and that means it’s time for yet another edition of CHART ATTACK! This week, let’s go back and check out the charts from February 11, 1989!
10. Walking Away – Information Society Amazon iTunes
9. She Wants To Dance With Me – Rick Astley Amazon iTunes
8. I Wanna Have Some Fun – Samantha Fox Amazon
7. The Lover In Me – Sheena Easton Amazon
6. All This Time – Tiffany Amazon
5. When The Children Cry – White Lion Amazon iTunes
4. Born To Be My Baby – Bon Jovi Amazon iTunes
3. Wild Thing – Tone-Loc Amazon iTunes
2. When I’m With You – Sheriff Amazon
1. Straight Up – Paula Abdul Amazon iTunes
10. Walking Away – Information Society "Walking Away" was Information Society’s only other imprint on the pop Top 20; the other hit, of course, was "What’s On Your Mind (Pure Energy)." Both songs are pretty much the same, which probably explains why the pop charts didn’t really care much for allowing them to get away with a third sound-a-like.
If you weren’t with us back in October, check out Chart Attack! #4, where we take a look at "What’s On Your Mind," and the soap opera between the band, their founding member, and VH-1.
9. She Wants To Dance With Me – Rick Astley A product of the British powerhouse producing/songwriting team Stock, Aitken & Waterman, Rick Astley was ridiculously successful in the late ’80s (as if you didn’t know this already). "She Wants To Dance With Me" was his fourth Top 10, climbing up to #6 – but I doubt you’ll hear it on the radio with any frequency. Same with "It Would Take A Strong, Strong Man," or Astley’s final Top 10 in ’91, "Cry For Help." No, it seems we’re doomed to hear the same two Rick Astley songs on Lite-FM stations every single day of our lives….which sound pretty much the same, anyway. "She Wants To Dance With Me" – Astley’s first self-penned hit, – sounds, I don’t know, a little different, but wisely doesn’t stray from the S/A/W sound. I’m still unconvinced this is a white guy.
8. I Wanna Have Some Fun – Samantha Fox Wow! Remember back when Samantha Fox was pretty much the only "Skanky And Proud Of It" artist on the charts? I remember being all sorts of impressed that somebody who had so famously (and frequently) put her tits out for all to see could make a real dent on the charts. Her third single, "I Wanna Have Some Fun" has a video that just SCREAMS 1989 to me.
[youtube]wFSu5rHAOx4[/youtube]
When I was looking for Samantha Fox clips, however, I came across this one, which is way more entertaining: Fox performing "Touch Me" for a crowd in Istanbul about a year ago. She can’t sing that well, and the crowd is completely uninterested in her, but hey, she still has some looks and moves in her, no?
7. The Lover In Me – Sheena Easton Considering she’s had a solid presence on the Top 10 ("Telefone," "Strut," "We’ve Got Tonight"), it’s interesting to note that "The Lover In Me" was Easton’s highest-charting hit since 1980’s "Morning Train." Now that’s a comeback. The song’s musical base was pretty typical of most of the dance tracks from the late ’80s, but the drum machine intro was remarkably similar to "Strut." With "The Lover In Me," produced by L.A. Reid and Babyface, Easton went for a much sexier look and sound. For proof, check out the difference:
"The Lover In Me," 1988:
[youtube]YbFWHTZllbo[/youtube]
"Morning Train (9 To 5)," 1980:
[youtube]Cg2IA2UYQCA[/youtube]
6. All This Time – Tiffany If you ever read Chart Attack! and find yourself thinking "wow, it’s kind of sad that Jason knows some of this extraneous information without needing to look it up," here’s the one that will take the cake: "All This Time" was the first single off of Tiffany’s highly anticipated (by me, I guess) follow-up album, Hold An Old Friend’s Hand, and had its premiere on an episode of "Growing Pains," specifically their season premiere, in which young Ben Seaver has his first date at the Halloween dance. Why? WHY do I remember this shit? Between this and Taylor Dayne lyrics, I’m seriously ready to throw myself off a bridge.
