And now for the best of the best of Queen's 80's era songs.
10) "Bicycle Race":
9) "Flash's Theme":
8) "We Are The Champions":
7) "We Will Rock You":
6) "Headlong":
Some people claim that Lady Gaga got her gaga from this song. 5) "Radio GaGa" (From Live Aid):
If it wasn't for Vanilla Ice sampling this song, there never would have been a Vanilla Ice or "Ice Ice Baby". 4) "Under Pressure":
The next two songs are from what I consider to be the best 80's era Queen CD, 1980's "The Game". 3) "Another One Bites The Dust":
2) "Crazy Little Thing Called Love":
I know this really isn't one song, it wasn't until a deejay played them together. But more people know it as one song than the two different songs it originally way. Honestly what other song could be Queen's best 80's era song? 1) "We Will Rock You/ We Are The Champions":
Skillet is John Cooper, lead vocalist. Korey Cooper, John's wife, plays guitar, keyboards and synthesizer and she sings as well. Seth Morrison is the lead guitarist. Last and certainly not least is drummer and co-vocalist Jen Ledger. She doesn't sing a lot, but when she does it's amazing. I love how her and Cooper's voices mingle together. And I have no idea how someone can be so talented that they can sing and play drums at the same time.
In a word Skillet was great. They played the same setlist they've played this entire tour. That's good, but it doesn't give much room for surprises. They played for about 75 minutes and played a mix of old and new songs. I think the best time to see a concert is when a band has a few solid CDs under their belt and their new CD is very good. Both things which Skillet has going for them, their newest CD, "Unleashed", is one amazing CD. The energy seemed to rise when they played one of the songs from that CD. Most of those songs are great sing along songs.
Skillet is a great band with four very talented musicians.
The bad: When Skillet played some of their older stuff, the show lagged a bit. They also relied a bit too much on filler.
The good: When Skillet was playing some of their newer and most popular songs they were amazing. I liked how both Korey Cooper and Morrison played guitar while on lifts that lifted them up and down while playing. That was cool.
We purposely missed the opening band, Devour The Day. Also both my rock concert girlfriend and I were surprised how much we liked Sick Puppies. She knew quite a few of their songs, I only knew their song "Maybe". But that is a great song.
Thanks to amiright.com for compiling all these songs for people to write blogs like this. Two notes, amiright.com has a note that they aren't including Anna Nalick's "Breathe (2:00am)" because the title just isn't "Breathe". I have no such qualms as I'm just looking for good songs and I love Miss Nalick's song, in fact that whole CD was very good. The second note is I'm going to include the 80's pop band Breathe, although it's a band name and not a song title. I'm feeling dangerous tonight. I haven't even heard of some of these songs until today.
The best of the best of "Breathe":
I'm not going to lie, I love the music of Taylor Swift:
From the amazing CD "The Dark Side of the Moon", Pink Floyd:
This blog is two completely different songs, no covers allowed, that share the same title. I was surprised by how many and now varied the songs and the song titles are.
"Animal":
Def Leppard:
Neon Trees:
Pearl Jam:
"Resistance":
Queensryche:
Muse:
Skillet:
"Gloria":
U2:
Laura Branigan:
Van Morrison:
"Magic":
Moody Blues:
Ladyhawke:
Oliva Newton-John:
The Cars:
Pilot:
Upcoming same title, different songs: "Head Over Heals", "Heaven", "Angel", "Crazy", "Dreams" and "Love Song".
This probably is the last blog about Tom Petty in this 80's countdown series. I saw Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers in concert about 10 years ago. Honestly they weren't very good. They stopped between every song to drink, smoke and talk. Overall one of the most disappointing concert experiences of my life.
There's a lot of disagreement of what "Los Palabras De Amor" means in English. It seems the most literal translation may be "the words of love". Other contenders for what it might mean include "slowly my love" and "love me gently". 33) "Los Palabras De Amor":
32) "If You Can't Beat Them":
The video is grainy, but the sound is pretty good. This definitely captures Queen at a moment in time. 31) "Mustapha":
I've been focusing on other topics in blogs for the last few days. I still have a few blogs to finish, which I'll eventually get to. Also in a little over a week I'll be going and seeing Skillet in concert so I continue to get ready for that. Sadly I have no interest in either of the opening bands, so there will be no blogs forthcoming on them. But I'm going to focus a bit more on the 80's Era Greatest 80's Bands now- there's a chance I might be able to finish this some day. Here are the the best Tina Turner 80's era songs, # 30 to # 21.
