# Best #1 single of the year retrospective: 1988 **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 24, 2014, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1988/702357 "2014-10-24T15:10:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Eddie\_F](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/22d042/32.png) [@Eddie\_F](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eddie_F)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2014, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1988/702357/61 "2014-10-25T13:29:04Z")
> [@Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](#): > > Exactly. > > That album is one of the best of the 80s but _Sweet Child O’ Mine_ is not as great as those songs. That’s why I couldn’ t vote for it. If it had been _Welcome to the Jungle_, there would have been no hesitation on my part. It’s too bad we don’t live in a world where a song like “It’s So Easy” can spend weeks at the top of the charts. And though I certainly _like_ “Sweet Child o’ Mine” a whole lot, it’s certainly no “Rocket Queen” (or “Mr. Brownstone”, for that matter). ---
**Author:** ![Ponch8](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponch8/32/9883_2.png) [@Ponch8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponch8)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2014, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1988/702357/62 "2014-10-25T17:12:18Z")
I haven’t voted for the poll winner since 1973 (when Stevie Wonder’s “Superstition” crushed the second-place song 68 votes to 16 at last count), but this is the first time I’m the ONLY one to vote for my pick. Where are all the Debbie Gibson supporters? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2014, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1988/702357/63 "2014-10-25T17:25:38Z")
> [@Ponch8](#): > > I haven’t voted for the poll winner since 1973 (when Stevie Wonder’s “Superstition” crushed the second-place song 68 votes to 16 at last count), but this is the first time I’m the ONLY one to vote for my pick. Where are all the Debbie Gibson supporters? 🙂 They turned on her after [she gave birth to Mojo Nixon’s two-headed love child.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXLuSHx1fR0) ---
**Author:** ![Helena330](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/helena330/32/531_2.png) [@Helena330](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helena330)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2014, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1988/702357/64 "2014-10-25T18:53:36Z")
A virtual high five to the other\* Look Away\* voter. 😃 I like Chicago better without Cetera and with Champlin, although since Champlin left I admit I haven’t paid much attention to them. ---
**Author:** ![P-man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/p-man/32/3606_2.png) [@P-man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/P-man)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2014, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1988/702357/65 "2014-10-25T19:41:29Z")
This year is just about as bad as 1977-1985. The song I voted for is the only one I liked at all(Sweet Child O’Mine). I guess this shows why my teenage sons are so dismissive of “pop” music. ---
**Author:** ![Nema98](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/d2c977/32.png) [@Nema98](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nema98)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2014, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1988/702357/66 "2014-10-26T03:18:17Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > [Sixth longest](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Billboard_Hot_100_chart_achievements_and_milestones#Longest_climbs_to_number_one) from single release. I can’t find any data, though, regarding the longest from recording to number one. Found it on the Wikipedia article on Billboard Hot 100 Song Achievements and the song with the longest climb to #1 position is “Macarena” by Los Del Rio. It took 33 weeks. After that was 31 weeks by “Amazed” by Lonestar, “All of Me” by John Legend, Creed’s “With Arms Wide Open” and “She’s Everything You Want” by Vertical Horizon. “Red Red Wine” by UB40 took 25 weeks in 1988. ---
**Author:** ![Nema98](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/d2c977/32.png) [@Nema98](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nema98)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2014, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1988/702357/67 "2014-10-26T03:23:13Z")
> [@42fish](#): > > It’s probably Sheriff’s “When I’m With You.” Original release entered the Hot 100 on May 14, 1983, and peaked at #61. The re-release hit #1 on Feb. 4, 1989. This is songs the charts and took months to hit #1, not songs that hit he charts and again did some years later. I never knew the Sheriff song is actually from 1983. ---
