8 of the 80s: 6/6/13 (1988)

It's more eighties madness, and this week I'm back to 1988, the year mass demonstrations in the Baltic Soviet state of Estonia were part of the "Singing Revolution", precipitating their independence. And this week's eight are all hard rock hair bands....

Kiss - "Reason To Live"
from the album Crazy Nights (1987)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #64
Songwriters: Paul Stanley, Desmond Child

During their "mainstream" sans-makeup years, Kiss enlists the songsmith Child to give them a hit, to moderate results. This is Kiss your 40-year-old mom could love.

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Kingdom Come - "Get It On"from the album Kingdom Come (1988)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #69
Songwriter: Lenny Wolf

I remember when this record came out and they were proclaimed to be the next Led Zeppelin. Ahem, riiight.

Stryper - "Always There For You"
from the album In God We Trust (1988)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #71
Songwriter: Michael Sweet

I have to admit I was a fan of this Christian glam metal band in the late-eighties if only for their tight musicianship and Styx-like harmonies.

Scorpions - "Rhythm Of Love"
from the album Savage Amusement (1988)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #75
Songwriters: Klaus Meine, Rudolf Schenker

The lead single from the German metal veterans' highest-charting album didn't manage to make the top-40, even with hot model Joan Severance in the video...

 Robert Plant - "Ship Of Fools"
from the album Now And Zen (1988)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #84
Songwriters: Robert Plant, Phil Johnstone

An oh-so-very LedZep of Plant songs, I always had a soft spot for this epic but understated track.

TAMI Show - "She's Only 20"
from the album TAMI Show (1988)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #88
Songwriters: Clare Massey, Cathy Massey, Tom Gawenda

The Chicago female-led rock band named from the TV show started out with this early-80s sounding minor hit. I bet it would've been big in 1983.

Honeymoon Suite - "Love Changes Everything"
from the album Racing After Midnight (1988)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #91
Songwriters: Johnnie Dee, Dermot Grehan, Rob Preuss

They were like the Canadian "polite" Bon Jovi, but th Niagara Falls rock group didn't manage the stellar success of the Jersey boys, even though their stuff was pretty solid.

Britny Fox - "Long Way To Love"
from the album Britny Fox (1988)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #100
Songwriter: Dean Davidson

The Philly hair-band was big in my neck of the woods, and even though this just scraped the chart their album made the top-40, a bigger moneymaking success...

That's it for tonight...I'll be back tomorrow with another song of the day and my top-100 tunes for the week...Cheers!