A few good ones, but not as many as I thought, considering that this year is one of the first places I’d go in my time machine. I chose “Papa Don’t Preach” because Madonna was so pretty in that video and even seemed like a nice person although I’m sure she isn’t one.
Mr. Mister is a personal favorite, but my vote has to go to the Bangles.
It already looks like Peter Gabriel’s sure to win. Sledgehammer’s a good song but not the best of the year in my opinion.
I’m awfully tempted to vote for Falco’s Rock Me Amadeus because it’s the only song of the list that I still listen to from time to time, if only for fun. Another factor is that these polls need some non-English language hits. But is it the best #1 of 1986? Nah, probably not.
OK, Bon Jovi: You Give Love a Bad Name. Because it’s very catchy. Because it’s held up well. Because I haven’t voted for a hard rocking song in a while. And because I used to listen to Slippery When Wet in bed every night before sleeping. That was my introduction to hard rock. A year later, I would graduate to Iron Maiden. By the 1988, I was a headbanger.
All the other songs didn’t catch my interest at the time. And still don’t.
Dangit, I voted wrong. I want to change my vote to “Kiss”. I will regularly pull out my copy of Parade just to listen to that one. I don’t even own any Falco records.
Come to think of it, True Colours and Kiss are also very good songs. Too late to change my vote and I don’t think I’d have changed it anyway but I had to mention them given the last sentence of my previous post.
Sounds like we may have followed a similar path (my stepsister and I were falling asleep to Lita Ford). On the other hand, I did still like the radio pop. I may or may not have admitted it in public though.
Awwwwwwww, I think I’m gonna dance…
I can only tolerate 5 songs on that list. I really only like ‘Walk like an Egyptian’.
The one I want to hear most right now is “Rock Me Amadeus.” But it’s got to be “Kiss.”
Agreed. It’s legendary because of the video, but it came on the radio just yesterday (I hadn’t heard it in years) and I was surprised how thin the song sounds. Really light compared to some of his other solo stuff.
Honestly, looking at the lists, I usually could tell which would be among the high vote-getters, even if it wasn’t my choice. This year, I had no clue so was shocked to see him so far ahead for this song. Plenty of more interesting candidates.
I’ve never been a Madonna fan in general, but since I first heard it and to this day, I fucking LOVE “Live to Tell.” It just takes me to a magical world, or something. Love it. Once my eye fell upon that entry in this poll, I couldn’t even look at the other choices.
Girls Just Wanna Have Fun is a better song, mostly because it was on the soundtrack of the post-apocalyptic movie Night of the Comet, but I went with True Colors anyway. Cyndi’s got the vocal chops.
Although this must be the beginning of the end of my familiarity with Top 40 music - I don’t remember ever hearing Live to Tell before. Madonna is an artist that I went from “never heard of her” to “cripes I’m sick of her” with almost no intervening interval.
Regards,
Shodan
Looking back over this list, I am once again reminded of what a shame it still is that the only song off of the Bangles’ Different Light to hit number one was “Walk Like an Egyptian”. “Manic Monday” only made it to number two. “If She Knew What She Wants” petered out at a piddling number 29. But “Walk Like an Egyptian”? Of course that’s the song that rockets to the top of the pops.
Yeah, no kidding. For me, the low point for the pop charts was somewhere in that late 70s. Then it started picking up again in the 80s, with (so far, I haven’t cheated by looking ahead) 1984 and 1986 just being solid years for Top 40 music. Probably the best we’ve seen since the late 60s.
Halfway through the list, I thought “Kyrie” was going to be the only song worth considering, but it ended better than it began. I like “Sledgehammer” and “Walk Like an Egyptian,” but ultimately I went with “The Way It Is.”
Sledgehammer was about Peter Gabriel’s dick.
There. I said it. You read it. And now you can’t un-read it.
That being said, I went with Invisible Touch on this one, largely because the introductory drum fill and keyboard riff are to me one of the most iconic intros in rock history, up there with “Danger Zone” or “Frankenstein” or “Satisfaction”. I also considered Rock Me Amadeus (largely on the strength of the video), These Dreams (for being one of '80s Heart’s better songs all around), Higher Love (in how it was Winwood’s comeback and proved his musical versatility across two or three distinct eras of rock & roll), and You Give Love A Bad Name (because it’s just some good old-fashioned down and dirty rock and roll.)
Honorable mentions to Amanda, The Way It Is, and Addicted To Love, because I wouldn’t necessarily change the channel if they came on.
Wow- a MUCH better selelction than 1985. I picked Peter Gabriel, but there were a lot of worthy songs this year.
“Live to Tell” is the one Madonna song I genuinely love, “Kiss” is one of the few Prince songs I love… there were 11 worthy conteders, in my opinion. All of them are much better than anything on the list for '85.
After the slim-to-none pickings the last few years, I’m pleasantly surprised how many songs on this list I really like. After dismissing “Rock Me Amadeus,” “Walk Like an Egyptian,” and the unnecessary-but-fun remake of “Venus” as guilty pleasures, I’m left with a tough choice among “Kiss,” “Sledgehammer,” and “Higher Love.” I went with “Sledgehammer,” and am surprised again to see it taking a fairly decisive lead so far.
For now, I’m the only vote for Heart’s “These Dreams”. A college friend of mine dropped dead of a heart attack in 1986. He was 26. This song was popular during this period and I always think of him when I hear it. And apparently when I think about because I’m in tears right now. He was an amazing young man taken much too soon.
Not such a good year for #1s, IMHO. 1986 should go like this: “R.E.M. – Fall On Me,” then “R.E.M. – Flowers of Guatemala,” then “R.E.M. – Cuoyahoga,” then… well, you get the picture.
I went with “Sledgehammer” – good song, good video, of its era yet not *too *of its era.