Joan Jett in a heartbeat, with second and third choices being Mellencamp and J. Geils.
The Hall and Oates years of medicority continue. And I confess I don’t understand the love for “Don’t You Want Me Baby, Don’t You Want Me Now.” Just sounds so whiny to my ear.
And yeah, there was plenty of good stuff in 1982 that didn’t result in a #1 hit. The Go-Gos’ Beauty and the Beat was my favorite album from 1982. Tom Petty and Stevie Nicks had a nice duet that obviously didn’t make #1 because it’s not on this list. And so on.
To be precise, “Leather and Lace” (the Henley/Nicks song) and Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around" (the Petty/Nicks song) both came out in 1981; the former peaked at #6, the latter at #3.
I cheated. My first pick was “Don’t You Want Me Baby” but first I looked at the votes and saw it was pretty well covered, and shifted my vote to “Up Where We Belong”. I scoffed at this one when it was new, as I scoffed at any tune that both 15 and 50 year old women liked. But 3 decades later, it holds up, and deserves a little respect. I bet it’s the one my wife would pick.
All in all, I tend to agree with the way the voting has turned out.
I was listening to the radio this morning and “Jack & Diane” came on. I thought, “I wonder if this was a #1 single? If so, I’m going to vote for it because the guitar in this song is spectacular.”
That may be so, but “Leather and Lace” got most of its airplay (and peaked on the charts) in 1982, while “Stop Draggin’ My Car Around” was definitely 1981.