8 of the 80s: 7/18/13 (1984)...

80's throwback time is here, and this week's trip is back to 1984, the year Arkansas teen Terry Wallis went into a nineteen-year coma, awakening in 2003. I've re-awakened eight dance-funk nuggets that didn't get the love the new wave genre got from pop radio that year. (I've included links to buy anything on Amazon if possible)..

Midnight Star - "Wet My Whistle"
from the album No Parking On The Dance Floor (1983)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #61
Songwriter: Reggie Calloway

The Kentucky funk group scored their second top-10 R&B hit with this pun-possible midtempo jam.

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The S.O.S. Band - "Tell Me If You Still Care"
from the album On The Rise (1983)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #65
Songwriters: Jimmy "Jam" Harris, Terry Lewis

Another midtempo funk classic from the production team that was honing their chops for their triumphs with Janet Jackson and Alexander O'Neal.

Jocelyn Brown - "Somebody Else's Guy"
from the album Somebody Else's Guy (1984)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #65
Songwriter: Jocelyn Brown

This song should've been a top-10 pop hit in a just world, but in the new-wave dominated early 80s, this only ruled the R&B charts, reaching #2 there.

Carol Lynn Townes - "99 1/2"
from the album Breakin' (Original Soundtrack) (1984)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #77
Songwriters: Maxi Anderson, John Footman

This remake of a Alton McClain & Destiny song had a b-side that featured one of the first appearances of a rapper named Ice-T.

Patti Austin - "It's Gonna Be Special"
from the album Patti Austin (1984) and Two Of A Kind (Original Soundtrack) (1983)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #82
Songwriters: Glen Ballard, Cliff Magness

The jazz-soul singer who is best known for her ballad "Baby Come To Me" hits the dance floor with this Quincy Jones-produced jam.

Evelyn Thomas - "High Energy"
from the album High Energy (1984)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #85
Songwriters: Ian Levine, Fiachra Trench

Before there were Stock Aitken Waterman there was Ian Levine, and this song defined the genre that straddled the line between disco and dance-pop that ruled the gay bars in the 80s.

Lakeside - "Outrageous"
from the album Outrageous (1984)
Billboard "Bubbling Under" peak: #101
Songwriter: Stephen Shockley

Even though the funk outfit went all Raiders Of The Lost Ark on this video, they missed the big pop chart, and becoming their final R&B top-10.

Luther Vandross - "I'll Let You Slide"
from the album Busy Body (1983)
Billboard "Bubbling Under" peak: #102
Songwriters: Luther Vandross, William Miller

One of three top-10 R&B hits from his under-rated Busy Body album, I used to jam on my walkman to this in high school.