Daily Boom 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 dreams

                                       Doctor, doctor, can't you see, I'm burning, burning?

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

I often will say that 1984 was musically one of the best years in my life. In a matter of months Madonna, Michael Jackson, Prince, Cyndi Lauper and countless others were blaring from boom boxes while revolutionizing the fashion of an era. The group Thompson Twins can also quite easily be included in the mix of great music. 

Into The Gap was the group's fourth album (led by Tom Bailey and Alannah Curie) and it cranked out a few hits that landed on Billboards charts, including my favorite, "Doctor! Doctor!"  The heavy synth song did incredibly well on both the Hot 100 and Billboard's dance charts. The video itself was made at a time when technical tricks were more important than any kind of story line. Clouds, pastel lighting and ice skaters all are heavily featured in between the Thompson Twins performing their song. Check it out for yourself below. Do you still love this new wave style?

Currently Booming: 90's Rock Playlist

Daily Boom 90's Nostalgia: New Kids On The Block - 'Step By Step'

Step by step, oh, baby, gonna get to you, girl
Step by step, oh, baby, really want you in my world
Step! Hey, girl, in your eyes I see your picture of me all the time
Step! And, girl, when you smile you got to know that you drive me wild
Step by step, oh, baby, you're always on my mind
Step by step, oh, girl, I really think it's just a matter of time.

Let's kick this week off with a great dance track by New Kids On The Block. Even if you weren't a fan of bubble gum pop there is probably one song by this iconic boy band that you did secretly like and it might have been "Step By Step". The guys first broke through in 1988 with songs like "Please Don't Go Girl" and "Hangin' Tough" which helped them to develop a rock solid screaming teen girl fan base in record time. By the time "Step By Step" was released in the spring of 1990, NKOTB were already bonafide superstars.

This song takes me back to that window of time just after high school when I was trying to figure out what I really wanted to do with my life. While lost in that confusion I was a die-hard fan of USA network's Dance Party USA. The teen dance program taped about an hour away from me and on a few cool occasions my friends and I piled into an old car and drove to the studio to be guests on the show. As big as NKOTB was in my hometown, it was nothing compared to the love for the boy band that this entire group of kids felt. Maybe it was because the guys had been guests on the show quite often and that strengthened the appeal, but when you walked in you were clearly on NKOTB turf and that was fine with me.

Who was your favorite member of New Kids On The Block? Come on, we both know that you really did have one! In case you need a refresher, check out the video below and report back!

Happy Sunday!

Currently Booming: Freestyle Friday Playlist

Daily Boom 90's Nostalgia: George LaMond- 'Bad Of The Heart'

I thought that when you gave me love
My life would start to change
Instead I saw that I was wrong
My life was re-arranged

"Bad of the Heart" by George LaMond might just be one of freestyle's very best break up songs of all time. I have to wonder who helped to motivate the stinging lyrics way back in 1990. Of course I think most of us can actually think of an ex or two of our own that they apply to and that, is precisely why this song has become a freestyle anthem. 

I remember seeing LaMond perform back in the early 90's and after catching his set again a few months back I have to say that he may actually sound better now! Check out the liver performance below and if you'd like to check LaMond out live then you're in luck because he still pops up in freestyle shows all over the country. Check out his tour dates here.

Currently Booming: Top 10 Decade Defining Rap Songs of the 1980s

Currently Booming: Old School R&B and Hip Hop Playlist

Daily Boom 80's Throwback: The System- 'Don't Disturb This Groove'

Pay attention, are you listening? You're my favorite girl
Excuse me for the moment, I'm in another world
On a mountain, by a fountain, flowers blooming everywhere
With Venus and cupid, the picture's very clear

It's strange how I can hear a song and easily remember the time of year that it first became popular. The summer of 1987 was loaded with great music and there was one little song that seemed to follow me everywhere that I went. The System's "Don't Disturb This Groove" eventually became know as the official song of that summer but that was after it followed me to the Jersey Shore, to Six Flags and it played in the background no matter what store I shopped in at the time. I affiliate "Don't Disturb This Groove" with car windows rolled down and sunshine. And maybe a bit of Sun In and my big boom box as well. 

I love when songs are kind of timeless in that you really can't tell by listening what era that are from. This is one of those so check it out below!

Daily Boom 80's Throwback: Billy Squier 'Rock Me Tonite'

Back in the early summer of 1984, Billy Squier had an instant hit with "Rock Me Tonite".  It was the lead single off of his Signs of Life album and it came on the heels of two super-successful other albums. The fact that the song was a hit surprised no one, but his video for the track sure did. Supposedly, Squier had decided against working with two other directors before hiring Kenny Ortega to work some magic on "Rock Me Tonite".

