pop music

80s Song of the Day: Eye of the Tiger by Survivor

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And the last known survivor
Stalks his prey in the night
And he’s watching us all with the
Eye of the tiger

Eye_of_the_Tiger_SurvivorEye of the Tiger by Survivor was released on May 29, 1982, with Take You on a Saturday as the B side. It was a single from Survivor’s third album of the same name. It also appeared on the Rocky III soundtrack.

Eye of the Tiger was an international success, topping charts worldwide. In the United States, it held the No. 1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for six consecutive weeks.

Watch the official music video for the song.

80s Song of the Day: She Works Hard for the Money by Donna Summer

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She’ll never sell out
She never will
Not for a dollar bill
She works hard

she works hardShe Works Hard for the Money by Donna Summer was released on May 27, 1983, with I Do Believe (I Fell in Love) as the B side. It was the first single from the album of the same name.

The song reached No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and No. 1 on the Billboard Hot Black Singles chart.

Watch the official music video for the song.

80s Song of the Day: Invisible Touch by Genesis

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She’s got something you just can’t trust
It’s something mysterious
And now it seems I’m falling, falling for her

Invisible TouchInvisible Touch by Genesis was released May 19, 1986, with The Last Domino as the B side. It was the first single from the album of the same name.

Invisible Touch was the band’s first and only No. 1 single in the United States. It only reached No. 15 in the United Kingdom.

Watch the music video for the song.

45 RPMs: Cyndi Lauper Time After Time

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If you’re lost you can look and you will find me
Time after time

Time-After-Time-Cyndi-Lauper

The U.K. and other versions of the Time After Time 7″ single came with this picture sleeve. The U.S. version did not.

As I mentioned in a previous post, I was a huge fan of Cyndi Lauper in the 80s, and She’s So Unusual was one of my very first albums. It still holds a lot of significance for me because it came out at a time when I was just starting to discover my own musical tastes and interests. Cyndi wasn’t my parents’ favorite singer or my brothers’ favorite band – she was all mine.

 

Time After Time is an absolutely stunning song and one of my all-time favorites. Released in 1984, it was the second single off of She’s So Unusual, after Girls Just Want to Have Fun, and Cyndi’s first No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.   Continue reading →

45 RPMs: George Michael Careless Whisper

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I’m never gonna dance again
Guilty feet have got no rhythm

George-Michael-9-3-09It’s impossible to have a conversation about 80s pop music without including George Michael. Between his time with Wham! and his solo career, the man absolutely owned the decade and is one of the most successful recording artists of all time because of it.

Careless Whisper was the second single from Wham!’s second album, Make It Big, released in 1984. The song was a follow-up to Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go, the duo’s first No. 1 hit in both the United States and the United Kingdom.make-it-big-52fb7f39d4039 (2) Even though it appeared on Make It Big and was credited to “Wham! featuring George Michael” in a handful of countries, including the U.S., Careless Whisper was George’s first solo effort. Unlike most Wham! singles, the song was co-written with the other half of Wham!, Andrew Ridgeley. Continue reading →

45 RPMs: The Go-Go’s Our Lips Are Sealed

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Give no mind to what they say
It doesn’t matter anyway

beauty and beat peachI was only 7 years old when the Go-Go’s debut album, Beauty and the Beat, and its first single, Our Lips Are Sealed, were released in 1981, but I still remember standing in the middle of a department store begging my mother to buy me the record. The cover art – with the Go-Go’s wearing towels and face cream – was mesmerizing, and it was impossible not to start moving and singing along immediately upon hearing those first notes of Our Lips Are Sealed.

From that first song, the Go-Go’s made a huge impression on me when I was younger. They made me want to start my own all-girl band (until years later when I realized I had absolutely no music talent). They were more relatable somehow than many other music acts at the time – like they could be your older sister and her friends, only much, much cooler. Continue reading →

On the Road: Debbie Gibson’s Electric Youth Tour, 1989

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Debbie_gibson_electric_youthDebbie Gibson‘s Electric Youth Tour was one of my first concerts and the first one I went to unchaperoned. My best friend and I, 16 at the time, got tickets for the Philadelphia stop slated for August 1, 1989 and waited anxiously all summer for the date to arrive. We were huge fans of Debbie’s since Out of the Blue – we listened to her albums (on cassette, of course), had Electric Youth perfume on our dressers, and would have worn hats just like Debbie if we had any prayer of pulling it off.

Debbie embarked on the Electric Youth tour in 1989 to promote her second album of the same name. The album produced four singles, including the No. 1 hit Lost in Your Eyes. Continue reading →