Great Chart Attack! and great comments. This particular Chart Attack! seems to have hit a nostalgic nerve. I don’t know if 1986 was the best year of the ’80s for music—I have a friend who would say there was NO best year of music in the ’80s since she hates ’80s music in general—but I do know that between June of ‘85 and August of ‘86 there were a ton of songs on the radio that I liked then and still like now.

One of them is “Tender Love,” a song that brings back memories of my 4th-grade crush on one Melissa Huser. This song is light years ahead of “Secret Lovers,” and I don’t think Force M.D.’s were primarily known for ballads. (Maybe TheFax can settle that one for us.) I seem to remember a rap number of theirs called “Itchin’ for a Scratch” being played on “Nick Rocks: Video to Go” for a while in ‘85 or ‘86. Dw., I too hated that K-Ci and JoJo song in early ‘98, when it seemed to be on R&B stations every 20 minutes. (I loved your “Chevy Truck” lyrics, by the way.)

I thought the eternal debate was whether or not you loved the Beatles or the Rolling Stones more, not the Stones vs. the Who. Or is it Elvis vs. the Beatles? Whatever the case, I’ll take the Beatles over all others … and the Replacements over R.E.M. (a.k.a. the Stones and the Beatles, respectively, of the ’80s college rock scene).

No denying it—”West End Girls” is a classic. “Like a candy bar made of peanuts and melancholy”—I loved that line, Matthew.

I’ve always liked “Let’s Go All the Way.” It doesn’t transcend its time period the way “West End Girls” or “Kiss” does, but it’s still fun. I also agree with TheFax that the theme of “sex as an escape from the problems of your life and the world at large” isn’t that hard to buy, but since AIDS was really starting to scare the bejesus out of the general public in ‘85 and ‘86, I’m not sure if casual sex is being encouraged here. For all we know, the P-Funk alumni of Sly Fox were giving a shout-out to the Raspberries.

Jefitoblog’s Complete Idiot’s Guide to Robert Palmer is the first one I read for which I was able to download the songs he was talking about. I now like early Robert Palmer, and I still love later songs like “Addicted to Love” and “I Didn’t Mean to Turn You On.” The bridge in “Addicted to Love” is probably my favorite part of the song.

“What You Need” is INXS’s best song, if you ask me. Nothing else really came close.

Matthew, I agree that the look Prince gives Wendy (or is it Lisa?) in the “Kiss” video is hilarious. And lines like “Act your age, mama, not your shoe size” and “You don’t have to watch ‘Dynasty’ to have an attitude” are great. In Alan Leeds’s 1993 liner notes for Prince’s “The Hits 2,” “Kiss’s” origin as a demo for Mazarati is mentioned, as Matthew noted, as well as this tidbit: “Prince … thought the song strange and temporarily shelved it. It was actually included [on] ‘Parade’ as an afterthought and I’m not sure that Prince was ever fully convinced that it worked on that album. Every time he plays it on tour, he changes the arrangement. I don’t think he’s ever performed it like it is on the record.” If you’re looking for some good Prince rarities for free, go here: weatherreport.wordpress.com/2006/06/22/prince. I think you can still download three discs’ worth of songs. “Wonderful Ass” and “Do Yourself a Favour” are two highlights. Also, Wednesday is Prince Day over at lookingatthem.blogspot.com.

This week’s Chart Attack! cleared up something for me: Falco didn’t leave After the Fire for a solo career. I remember seeing Falco’s version of “Der Kommissar” on MTV sometime in the ’80s and thinking, This must be After the Fire’s original version of the song, like the German version of “99 Red Balloons.” But I didn’t think the English version was a cover by another artist.

When “Rock Me Amadeus” was becoming a hit in early ‘86, the play “Amadeus” was being mounted at my hometown’s biggest community theater. My brother played a palace guard, I think, and “Amadeus” got its fair share of local press coverage because the actor who was cast as Salieri dropped out a week or so before the show opened. I don’t think opening night was delayed; instead a new actor was brought in who held the script in his lap (it was placed inside a large, vintage-looking book to help you suspend your disbelief as an audience member) and read from it whenever he could. The show must go on, but guess what song the headline in the Macon Telegraph & News referenced in regard to all the turmoil?

I remember that when Falco died in that car crash in the Dominican Republic, “The Daily Show” reported that it was “his biggest hit.” That was back when “The Daily Show” was a lot meaner. It was still funny, but you had a feeling everyone involved was going to hell, JUST LIKE JASON HARE. I do remember “Vienna Calling” being a hit after “Rock Me Amadeus,” although it wasn’t anywhere as huge. Speaking of supposed one-hit wonders, many people wonder what the hell happened to F. Murray Abraham after he won Best Actor for playing Salieri in the movie “Amadeus.” Take heed, Jennifer Hudson!