Dave’s Faves: #1 Songs in the 1980s

First posted 4/4/2020; updated 4/28/2020.

Dave’s Faves: #1’s: 1980-1989

September 18, 1982. I can peg my fascination with music charts to that date. After listening to a local radio station’s countdown of the hits of the summer, I decided to make my own list of favorites (see original list here). I ended up revising it every few days, eventually developing my own charts which I maintained into the ‘90s. I’ve also projected before and after those lists to create speculative lists of #1 songs for eras not covered by those original charts. You can check out those links here, but this page is focused on the #1 songs that might have been for me in the 1980s. 1980: Jan. 19: Pink Floyd “Comfortably Numb” (2 wks) Feb. 2: Pink Floyd “Mother” (1 wk) Feb. 9: Rush “Free Will” (2 wks) Feb. 23: Air Supply “Lost in Love” (3 wks) Mar. 15: Eagles “I Can’t Tell You Why” (2 wks) Mar. 29: Blondie “Call Me” (3 wks) Apr. 19: Charlie Dore “Pilot of the Airwaves” (2 wks) May 3: Lipps Inc. “Funkytown” (2 wks) May 17: Mac Davis “It’s Hard to Be Humble” (2 wks) May 31: Billy Joel “It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me” (3 wks) June 21: Olivia Newton-John “Magic” (4 wks) July 19: Split Enz “I Hope I Never” (2 wks) Aug. 2: Peter Gabriel “Family Snapshot” (2 wks) Aug. 16: Queen “Another One Bites the Dust” (3 wks) Sept. 6: Peter Gabriel “Biko” (4 wks) Oct. 4: Kenny Rogers “Lady” (2 wks) Oct. 25: The Police “Don’t Stand So Close to Me” (2 wks) Nov. 8: Kool & the Gang “Celebration” (1 wk) Nov. 15: Air Supply “American Hearts” (2 wks) Nov. 29: REO Speedwagon “Keep on Loving You” (2 wks) Dec. 13: The Alan Parsons Project “Games People Play” (2 wks) Dec. 27: Eagles “Seven Bridges Road (live)” (3 wks) 1981: Jan. 17: Styx “The Best of Times” (6 wks) Feb. 28: Climax Blues Band “I Love You” (3 wks) Mar. 21: Styx “Too Much Time on My Hands” (2 wks) Apr. 4: Rush “Tom Sawyer” (3 wks) Apr. 25: Kim Carnes “Bette Davis Eyes” (2 wks) May 9: Stars on 45 “Medley I” (1 wk) May 16: Neil Diamond “America” (4 wks) June 13: Bruce Springsteen “The River” (2 wks) June 27: Squeeze “Tempted” (4 wks) July 25: Lionel Richie & Diana Ross “Endless Love” (2 wks) Aug. 8: Journey “Who’s Crying Now” (2 wks) Aug. 22: Foreigner “Juke Box Hero” (2 wks) Sept. 5: Soft Cell “Tainted Love” (3 wks) Sept. 26: Journey “Don’t Stop Believin’” (2 wks) Oct. 10: Sting “Message in a Bottle (live)” (2 wks) Oct. 24: Olivia Newton-John “Physical” (4 wks) Nov. 21: Foreigner “Waiting for a Girl Like You” (4 wks) Dec. 19: Triumph “Magic Power” (1 wk) Dec. 26: The J. Geils Band “Centerfold” (2 wks) 1982: Jan. 2: Queen with David Bowie “Under Pressure” (2 wks) Jan. 23: Joan Jett & the Blackhearts “I Love Rock and Roll” (2 wks) Feb. 6: Journey “Open Arms” (6 wks) Mar. 20: Alabama “Mountain Music” (4 wks) Apr. 17: Elton John “Empty Garden” (2 wks) May 1: Squeeze “Black Coffee in Bed” (2 ws) May 15: Sting “Roxanne (live)” (2 wks) May 29: Queen “Body Language” (3 wks) June 19: Steve Miller Band “Abracadabra” (2 wks) July 10: John Mellencamp “Jack and Diane” (4 wks) Aug. 7: The Alan Parsons Project “Eye in the Sky” (3 wks) Aug. 28: Van Halen “Happy