5. When The Children Cry – White Lion YES! Let’s hear it for the monster ballad that once again rears its ugly head! The gentle, acoustic fade-in, the cracking vocal (he’s crying himself, people, get it?), and, of course, the lame, laaaaaaame, laaaaaaaaaaaaaaaame lyrics. ("No more presidents/and all the wars will end/one united world under God/rocking in leather pants.")
Clearly, White Lion must have known that they were not long for chart success. As a result, the video for "When The Children Cry" attempts to kill two birds with one stone, and inexplicably combines dramatic black and white shots of children playing, and….slow motion live clips of the band in concert. (To be fair, it does seem like they’re playing the same song in some of the shots.) The drama is unintentionally hysterical.
[youtube]G93yMQkPF6E[/youtube]
These guys were on Atlantic. Ahmet, please tell me this wasn’t your decision. Please tell me you punted this one to someone lower, and then fired them. Please tell me you made their children cry.
4. Born To Be My Baby – Bon Jovi You gotta hand it to Bon Jovi: they know what sells. After a hit with the working-class anthem "Livin’ On A Prayer," Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora once again collaborated with Desmond Child to write a song with pretty much the exact same message. They didn’t go as far as to name-check Tommy and Gina again (that sort of desperation would have to wait until 2000’s "It’s My Life"), but with lines like "two kids hitchin’ down the road of life," let’s just say none of us were fooled.
"Born To Be My Baby" was the second single released off of the powerhouse New Jersey, and went as high as #3. Originally, the song was recorded in the acoustic duo format, but producer Bruce Fairbairn convinced Bon Jovi to re-record and release the song as a full-out rocker. Jon Bon Jovi accused Fairbairn of trying to replicate "Livin’ On A Prayer," to which Fairbairn most likely responded, "have you READ your lyrics, you douchebag?"
3. Wild Thing – Tone-Loc (download) Am I the only one completely shocked that Tone-Loc has never appeared on either "Celebrity Fit Club," "The Surreal Life," or any of the other reality shows that routinely feature ’80s celebrities? Granted, he did appear as a guest panelist on "Superstar USA" (which I’ve never heard of), and made a cameo as himself in the VH-1 movie Totally Awesome – but in my opinion, that doesn’t count. It seems to me like Tone-Loc has never sold himself down the river in exchange for a few bucks and a bit of retro notoriety. Consider me impressed.
Oh right, we’re supposed to talk about "Wild Thing." Peaking at #2 the week following this one, "Wild Thing" was one of the first few mainstream rap songs to hit the Top 10. I suppose we owe Loc a debt of gratitude for doing his part to make rap safe for the white people. While we’re at it, let’s give a thanks to Young MC as well; not only did his "Bust A Move" do something similar, but he also co-wrote and co-produced "Wild Thing."
Speaking of white people, there’s a line in the song: "She said ‘Hey you two, I was once like you and I liked to do the wild thing’" I was always convinced that he was singing "Hey, Jew, I was once like you and I liked to do the wild thing." Which was confusing because Jews, in fact, do not like to do the wild thing. This became even more confusing when I saw people like my parents dancing to the song at Bar Mitzvahs.
Like Information Society, both of Loc’s big hits (this and "Funky Cold Medina") sounded remarkably similar, but they did have their differences: "Wild Thing" sampled Van Halen’s "Jamie’s Cryin," and "Funky Cold Medina" name-checked Spuds MacKenzie. "Wild Thing" is an awesome song, but I think the point has to go to the one that gives the props to Spuds.
2. When I’m With You – Sheriff (download) In my mind, "When I’m With You" is forever tied with Alias’ hit "More Than Words Can Say," but I always thought it was just because they were both power ballads, and I owned them both on cassingle. Turns out, they really are tied together, and can I tell you how cool I felt when I figured this out?