Apparently, MTV was waiting for a video to world premiere and in spite of Squier's label not exactly liking the concept, they went ahead and made this thing. While Squier has blamed Ortega for the fallout, I have to wonder how on earth he could have watched this thing back and thought it was good. Squier, an already established rocker with serious credibility danced, pranced and romped his way right out of a career. It's amazing what 4 bad minutes on film did to this guy. Almost immediately his ticket sales dropped like a brick. While Squier is still around making music, it is widely believed that the "Rock Me Tonite" video was the equivalent of career suicide for him.

This video is also thought to be the absolute worst video in the history of MTV, so enjoy how awesomely bad it is. Can you think of any other video that is worse?

Daily Boom 80's Throwback:Stevie Nicks & Tom Petty - 'Stop Draggin' My Heart Around'

Baby you'll come knocking on my front door

Same old line you used to use before

I said ya, well, what am I supposed to do

I didn't know what I was getting into 

So you've had a little trouble in town 

Now you're keeping some demons down

In the summer of 1981 two rock legends in their own right, Stevie Nicks and Tom Petty, teamed up for a duet that was sheer magic. Of course I'm talking about "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around". While the song itself sat at number 3 on Billboard's Hot 100 for half the summer, the video to this day reminds viewers that less really can be more. It was shot in the studio while Nicks and Petty were rehearsing and "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around" ended up being the 25th video shown on the day that MTV debuted to a limited audience.

Flashy can be cool but sometimes all that you really need is a great voice and a mic to knock it out of the park. Check out Nicks and Petty below!

Daily Boom 80's Throwback: The Bangles- 'Walk Like An Egyptian'

Blond waitresses take their trays

They spin around and they cross the floor

They've got the moves (oh whey oh)

You drop your drink and they give you more

All the school kids so sick of books

They like the punk and the metal band

When the buzzer rings (oh whey oh)

They're walking like an Egyptian

It's funny how such a seemingly simple song can cause so much drama behind the scenes. The Bangles "Walk Like An Egyptian" was first released in late 1986 and went on to become Billboard's top song of 1987. The song was actually inspired by people awkwardly trying to keep their balance on a ferry ride and its fun video shows random NYC people doing their best Egyptian dances. Pretty obvious concept, right? Not so easy was getting The Bangles to get along while recording it.

Producers had each of the girls sing a verse and ultimately they decided to cut Debbi Peterson from the lead and delegated her to just backing vocals. They then also replaced her live drumming with a synthesizer drum machine. The result, a furious band member and lots of discord among the ladies. "Walk Like An Egyptian" may have charted well but The Bangles went their separate ways soon after. The laddies eventually reunited and continue to play shows around the world to this day.

Check out the popular video below and click the link for more music by The Bangles.

  The Bangles Greatest Hits

Currently Booming: Are These The Top Ten Guitar Solos From The 80's?

Daily Boom 80's Throwback: Mötley Crüe - 'Wild Side'

Gang fights
Fatal strikes
We lie on the wild side
No escape
Murder rape
Doing time on the wild side
A baby cries
A cop dies
A day's pay on the wild side
Wild side, wild side
Tragic life on the wild side
Wild side, wild side
Kickin ass on the Wild Side

Motley Crue's "Wild Side" always takes me back to high school- on one day in particular. When I was in 11th grade I'd spend my morning cramming in all of my academic classes so that my afternoon could be spent at a vocational school. Cosmetology seemed like a dream job for a 16-year old girl that spent plenty of time teasing her own hair and being in beauty school meant that I had a little card that gave me access to every professional beauty supply store around. My supply of Apple Pectin shampoo was endless and eventually I traded in a big can of Aqua Net for an even larger can of Vavoom which cemented your hair in place AND made it smell like coconut.

Anyway, the afternoon bus was filled with headbangers that had zero desire to go to college when they could be learning how to take a car engine apart, cook like a pro or even become a medical assistant, all while in high school. This bus ride was the high point of most days because we truly became a family and had each others backs, no matter what. Most days the same 3 people sat in the very last row trying to hide the fact that they were smoking a blunt. It was normal. We kept the windows open in the dead of winter and usually had an ancient bus driver that was more concerned with how loud the boom box was than anything else. 

On this particular day there was a fill-in, much younger bus driver, one who didn't care if the music was blaring. Motley Crue had just released Girls, Girls, Girls and the song "Wild Side" was our new anthem. Since the driver told the guys to play it as loud as they wanted to, our bus was rocking, with that one song playing on repeat. The guys decided to be extra brave and they lit up a bowl in the back seat. We figured that might be pushing it and halfway to the school the driver pulled over and came storming up the aisle. We thought we were dead. Since no one would dime anyone out I was expecting to go down for pot that I hadn't even touched. The guys hit the switch on the radio as the rest of us braced for hell. Instead, the young driver had come to the back of the bus to smoke with the guys!