Trails” (2 wks) Sept. 11: Olivia Newton-John “Heart Attack” (5 wks) Oct. 16: Don Henley “Dirty Laundry” (2 wks) Oct. 30: Toto “Africa” (6 wks) Dec. 11: Charlene with Stevie Wonder “Used to Be” (3 wks) 1983: Jan. 1: The Police “I Burn for You” (2 wks) Jan. 15: The Alan Parsons Project “Old and Wise” (4 wks) Feb. 12: Styx “Mr. Roboto” (8 wks) Apr. 9: Marillion “Script for a Jester’s Tear” (2 wks) Apr. 23: Pat Benatar “Anxiety (Get Nervous)” (3 wks) May 14: U2 “Sunday Bloody Sunday” (3 wks) June 4: The Police “Every Breath You Take” (8 wks) July 30: The Police “King of Pain” (7 wks) Sept. 17: Pat Benatar “Love Is a Battlefield” (4 wks) Oct. 15: Berlin “Masquerade” (1 wk) Oct. 22: Olivia Newton-John “Twist of Fate” (5 wks) Nov. 26: Yes “Owner of a Lonely Heart” (2 wks) Dec. 10: Journey “Ask the Lonely” (3 wks) Dec. 31: Paul McCartney “Pipes of Peace” (2 wks) 1984: Jan. 14: The Police “Wrapped Around Your Finger” (2 wks) Jan. 28: Nena “99 Red Balloons” (3 wks) Feb. 18: Genesis “Illegal Alien” (1 wk) Feb. 25: Yes “Leave It” (2 wks) Mar. 10: Night Ranger “Sister Christian” (1 wk) Mar. 17: Marillion “Fugazi” (1 wk) Mar. 24: Marillion “She Chameleon” (2 wks) Apr. 7: Styx “Music Time” (5 wks) May 12: Prince “When Doves Cry” (3 wks) June 2: Bruce Springsteen “Dancing in the Dark” (4 wks) June 30: Ray Parker, Jr. “Ghostbusters” (4 wks) July 28: Bruce Springsteen “Born in the U.S.A.” (4 wks) Aug. 25: Prince “Let’s Go Crazy” (2 wks) Sept. 8: Dennis DeYoung “Desert Moon” (6 wks) Oct. 20: Pat Benatar “We Belong” (1 wk) Oct. 27: Toto “Stranger in Town” (4 wks) Nov. 24: Don Henley “The Boys of Summer” (2 wks) Dec. 8: Tears for Fears “Shout” (2 wks) Dec. 22: Foreigner “I Want to Know What Love Is” (4 wks) 1985: Jan. 19: Don Henley “Sunset Grill” (2 wks) Feb. 2: Foreigner “That Was Yesterday” (1 wk) Feb. 9: The Alan Parsons Project “Let’s Talk About Me” (3 wks) Mar. 2: Sting “Moon Over Bourbon Street” (2 wks) Mar. 16: Simple Minds “Don’t You Forget About Me” (2 wks) Mar. 30: The Dream Academy “Life in a Northern Town” (2 wks) Apr. 13: Marillion “Kayleigh” (3 wks) May 4: Bruce Springsteen “Trapped” (2 wks) May 18: Hooters “All You Zombies” (2 wks) June 1: Bruce Springsteen “Glory Days” (2 wks) June 15: Dire Straits “Money for Nothing” (2 wks) June 29: Marillion “Childhood’s End?” (1 wk) July 6: Tears for Fears “Head Over Heels” (5 wks) Aug. 10: John Parr “St. Elmo’s Fire (Man in Motion)” (2 wks) Aug. 24: U2 “Bad (live)” (3 wks) Sept. 14: Squeeze “I Won’t Ever Go Drinking Again (?)” (2 wks) Sept. 28: Prince “Purple Rain” (4 wks) Oct. 26: Olivia Newton-John “Soul Kiss” (2 wks) Nov. 9: Squeeze “Heartbreaking World” (4 wks) Dec. 7: Bruce Springsteen “My Hometown” (2 wks) Dec. 21: Sting “Russians” (3 wks) 1986: Jan. 11: Tears for Fears “When in Love with a Blind Man” (2 wks) Jan. 25: The Alan Parsons Project “Stereotomy” (4 wks) Feb. 22: Tony Banks with Fish “Shortcut to Somewhere” (4 wks) Mar. 22: Dennis DeYoung “Call Me” (5 wks) Apr. 26: The Moody Blues “Your Wildest Dreams” (4 wks) May 24: Roger Waters “Folded Flags” (2 wks) June 7: Double “The Captain of Her Heart” (2 wks) June 21: Furniture “Brilliant Mind” (4 wks) July 19: Berlin “Take My