Desmond Child: Top 50 Songs

Desmond Child Top 50 Songs

Songwriter Desmond Child was born John Carles Barrett on 10/28/1953 in Gainesville, Florida. He got his start with Desmond Child & Rouge in 1975, reaching #51 on the Billboard Hot 100 with “Our Love Is Insane” in 1979. The group disbanded a year later. Child has subsequently worked with multiple artists as a songwriter and producer, including Aerosmith, Clay Aiken, Jimmy Barnes, Michael Bolton, Bon Jovi, Cher, Chicago, Kelly Clarkson, Alice Cooper, Dream Theater, Hilary Duff, Selena Gomez, Hall & Oates, Hanson, INXS, Joan Jett & the Blackhearts, Jonas Brothers, Kiss, Cyndi Lauper, Ricky Martin, Jesse McCartney, Meat Loaf, Billie Myers, Allanah Myles, Katy Perry, Ratt, LeAnn Rimes, Roxette, Scorpions, Shakira, Billy Squier, Joss Stone, Barbra Streisand, Bonnie Tyler, Carrie Underwood, Steve Vai, John Waite, Weezer, Robbie Williams, Winger, Trisha Yearwood, and Zedd. For a complete list of this act’s DMDB honors, check out the DMDB Music Maker Encyclopedia entry. Click here to see other acts’ best-of lists.

Awards:

Top 50 Songs Written/Co-Written by Desmond Child Dave’s Music Database lists are determined by song’s appearances on best-of lists, appearances on compilations and live albums by the featured act, and songs’ chart success, sales, radio airplay, streaming, and awards. DMDB Top 1%: 1. Bon Jovi “Livin’ on a Prayer” (1986) 2. Ricky Martin “Livin’ La Vida Loca” (1999) DMDB Top 2%: 3. Bon Jovi “You Give Love a Bad Name” (1986) DMDB Top 5%: 4. Aerosmith “Dude Looks Like a Lady” (1987) 5. Kiss “I Was Made for Lovin’ You” (1979) 6. Sisqó “Thong Song” (2000) 7. Bon Jovi “Bad Medicine” (1988) 8. Aerosmith “What It Takes” (1989) 9. Alice Cooper “Poison” (1989) 10. Ava Max “Kings & Queens” (2020) DMDB Top 10%: 11. Aerosmith “Angel” (1987) 12. Joan Jett & the Blackhearts “I Hate Myself for Loving You” (1988) 13. Billie Myers “Kiss the Rain” (1997) 14. Katy Perry “Waking Up in Vegas” (2008) 15. Aerosmith “Crazy” (1993) 16. Kiss “Heaven’s on Fire” (1984) 17. Ricky Martin with Christina Aguilera “Nobody Wants to Be Lonely” (2001) DMDB Top 20%: 18. Michael Bolton “How Can We Be Lovers” (1989) 19. Bon Jovi “Keep the Faith” (1992) 20. Ricky Martin “She Bangs” (2000) 21. Ricky Martin “The Cup of Life” (1998) 22. Aerosmith “Hole in My Soul” (1997) 23. Kiss “Reason to Live” (1987) 24. Bon Jovi “Born to Be My Baby” (1988) 25. Cher “Just Like Jesse James” (1989) 26. Bon Jovi “This Ain’t a Love Song” (1995) 27. Joan Jett & the Blackhearts “Little Liar” (1988) 28. Bon Jovi “You Want to Make a Memory” (2007) 29. Cher “We All Sleep Alone” (1987) 30. Cher “Save Up All Your Tears” (1991) 31. Kiss “Hide Your Heart” (1989) Beyond the DMDB Top 20%: 32. Bon Jovi “Misunderstood” (2002) 33. Bon Jovi “Something for the Pain” (1995) 34. Alice Cooper “House of Fire” (1989) 35. Bon Jovi “I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead” (1992) 36. Kiss “Let’s Put the X in Sex” (1988) 37. Clay Aiken “Invisible” (2003) 38. Ricky Martin “Shake Your Bon-Bon” (1999) 39. Bon Jovi “Real Life” (1999) 40. John Waite “These Times Are Hard for Lovers” (1987) 41. Hanson “Weird” (1997) 42. Desmond Child “Love on a Rooftop” (1991) 43. Desmond Child & Rouge “Our Love Is Insane” (1979) 44. Ratt “Lovin’ You’s a Dirty Job” (1990) 45. Desmond Child “Youre the Story of My Life” (1991) 46. Zedd with Jon Bellion “Beautiful Now” (2015) 47. Alice Cooper “Bed of Nails” (1989) 48. Bon Jovi “All About Lovin’ You” (2002) 49. INXS “Afterglow” (2005) 50. Aerosmith “F.I.N.E.” (1989) Resources and Related Links: DMDB Encyclopedia entry for Desmond Child Dave’s Music Database: “Acts’ Profile Pages and Best-of Lists” First posted 10/21/2023.

