90's Nostalgia: Saigon Kick- 'Love is on the Way'

"Time of season
Wipes the tears
No rhyme or reason
No more fears
All the dreamin'
Is far behind
You are here now
Everything's alright"

Is Saigon Kick one of the most underrated bands of the late '80s and early '90s? Their fans would probably say, absolutely.

Formed in 1988, Saigon Kick spent a few years building their following before finally breaking through in a big way with their 1992 ballad "Love Is on the Way." The song climbed all the way to No. 12 on the Billboard Hot 100, but the chart position almost doesn't tell the whole story. "Love Is on the Way" was everywhere. Radio stations played it constantly, MTV gave it plenty of love, and suddenly this hard-rocking band had a gorgeous acoustic ballad that seemed to connect with just about everybody.

You probably know the song within the first few seconds. That guitar comes in and, before the vocals even start, there's a good chance your brain has already gone, Oh yeah… THIS song. Technically, Saigon Kick gets tossed into that giant musical filing cabinet labeled "One-Hit Wonders." And I suppose that's fair if we're talking strictly about major Billboard hits. But there's a problem with that label. It can make you forget that there was an actual band behind the song.

Recently, I realized something kind of embarrassing: despite knowing "Love Is on the Way" for decades, I had never actually sat down and listened to an entire Saigon Kick album. So I fixed that and I gave The Lizard a shot, and honestly? There's a lot more going on there than the one song most of us remember. It's a reminder that sometimes we hear one massive song from a band, file them away in our musical memory and never bother to dig any deeper.

And every once in a while, when we finally do, we discover that we missed something pretty damn good. Saigon Kick may forever be associated with "Love Is on the Way," but that doesn't mean they only had one song worth hearing. Thirty-plus years later, the band is still part of the conversation, and that alone says something.

Boom Radio: 80s Synth Pop Classics

 

80's Throwback: Thompson Twins- 'Doctor Doctor!'

I saw you there, just standing there

And I thought I was only dreaming, yeah

I kissed you then, then once again

You said, you would come and dance with me

Dance with me, across the sea

And we could feel the motion of a thousand dream Doctor, doctor, can't you see, I'm burning, burning?

Oh, doctor, doctor, is this love I'm feeling?

I often say that 1984 was one of the best musical years of my life. Seriously, think about what was happening. Within the span of just a few months, Madonna, Michael Jackson, Prince, Cyndi Lauper and countless others were pouring out of boom boxes and car radios while completely changing what pop music, and the people making it, looked like.

The music was bigger. The fashion was louder. The hair was, well… the hair was something else. And right in the middle of all that glorious ’80s chaos were the Thompson Twins.

The Thompson Twins had already established themselves as one of the more interesting new wave acts of the era, but 1984 was really their moment. Their fourth album, Into the Gap, gave us several hits and turned the group, led by Tom Bailey and Alannah Currie, into bona fide MTV-era stars.

And while there were plenty of songs to choose from, my favorite has always been “Doctor! Doctor!. Those giant synthesizers. That unmistakable new wave pulse. The slightly dramatic vocals. It sounded futuristic without ever losing that wonderfully strange charm that made so much ’80s music special.

90's Nostalgia: The Scorpions -'When You Came Into My Life'

You make me dream

By the look in your eyes
You give me the feel, I've been longing for
I wanna give you my soul
All my life
Cause you are the one I've been waiting for
I've been waiting for so long
When you came into my life
It took my breath away
And the world stopped turnin' round
For your love

I can't tell you exactly where I was the first time I heard When You Came Into My Life, but I can tell you how it felt. That's the funny thing about music. We don't always remember the date, we don't remember what we were wearing or what was happening around us. But somehow, years later, we can hear the opening notes of a song, and we're right back there. That's what this song does for me.

The Scorpions have given us plenty of songs that are impossible to forget. Rock You Like a Hurricane is practically stamped into the DNA of '80s rock. No One Like You takes me right back to MTV, big hair and an era when a guitar solo could practically stop traffic. And Still Loving You remains one of those power ballads that could make an entire room go quiet.

But When You Came Into My Life always felt different. It wasn't trying to be the biggest song in the room. It was simply beautiful. Maybe that's why I've always had a soft spot for it.

Listening to that 2013 unplugged performance all these years later makes it even more special. There's something about hearing a legendary rock band strip everything down and simply perform. No massive production. No need to prove anything. After all the hits, all the albums, all the tours and all those years of Rock You Like a Hurricane, the Scorpions still knew how to whisper.

Boom Radio: Gold Dust Women

 

90's Nostalgia: Cause & Effect - 'You Think You Know Her'

"Like children
Rarely seen and never heard
Emotion
Bare your soul you'll never learn
But don't ask why
And you won't get lied to
Speak to her softly
It's something you get used to
You think you know her
But you never really lived a life without her"

The 80s may have been the decade that gave us the full-blown synth-pop explosion, but if you thought the sound disappeared when the calendar flipped to 1990, think again.

The synthesizers kept humming. The drum machines kept clicking. And every now and then, a band would come along that sounded just familiar enough to make you remember exactly why you fell in love with the genre in the first place.