When Sheriff, a rock group hailing from Canada, released "When I’m With You," they were pretty confident they had a hit on their hands. They were wrong, seeing as it was 1983 when the song was recorded and released. I’m not sure why the song wasn’t a hit; Freddie Mercury was in the band, for chrissakes! Look at the dude on the left:
every one of these pictures has the bottom half digitized, for some reason.
This means only one person on the Internet is admitting they have a copy.
Disappointed that their attempt at wuss rock couldn’t get them any higher than #61, Sheriff disbanded.
Six years later, a DJ in Las Vegas began playing the tune, and other stations followed suit. (Funny, I would have guessed Arizona, seeing as how that state was responsible for the resurrection of UB40’s "Red Red Wine" and Benny Mardones’ "Into The Night," but I digress.) Capitol Records re-released the single, and it reached #1. That’s pure radio magic. (Deep sighs all around.)
The logical next step, of course, was to reunite Sheriff and get them to capitalize on the success, but a few of the band members refused. I’m not sure why they didn’t just reform under the Sheriff moniker anyway – it’s not like anybody would have known the difference – but instead, vocalist Freddy Curci and guitarist Steve DeMarchi teamed up with a few ex-Heart members and formed Alias. In 1990, they released "More Than Words Can Say," which peaked at #2.
I can’t verify this – I only remember hearing it on one of the Top 40 radio countdowns back in ’89 – but the DJ claimed that "When I’m With You" had, at the time, the longest-held note in pop music, beating a record by Russell Hitchcock of Air Supply. Again, no way to tell if this is correct (especially since I don’t remember the DJ even mentioning that the tune was originally from 1983 – does anybody know if that was supposed to be downplayed?), or if the record has since been beaten, but it’s what I heard. (For the record, the note held at the end of "When I’m With You" is over 25 seconds long.)
1. Straight Up – Paula Abdul I confess. I like this song. Mike and I learned this one for our ’80s gig, and we were a bit worried it would bomb. (Okay, he was worried it would bomb.) However, the fact that we had the majority of the room chanting "oh-oh-oh" convinced us otherwise. But back to Paula: Virgin had been focusing their efforts on penetrating the R&B charts with "Knocked Out" and "(It’s Just) The Way That You Love Me," but DJs in Atlanta and San Francisco began spinning "Straight Up" instead. Although it took a good five months to get there, it was her first #1, and paved the way for her three other #1s from Forever Your Girl (and a #3 as well). "Straight Up" was Abdul’s finest pop moment (sorry, MC Skat Kat fans), aided by an iconic David Fincher-directed video featuring her terrific choreography, a cameo from Arsenio (remember when the most controversial thing about Abdul was whether the two were romantically linked?) and a few shots of Djimon Hounsou, back when he was just a model and not an Oscar-nominated actor.
And that brings us to the end of another CHART ATTACK! Hope you enjoyed – have a great weekend!
February 9th, 2007 at 9:41 am
“Between this and Taylor Dayne lyrics, I’m seriously ready to throw myself off a bridge.”
… Between that and Taylor Dayne lyrics, I’M ready to throw you off a bridge. (grins)
“Born,” for as stupid as it is, has a punch-the-sky chorus that just cannot be denied. I’m not even a Bon Jovi fan, and it still makes the hair on my neck stand up. Then grow, into a mullet.
Remember when Paula was hot? And normal? Sigh.
February 9th, 2007 at 10:41 am
When was the last time a song was resurrected by DJs and became a hit years after its original single release? I remember that in 1990 Chris Isaak’s “Wicked Game” became a hit after Power 99 in Atlanta put it in heavy rotation and then other stations followed suit, but at that point the song was only a year or so old. Sheriff and UB40 are more extreme examples.
I love how the video for “I Wanna Have Some Fun” features what appear to be rejected dancers from Michael Jackson’s “Bad” video as well as rejected L.A. gang members.