**Author:** ![Nema98](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/d2c977/32.png) [@Nema98](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nema98)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2014, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1988/702357/68 "2014-10-26T03:32:02Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > The Wiki article notes that the original single cut left out the rap section, whereas the '88 release left it in. Maybe the label figured that this rap thing all the ‘urban’ kids were crazy about was starting to take off and they may as well get in on the ground floor? > > I’m not sure if this is the longest run between a song’s recording and its hitting #1, but if it isn’t it must be darn close. (Elton John had #1s in the '90s with “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down On Me” and “Candle In the Wind” which had both been released 20-25 years prior, but those were both re-recordings, and in the latter case with heavily altered lyrics, so I don’t think those count.) It can’t be that long in terms of years, because it would be 5 years. One example would be “Bohemian Rhapsody” by Queen, originally charting at #8 in 1975-1976, and the #2 in 1992. That would be sixteen years. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2014, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1988/702357/69 "2014-10-27T02:05:16Z")
GNR baby! ---
**Author:** ![MsKaren](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a183cd/32.png) [@MsKaren](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsKaren)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2014, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1988/702357/70 "2014-10-27T02:54:32Z")
“UB40’s original recording reached #34 in the US in March, 1984 when it was released on A&M 2600. This version clocked in at 3:00. In 1988, it was reissued as a longer version (5:16) with a rap by Terence “Astro” Wilson, and finally hit #1.” from [http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=2632](http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=2632) I voted for ‘Kokomo’ because it seemed to be the most universally appealing. I can envision some band 400 or 500 years from now pleasing the crowd with its rhyme and harmony at some Faire. A ‘Turn of the Second Millineum Faire’ maybe? You know, today’s Renaissance Faires extend way beyond the actual Renaissance either way. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Dread\_Pirate\_Jimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dread_pirate_jimbo/32/3897_2.png) [@Dread\_Pirate\_Jimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dread_Pirate_Jimbo)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2014, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1988/702357/71 "2014-10-27T06:05:57Z")
Quite an eclectic collection here, from pure pop to stripped down R&B to hard rock to power ballads to reggae. I have all or most of them in my 80s collection of music on my iPod. I went with “Wishing Well” by Terrence Trent D’Arby but could have just as easily gone with “Need You Tonight” by INXS, “Dirty Diana” by MJ (gotta love a Michael song with a Stevie Stevens guitar solo), or “One More Try” by George Michael. There’s another handful in there that would rate “honourable mention” status for me, a bunch that would rate a “not bad” ranking and the rest are in the “meh” category. “Weird Al” Yankovic’s parody of “Got My Mind Set On You,” as noted upthread, is head-and-shoulders better than the George Harrison original. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2014, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1988/702357/72 "2014-10-27T19:14:24Z")
Surprisingly, given how dire 1987 and 1989 were, this list actually has quite a number of good (or passable) songs, often from artists I would otherwise ordinarily not listen to. I went with “Wishing Well” because I think it’s just got a great simple groove and great vocals, but I wouldn’t have minded going with about a half-dozen others, too. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2014, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1988/702357/73 "2014-10-28T00:24:18Z")
And then you have this year in which you have a low proportion of true losers, quite a few good pieces of work… but nothing that really knocks me down. OK, so McFerrin’s piece is highly _memorable_ in the sense you don’t forget it but that’s not really enough by itself. G&R rocks it, INXS has a great groove, George Michael is at his peak, Rick is rolling. But none blows me away. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Credible](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a8b319/32.png) [@Justin\_Credible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Credible)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2014, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1988/702357/74 "2014-10-29T01:21:05Z")
Looks like I’m the lone vote for Cheap Trick. Almost went with Kokomo. ---
**Author:** ![Stringbean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Stringbean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stringbean)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2014, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1988/702357/75 "2014-10-29T03:00:41Z")
Phil Collins, Rick Astley, too many great songs to choose! ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2014, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1988/702357/76 "2014-10-30T13:32:49Z")
The guitar intro to _Sweet Child of Mine_ is my cell ringtone, so, yeah… ---
**Author:** ![Truman\_Burbank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecc23a/32.png) [@Truman\_Burbank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Truman_Burbank)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2014, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1988/702357/77 "2014-10-30T14:17:57Z")
None of the above. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-1-single-of-the-year-retrospective-1988/702357.md?page=3)