That’s where Cause & Effect comes in.

I vaguely remember discovering this group around the beginning of the 90s and immediately thinking, Wait a minute… why does this remind me so much of New Order? And honestly, that wasn't a bad thing.

There was that same cool, electronic pulse, the hypnotic synth lines and that slightly detached vocal delivery that made so much of the best ’80s alternative and dance music feel like it belonged in some futuristic nightclub at 2 a.m. But Cause & Effect seemed to push things just a little further. Their sound felt a bit more progressive, a little darker and very much at home in the changing musical landscape of the early ’90s. Then came “You Think You Know Her.”

Released in 1990, the song found its way onto dance floors and into the ears of anyone still craving that electronic magic. It eventually reached No. 38 on Billboard’s Club Play chart, which certainly wasn't a massive chart breakthrough.

But charts don't always tell the whole story, because sometimes there's a song that simply sounds right.

“You Think You Know Her” was one of those songs for me. It had that infectious electronic groove that made you want to turn up the volume and let it play. It wasn't trying to reinvent music. It didn't need to.

And isn't that one of the best things about digging through old music? You stumble across something you haven't heard in decades and suddenly you're transported right back to another time. Maybe it's a club. Maybe it's a car ride. Maybe it's a record store or a radio station playing something just a little outside the mainstream.

Cause & Effect may not have become household names, but “You Think You Know Her” feels like one of those wonderfully forgotten pieces of the early ’90s that deserves to be rediscovered.

Boom Radio: Brit Rock Playlist

 

90's Nostalgia: Jewel - 'You Were Meant for Me'

"I go about my business, I'm doing fine
Besides what would I say if I had you on the line?
Same old story, not much to say
Hearts are broken, every day."

Jewel burst onto the music scene at just the right moment in the ’90s.

Hair bands had mostly packed up their Aqua Net, grunge had started to fade, and R&B was slipping just a little from the center of the spotlight. New Jack Swing and house music were still around, but suddenly we were hungry for something fresh. And along came the indie-rock chicks. Sarah McLachlan. Shawn Colvin. Paula Cole. The list seemed endless. One after another, these women showed up with guitars, gorgeous voices and songs specifically engineered to tug at our heartstrings, and, naturally, our wallets. And boy, did it work.

Then there was Jewel. “You Were Meant For Me” became a classic almost overnight. If you were college-age, nursing a broken heart and trying desperately to fill the void left by someone who had clearly moved on before you had, this song felt less like a hit single and more like a personal attack. Honestly, it was practically the official anthem for breakups that weren't mutual. I remember watching Jewel's earliest videos and being completely mesmerized by how simple everything felt. There was no need for flashy sets, elaborate choreography, or an army of dancers.

The visuals were beautiful, but they never overwhelmed the song. If anything, they made the music feel even more intimate. There was something wonderfully unpolished about watching this young woman sit with her guitar and sing directly into all those feelings we were trying so hard to pretend we didn't have.

The mid-’90s gave us plenty of music that was loud, complicated and determined to make a statement. Jewel offered something different. She made vulnerability sound beautiful. For a generation of twenty-somethings trying to figure out relationships, heartbreak, adulthood and what the hell we were supposed to do next, that was more than enough.

So let's go back for a minute. Back to the ’90s. Back to Jewel. Back to the song that probably ruined a perfectly good afternoon for anyone who had ever been dumped by somebody they weren't quite finished loving.

80s Throwback: Christopher Cross - 'Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do)'

 

If you grew up in the early '80s, Christopher Cross' “Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do)” is one of those songs you know well.

You didn't even have to see Arthur to know the song. It was everywhere. On the radio. In the supermarket. Coming through the speakers at the mall. Playing in the background while somebody's mom was driving you somewhere in the family station wagon.

And that opening? “Once in your life you find her…” Yep. There it is. Instant time machine.

Released in 1981, “Arthur's Theme” was written by Christopher Cross along with Burt Bacharach, Carole Bayer Sager and Peter Allen for the Dudley Moore movie Arthur. It became Cross' second No. 1 hit and won the Academy Award for Best Original Song.

But honestly, none of that explains why the song still works. It's the feeling.

“Arthur's Theme” has that very particular early-'80s magic where everything sounds expensive, romantic, and just a little bit melancholy. The keyboards shimmer and the vocals are impossibly smooth. The whole thing feels like it's floating three feet above the ground.

And then there's that line:

“When you get caught between the Moon and New York City…”

I mean, COME ON. Who writes a lyric like that anymore?

It sounds like a postcard from a New York that existed mostly in our imagination, glamorous, slightly lonely, romantic and filled with people who apparently had nowhere to be until midnight.

Christopher Cross was having quite a moment around this time. His self-titled debut had already given us “Sailing,” “Ride Like the Wind” and “Never Be the Same.” He was suddenly everywhere, with that distinctive voice that sounded like it had been dipped in silk.

But “Arthur's Theme” was different. It had a little more personality. A little more humor. A little more movie magic. And that was fitting because Arthur itself was such a strange little cultural phenomenon. Dudley Moore played a wealthy, perpetually drunk man-child who has to choose between the life he's expected to live and the woman he actually loves.