Breath Away” (2 wks) Aug. 2: Tom Cochrane with Red Rider “The Boy Inside the Man” (2 wks) Aug. 16: Billy Joel with Ray Charles “Baby Grand” (2 wks) Aug. 30: David + David “Welcome to the Boomtown” (6 wks) Oct. 11: The Police “Don’t Stand So Close to Me ‘86” (6 wks) Nov. 22: Bruce Springsteen “War (live)” (3 wks) Dec. 13: Huey Lewis & the News “Naturally” (2 wks) Dec. 27: The Bangles “Following” (4 wks) 1987: Jan. 24: The Alan Parsons Project “Standing on Higher Ground” (4 wks) Feb. 21: Peter Gabriel & Kate Bush “Don’t Give Up” (4 wks) Mar. 14: U2 “With or Without You” (3 wks) Apr. 4: XTC “Dear God” (6 wks) May 16: Marillion “Incommunicado” (2 wks) May 30: Marillion: “Going Under” (2 wks) June 13: Indigo Girls “Hey Jesus” (1 wk) June 20: Suzanne Vega “Luka” (4 wks) July 18: Terence Trent D’Arby “Wonderful World” (1 wk) July 25: Marillion “Sugar Mice” (2 wks) Aug. 8: Marillion “Tux On” (2 wks) Aug. 22: Marillion “Warm Wet Circles” (3 wks) Sept. 12: Pink Floyd “Learning to Fly” (2 wks) Sept. 26: R.E.M. “It’s the End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)” (2 wks) Oct. 10: Pink Floyd “One Slip” (2 wks) Oct. 24: Sting “Englishman in New York” (2 wks) Nov. 7: Sting “They Dance Alone” (4 wks) Dec. 5: Bruce Springsteen “Spare Parts” (2 wks) Dec. 19: The Rainmakers “The Wages of Sin” (3 wks) 1988: Jan. 9: Eurythmics “Brand New Day” (3 wks) Jan. 30: Lyle Lovett “She’s No Lady” (3 wks) Feb. 20: Lyle Lovett “Pontiac” (3 wks) Mar. 12: Kate Bush “This Woman’s Work” (4 wks) Apr. 9: Sting “Someone to Watch Over Me” (3 wks) Apr. 30: Everything But the Girl “Apron Strings” (2 wks) May 14: Tracy Chapman “Fast Car” (4 wks) June 11: Melissa Etheridge “Bring Me Some Water” (2 wks) June 25: Melissa Etheridge “Occasionally” (2 wks) July 9: Crowded House “Better Be Home Soon” (6 wks) Aug. 20: Rod Stewart “Forever Young” (3 wks) Sept. 10: Everything But the Girl “Oxford Street” (2 wks) Sept. 24: Everything But the Girl “The Night I Heard Caruso Sing” (1 wk) Oct. 1: Olivia Newton-John “It’s Not Heaven” (2 wks) Oct. 15: Shona Laing “Glad I’m Not a Kennedy” (3 wks) Nov. 5: U2 “God Part II” (4 wks) Dec. 3: Sting with Bruce Springsteen “Every Breath You Take (live)” (2 wk) Dec. 17: Bruce Springsteen with Sting “The River (live)” (1 wk) Dec. 24: The Bangles “Something to Believe In” (2 wks) 1989: Jan. 7: Guns N’ Roses “Patience” (3 wks) Jan. 28: Mike + the Mechanics “The Living Years” (2 wks) Feb. 11: Night Ranger “Reason to Be’ (2 wks) Feb. 25: Metallica “One” (5 wks) Apr. 1: Shona Laing “South” (2 wks) Apr. 15: Lyle Lovett “Nobody Knows Me” (2 wks) Apr. 29: Elvis Costello “Veronica’ (3 wks) May 20: Simple Minds “Biko” (3 wks) June 10: Simple Minds “Mandela Day” (2 wks) June 24: U2 “All I Want Is You” (2 wks) July 8: The Call “Let the Day Begin” (2 wks) July 22: Indigo Girls “Closer to Fine” (6 wks) Sept. 2: Tears for Fears “Sowing the Seeds of Love” (3 wks) Sept. 23: Melissa Etheridge “You Can Sleep While I Drive” (2 wks) Oct. 7: Squeeze “Slaughtered, Gutted, and Heartbroken” (2 wks) Oct. 21: Tracy Chapman “All That You Have Is Your Soul” (2 wks) Nov. 4: Madonna “Oh Father” (6 wks) Dec. 16: Tears for Fears “Woman in Chains” (3 wks)