Tina Turner, was born as Anna Mae Bullock, on November 26th, 1939. She was born in Nutbush, Tennessee. She first achieved fame by working with and eventually marrying Ike Turner. He was an abusive man, as seen in the gut wrenching "What's Love Got To Do With It". Following much trauma and success, she broke out in a big way in the mid 80s. Released in 1984, "Private Dancer" went on to be her most popular and best selling CD. Worldwide sales of "Dancer" have sold 25 million copies She hasn't released a new CD since 1999's not very good "Twenty Four Seven". As of now she's working on a musical version of her life story, tentatively titled "Tina". Hopefully the musical will be more clever than the title. She became a Swiss citizen in 2013 and relinquished her American citizenship. (Thanks to Wikipedia for the biographical information.)
There are two versions of this song, the better of the two versions is this one that features a sax solo. 30) "The Way of the World":
I write a lot about popular and famous 80's bands, but I like to break out of that limited framework every once-in-awhile. Now I want to write about two bands that had a brief visit to the spotlight. It looks like they won't be in the spotlight any more, in my opinion that's a shame. Those two bands are Morningwood, who only released two CDs, and The Kaiser Chiefs. The Chiefs are still together, but they've never matched their first and best CD. The reason I'm writing about two bands on one blog is to hopefully get more attention for both bands. Hopefully people will see this blog and check it out because they like one of the bands and end up liking both bands.
The Kaiser Chiefs broke out in a big way with 2005's "Employment", it was full of great, spiky rock songs. A bunch of great songs by a band that didn't take itself too seriously. That CD was full of great songs such as:
"Everyday I Love You Less and Less":
"Time Honoured Tradition":
"Na Na Na Na Naa":
Although I love this song, I hate when people take our Heavenly Father's name in vain. "Oh My ....":
"Modern Way":
"You Can Have It All":
"Saturday Night":
"Caroline, Yes":
"What Did I Ever Give You":
Those are the better songs, but truly many songs are great on this CD. "Employment" is a truly great CD. This song has taken on a timely feel with the political climate in this country, "I Predict A Riot":
I just recently discovered their second CD, 2007's "Yours Truly, Angry Mob". Not as good as "Employment", but this CD still has plenty of good songs. The two best songs are "Ruby":
and "Heat Dies Down":
but I also like "The Angry Mob":
and "Retirement":
Kaiser Chiefs have released six CDs, their most recent CD is 2016's "Stay Together". Their sound seems to be a bit poppier now, such as the bouncy first song from their most recent CD "We Stay Together". The name of the song is "Stay Together":
Another poppy sounding song from their most recent CD, "Hole In My Soul":
Below is their members since the beginning of the band.
Current members
Ricky Wilson – lead vocals, percussion (2000–present)
Andrew White – guitar, backing vocals (2000–present)
Nick Baines – keyboards, synthesizers, piano, organ, hammond organ (2000–present)
Vijay Mistry – drums, percussion (2012–present)
Former members
Nick Hodgson – drums, percussion, acoustic guitar, backing and lead vocals (2000–2012)
Morningwood probably didn't have as big of an impact as The Kaiser Chiefs, although they released their debut CD about 10 months later. Their first CD is full of solid poppish rock, songs such as
"Nth Degree":
"Jetsetter":
"Body 21":
"Babysitter":
"Televisor":
"Nu Rock":
"New York Girls":
They also released a solid remake of Anita Ward's disco classic "Knock On Wood". Morningwood's take on that song is a good tribute to the original, but Morningwood also adds their own sound to it.
Morningwood is Chantal Claret, who sings, and bassist and backup vocals from Peter "Pedro" Yanowitz. Claret is working on a solo career that hasn't been successful yet. According to Wikipedia Yanowitz is working on a Broadway play.
Their second and last CD, "Diamonds and Studs" featured such great songs as:
"Best of Me":
"Killer Life":
"Hot Tonight":
"Teenage":
As of now, there's no video for this song "That's My Tune":
These are some of the best non-80's era songs from Tom Petty, both solo and with the Heartbreakers. This is in no particular order. I have found so many great non-80's era songs that I'm breaking this into two blogs.
Two days from now my rock concert girlfriend and I are going to see Skillet in concert, I'm getting geeked up, well more than usual at least. Tickets sold so well that the venue was upgraded, at least in size. It will now be at Salt Air, which is a bit of a hole. This is the setlist of a recent concert, this is a complete setlist at setlist.fm. This seems to be a pretty standard setlist for them on this tour.
1) "Feel Invincible":
I love the lyrics to the above song, these are my favorite lyrics:
You make me feel invincible Earthquake, powerful Just like a tidal wave You make me brave You're my titanium Fight song, raising up Like a roar of victory in a stadium Who can touch me 'cause I'm (I'm made of fire) Who can stop me tonight (I'm hard wired) You make me feel invincible
Looking over this list of distinguished musicians I realized that I probably have Stevie Wonder too high as I'm focusing mostly on 80's era output. But there's no denying that Mr. Wonder is one of the most talented musicians that has ever graced the world.
