Best of the Rest of the Top 40: 1982

Cafe Society
1

And now we find ourselves in '82. (The disco hot spots hold no charm for you.)

This is the point at which this chart finally starts to look like what I’d define as “80s music”, and it’s the first one in a long time where I haven’t had to go above #40 - eliminating the number-ones from the Top 40 still leaves us with 28 songs on the list.

What’s your favorite?

Previous polls: 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981

Best #1 single polls: 1955-56 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s All-time

2

Now things are moving to become 80’s and the seventies sound is fading for the most part. I feel Soft Cell may win but I won’t vote for it. The Motels, George Benson, or Tommy Tutone are being singled out for voting. Some others I like such as DazzBand, Foreigner and etc but not to vote.

3

It’s funny how some years I have to hold my nose to pick something and some years are an embarrassment of riches and I wish I could vote three or four times.

4

I didn’t own a radio (or a car) in 1982, and do not recognize many of these. I do know that I have always hated “Leader of the Band.”

5

I don’t think I’ve picked a cover version before in any of these polls, but I am now. Tainted Love is my clear favourite of the ones I know here. Soft Cell were a great band, and a big influence on my future musical taste. I still remember the look on my mum’s face when I brought home their album Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret (I’d have been 13 at the time)

6

I wanted to vote for the Go-Gos, but Quarterflash holds a special place in my memories. So “Harden My Heart” gets it.

7

This is an embarrassment of riches year for me. I love this stuff. Gave it to Alan Parsons, but reluctantly!

8

If the poll question was, "What was the most “1982” song of 1982, Rosanna might have gotten my vote, but got to go with the very influential Tainted Love. Just thinking of Rosanna sends me right back to being 8 years old being driven around northeast Wisconsin in the back seat of my parents’ 1979 Cutlass Supreme (AM radio only).

9

This is the first one of your polls where it was actually difficult to make a choice. 1982 had a LOT of songs that I still like to this day. Went with John Cougar (as we called him then) when I voted, but there are about six more on the list that I wish I had chosen.

10

Quarterflash for me, too. I almost voted for Charlene, though. A perfect choice to represent such a year of dreck.

11

To me it was between Hurts So Good, Always on My Mind and Shake It Up. I just flipped some coins and went with Willie.

12

Really? Tommy Tutone in the lead? Blasphemy!

13

Asia - “Heat of the Moment”

It defines the era.

14

There are several I went back and forth between before I made my pick. When I did I kindda expected to be picking one that would get only a few votes. What a surprise to find I voted for the leader, “Tainted Love”.

15

I went with Eye In the Sky, but just barely - I could just as easily have gone with Heat of the Moment, Open Arms, 867-5309, or Leather and Lace.

16

This year is a pretty vast improvement over the previous few years (with a few obvious exceptions like Air Supply). I’ll weigh in with my vote later.

17

Preach it, brother. Someone deserved to die for that one. Painfully. Slowly. Publicly.

18

Tough one but I gave it to The Motels, haunting pop song. Glad others like George Benson got votes.

19

Several worthy contenders here. I ended up going with the fun, bouncy “We Got the Beat” by the Go-Go’s. The Cars would probably have been my second choice. Soft Cell’s “Tainted Love” is, of course, an 80s classic, and even Toto’s “Rosanna” was somewhat in contention, with that Jeff Porcaro half-time shuffle with a Bo Diddley beat kick drum sending many a drummer into the woodshed to figure that out. One of rock’s most famous drum grooves.

20

I listened to some of the songs I don’t know/remember. The Toto song, I actually have heard before, and it’s a decent song. But the video is so amazingly, err, of its time.