Tag Archives: tb80s

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Song of the Day #6,653: ‘When I Think of You’ – Janet Jackson

Throwing back to the week of Oct. 11, 1986, we find Janet Jackson atop the Billboard Hot 100 with ‘When I Think of You,’ the third single from her blockbuster album Control.

This dance-pop song gave Jackson her very first #1 hit (of an eventual ten). It also made her and brother Michael the first (and to date, last) siblings to have #1 hits as solo artists. Plenty of siblings have topped the charts together (including The Bee Gees, The Jackson 5, The Jonas Brothers, Dire Straits, The Beach Boys, and Hanson) but only these two apart.

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Song of the Day #6,639: ‘Stuck with You’ – Huey Lewis and the News

Huey Lewis and the News held the top spot of the Billboard Hot 100 the week of September 27, 1986, with ‘Stuck with You,’ the first single from the band’s fourth album, Fore!

The band scored their first #1 hit a year earlier with previous single ‘The Power of Love,’ featured on the Back to the Future soundtrack. Their third, and final, chart-topper was ‘Jacob’s Ladder,’ the third single from Fore!

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Song of the Day #6,625: ‘Take My Breath Away’ – Berlin

Berlin’s ‘Take My Breath Away’ topped the Billboard Hot 100 the week of September 13, 1986, reaching #1 for the first and only time in the new wave band’s career. It spent one week atop the chart.

‘Take My Breath Away’ was written by Giorgio Moroder and Tom Whitlock for the Top Gun soundtrack. It was the second single released from that juggernaut of a collection, following Kenny Loggins’ ‘Danger Zone‘ (also written by Moroder and Whitlock). Director Tony Scott and producers Jerry Bruckheimer and Don Simpson liked the song so much they added additional love scenes to the film in order to feature it.

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Song of the Day #6,614a: ‘Higher Love’ – Steve Winwood

Steve Winwood owned the #1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 the week of August 30, 1986, with ‘Higher Love,’ the lead single of his fourth solo album, Back in the High Life.

Surprisingly, this is the first Steve Winwood song featured on the blog (though I did use a Traffic song in a post about Avengers: Endgame in 2019). Winwood has had a very successful career, as a member of three popular bands as well as a solo artist. I just haven’t found the right time to write about him.

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Song of the Day #6,607a: ‘Mad About You’ – Belinda Carlisle

The two songs atop the Billboard Hot 100 the week of August 16, 1986, had reversed positions from the week before. Peter Cetera’s ‘Glory of Love‘ was now in the #2 spot while Madonna ascended to #1 with ‘Papa Don’t Preach.’

Looking up at them was former Go-Go’s lead singer Belinda Carlisle, whose debut single as a solo artist peaked at #3. ‘Mad About You’ was the first of three top five singles for Carlisle.

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