I hadn’t heard “The Lover in Me” in years, but it definitely sounds like a Babyface/L.A. Reid production right off the bat. Wasn’t Prince the one who originally sexed up Sheena’s image with “Sugar Walls”? I kind of miss Sheena. “Morning Train” was good cheese, and “U Got the Look” may be her finest moment. (On a side note, check out lostinthe80s.blogspot.com for “Prince Protegé Week.”)
When I was in college a decade ago, the adult contemporary station in Athens, GA, played ALL of Rick Astley’s hits, thank you very much!
Jason, somebody has to remember that “Growing Pains” trivia. Have you heard Alan Thicke’s son Robin? His first album, 2003’s “A Beautiful World” (released under just his last name), had some good blue-eyed dance-soul a la Jamiroquai, although some of Robin’s lyrics were atrocious: “Your scent is sweet like Betty Crocker bakes/I’d love to have your cake and eat it too” and “Baby girl, you the shit / That makes you my equivalent.” If the melody’s strong enough I don’t generally notice bad lyrics, but some of Robin’s really stand out. I’ve heard several songs off his follow-up album, “The Evolution of Robin Thicke” (which seemed to have its release delayed by many months just like “A Beautiful World”), but they don’t have the snap of the first album’s songs.
I never liked “Wild Thing.” I still don’t. Maybe I heard it too much in 7th grade, where everyone thought they were getting away with murder when they’d recite the lyrics. Thank goodness popular music has become less risqué in the last 18 years. Why does Tone Loc say, “I was once like you and I liked to do the wild thing”? He doesn’t like the wild thing anymore? He was already too old for it by 1989? Maybe he was in a passionless marriage at the time. I hope he eventually rediscovered his love of the wild thing.
February 9th, 2007 at 11:06 am
1. Now that you have told me that guitar thing is from Jamie’s Cryin’ I totally hear it, but I never would have put that together. Incidentally, according to Wikipedia, Funky Cold Medina apparently samples 5 different songs (I thought it was just All Right Now, but apparently there’s snippets of Hot Blooded, Christine Sixteen and others in there).
2. The brilliance of Wild Thing, is that drum turnaround. For at least two years at college whenever we were about to leave our apt to go out, my friend would turn to me and do the beginning of wild thing, with vocalized drum break ("Let’s do it…BRADDA BUMBUM BUMBUM"). Yes, we were lame.
3. BAY-BAHEEYAHHHHHHHHH-EEEYAHHHHHH!! I GET CHILLS WHEN I’M WITH YOUUUUUUUUUU-OOWHOAAAAAAAAAAA-WHOAWHOAAAAAAAA!
(I love that song. Why god, why do I love that song?)
February 9th, 2007 at 11:27 am
Drum part’s from Jamie’s Cryin, too.
February 9th, 2007 at 11:43 am
Robert – the reason Tone-Loc says that line is because he’s quoting the girl’s mother, who, uh, caught the two of them fornicating. Or something.
I have only heard one Robin Thicke song, which you partially quoted – "When I Get You Alone" – but I listen to it all the time. I first heard it at the gym and went nuts over the "Fifth of Beethoven" sample.
February 9th, 2007 at 11:50 am
Tone-Loc is quoting his girlfriend’s mother when he says “I was once like you and I like to do the wild thing.” Now can we get down to some *serious* business, like analyzing the lyrics to Salt ‘n’ Pepa’s “Push It,” please?
February 9th, 2007 at 11:51 am
Beat you to it, mofo!
February 9th, 2007 at 12:19 pm
Thanks for the clarification. My apologies, Tone Loc.
“When I Get You Alone” is a good one. That Betty Crocker line I quoted is from a song called “The Stupid Things.” Indeed, Robin!