 

Ricky Martin hit #1 with “Livin’ La Vida Loca”

Livin’ La Vida Loca Ricky Martin

Writer(s): Desmond Child, Robi Rosa (see lyrics here) Released: March 23, 1999 First Charted: April 9, 1999 Peak: 15 US, 17 RR, 18 AC, 16 A40, 13 UK, 18 CN, 4 AU, 7 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 1.7 US, 0.78 UK, 8.0 world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): 0.4 radio, 620.41 video, 406.53 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: Ricky Martin was born Enrique Martin Morales in 1971 in Puerto Rico. He joined the boy band Menudo in 1984. He went solo five years later and became a regular on a Mexican soap opera. He had two successful Spanish-language albums and then made the leap to American TV on the soap opera General Hospital. He also landed a role on Broadway in Les Miserables. In New York, he met songwriter and producer Robi Rosa, who produced his next album. Rosa often worked with songwriter Desmond Child, who’d written Kiss’ “I Was Made for Lovin’ You,” Bon Jovi’s “Livin’ on a Prayer,” Michael Bolton’s “How Can We Be Lovers,” and Cher’s “Just Like Jesse James.” Rosa and Child wrote “La Copa De La Vida (The Cup of Life)” for Martin’s next album and it became the theme song for the World Cup in Paris. At this point, he wasn’t a household name, but he was a big enough name in Latin music to land a slot performing the song at the 1999 Grammys. His “knock-out performance” FB was one of “just a handful of television performances that could be considered defining moments in an artist’s career.” FB His first English-language album followed that year. It included another Rosa and Child-penned song – “Livin’ La Vida Loca.” The song combined Latin, Afro-Cuban, and Brazilian rhythms with an “arena rock chant” and a piano style associated with salsa music. Child said that Martin reminded him of a Latin Elvis. FB He felt the song title “embodied Ricky’s zest for life and the kind of risk-taking that living a very fast life all over the world…entails.” FB The song was about “an irrestible, particularly sinister wild woman who lives on the edge, seducing others into her crazy world.” WK It was accompanied by “an energetic and sexy video” KL and was well received by critics such as Billboard’s Chuck Taylor, who called it “electrifying” and “filled with life.” WK Chicago Tribune’s Greg Kot called it “the year’s most ubiquitous hit single” WK and Elle magazine named ith the “best ‘90s pop song.” WK Entertainment Tonight’s Liz Calvario called it “part of pop culture history.” WK It hit #1 in 20 countries WK and Martin ended up at the helm of a Latin-pop movement in the U.S. which saw “subsequent chart-toppers by Jennifer Lopez, Enrique Iglesias, Christina Aguilera, and Santana.” FB Resources: DMDB encyclopedia entry for Ricky Martin FB Fred Bronson (2007). The Billboard Book of Number One Hits (4th edition). Billboard Books: New York, NY. Page 881. KL Jon Kutner and Spencer Leigh. (2005). 1000 UK Number One Hits. Omnibus Press: London, UK. Pages 484-5. WK Wikipedia Related Links: First posted 4/16/2022; last updated 4/24/2024.

Aerosmith’s Pump released

First posted 4/2/2008; updated ?.

