# Best of the Rest of the Top 40: 1981 **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 16, 2015, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-of-the-rest-of-the-top-40-1981/712820 "2015-02-16T16:05:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2015, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-of-the-rest-of-the-top-40-1981/712820/21 "2015-02-16T22:30:57Z")
Bill Withers. I love John Lennon, but not that song. Even a little. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2015, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-of-the-rest-of-the-top-40-1981/712820/22 "2015-02-16T23:39:49Z")
“Just the Two of Us” by a hair over John Lennon’s “Woman.” I dislike most of the songs on this list I remember. You’re welcome, Foreigner, REO, and Styx, not to mention Juice Newton, Rod Stewart, and Neil Diamond. The songs that come to mind when I remember 1981 aren’t here. I’m not terribly surprised that the Moody Blues’ “The Voice” didn’t make the list, but I’d have figured Winwood’s “If You See a Chance” would be there. ---
**Author:** ![usedtobe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ec9cab/32.png) [@usedtobe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/usedtobe)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2015, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-of-the-rest-of-the-top-40-1981/712820/23 "2015-02-17T00:00:14Z")
Another “nothing here” year. ---
**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:** [February 17, 2015, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-of-the-rest-of-the-top-40-1981/712820/24 "2015-02-17T01:10:47Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > Oh, come now. The 1980 list was _much_ worse. Y’see, to me it looks(sounds, rather) the diametrical opposite. From my POV, compared to this lot some of the 1980 runners-up are immortal classics (and similarly, on the #1 chart 1980 slaps 1981’s face and laughs). This is a year where I have to acknowledge REO Speedwagon as a respectable contender, for Pete’s sake! Pop music seemed to be experiencing a serious loss of momentum. HiYo Silver, away, indeed. In the middle of all that I’d say Juice Newton acquits herself very well in this poll. I suspect ABBA will probably end up undervoted, because, ABBA, dude, but _Winner Takes It All_ is one of their best efforts to make it big. Meanwhile Lennon’s final effort, as someone mentioned in the #1’s thread, was perfectly fine and good but just not that great… but against \*this \*field _Woman_ puts him in good position. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2015, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-of-the-rest-of-the-top-40-1981/712820/25 "2015-02-17T01:38:43Z")
> [@JRDelirious](#): > > I suspect ABBA will probably end up undervoted, because, ABBA, dude, but _Winner Takes It All_ is one of their best efforts to make it big. Even though I said I couldn’t vote for one in my original post, I glossed over the ABBA offering. That’s who I ended up gong with in the end. In my experience, ABBA is actually fairly well regarded, especially among my music nerd friends. ---
**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:** [February 17, 2015, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-of-the-rest-of-the-top-40-1981/712820/26 "2015-02-17T02:42:47Z")
“Just the Two of Us” finishes with a comfortable lead in the world-famous **Ponch8 Music Rating System**. Contenders for second place were “Slow Hand,” “Woman,” and “The Winner Takes It All.” “I Love You” finished dead-ass last. > [@Smapti](#): > > Oh, come now. The 1980 list was _much_ worse. > > For me, this was a three-way dance between “Urgent”, “Take It On the Run”, and “Believe It Or Not”. > > I went with the theme from The Greatest American Hero, even though I’ve never seen a single episode of the show in my life, because; > > 1. It’s a darn catchy song > > 2. I’m fairly sure one of the other two is going to win I’m glad to see that neither REO nor Foreigner is in the lead. The more I hear their songs on classic rock stations (which is WAY too often), the more evident their mediocrity becomes. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2015, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-of-the-rest-of-the-top-40-1981/712820/27 "2015-02-17T05:52:21Z")
> [@Happy\_Lendervedder](#): > > Went with Juice Newton. Love me some “Angel of the Morning.” I love the song, too, but of all the recorded covers I’ve heard, this is the one that comes closest to being a carbon copy of the original. Juice doesn’t add a thing to what Merrilee Rush did with the song 15 years earlier. ---
**Author:** ![Critical1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@Critical1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Critical1)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2015, 9:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-of-the-rest-of-the-top-40-1981/712820/28 "2015-02-17T09:27:17Z")
Reo, Styx Forerunner When is Journey and the rest of the wtf 80’s crew showing up? Bill Whithers. there were a couple others in the not terrible camp but not many. ---
**Author:** ![Art\_Rock](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/art_rock/32/525_2.png) [@Art\_Rock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Art_Rock)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2015, 9:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-of-the-rest-of-the-top-40-1981/712820/29 "2015-02-17T09:53:28Z")
The ABBA song is one of my all-time favourites. ---
**Author:** ![Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/les_espaces_du_sommeil/32/308_2.png) [@Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Les_Espaces_Du_Sommeil)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2015, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-of-the-rest-of-the-top-40-1981/712820/30 "2015-02-17T16:26:10Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Nah, the 1980 list had at least two great songs on it. This one? I can’t even vote for one, but I also don’t recognize about 80% of these songs. My thought, exactly. **ABBA**. Not my favourite song of theirs but easily the best here. ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2015, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-of-the-rest-of-the-top-40-1981/712820/31 "2015-02-17T16:31:04Z")
Not the best crop of songs ever, but there are a few good tunes on this list. I voted for the Joey Scarbury song, just because I think it’s a really catchy song…but I must admit I am quite surprised to see it tied for the lead here ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2015, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-of-the-rest-of-the-top-40-1981/712820/32 "2015-02-17T18:05:31Z")
The only song I liked from that group was the Styx song. ---
**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:** [February 17, 2015, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-of-the-rest-of-the-top-40-1981/712820/33 "2015-02-17T18:14:24Z")
> [@Critical1](#): > > When is Journey and the rest of the wtf 80’s crew showing up? You’ll get your chance to vote for Journey next year. ---
**Author:** ![racepug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@racepug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racepug)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2015, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-of-the-rest-of-the-top-40-1981/712820/34 "2015-02-17T22:08:39Z")
Had to go with Styx on this one. A few others (such as “Urgent” by Foreigner) caught my eye but “Best of Times” gets the nod because I remember a time when my wife and I yelled at each other (this was before we were married) and as a way of trying to make up I put “Best of Times” on the CD player (this was the next morning if I remember correctly). I started singing along and my (not yet) wife totally “got it” - she made a little duet out of it with me and then we both cried a little and apologized profusely for the previous night’s fight. With a story like that how could I possibly pick anything else from that list? (And, yes - that woman and I are still married. If we make it to May 24th of this year - and I can see no reason why we wouldn’t - it’ll be 14 years married) ---
**Author:** ![Chicagojeff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b19c9b/32.png) [@Chicagojeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chicagojeff)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2015, 8:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-of-the-rest-of-the-top-40-1981/712820/35 "2015-02-24T08:41:00Z")
Being with you is a classic…still holds up… almost voted for Withers/Grover jam… just a great song… Take it on the run is my fave REO song… Ray Parker song had a great line… "Come home early one day and get your feelings hurt… (Infidelity) we laughed and sang that over and over… I appreciate Love on the Rocks as an adult… but Urgent…the Junior Walker solo… Lou’s passion and well… urgency… its their best song…imo [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-of-the-rest-of-the-top-40-1981/712820.md?page=1)