80s Song of the Day: Dreams by Van Halen

And in the end on dreams we will depend
Cause that’s what love is made of

Dreams Dreams VHby Van Halen was released May 24, 1986, with Inside as the B side. It was the second single from the album 5150, Van Halen’s first album with new lead singer Sammy Hagar.

Dreams only reached No. 22 on the Billboard Hot 100. The first single from the album, Why Can’t This Be Love, had peaked at No. 3.

Watch the music video for the song, which featured the Blue Angels performing aerial stunts.

80s Song of the Day: I Know You’re Out There Somewhere by The Moody Blues

I know you’re out there somewhere
Somewhere you can hear my voice
I know I’ll find you somehow
Somehow, somehow

I Know You’re Out There Somewhere by EnglishI know you're out there progressive rock band The Moody Blues was released on May 23, 1988, with Miracle as the B side. The song was a single from the album Sur La Mer.

The song reached No. 30 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 52 on the UK Singles Chart. It was the band’s final Top 40 hit in the United States.

Watch the song’s music video.

 

80s Song of the Day: Bust a Move by Young MC

So on the beach you’re strollin’ real high rollin’
Everything you have is yours and not stolen
A girl runs up with somethin’ to prove
So don’t just stand there bust a move

Bust a move 2Bust a Move by Young MC was released on May 22, 1989, with Got More Rhymes as the B side. It was a single from the rapper’s debut album, Stone Cold Rhymin’.

Bust a Move was Young MC.’s biggest hit. It reached No. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was a No. 1 hit in Australia.

Watch the music video for the song.

80s Song of the Day: Every Breath You Take by The Police

Since you’ve gone I’ve been lost without a trace
I dream at night, I can only see your face

Every breath you takeEvery Breath You Take by The Police was released on May 20, 1983, with Murder by Numbers as the B side. It was the first single from the album Synchronicity.

Every Breath You Take was the biggest hit of 1983. It topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart for eight weeks and the UK Singles chart for four weeks.

Watch the official music video for the song.

80s Song of the Day: Invisible Touch by Genesis

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

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: N.W.A Express Yourself

Blame it on Ice Cube… Because he says it gets funky
When you got a subject and a predacit

N.W.A’s been in the news a lot lately, thanks to the success of the movie Straight Outta Compton, their recent induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and reunion at Coachella over the weekend.

nwa

N.W.A

I didn’t listen to a lot of N.W.A in the 80s, but I discovered the song Express Yourself years later on the compilation album Yo! MTV Raps: A Journey Back in Rhyme. The song features Dr. Dre on the mic and samples Charles Wright & the Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band’s 1971 song Express Yourself. I instantly loved it – maybe it was the beat, the rhymes, or the fact that I was an English major and there’s very few songs that get funky with subjects and predacits.

straight outta compton

Straight Outta Compton LP

Written by Ice Cube, Express Yourself was released in 1989 as a single from N.W.A’s debut, groundbreaking album Straight Outta Compton. Although the song’s lyrics deal with free expression and radio censorship, Express Yourself is lighter sounding fare for N.W.A, which pioneered gangsta rap with Compton. It’s one of the group’s only songs not to contain profanity or violent content. Continue reading