Pump Aerosmith

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Released: September 12, 1989 Peak: 5 US, 3 UK, 2 CN, 13 AU Sales (in millions): 7.0 US, 0.1 UK, 11.5 world (includes US and UK) Genre: classic rock

Tracks: (Click for codes to singles charts.) Young Lust (Tyler, Perry, Jim Vallance) [4:18] F.I.N.E. (Tyler, Perry, Desmond Child) [4:09] (11/25/89, 14 AR) Going Down/Love in an Elevator (Tyler, Perry) [5:39] (9/2/89, 5 US, 1 AR, 13 UK, 13 CN, 33 AU, gold single) Monkey on My Back (Tyler, Perry) [3:57] (4/14/90, 17 AR) Water Song/Janie’s Got a Gun (Tyler, Tom Hamilton) [5:38] (9/23/89, 4 US, 2 AR, 76 UK, 2 CN, 1 AU) Dulcimer Stomp/The Other Side (Tyler, Vallance, Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier, Eddie Holland) [4:56] (6/16/90, 22 US, 1 AR, 46 UK, 22 CN, 73 AU) My Girl (Tyler, Perry) [3:10] Don’t Get Made, Get Even (Tyler, Perry) [4:48] Hoodoo/ Voodoo Medicine Man (Tyler, Brad Whitford) [4:39] What It Takes (Tyler, Perry, Child) [5:11] (1/13/90, 9 US, 1 AR, 15 CN, 46 CN) Total Running Time: 47:22 The Players: Steven Tyler (vocals, keyboards, harmonica, percussion) Joe Perry (guitar) Brad Whitford (rhythm guitar) Tom Hamilton (bass) Joey Kramer (drums, percussion)

Rating: 4.346 out of 5.00 (average of 13 ratings) Quotable: “Rank[s] with Rocks and Toys in the Attic.” – Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide Awards:

About the Album: 1987’s Permanent Vacation heralded in the second wave of Aerosmith, the return of the original lineup in one of rock history’s greatest comeback stories. While that album “seemed a little overwhelmed by its pop concessions, Pump revels in them without ever losing sight of Aerosmith’s dirty hard rock core.” STE For Pump, the band set out to explore “a rawness that had been glossed over for a commercial sound in Permanent Vacation.” WK As guitarist Joe Perry said, “We wanted to strip off a little fat we felt on our last one.” WK The result? Q magazine called it “the year’s best metal album,” WK noting that “it took a bunch of hoary, addled old stagers like Aerosmith” to “hoist the heavy metal crown from the likes of Def Leppard and Bon Jovi.” WK Rolling Stone called Aerosmith “the reigning kind of the double entendre” WK but said Pump “has more going for it than locker-room laughs, such as the vintage high-speed crunch (circa Toys in the Attic) of Young Lust…[and] the sassy slap ‘n’ tickle of My Girl.” WK Part of the success of Vacation was due to producer Bruce Fairbairn, who returns for Pump. At his suggestion, the band brought in outside songwriting help from Desmond Child (Loverboy, Bon Jovi) and Jim Vallance (Bryan Adams, Bon Jovi) for the previous album. Both songwriters show up again here – Child on What It Takes and F.I.N.E. and Vallance on “Young Lust” and The Other Side. Two of those songs were top 40 hits. “What It Takes,” which “has more emotion and grit than any of their other power ballads,” STE hit #9 on the U.S. pop charts while “The Other Side” reached #22. Both songs also topped the album rock tracks chart. “The Other Side” gave Aerosmith some legal troubles when the famed Motown songwriting team of Holland-Dozier-Holland threatened to sue the band because of similarities between the melodies of “The Other Side” and “Standing in the Shadows of Love.” Aerosmith ended up adding them to the songwriting credits. WK The album’s two biggest songs, however, were penned solely by the band. Lead single Love in an Elevator, like “The Other Side,” rock[s] relentlessly, no matter how many horns and synths fight with the guitars.” STE The song was a top-five pop hit and, surprisingly, Aerosmith’s first trip to the pinnacle of the album rock chart. “Janie’s Got a Gun tackles more complex territory than most previous songs” STE with its no-holds-barred glimpse into incest and murder. It was also a top-five pop hit. It also gave Aerosmith its first Grammy – for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals. They went on to win the award three more times. Notes: An alternate version of the album included a hidden instrumental track after “What It Takes” while the Japanese version added the song “Ain’t It Enough.”