After a minute or two he galloped up the aisle, sat back down in the drivers seat and delivered us all to school, with Motley Crue still blaring, of course. Talk about taking a drive on the wild side!

Currently Booming: Manic Monday Playlist

Daily Boom 80's Throwback: Shannon- 'Give Me Tonight'

Walking sadly through the park
I hear crying in the darkness
And though I act like I cannot hear
The situation is very clear
A girl who's trying to tell her guy
The time has come that they say goodbye

I was always a disco kid. My first 45 single was Disco Duck, followed by Chic's "Le Freak" and Regina Ward's "Ring My Bell".  My dad would let me choose the last song that he played on his stereo every night and for years it was disco, until Pat Benatar came along, anyway.  Disco died a pretty fast death but in 1983 along came Shannon to remind us all that dance music was still cool. 

"Let the Music Play" has the coolest syth and drum machine beat and it drives the song all the way through. Decades later, this is considered one of the first freestyle songs ever made. What I know for sure is that when it comes on now, 32-years after first hitting the charts, everyone still gets up to dance. It's legendary. "Give Me Tonight", the follow up single might actually be a tiny bit better. It only reached number 46 on Billboard's Hot 100 but in the clubs it was just as popular as Shannon's breakout smash.

As for Shannon, well, she's still out there doing her thing. She is still performing those songs that made her a household name and a whole new generation of freestyle fans have embraced her. More often than not Shannon is seen performing in a Freestyle Explosion show that features a whole roster of popular 80's acts like Expose`, The Cover Girls, Nu Shooz and more. 

Check out "Give Me Tonight" one of the songs that helped to put Shannon on the map!

Daily Boom 90's Nostalgia: Lisa Fischer - 'How Can I Ease The Pain'

All alone, on my knees I pray

For the strength to stay away

In and out, out and in you go

I feel your fire

Then I lose my self control

How can I ease the pain

When I know your coming back again

And how can I ease the pain in my heart

I have to admit, I had completely forgotten about Lisa Fisher's "How Can I Ease The Pain" until VH1 played it's stunning video the other day. Whatever I was doing at the time, I stopped to watch every second of it. This, is easily one of the very best ballads of the 90's. When it was released back in 1991 Fisher kind of skyrocketed to success. She was the IT girl and was expected to follow "How Can I Ease The Pain" with years of equally gut-wrenching ballads. Her Grammy win for the track only reinforced that notion.

So where has Fisher been for the last 25 years? The answer is everywhere. She has toured, dueted and provided backing vocals for Tina Turner, The Rolling Stones, Patti Labelle, Chaka Khan... you get the idea. She also does tour on her own and sounds even better live. Few songs from the 90's connect with heartbreak quite like "How Can I Ease The Pain".

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Currently Booming: 80's Hairbands Playlist

Daily Boom 90's Nostalgia: Jade - 'Don't Walk Away'

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90's Nostalgia: Londonbeat- 'I've Been Thinking About You'

We must have been stone crazy when we thought we were just friends

'Cause I miss you, baby, and I've got those feelings again.

I guess I'm all confused about you.

I feel so in love, oh, baby, what can I do?

I've been thinking about you, I've been thinking about you.

I've been thinking about you, I've been thinking about you.

Shi-pow-pow!

Do you guys want to feel really old? Remember Londonbeat's one-hit-wonder "I've Been Thinking About You"? Sure you do and if you're blanking on the song click play below and you're likely to remember it after just a few notes. Anyway, "I've Been Thinking About You" hit number one on Billboard's charts 26 years ago.

Twenty six years ago.

This song was huge and it really does stand the test of time doesn't it? Most 90's dance songs are either obvious house hits or else they have a new jack swing vibe. Londonbeat could have released this just last month exactly as is and it would still get a lot of radio play. It's just a great dance track, one that is a perfect way to start your Thursday morning!

Daily Boom's 90's Nostalgia: Sade - 'No Ordinary Love'

 

So a mermaid walks into a bar...

Nope. That's not the start of a joke, but it is exactly what happens in Sade's video for "No Ordinary Love". This was the lead single off of her 1992 Love Deluxe release and it became a signature song for Sade. While she first burst on the scene in the early 80's with songs like "Smooth Operator" and "The Sweetest Taboo", Sade really hit her stride with this album. While lots of singers in the 90's were soulful, very few set a mood quite like Sade.

Daily Boom's Sunday Playlist

Daily Boom 80's Throwback: Franke & The Knockouts - 'Sweetheart'

 Sweetheart

Who love you from the start?
Who treats you like a star?
Oh sweetheart
Who loves you baby?
Who loves you wrong or right?
Cause you're the spark in my life
Yeah day and night

"Sweetheart" by Franke & the Knockouts is one of those songs that I remember loving but I knew absolutely nothing about. It ended up on my Discover playlist that Spotify hand-picks for each user every Monday. This song was a top-ten Billboard hit for the New Jersey group way back in June of 1981. Franke & the Knockouts eventually put out two successful albums and had a few singles before splitting in 1986.

