Dave's Faves: My Top Songs of 1982

Dave’s Faves: My Top Songs of 1982

I was 15 in the summer of 1982 and was pretty enthralled with the popular music of the day. When my local top 40 radio station did a countdown of their all-time songs, I decided to emulate the list and make my own. It turned into my own weekly countdown list which I maintained all through high school, college, and even into my young adult years. I consider it ground zero for my fascination with charts. At the end of 1982, based on those charts, here were my biggest songs of the year: 1. Styx “Babe” (1979) 2. Soft Cell “Tainted Love” (1981) 3. Olivia Newton-John “Heart Attack” (1982) 4. Journey “Open Arms” (1981) 5. Styx “The Best of Times” (1981) 6. Climax Blues Band “I Love You” (1980) 7. Asia “Only Time Will Tell” (1982) 8. Toto “Rosanna” (1982) 9. The Alan Parsons Project “Eye in the Sky” (1982) 10. Journey “Who’s Crying Now” (1981) 11. Olivia Newton-John “Physical” (1981) 12. Olivia Newton-John “Make a Move on Me” (1981) 13. Journey “Still They Ride” (1981) 14. Styx “Reneage” (1978) 15. Chicago “Hard to Say I’m Sorry” (1982) 16. Steve Miller Band “Abracadabra” (1982) 17. Air Supply “Here I Am” (1981) 19. Air Supply “Sweet Dreams” (1980) 20. Billy Joel “Pressure” (1982) 21. Olivia Newton-John “Magic” (1980) 22. Joe Jackson “Steppin’ Out” (1982) 23. Journey “Don’t Stop Believin’” (1981) 24. John Cougar Mellencamp “Jack and Diane” (1982) 25. Queen “Body Language” (1982) 26. Olivia Newton-John & Cliff Richard “Suddenly” (1980) 27. J. Geils Band “Freeze Frame” (1981) 28. Vangelis “Chariots of Fire” (1981) 29. The Beatles “Fixing a Hole” (1967) 30. Steel Breeze “You Don’t Want Me Anymore” (1982) 31. Olivia Newton-John “Suspended in Time” (1980) 32. Air Supply “The One That You Love” (1981) 33. Toto “Africa” (1982) 34. Charlene “I’ve Never Been to Me” (1977) 35. Daryl Hall & John Oates “Maneater” (1982) 36. Neil Diamond “America” (1981) 37. Neil Diamond “Love on the Rocks” (1980) 38. America “You Can Do Magic” (1982) 39. Electric Light Orchestra “The Fall” (1980) 40. Kenny Rogers “Coward of the County” (1979) 41. Kenny Rogers “Lady” (1980) 42. Electric Light Orchestra “I’m Alive” (1980) 43. Olivia Newton-John & Electric Light Orchestra “Xanadu” (1980) 44. REO Speedwagon “Keep on Loving You” (1980) 45. Foreigner “Waiting for a Girl Like You” (1981) 46. Air Supply “Don’t Turn Me Away” (1981) 47. Air Supply “Young Love” (1982) 48. Kansas “Play the Game Tonight” (1982) 49. Neil Diamond “Hello Again” (1981) 50. Paul McCartney “Take It Away” (1982) Resources and Related Links: Dave’s Music Database: “Dave’s Faves: Song Lists” Dave’s Music Database: “Dave’s Faves: Albums/Works” Dave’s Music Database: “Dave’s Faves: Top 100 Acts” First posted 12/1/2018; last updated 6/29/2022.

50 years ago: Fred Astaire hit #1 with Cole Porter’s “Night and Day” for first of 10 weeks

Night and Day Fred Astaire with Leo Reisman’s Orchestra

Writer(s): Cole Porter (see lyrics here) First Charted: December 17, 1932 Peak: 110 US, 11 GA, 2 DF (Click for codes to singles charts.) Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 0.36 video, -- streaming

Awards (Fred Astaire): Click on award for more details. Awards (Ella Fitzgerald): Awards (U2):