February 9th, 2007 at 3:27 pm
I would like to address your point made in the Tone Loc section that "Jews… do not like to do the wild thing." Assuming that Mr. Loc is referring to freaky sex, this is a gross misrepresentation of the Jewish attitude toward fornication, or ‘californication’ if you live in LA, or ‘tapping that ass’ if you live in new york, or just plain ‘fucking.’ You, sir, are a racist of the worst kind and I will not tolerate your remarks. Jews love to do it. In the bedroom, in the living room, on an airplane, in the backseat, in temple, Jews are crazy about boinking. My argument is twofold: 1) I am Jewish. 2) I, in fact, do like to do the wild thing (despite the fact that I have not done so in quite some time, it is something I would like to get back into the practice of doing. preferably with scarlett johansson.). Given that both 1) and 2) above are true, your argument is rendered incorrect and stupid. Furthermore, isn’t it also true that you are Jewish and like to do the wild thing? And if not, then what the hell was last night all about anyway?? *sob* I feel so used!(sigh) Can you tell I’m procrastinating at 3:15 on a Friday afternoon?
February 9th, 2007 at 3:30 pm
I always liked the obvious pronunciation slip from the backup singers … er … shouters in the Samantha Fox song. Sounded more like "Samantha FUX!!"Yeah, it’s the accent. Sure it is.In Living Colour did a great Paula send-up with the brilliant Kelly Coffield. The video was Promise of a New Day."I cheered the Lakers and taught Janet to dance / Then got into Arsenio’s pants / I’m on MTV, connections didn’t hurt me …"
February 9th, 2007 at 3:36 pm
Damn, Andrew. I guess I went to the wrong temple. I’m thinking back, and my mind is a complete blank when it comes to synagogue sex. I remember the thieves in the temple, but not the fornicators.
About last night…I’m no longer Jewish. Plain and simple.
February 9th, 2007 at 3:55 pm
That’s not Freddie Mercury – it’s John Oates!
February 9th, 2007 at 3:58 pm
Regarding the pansies of Sheriff — I think even REO Speedwagon could kick those guys’ asses. And that’s saying something.
February 9th, 2007 at 4:12 pm
Whatever happened to Arsenio anyway?
February 9th, 2007 at 6:27 pm
Great work, again! Love the chart attack! Some notes:
10. I always thought releasing "Walking Away" as the second single was the career-killer for Information Society–it painted them as a band of limited ideas (untrue, methinks). They should have followed the 80s formula of releasing the Big Ballad after the Initial Dance Single (or, for metal bands, Initial Headbanger Single) and made "Repetition" the second single (as their third single, it failed completely.) This would have at least suggested some range…
8. More belated career advice: Sam Fox’s voice is far better suited for lite rock/pop metal than dance–I can totally hear hear singing, say, Vixen’s "Edge of a Broken Heart". (Exhibit A: "Do Ya Do Ya" from her first record.) Her voice sounds so lost on her dance singles, but Full Force do an excellent job on this one.
6. Tiffany: I remember this episode too–but wasn’t it a Mike Seaver dream sequence? As doesn’t Tiffany have a cameo?
4. I had completely forgotten about this Bon Jovi song–not a note remained in my head–until I saw it listed here, and suddenly I remembered every single note. I shall heretofore call this the "Bon Jovi Effect."
2. Didn’t a couple of guys from Sheriff end up in Frozen Ghost? Now they were a great cut-out-bin band…
1. Yeah, Forever Your Girl took a long time to break–I doubt any album nowadays would get the steady promotion this one did. The chorus on "Straight Up" is hard to deny, and "iconic" is the right word for the video. An excellent capper to a good chart week.
February 9th, 2007 at 8:42 pm
Rick Astley rules!!
February 9th, 2007 at 8:54 pm
Great comments from thefax! (And I agree, Jeremy.)
