 | Dave’s Faves:My Album Collection in 1987 |
By year’s end, this was what my collection looked like. Albums acquired in 1987 are marked with an asterisk.
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First posted 8/31/2021. |
DavesMusicDatabase.com is devoted to ranking, rating, and reviewing music of all genres and eras. The DMDB blog serves up album and song reviews, best-of lists, music history snapshots, and music-related essays.
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Thursday, December 31, 1987
Dave’s Faves: My Album Collection in 1987
Saturday, December 12, 1987
George Michael hit #1 with “Faith”
| First posted 11/26/2020. |
 | FaithGeorge Michael |
Writer(s): George Michael (see lyrics here) Released: October 12, 1987 First Charted: October 23, 1987 Peak: 14 US, 15 CB, 13 RR, 5 AC, 2 UK, 14 CN, 11 AU (Click for codes to singles charts.) Sales (in millions): 1.0 US, 0.6 UK, 1.79 world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 28.17 video, -- streaming |
Awards: (Click on award for more details). 
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About the Song: George Michael started his transition from half of the bubblegum-pop duo Wham! to a more serious artist in 1987. First, he dueted with Aretha Franklin on the #1 song “I Knew You Were Waiting for Me.” He followed that with the controversial “I Want Your Sex,” a #2 solo hit with a decidedly more adult message. The title cut from his first solo album, Faith, could arguably be viewed as Michael finally planting his flag in the “now I’m a serious artist” land for good. “Faith” topped the charts at the end of 1987 and was followed to the #1 spot by “Father Figure,” “One More Try,” and “Monkey,” giving the album four chart-topping hits. This one, however, spent the longest time on top and was named the song of the year by Billboard magazine. The album went on to win the Grammy for Album of the Year. The “rockabilly-tinged title track” AMG was supposedly written as a rock and roll pastiche, which is demonstrated by the incorporation of Bo Diddley’s classic rock and roll beat WK which is also present on Buddy Holly’s “Not Fade Away” and U2’s “Desire.” SF While the video depicted Michael playing guitar, he didn’t know how to play. SF Thank Scottish session player Hugh Burns for the guitar lick which harkened back to the ‘50s Sun Records-era and Bo Diddley. SF Michael worked with Burns for hours to synch the guitar sound to his vocals. SF However, the song definitely had a modern touch as well. It was one of the first digital recordings, meaning he could write and record lyrics line-by-line and even word-by-word. Whie the process was tedious, it let Michael scrutinize every syllable to create the polished track he wanted. SF Resources and Related Links:
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Saturday, November 28, 1987
The Rainmakers charted with Tornado
Tornado |
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Charted: November 28, 1987 Peak: 116 US Sales (in millions): -- Genre: roots rock |
Tracks: Song Title (date of single release, chart peaks) Click for codes to singles charts.
All songs written by Bob Walkenhorst. Total Running Time: 40:23 The Players:
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Rating:  3.934 out of 5.00 (average of 9 ratings)
Awards: (Click on award to learn more).
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About the Album: “The Rainmakers' second album finds their basic Midwestern rock sounding a little tired, despite more studio polish and Steve Phillips’ solid guitar work. While the band sounds more accomplished than on their 1987 debut, Tornado lacks anything as arresting as ‘Rockin' at the T-Dance’ or ‘Let My People Go-Go’ on that album, or ‘Reckoning Day’ on their next one, although Snake Dance and Wages of Sin come close.” AMG “For most of Tornado, Bob Walkenhorst tones down his yelp of indignation, which is both the most distinctive and potentially annoying characteristic of the band’s sound. The restrained Small Circles shows how conventional the band could be, suggesting how easily the Rainmakers could have carved out a comfortable career as a standard AOR act.” AMG “Nice as that track may be, Tornado generally sticks to the Rainmakers’ strengths: being wry, provocative, and confrontational. Only the overly long I Talk with My Hands is truly a poor effort, seriously bogging down the album with a misguided attempt at dance-oriented rock.” AMG “Even when they come up short on melody, though, as on the bland No Romance, Walkenhorst’s lyrics usually provide something to listen for. The Rainmakers’ next release, The Good News & the Bad News, would offer more of Walkenhorst’s outrage, which may have been what Tornado needed to register as one of the band’s better efforts.” AMG |
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“I’ve Had the Time of My Life” hit #1
| First posted 11/27/2020. |
 | I’ve Had the Time of My LifeBill Medley & Jennifer Warnes |
Writer(s): Frank Previte, John DeNicola, Donald Markowitz (see lyrics here) Released: July 10, 1987 First Charted: August 8, 1987 Peak: 11 US, 11 CB, 11 RR, 14 AC, 6 UK, 11 CN, 16 AU (Click for codes to singles charts.) Sales (in millions): 1.0 US, 0.8 UK, 2.03 world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 448.1 video, -- streaming |
Awards: (Click on award for more details).
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About the Song: No one could have guessed how big the soundtrack for Dirty Dancing would be. The album mixed iconic songs from the late ‘50s and early ‘60s alongside new material from, well, has-beens. The most bankable commodity was Jennifer Warnes, who’d had a #1 with Joe Cocker on “Up Where We Belong,” another film song from five years earlier. But Eric Carmen, who was best known for “All by Myself” from more than a decade earlier? Bill Medley? His biggest hits were with the Righteous Brothers in the ‘60s. And Patrick Swayze, the film’s star, was going to sing? This didn’t sound like a surefire hit. However, Swayze’s “She’s Like the Wind,” Carmen’s “Hungry Eyes,” and Medley & Warnes’ “I’ve Had the Time of My Life” all hit the top 5 and the latter went to #1. It gave Medley the distinction of the longest gap between #1’s – 21 years and 7 months from the time of the Righteous Brothers’ “You’re My Sould and Inspiration” and “Time of My Life.” BR1 The song also won an Oscar, a Golden Globe, and a Grammy. Jimmy Ienner, the producer and head of Millennium Records, approached Frankie Previte, whose band Frankie & the Knockouts had a top 10 hit in 1981 with “Sweetheart,” about writing songs for the movie. According to Previte, when he told Ienner he was busy with another project, Previte told him “I suggest you get in on this because if you get a song in this movie, it’s going to change your life.” BR1 Previte was convinced and wrote several songs for the film, including “Hungry Eyes” and “I’ve Had the Time of My Life.” Ienner gave Previte a rough idea of the plot and said they needed a song which started slow, ended up fast, and incorporated a Mambo beat. BR1 After tapping former bandmate John DeNicola and his friend Don Markowitz, for the music, Previte recorded a demo with singer Rachelle Cappelli. It wasn’t in the film, but it was used as a backing track while Swayze and Grey practiced their dancing. The song was offered to Donna Summer and Joe Esposito, but she said no because she objected to the title of the movie. Ienner approached Medley repeatedly about recording the song, but Medley was skeptical after recording a duet with Gladys Knight for the Sylvester Stallone movie Cobra and seeing it flop. He was also expecting a child and didn’t want to travel for fear of missing the birth. BR1 After Medley’s daughter was born SF and the session was moved from New York to California, where Warnes also lived, Medley agreed. BR1 Warnes had already said she’d do it if Medley would. WK
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