Resources and Related Links: Aerosmith’s DMDB Encyclopedia entry STE Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide WK Wikipedia

Aerosmith roars back with Permanent Vacation

First posted 4/1/2008; updated 9/8/2020.

Permanent Vacation Aerosmith

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Released: August 18, 1987 Peak: 11 US, 37 UK, 7 CN, 42 AU Sales (in millions): 5.0 US, -- UK, 9.0 world (includes US and UK) Genre: classic rock

Tracks: Song Title (Writers) [time] (date of single release, chart peaks) Click for codes to singles charts. Heart’s Done Time (Joe Perry, Desmond Child) [4:42] Magic Touch (Steven, Tyler, Perry, Jim Vallance) [4:37] (5/21/88, 42 AR) Rag Doll (Tyler, Perry, Vallance, Holly Knight) [4:25] (9/12/87, 17 US, 12 AR, 42 UK, 23 CN) Simoriah (Tyler, Perry, Vallance) [4:25] Dude Looks Like a Lady (Tyler, Perry, Child) [4:25] (8/29/87, 14 US, 4 AR, 20 UK, 22 CN, 95 AU) St. John (Tyler) [4:10] Hangman Jury (Tyler, Perry, Vallance) [5:33] (11/14/87, 14 AR) Girl Keeps Coming Apart (Tyler, Perry) [4:13] Angel (Tyler, Child) [5:08] (1/30/88, 3 US, 2 AR, 69 UK, 14 CN) Permanent Vacation (Tyler, Brad Whitford) [4:49] I’m Down (John Lennon, Paul, McCartney) [2:20] The Movie (instrumental) (Tyler, Perry, Whitford, Tom Hamilton, Joey Kramer) [4:00] Total Running Time: 51:38 The Players: Steven Tyler (vocals, keyboards, harmonica, percussion) Joe Perry (guitar) Brad Whitford (rhythm guitar) Tom Hamilton (bass) Joey Kramer (drums, percussion)

Rating: 3.792 out of 5.00 (average of 12 ratings) Awards:

About the Album: Aerosmith looked like they might be finished as a band after 1979’s Night in the Ruts. Guitarist Joe Perry left the band during the making of the album, the band members were fighting, and substance abuse was taking its toll. Three years later, the band released Rock in a Hard Place but without Perry and Brad Whitford, who left during recording, the band wasn’t the same. The original lineup returned for 1985’s Done with Mirrors, but the album was met with a tepid reception. Then rap group Run-D.M.C. came to the rescue. Their #4 remake of Aerosmith’s “Walk This Way” featured Tyler and Perry and brought the band back into the limelight. Suddenly, during the height of ‘80s hair bands, Permanent Vacation proved “the crucial catalyst in reintroducing Aerosmith to the masses.” AMG It was the group’s most successful album in a decade and found themselves at the top of the heap, reinvented “as ‘80s and ‘90s superstars.” AMG Credit goes to John Kalodner, the A&R executive who pushed the band to work with “knob-twiddler extraordinaire Bruce Fairbairn and career-revitalizing song doctors Desmond Child and Jim Vallance.” AMG Fairbairn had previously produced three Loverboy albums and, most notably, Bon Jovi’ monstrous 1986 smash, Slippery When Wet. After Permanent Vacation, he also produced Aerosmith’s next two albums – which were even bigger successes. Desmond Child had also worked on Bon Jovi’s Slippery When Wet, co-writing the #1 hits “You Give Love a Bad Name” and “Livin’ on a Prayer.” While “Child’s pedantic writing often compromises the timeliness of even the best material,” AMG Dude Looks Like a Lady, co-written with Tyler and Perry, proved a perfect song for the ‘80s. It offered a tongue-in-cheek nod to the contradictory nature of hair bands (a movement which Aerosmith was now part of) looking affeminate while promoting themselves as hyper-masculine. The band also managed to give the song enough pop sensibility to make it a hit without abandoning their rock cred. Jim Vallance co-wrote all the songs on Bryan Adams’ 1984 smash album Reckless, which included the #1 “Heaven” and top-five hit “Summer of ’69.” He co-wrote Rag Doll with Holly Knight as well as Tyler and Perry. The song gave Aerosmith its second top-20 hit from the Permanent Vacation album. After those two straightforward rock songs, the album’s third single “showcases the band at the peak of its power ballad cheese.” AMG “The crowd-pleasing schmaltz of Angel” AMG ended up the band’s biggest hit to date, soaring all the way to #3 on the pop charts. The album’s “pre-fab radio gems…remain largely unassailable from a ‘delivering the goods’ perspective” AMG and “the mostly stellar songwriting…makes it a strong effort overall.” AMG There are also “a guaranteed number of incredible tracks for any time and place. These include the earthy voodoo blues of St. John and the excellent hobo-harmonica fable of Hangman Jury.” AMG Still, “some of the album’s nooks and crannies haven’t aged all that well because of Fairbairn's overwrought production, featuring an exaggerated sleekness typical of most mid-‘80s pop-metal albums.” AMG There are cuts that “lean to the filler side,” AMG but “the awkwardly Caribbean title track and the cover of the Beatles’ I’m Down are well executed.” AMG

