8 of the 80s: 10/4/12...

It's time for another trip back to the 80s, and this week it's eight more from 1980, the year "ABSCAM" took down a senator and five US congressmen in a corruption sting.

Leo Sayer - "More Than I Can Say"
from the album Living In A Fantasy (1980)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #2

Not many people from my generation knew this song was actually a remake of a minor hit from the 50s written by two members of Buddy Holly's backing band the Crickets.

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The Brothers Johnson - "Stomp!"
from the album Light Up The Night (1980)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #7

Quincy Jones' flagship act before Michael Jackson, the Brothers' "Stomp" made me mad that disco "died".


Kim Carnes - "More Love"
from the album Romance Dance (1980)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #10

Smokey Robinson nugget gets the makeover with the vocal opposite of his smooth falsetto, but with equal amounts of soul.


The Whispers - "And The Beat Goes On"
from the album The Whispers (1979)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #19

Twin brothers disco-fied goodness. 1980 really was the Cretaceous period of disco music, before the meteor hit Chicago.


Styx - "Why Me"
from the album Cornerstone (1979)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #26

Styx was America's approximation of Queen, in the way that both bands recorded theatrically epic songs, and Dennis DeYoung had that overemoting powerful voice born for Broadway at times more than the rock bar.


Anne Murray - "Could I Have This Dance"
from the album Urban Cowboy (Soundtrack) (1980)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #33

Anne's wedding-reception staple from the Urban Cowboy soundtrack earned her a Grammy.


Blondie - "Atomic"
from the album Eat To The Beat (1979)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #39

My absolutely favorite Blondie song, in a post-apocalyptic world, where only great hair products survive. The best pre-clubbing jam ever.


Molly Hatchet - "Flirtin' With Disaster"
from the album Flirtin' With Disaster (1979)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #42

The biggest thing I remember about this primordial southern metal band is that their tour shirts somehow scared me as a middle-schooler. Had I known they were just funky hairballs I'd have been less so.


Well that does it for this week, thanks for coming by, and check back tomorrow for another Song of the Day, Candletime, and my top-100 tunes for the week. Rock on!