February 13th, 2007 at 1:07 am
Hi Jason-another great Chart Attack. I had forgotten about a few of these songs (and forget how a couple of them go, like the Tiffany song). As for Tone-Loc, I worked for an independent radio marketing company back in the early 2000s, and at the time Tone was my boss’ go-to "retro 80s" act for his radio station clients. Tone’s cost was about $10k per gig. As fate would have it, my boss had booked Tone to headline a small radio station show at a lounge located in a Best Western in Virginia (I’m making this up, I swear) but was unable to attend himself, so a coworker and I were asked to cover the show and give the 2nd half of Tone’s payment to his manager/brother (which was requested in cash). Upon learning that a hare krishna convention was supposedly booked at this same hotel at the same time and sensing the potential for a memorable experience, I invited a friend to drive down with us for the ride. Long story short, we never saw any hare krishnas, but I’ll never forget paying the brother the cash behind a random curtained area like a drug deal (which he promptly put into a fanny pack) and watching Tone lead 100 white thirty-somethings through a chant of "chee-ba! chee-ba!" Also a minor curiosity: going through a Taco Bell drive thru and seeing that all of the meal combos were served with crinkle-cut french fries. Weird.
February 15th, 2007 at 3:33 pm
Pete, I liked that you used this phrase in your story:
“I’m making this up, I swear”
Never give away your secrets, Pete! Whenever VH1 does some kind of special on a former pop star from the ’80s and shows what kinds of gigs they’re playing now, or what kind of life they lead now if they’ve given up music (e.g. “Bands Reunited”), it’s infinitely more interesting than snarkfests like “100 Most Awesomely Bad Songs of All Time” or freak-show car crashes like “I Love New York” or sad, somewhat boring car crashes like “Shooting Sizemore.” VH1, I liked you in the ’90s when you showed “American Bandstand” and “Midnight Special” reruns and didn’t make any snarky comments about either one. Now you’re just, you know, kind of a dick. To paraphrase Homer Simpson, “Love, VH1, love … not hate … love.”
February 15th, 2007 at 3:35 pm
I’m banking on that being a typo. because Pete’s story was awesome!
As for VH-1, I was perfectly happy when it was all Pop-Up Video and Behind The Music.
February 15th, 2007 at 11:21 pm
As for VH-1, I was perfectly happy when it was all Pop-Up Video and Behind The Music.
I *so* agree with this comment. Now it’s all Hulk Hogan, Surreal Life, and Flava Flav’s rejects. VH-1 Classic channel still occasionally runs hour-long shows about a specific landmark rock album, and Pop-Up Video reruns..stuff like that.
February 28th, 2007 at 10:29 pm
ambien…
news…
April 6th, 2007 at 8:42 am
[…] So, readers, which of the two incredibly similar Tone-Loc songs do you prefer – this one or "Wild Thing?" My guess is that most people will go with "Wild Thing," but as I mentioned back in Chart Attack! #18, "Funky Cold Medina" name-checked Spuds Mackenzie, which I find impressive. (It also name-checks "Alex from Stroh’s," but we all know Alex was nothing but a Spuds ripoff, so I award Mr. Loc no points for that one, and also mentions Mick Jagger, who’s humped more legs than the other two combined.) Plus, while "Wild Thing" samples Van Halen’s "Jamie’s Cryin’," this song – penned by Young MC, by the way – samples five tunes: "All Right Now" by Free, "Hot Blooded" by Foreigner, "Christine Sixteen" by Kiss, "You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet" by Bachman Turner Overdrive, and "Get Off Your Ass And Jam" by Funkadelic. I’d be willing to bet that none of these artists saw a penny from the success of this song, which is probably a good thing since Loc probably needs all he can get. Unless he’s still getting residuals from Ace Ventura: Pet Detective? […]
November 21st, 2007 at 10:44 am
I totally remember a DJ on one of the Top 40 countdowns saying that the note held at the end of that Sheriff song was the longest-held note in pop music. I do not remember the Air Supply part, though. So you are not imagining things, and I am glad that there is SOMEONE ELSE out there who has a mind full of useless facts like that.
November 21st, 2007 at 10:48 am
whew!