It’s 1984 and 25 singles hit #1, excluding “Say Say Say”. No Canadian artist had a #1 hit on this Canadian pop charts but two Germans did.
Which would you vote for?
Time After Time and When Doves Cry are the clear winners here but I also voted for Girls Just Want To Have Fun (it was definitely Cyndi Lauper’s year) and 99 Red Balloons although in latter’s case I prefer the original version in German.
I didn’t vote for Talking In Your Sleep, Jump, Against All Odds, Hello, Self Control or Caribbean Queen but they’re good songs, too. And of course Ghostbusters brings back great childhood memories.
So, another good year, the third in a row. Hey, the 80s were not that terrible after all (not that I ever believed it in the first place).
However, and rather amazingly, the 1984 list also features one of the worst songs ever: Red Red Wine. Like Pass The Dutchie in 1983. Ugh.
Similar to 1983, there are a ton of good ones and few bad ones, so I again limited myself to the best three: Say Say Say, When Doves Cry, and Footloose. It’s funny that Red Red Wine is on this list, when it didn’t become a US hit until four years later.
Peter Schilling got my vote as did Nena, and I prefer the English “99 Red Balloons” to the German “99 Luft Balloons”, which I find terrible. Ugly language to my ears.
Yes UB40 got my vote, it’s a fun song.
Phil Collins, Lauper’s "Time After Time, John Waite, Deneice Williams, Scandal, Wham! and Night Ranger got my vote. Steve Perry squeezed into getting my vote, and the Willie Nelson/Julio Iglesias duet only got my vote because my mom likes it.
The Romantics and Vsn Halen did not make the cut.
Unlike “Time After Time”, “Girls Just Want To Have Fun” is terrible and Prince did not get my vote. I just dislike the man.
I did not mean to say that German is an ugly language, but her singing on “Luft” hurts my ears and is more loud.
The English “Red” version is soothing and nice. I like the opening lyrics:
“You and I in a little toy shop
I’ll buy a bag of balloons with the money we’ve got
Set them free at the break of dawn
Till one by one they were gone
Back at base bugs in the software
Flash the message something’s out there
Floating in the summer sky
99 red balloons go by”
But hey, different strokes for different folks my friend. I DO LIKE the German version of “Rock Me Amadeus” by Falco, but Nena-not so much.
(not that I ever believed it in the first place).
