The great eighties countdown week 9

It's Saturday morning yet again and time for the Countdown.  Before we get going, I know I jam a lot of posts in towards the weekend, and they might get a little buried.  I heartfully request that you check out the Friday night post, "The two sides of giving."  Even if you aren't interested in the main article (though how could you not be?), check out at the bottom, a link to a poem about the truth of Independence Day I got published on Yahoo voices.  It's cool, historical, typically hard to understand, and if you check it out, I make money!  And while you're digging backwards, don't forget this week's Time Machine, especially if you like the 'six degrees' feature.  Now, on with the countdown!

140- Hard Habit To Break, Chicago, #3, 1984.  I'm not a big fan of the "Chicago-as-Cetera's-backup-band era, but this one has enough horns to make the cut.

139- Blood And Roses, Smithereens, #14 Mainstream Rock, 1986.  A powerful song about love gone wrong.  "I want to love, but it comes out wrong. I want to live, but I don't belong. I close my eyes and I see Blood and roses."

138- Private Eyes, Hall and Oates, #1, 1981.  I was a big fan of the "new sound" of Hall and Oates starting on the Voices lp.  This is one that had some staying power.

137- Just Like Starting Over, John Lennon, #1, 1980.  Our group of friends were one of those who bought this 45 in honor of Lennon's assassination.  But I think it would have hit #1 anyway, because it was a good, fresh song.

136- Touch And Go, the Cars, #37, 1980.  The sped-up beat of the chorus made this my favorite Cars tune of all time- and one of the few I cared for after their classic first lp.

135- Changes, Yes, #6 MSR, 1984.  The second of three from the comeback album 90125.  A great lp.

134- Woman, John Lennon, #2, 1984.  The second single from Double Fantasy, it would have proved my point.  However, Blondie's idiotic Rapture lept over it to the top spot.  Scratches head and sighs.

133- More Power To Ya, Petra, #1 Christian Contemporary, 1982.  One of the biggest hits in Contemporary Christian history, from an lp of the same name in which almost every single got airplay.

132- Luka, Suzanne Vega, #3, 1987.  A heartbreaking song about domestic violence... and why it gets put up with.

131- Refugee, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, #15, 1980.  The only reason this song didn't get higher is that it played so much before it was released.  The next song off Damn The Torpedoes had the same problem.

130- Blue Moon And Heartache, Rosanne Cash, #104, #1 country, 1981.  The third of 3 #1s on the country chart off the lp Seven Year Ache.

129- I Don't Like Mondays, Boomtown Rats, #73, #1 UK, 1980.  Based on a true story of 16-year-old Brenda Ann Spencer, who shot down 11 (8 children), killing 2 adults, at a San Diego playground.  Her motive for the shootings became the title of the song.

128- Another One Bites The Dust, Queen, #1, 1980.  Kinda seems odd having these two songs together, eh?

127- This Is The Way Way Made A Broken Heart, Rosanne Cash, #1 country, 1987.  King's Record Shop was even better than Rhythm And Romance.  This was the leadoff single.

126- The Good Life, Firetown, Non Charting, 1989.  Five years later, these guys would pick up Shirley Manson for a lead singer and become Garbage.  But I liked them better here.

125- Rock The Casbah, The Clash, #8, 1982.  How these guys didn't get a fatwah issued against them I'll never know.

124- The Living Years, Mike + The Mechanics, #1, 1989.  Burt Bacharach called this "one of the finest lyrics of the last ten years" in 1996.  Written by Michael Rutherford of Genesis and BA Robertson, it was based on the recent death of Robertson's father.

123- Real Love, Doobie Brothers, #5, 1980.  One of the best for the michael McDonald Doobies.

122- Start Me Up, Rolling Stones, #2, 1981.  Previously mentioned Private Eyes combined with Arthur's Theme by Christopher Cross to keep this out of #1.  I remember fighting with a buddy who claimed the verse at the end, "you make a big man crawl" was actually, "you make a big man.." well, uhm, let's just say he was wrong.

121- Take The Long Way Home, Supertramp, #10, 1980.  I'm not really sure how I managed to float this one up here.  Stuff happens when you juggle 300 songs.  But it is a cool tune.

Okay, that's the list for this week.  See ya next time!