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Song of the Day #6,320: ‘Miracles’ – Jefferson Starship

Throwing back to the week of October 25, 1975, we find Neil Sedaka and John Denver holding on to the top two spots of the Billboard Hot 100 with ‘Bad Blood‘ and ‘I’m Sorry,’ respectively.

At #3, where it peaked, was Jefferson Starship’s ‘Miracles,’ a soft rock song inspired by the teachings of an Indian guru. The album version of the song ran nearly seven minutes and was trimmed to half that length for radio play (conveniently omitting the lyric “I had a taste of the real world when I went down on you, girl”).

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Song of the Day #6,319: ‘No Sleep till Brooklyn’ – Beastie Boys

Continuing my look at the albums of 1986…

It would be malpractice to write about the music of 1986 and not mention the Beastie Boys’ debut release Licensed to Ill. This is one of the best-selling rap albums of all time and one of the most successful debuts. It was the first rap album to top the Billboard 200 and the second to go Platinum.

It is also critically acclaimed, praised for its punk rock sensibility, its creative use of classic rock samples, and the chemistry of its three leads.

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Song of the Day #6,318: ‘Earn Enough For Us’ – XTC

Continuing my look at the albums of 1986…

I was prepared to put English rock band XTC’s Skylarking on my list of the best 1986 albums, remembering my fondness for it during college. But when I listened to it for the first time in years, maybe the first time in decades, it didn’t grab me the way it used to.

‘Dear God’ still hits hard, but much of the rest is a bit too much. Too strident, too weirdly psychedelic.

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Song of the Day #6,317: ‘Walking Down Your Street’ – The Bangles

Continuing my look at the albums of 1986…

When I wrote the Decades posts about 1984, my happiest discovery was The Bangles’ debut album All Over the Place. So I shouldn’t be surprised that their follow-up, Different Light, holds the same designation for 1986.

This was the band’s triple-Platinum breakthrough, the album that featured #1 hit ‘Walk Like an Egyptian’ and #2 hit ‘Manic Monday.’ It was more polished and poppy than the debut, more designed for commercial airplay, but still unpredictable and energetic.

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Song of the Day #6,316: ‘Jacob’s Ladder’ – Huey Lewis and the News

Continuing my look at the albums of 1986…

Huey Lewis and the News were the Hootie and the Blowfish of the 80s. Both bands had massive but short-lived success releasing feel-good pop rock driven by a charismatic frontman’s excellent vocals. And both were largely (and wrongly) relegated to joke status after the shine had worn off.

If 1983’s Sports was Huey Lewis’ Cracked Rear View, then 1986’s Fore! was their Fairweather Johnson — a triple-Platinum follow-up that still lived in the shadow of the bigger hit. The difference is that Sports went 7x Platinum — impressive, but not the Diamond-selling juggernaut Hootie could never escape.

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