XTC Skylarking released

Skylarking XTC

Released: October 27, 1986 Peak: 70 US, 90 UK Sales (in millions): -- Genre: new wave

Tracks: Song Title (Writers) [time] (date of single release, chart peaks) Click for codes to singles charts. Summer’s Cauldron [3:15] (19 CO) Grass (Moulding) [3:05] (8/16/86, 35 CO, 100 UK) The Meeting Place (Moulding) [3:13] (2/2/87, 35 CO, 100 UK) That’s Really Super, Supergirl [3:22] Ballet for a Rainy Day [2:50] 1000 Umbrellas [3:44] Season Cycle [3:21] Earn Enough for Us [2:54] Big Day (Moulding) [3:32] Another Satellite [4:16] Dear God [3:36] (8/16/86, 37 AR, 1 CO, 99 UK) Dying (Moulding) [2:31] Sacrificial Bonfire (Moulding) [3:46] Songs written by Andy Partridge unless noted otherwise. Total Running Time: 46:50 The Players: Andy Patridge (vocals, guitar) Colin Moulding (bass, vocals) Dave Gregory (guitar, piano, snythesizers, vocals) Todd Rundgren (producer, engineer, various instruments)

Rating: 4.276 out of 5.00 (average of 14 ratings) Quotable: “A pop masterpiece…that has great ambitions and fulfills them with ease.” – Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Album: “Working with producer Todd Rundgren didn’t necessarily bring XTC a sense of sonic cohesion – after all, every record since English Settlement followed its own interior logic – but it did help the group sharpen its focus, making Skylarking its tightest record since Drums and Wires.” AMG “Ironically, Skylarking had little to do with new wave and everything to do with the lush, post-psychedelic pop of the Beatles and Beach Boys. Combining the charming pastoral feel of Mummer with the classicist English pop of The Big Express, XTC expand their signature sound by enhancing their intelligently melodic pop with graceful, lyrical arrangements and sweeping, detailed instrumentation.” AMG “Rundgren may have devised the sequencing, helping the record feel like a song cycle even if it doesn’t play like one, but what really impresses is the consistency and depth of Andy Partridge’s and Colin Moulding’s songs. Each song is a small gem, marrying sweet, catchy melodies to decidedly adult lyrical themes, from celebrations of love (Grass) and marriage (Big Day) to skepticism about maturation (Earn Enough for Us) and religion (Dear God).” AMG “Moulding’s songs complement Partridge’s songs better than before, and each writer is at a melodic and lyrical peak, which Rundgren helps convey with his supple production. The result is a pop masterpiece – an album that has great ambitions and fulfills them with ease.” AMG Notes: The original version of Skylarking featured the song “Mermaid Smile,” later replaced by “Dear God,” which was originally the B-side of “Grass.” Some versions of the album feature the original track listing plus “Dear God” tacked on to the end of the album.

Resources and Related Links: DMDB encyclopedia entry for XTC DMDB encyclopedia entry for Todd Rundgren AMG All Music Guide review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine WK Wikipedia First posted 3/25/2008; last updated 9/5/2021.

XTC released “Dear God”

Dear God XTC

Writer(s): Andy Partridge (see lyrics here) Released: August 16, 1986 First Charted: April 4, 1987 Peak: 37 AR, 1 CO, 99 UK, 1 DF (Click for codes to singles charts.) Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 2.6 video, 19.35 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: XTC’s “Dear God” was originally released as the B-side of “Grass,” the lead single for the new wave band’s ninth album, Skylarking. The album was a loose concept about cycles, such as the cycle of life or of the seasons. “Dear God” was initially left off the album because Virgin Records was concerned about the effect of its agnostic message. Andy Partridge, the songwriter and XTC’s lead singer, was also dissatisfied with the lyrics and didn’t think the song represented his views on religion. WK He eventually became an atheist, but was, as he said, “wrestling with the tail end of my belief” when he wrote this. SF After college DJs started playing the song, listeners started contacting Geffen Records (the U.S. distributer) to ask how they could get the song. Geffen added it to the Skylarking album, bumping the song “Mermaid Smiles.” SF It was then also released as a single on its own. The song was inspired by a series of books with the same title which Partridge considered exploitive of children. The song is built on the idea of an agnostic writing letters to God questioning his existence. Partridge saw it as a commentary on “the need for humans to believe the stuff they do…I’d struggled with the concept of God and Man…since I was a kid.” WK Producer Todd Rundgren had the idea to bring in eight-year-old Jasmine Veillette to sing the opening verse and closing line. WK The anti-religious message provoked hostile reactions, including a bomb threat to a Florida radio station and a student who held a faculty member hostage at knife-point at Binghampton High School in New York and forced the school to play the song over its public address system. Partridge also received lots of hate mail because of the song. He said he felt sorry for the people he upset, but that “if you can’t have a different opinion without them wanting to firebomb your house, then that’s their problem.” WK Sarah McLachlan covered the song on a 1995 XTC tribute album (A Testimonial Dinner: The Songs of XTC) and Rundgren recorded his version for his 2011 (re)Production album. Resources: DMDB Encyclopedia entry for XTC SF Songfacts WK Wikipedia Related Links: First posted 11/18/2019; last updated 10/31/2022.