More one hit wonders from the 80's era. 1986 and 1987 seemed to be full of one hit wonders, all the following songs were released in those two years.
A great and very enjoyable song, but honestly who came up with this? Baltimora "Tarzan Boy":
I have forgotten how incredibly great this song is. Sly Fox "Let's Go All The Way":
Force MDs "Tender Love":
Boys Don't Cry "I Wanna Be A Cowboy":
Another one of my all-time favorite one hit wonders. This song was featured in the Michael Keaton 80's movie "Gung Ho". The Fabulous Thunderbirds "Tuff Enuff":
Robert Tepper "No Easy Way Out":
Timex Social Club "Rumors":
Double "The Captain of Her Heart":
Oran "Juice" Jones "The Rain":
Gloria Loring and Carl Anderson "Friends and Lovers":
Gavin Christopher "One Step Closer To You":
What a great song! I wonder whatever happened to Mr. Abbott? I investigated what happened with him, Abbot is still recording. He just hasn't found the magic yet that made "Shake Me Down" so irresistible. His debut CD, also titled "Shake You Down" is decent. It has a few good songs on it. Gregory Abbott "Shake You Down":
Georgia Satellites "Keep Your Hands To Yourself":
Cray is an amazing musician and has many songs that are much better than this song. Check out Mr. Cray, you won't be disappointed. Robert Cray "Smoking Gun":
Another great Cray song "Right Next Door (Because of Me):
Breakfast Club "Right On Track":
They are named after a "Star Trek" character. T'Pau "Heart and Soul":
Danny Wilson "Mary's Prayer":
Benjamin Orr sang and played bass with the Cars. He sung on such Cars' classics such as "Drive" and "Just What I Needed". Sadly he died at the age of 53 on October 3rd, 2000. Orr's "Stay The Night":
In my Top 106 Greatest 80's musicians, the Scorpions are ranked # 43. The Scorpions three longest tenured members are still with the band. Rudolf Schenker, guitar, Klaus Meine, vocals, and Matthias Jabs, lead guitarist. The other two current members are Pawel Maciwoda, bassist, and Mikkey Dee on drums.
Although the Scorpions are long past their glory days, they are still releasing good music. 2007's "Humanity: Hour 1" is a very good CD. Both 2010's "Sting In The Tail" and 2015's "Return To Forever" have several good moments. Not bad for a band that has been around for 50 years. I will be posting their best songs from the 80's era soon. But I know that era doesn't contain all their great music. These are some of the best of their non-80's era songs, in no particular order.
Again this is the criteria for one hit wonders, "Billboard journalist Wayne Jancik defines a United States one-hit wonder as "an act that has won a position on Billboard's national, pop, Top 40 just once." Using this definition, artists are therefore classified as one-hit wonders based solely on Billboard Hot 100 chart performance—other factors such as success in other territories, additional hits on other Billboard genre-specific charts, membership in more prominent bands or musical groups, critical acclaim, and influence are not accounted for."
More obscure one hit wonders from the early 80s:
Prism "Don't Let Him Know":
Although he officially is only a one hit wonder Aldo Nova had several other great songs. In fact his first CD is very good. Other great Nova songs include "Monkey On Your Back", "Hot Love" and "Foolin' Yourself". This is his official one hit and his best song, "Fantasy":
"Foolin' Yourself":
Moving Pictures "What About Me":
A video I saw a lot of during the early days of MTV. After The Fire "Der Kommissar":
Great song. But as so many 80's videos are, this is incredibly cheesy. Oxo "Whirly Girl":
Thomas Dolby "She Blinded Me With Silence":
Frida had several hits before going solo, she used to be part of the small Swedish band Abba. You may have heard of them. Frida "I Know There's Something Going On":
Icicle Works "Whisper To A Scream (Birds Fly)":
Don't mess with Patty Smyth!!! Scandal "The Warrior":
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Speaking of members of famous rock bands that go solo, this is Dennis DeYoung's "Desert Moon"- this might be DeYoung's best song:
I don't want to tell you how old I am, but this song was the theme to a high school prom. A prom I didn't make it to. Jack Wagner "All I Need":
Although Band Aid only had one hit, you just might recognize a few people in this video. One of the best songs of all-time. Band Aid's "Do They Know It's Christmas":
Another one of the best songs of all-time is Paul Hardcastle's "19" (Destruction Mix):
Madness wasn't the only band who had a song about "In My House", so did The Mary Jane Girls. Both songs are great, this is the Mary Jane Girls version:
Artists United Against Apartheid "Sun City":
Scritti Politti means "political writings". Have you seen a bunch of scritti politti lately? One of the most perfect pop songs ever. Scritti Politti "Perfect Way":