Somehow, Christopher Cross managed to put all of that into four minutes. You could hear it without thinking about Dudley Moore at all. It belonged to anyone who had ever been young and hopelessly romantic. Anyone who had stared out a car window at night imagining that somewhere, somehow, life was about to become much more interesting. That's what I love about these old songs, they weren't trying to be nostalgic.

Back then, it was simply a new Christopher Cross song on the radio. Now? It's 1981 all over again, and we're all just trying to do the best we can.

Boom Radio: Love Note's Playlist

 

80s Throwback: Madonna - 'Causing A Commotion (Who's That Girl Soundtrack)'

"You met your match when you met me
I know that you will disagree, it's crazy
But opposites attract, you'll see
And I won't let you get away so easy

The love you save may be your own
Can't fight this feeling, aren't you tired of being alone
You won't admit it, but you know it's true
It's not a secret how I feel when I stand next to you"

In August of 1987, Madonna crashed and burned onscreen in a little movie called Who's That Girl. And yet, somehow, the movie's soundtrack managed to come out of the whole mess smelling like a rose.

The movie was originally supposed to be called Slammer, and I can still remember the buildup all summer long. There was a certain inevitability to it: Madonna was everywhere, so naturally we were all going to see her new movie. Casting Madonna, however, wasn't quite enough to save Who's That Girl from becoming a critical and box-office disappointment.

But that soundtrack? Now we're talking.

The title track, Who's That Girl, arrived first and promptly went to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. It was catchy, bright, and completely unavoidable that summer. Then came Causing a Commotion.

I remember that song almost feeling like it appeared out of nowhere. One minute you weren't thinking about it, and the next minute it was lodged permanently in your head. That beat, that attitude, that unmistakable Madonna energy—it was exactly the kind of song that made you want to own the soundtrack even if you had absolutely no intention of defending the movie. Because let's be honest: every soundtrack has that one song. The song that makes you think, Well, I guess I have to buy this now.

For me, Causing a Commotion was that song. It went all the way to No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and topped the dance chart, becoming one of those quintessential late-'80s Madonna floor-fillers that still sounds ridiculously good decades later. And then there's the backstory.

The song was written during the final, increasingly turbulent period of Madonna's marriage to Sean Penn. Their relationship was already a regular fixture in the entertainment press, with stories about Penn's violent outbursts, battles with paparazzi and the general chaos surrounding the couple.

Remember, there was no internet to immediately fact-check everything we read. We had MTV, Rolling Stone, People, Entertainment Tonight and whatever magazine happened to be sitting at the supermarket checkout. So much of what we knew about celebrities came filtered through those sources.

And from that perspective, Madonna and Sean Penn's marriage seemed every bit as complicated and combustible as the title of this song suggested. Causing a Commotion may have been attached to a movie that didn't exactly set the world on fire, but the song had a life of its own.

80s Throwback: Sweet Sensation - 'Sincerely Yours'

"Dear I write you this letter

To show you how much your love means to me

I wish we could be together

I need you in my life oh can't you see

You promised we would be together

But you still haven't answered my letter

Oh, oh, I'm sincerely yours

The one my heart beats for, the one I adore

Oh, oh, I'm sincerely yours

The love that you gave I've never felt before."

Latin freestyle and Friday just seem to belong together. At least in my mind they do.

If Friday is the day we officially celebrate the weekend ahead, then there is really only one proper way to kick things off: club songs, freestyle, and a healthy dose of old-school house music.

So let's take a trip back to 1988, when Sweet Sensation stepped out from the shadow of groups like Exposé and The Cover Girls and carved out a place of their own on the dance floor.

And let's be honest: Sweet Sensation had the hair, the clothes, and all the moves. But there was something different about them. They didn't feel like untouchable pop stars who lived in some faraway universe.

They seemed like the girls down the street. The girls you could have gone to school with. The girls you could have met at the mall. The girls who might have ended up dancing next to you at the club on a Friday night. That relatability was part of the magic.

Led by Betty Dee, Sweet Sensation delivered the kind of dance-pop that practically demanded a trip to the dance floor. Songs like “Take It While It’s Hot” and “Hooked on You” became familiar favorites on shows like Open House Party and Dance Party USA, helping turn the group into one of the hot names in the freestyle scene.

And then came the song that changed everything. “If Wishes Came True," was a dreamy ballad that became Sweet Sensation's signature moment, eventually reaching No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. It was a remarkable crossover for a group that had built its reputation in the clubs and on the freestyle scene.

But for those of us who remember Sweet Sensation from the dance-floor days, the hits that got us moving still have a special place. And thankfully, the story didn't end in 1988. Betty Dee, Jenae Colon, and Belle Ritter eventually reunited, bringing Sweet Sensation back to stages and reminding longtime fans just how much fun this music was, and still is. One familiar beat comes on, and suddenly you're back there: the lights are low, the weekend is just beginning, your hair is probably bigger than it has any right to be, and absolutely nothing matters except the next song.

So, this Friday, turn it up because “Sincerely Yours” still sounds pretty damn good.

Boom Radio: 90s Alt Playlist