This is where it gets pretty cool, Tico Torres moved on to play drums for none other than Bon Jovi and lead vocalist Franke Previte's writing talents were honored a few years later. He contributed two tracks on the Dirty Dancing soundtrack, Eric Carmen's "Hungry Eyes" and the infamous "I Had The Time Of My Life". The later actually earned Previte an Academy Award for Best Original Song. 

Before those great accomplishments came "Sweetheart", complete with chest hair, glitter and (not so) slick dance moves!

Currently Booming: 80's TGIF Playlist

Currently Booming: I Want My MTV!

"Remember when MTV actually played music?" How many times have we all heard that question asked? For those of you that do remember, you're very lucky. It was pretty amazing when MTV first started, to actually have visuals to go with some of the best songs being played on the radio. My kids can't even wrap their heads around not being able to go to YouTube and watch what they want, on demand let alone having videos not exist at all!

Those early years of MTV were pretty magical for everyone involved on any level. It was cool for the artists to finally get to bring their lyrics to visual life and it was equally cool to be a 12-year-old counting down the days until the hotly promoted "World Premiere" of whatever music video. Then they'd play it on the hour for an entire weekend just to make sure that we all saw it a couple dozen times.

How many times did you watch the clock while outside playing so that you could be in front of the tv at the top of every hour for when the hottest videos would play?  We all did it, right? I wish for one solid week my kids could go back in time to the early 80's when MTV was something to really look forward to. Now it's just a parade of reality shows with people destined for parenthood, divorce and rehab- all by the age of 21!

It seems to take the death of an iconic artist such as Prince or David Bowie for MTV and VH1 to just play videos. In times of crisis music television instinctively drops all regularly scheduled programming in favor of, that's right,  music videos. A few days of non-stop Prince videos made me realize that I still want my (old) MTV, every day!

Daily Boom 80's Throwback: Whitesnake 'Still Of The Night'

(Photo: David Coverdale/Twitter)

See that guy up there? Well my teenage self was pretty obsessed with him. David Coverdale first formed Whitesnake in the late 70's after fronting Deep Purple for several years. They released a handful of albums but it was Whitesnake's 1987 self titled release that ultimately turned them into a household name. Songs like "Here I Go Again" and "Is This Love" soared to the top of Billboard's charts and Whitesnake was considered to be one of the best bands to come out of the 80's hair band era, mainly because they could really play.

I still remember the first time I saw this group on Headbanger's Ball  (don't lie, you watched that show too). "Still of the Night" was the very first single off of Whitesnake's self titled effort and it was like nothing else from that era. The first two minutes absolutely kicked ass but when it slowed down I was totally sucked in. I also realized that Coverdale only had to mumble the words "ohhh baby" and I was a goner. 

Has anyone else ever played their bass onstage with a bow? Not that I can remember but that effect helped to propel "Still of the Night" onto the list of top rock songs of all time. The video introduced us to the hotness of Coverdale and also one of the most popular video chicks of all time, Tawny Kitaen. Truly something for everyone in today's throwback clip so enjoy it!

Currently Booming: Are These the Best Synth Songs of the 80's?

Daily Boom 80's Throwback: Samantha Fox - 'I Wanna Have Some Fun'

I want to have some fun
Move my body all night long
Working hard every day
So I ain't staying home no way

Why start 2017 off slowly when we can jump right in?  Samantha Fox isn't exactly known for ballads but she is one hell of a dance artist. She has also taken part in some of those freestyle shows that criss-cross the globe so in my mind, that makes Fox fair game. Close enough, right? Plus, I've always loved her. Fox was the very first woman that I can remember bluntly singing about sex in songs that actually charted well.

"Touch Me" was her breakthrough hit in the U.S. and I think the shock value alone easily made copies fly off of the record store shelves. By the time Fox returned with a follow-up album in 1988 we all knew what she was about. "I Wanna Have Some Fun" became a hit in my senior year of high school and it was one of those club hits that my friends and I listened to in between Bon Jovi and Def Leppard. It was simply a fun track that just so happened to have a double entendre which worked perfectly for Fox's sexed up image. Check out the video below. Were you a Samantha Fox fan?

Currently Booming: Billboard's Top 15 on This Week in 1987

Daily Boom 80's Throwback: U2- 'New Year's Day'

All is quiet on New Year's Day
A world in white gets underway
I want to be with you
Be with you night and day
Nothing changes on New Year's Day
On New Year's Day

Happy New Year!