About the Song: When it comes to standards, “Night and Day” stands second only to “Star Dust”. MM Cole Porter, whose name is “almost a generic term for witty show songs,” LW wrote what has been called “one of the greatest love ballads ever written” NPR for the Broadway musical Gay Divorce. The song builds the melody by repeating the first note 32 times, followed by another 16 notes repeated at a half tone higher, followed by a return to the original note for another 16 beats. LW Porter has claimed the song was inspired by Moroccan Muslim calls to prayer; TY supposedly while visiting North Africa, he heard a priest wailing to his followers from the local mosque. LW Fred Astaire and Claire Luce sang it in the show and then for the 1934 film version Astaire reprised the number, singing and dancing with Ginger Rogers. JA Astaire’s recording of the song with Leo Reisman’s Orchestra was the first and most successful of seven charting versions between 1932 and 1946. PM It was the biggest hit of 1932. WHC Astaire was a popular choice for Tin Pan Alley songs, not just because he could deliver the box office goods, but because he sang songs as they were written. LW The song has also “held a strong position across the board in jazz” MM with wildly versatile versions by Benny Goodman (big band), Dave Brubeck (piano), Stan Getz (saxophone), and Django Reinhardt (guitar). MM Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Doris Day, and Sammy Davis, Jr. have also recorded vocal versions. MM One of the most interesting covers, though, was the version U2 did for the Cole Porter tribute album Red Hot + Blue. Nearly sixty years after the song first charted, this Irish rock band took the Tin Pan Alley classic to #2 on the modern rock tracks chart and #34 on the album rock tracks chart. Resources: JA David A. Jasen (2002). A Century of American Popular Music: 2000 Best-Loved and Remembered Songs (1899-1999). Routledge: Taylor & Francis, Inc. Page 145. LW Alan Lewens (2001). Popular Song – Soundtrack of the Century. Billboard Books: New York, NY. Page 68. MM Max Morath (2002). The NPR Curious Listener’s Guide to Popular Standards. New York, NY; Penguin Putnam Inc. Page 178. NPR National Public Radio web site (1999). “The Most Important American Musical Works of the 20th Century” TY Don Tyler (1985). Hit Parade 1920-1955. New York, NY: Quill. Page 65. PM Joel Whitburn (1986). Pop Memories 1890-1954. Menomonee Falls, WI; Record Research, Inc. Page 558. WHC Joel Whitburn (1999). A Century of Pop Music. Menomonee Falls, WI; Record Research, Inc. Page 49. Related Links: First posted 12/24/2011; last updated 11/24/2022.

Hall & Oates hit #1 with “Maneater”

Maneater Daryl Hall & John Oates

Writer(s): Sara Allen, Daryl Hall, John Oates (see lyrics here) First Charted: October 15, 1982 Peak: 14 US, 15 CB, 15 GR, 14 RR, 14 AC, 78 RB, 18 AR, 6 UK, 4 CN, 4 AU, 5 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 1.0 US, 0.4 UK Airplay/Streaming (in millions): 2.0 radio, 245.18 video, 458.2 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: Daryl Hall and John Oates became the biggest duo in American chart history on the strength of multiple hits in the ‘70s and ‘80s, including six #1 songs. The biggest of them was “Maneater” from their 11th album, H2O. In a bit of trivia, it was the biggest hit of the ‘80s to feature a sax solo. SF The song grew out of a reggae-tinged prototype Oates created with Edgar Winter. WK Hall changed the groove to a Motown thing. In fact, when Motown songwriter LaMont Dozier first heard the song, the introduction made him think the duo had done a cover of the Supremes’ “You Can’t Hurry Love.” FB It was one of a handful of songs by the duo with a songwriting credit given to Sara Allen, Hall’s girlfriend. Hall said it was her idea to end the line after “she’s a maneater” whereas he’d originally had more written after that. He said her idea is what made the song come together. SF Songfacts says the song is “about a very seductive woman with expensive tastes that she uses men to satisfy.” SF Hall said it was understandable that people assumed the lyrics were about a woman, but the song was actually “about NYC in the ‘80s. It’s about greed, avarice, and spoiled richies. But we have it in the setting of a girl because it’s more relatable.” WK Despite Hall’s claims, lines like “The woman is wild, a she-cat tamed by the purr of a Jaguar” sure sounds more like it is about a woman than New York City. According to Hall, “someone decided the ‘Maneater’ video wouldn’t be complete without an actual panther…It appeared for a second and a half in the video and probably cost $10,000.” SF The panther and a woman are juxtaposed with shots of the band in what appears to be an after-hours champagne room. SF The panther was leashed to the floor for the shoot, but got loose at one point and roamed the rafters. Hall said this is when he left. SF Resources: FB Fred Bronson (2003). The Billboard Book of Number One Hits (5th edition). Billboard Books: New York, NY. Page 565. SF Songfacts WK Wikipedia Related Links: First posted 11/28/2020; last updated 8/9/2023.