Resources and Related Links: Aerosmith’s DMDB Encyclopedia entry AMG John Franck & Ed Rivadavia, All Music Guide

Bon Jovi hit #1 with “Livin’ on a Prayer”

Livin’ on a Prayer Bon Jovi

Writer(s): Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora, Desmond Child (see lyrics here) First Charted: October 25, 1986 Peak: 14 US, 14 CB, 13 GR, 13 RR, 12 AR, 4 UK, 12 CN, 3 AU, 2 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 3.4 US, 1.8 UK, 6.29 world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 1004.1 video, 1272.55 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: Bon Jovi started in 1983, releasing two albums over the next couple of years and building a following as a platinum-selling hair band. For their third album, they brought in producer Bruce Fairbairn because, as Jon Bon Jovi said, “he just had that same Jersey gutter attitude as us.” FB Fairbairn noted that “while their previous record had been good, …the songs weren’t as strong as they could be. Specifically, they didn’t have songs on their records that were radio-oriented.” FB That was no longer a problem with the resulting Slippery When Wet album. On the strength of three top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 the album sold 20 million copies and gave Bon Jovi international fame. The first single, “You Give Love a Bad Name,” was a #1 hit, but the follow-up – “Livin’ on a Prayer” eclipsed it, becoming the band’s signature song. It was the only song in 1987 to spend more than three weeks atop the Billboard charts and Cashbox named it song of the year. In an online poll in 2006, VH1 viewers named it the greatest song of the ‘80s. WK Lyrically, the song focuses on a working-class couple struggling to make ends meet. Tommy and Gina were inspired by real people who Jon Bon Jovi and Desmond Child, a co-writer on the song, knew. WK Initially, Jon didn’t like the song, thinking they might pawn it off on a soundtrack. FB Fairbairn fought for including it on the album and after they re-recorded the song with the inclusion of a talk box – an effect featured prominently on Peter Frampton’s “Show Me the Way” a decade earlier – the band thought they had a single on their hands. FB The song experienced an unusual revival in 2013. A video shot at a Boston Celtics’ game showed basketball fan Jeremy Fry enthusiastically dancing to “Livin’ on a Prayer.” When it went viral and drew millions of views worldwide, the song the re-charted, hitting #25. SF Resources: FB Fred Bronson (2007). The Billboard Book of Number One Hits (4th edition). Billboard Books: New York, NY. Page 660. SF Songfacts WK Wikipedia Related Links: First posted 11/1/2019; last updated 7/25/2023.