(Started August 8th, 2018) themusicaddict's Top 16 Greatest 80's Soundtracks #16 "Heavy Metal":

Hello,

From Wikipedia: "Heavy Metal is a 1981 Canadian-American adult animated sci-fi-fantasy film directed by Gerald Potterton, produced by Ivan Reitman and Leonard Mogel, who also was the publisher of Heavy Metal magazine, which was the basis for the film, and starring the voices of Rodger Bumpass, Jackie Burroughs, John Candy, Joe Flaherty, Don Francks, Martin Lavut, Marilyn Lightstone, Eugene Levy, Alice Playten, Harold Ramis, Percy Rodriguez, Susan Roman, Richard Romanus, August Schellenberg, John Vernon, and Zal Yanovsky. The screenplay was written by Daniel Goldberg and Len Blum."

"Heavy Metal" is a 1981 animated movie, 10 of the soundtrack's 16 songs make up this blog. I only post the best songs. Upcoming is the trailer for this very bizarre seeming movie- although it's a movie I've never seen. And at this point I'm pretty sure I don't want to see it. This countdown of the best 80s soundtracks is purely about the music and very little about the actual movie. The trailer:

1) Sammy Hagar "Heavy Metal":

2) Riggs "Heartbeat":

3) Devo "Working In A Coal Mine":

4) Blue Oyster Cult "Veterans of the Psychic Wars":

5) Cheap Trick "Reach Out":

6) Don Felder "Heavy Metal (Take A Ride)":

7) Nazareth "Crazy":

8) Journey "Open Arms":

9) Cheap Trick "Must Be Dreaming":

10) Black Sabbath "The Mob Rules":

themusicaddict

(Finished August 7th, 2018) The 20th Anniversary of Madonna's "Ray of Light"

Hello,

Madonna's "Ray of Light" was released 20 years ago this year. "Ray of Light" was Madonna's follow up CD to the amazing "Evita". Both "Evita" and "Ray of Light" dropped to mixed reviews, but I loved "Evita" from the get go. However it took me awhile longer to like "Ray of Light". At first I wasn't a big fan of "Ray of Light". I fell in love with and grew up with her 80's music, I was hoping for more great pop music like "Like A Virgin", "Material Girl", "Causing A Commotion" or any of her other classic upbeat songs. That are songs similar to her fantastic ballads like "Live To Tell" or "Crazy For You".

However songs on "Ray of Light" had an ambient/ technoish feel to them. No longer that percolating pop dance feel. These songs were more mid-tempo, more exotic sounding, deeper lyrics. She created this CD with British producer and composer William Orbit.

Orbit had previously remixed "Erotica":

and

 "Justify My Love":

One of my favorite Madonna songs is "The Power of Goodbye".

What did reviewers think of this CD when it was first released? Below are review excerpts of Rolling Stone, Entertainment Weekly and Pitchfork.

From Rolling Stone: 

"She gets knocked up, but she gets down again: Meet the latest brand-new Madonna, the Chemical Mother. Ray of Light is her maternity album as well as her avant-dance album, riding the electronica wave with her new collaborator, U.K. beat master William Orbit. She’s not exactly subtle about it, either. In just the first song, “Drowned World/Substitute for Love,” Madonna throws in trip-hop drum loops, jungle snares, string samples and pointless computer bleeps (lots of those). She shows off all these trinkets from her expensive collection of electronica gimmicks as if she’s unpacking her shopping bags after a day at the outlet malls and she doesn’t even care if they clash. “Drowned World” comes on loud, tacky and ridiculous, but it lets Madonna do what she does best: show off."

From Entertainment Weekly:

Strictly speaking, Ray of Light isn’t 100 percent pure techno. After all, it features traditionally structured pop melodies, and the music reflects Orbit’s less-than-edgy background in ambient-based mood music. Only once, on the sirenlike techno-glitter-ball of the title track, does the album kick into beats-per-minute frenzy. Instead, what Madonna and Orbit have done — and brilliantly at that — is to use electronica components as sonic window dressing. Hard-step beats and synth washes make the romantic-physical yearnings (and hooks) of ”Skin” and ”Nothing Really Matters” even tauter; the juxtaposition of fuzzy beats and soundtrack-score strings lends ”’Drowned World’ aka ‘My Substitute for Love”’ and ”Frozen” a wuthering-beats melodrama that’s often breathtaking. Throbbing yet meditative, Ray of Light is an adult’s version of dance music, with the dark timbres of Madonna’s nearing-40 voice its resolute center.

From Pitchfork:

Of course, we know how it ultimately ended. Just one album later, the disco-tinged Music, Madonna would admit to feeling trapped by the quieter life. “I feel like an animal that's, like, ready to be sprung from a cage,” she’d tell The Face at the time of the release of Music, which, with its winking attitude, helped her keep up with the vampy Britney, by then fully ascendant and coming for her crown. “I’ve been living a pretty low-key domestic existence and I miss things.” So much for all that. For a brief shining moment with Ray of Light, Madonna became Her Holiness, the sage of synth pop. And the world heeded the call.

1) "Drowned World/Substitute For Love":

2) "Swim":

I'm throwing in a dance mix, this is the Cleopatra and Pander EletrOcean Club Mix, I have to admit I quite like this mix.

3) "Ray of Light":

4) "Candy Perfume Girl":

5) "Skin":

6) "Nothing Really Matters":

7) "Sky Fits Heaven":

8) "Shanti/Ashtangi":

Madonna is about the music, but she's also about the visual component, here's the unforgettable video from one of the CD's 5 singles. 9) "Frozen":

10) "The Power of Goodbye":



A different version of my favorite song on this CD:

11) "To Have and Not To Hold":

12) "Little Star":

13) "Mer Girl/ Sky Fits Heaven":

themusicaddict

(Finished August 6th, 2018) What Other Songs of Note From Billboard's First Hot 100? Part 2

Hello,

Other songs of note from that week:

A song that Billy Idol remade several years later. 17) Jody Reynolds "The Endless Sleep":

 24) Sheb Wooley "Purple People Eater":

31) Big Bopper "Chantilly Lace":

35) Bobby Day "Rockin' Robin":

43) Clyde McPhatter "Come What May":

47) Dion & The Belmonts "I Wonder Why":

49) The Everly Brothers "All I Have To Do Is Dream":

54) Domenica Modugno "Volare (Nel Blu Dipinto Di Blu)":

60) Bobby Day "Over and Over":

68) Dean Martin "Volare (Nel Blu Dipinto Di Blu)":

80) Chuck Berry "Johnny B. Goode":

81) Chuck Berry "Beautiful Delilah":

84) Eddie Cochran "Summertime Blues":

92) The Everly Brothers "Bird Dog":

94) Marty Robbins "She Was Only Seventeen (He Was One Year More)":

themusicaddict

(Finished August 5th, 2018) The Top 17 Songs of All-Time According to Billboard

Hello,

It's so strange that I was compelled to research a Billboard Top 100 yesterday, which just happened to be the 60th anniversary of the Billboard Top 100. Billboard has a countdown of the All-Time Top 600 songs in those 60 years. Again this is from Billboard and I claim no ownership of this list. Here's the actual link to get more information: https://www.billboard.com/charts/hot-100-60th-anniversary. This is a very interesting list and I wanted to share it with you. I was going to stop with the Top 15, but extended it to the Top 17 due to what song #17 is, it's also one of my all-time favorite songs. Just a side note it makes me laugh that Billboard identifies the gender of the artist.

1) Chubby Checker "The Twist":

No doubt about it, this is an amazing song. It also features one of my favorite lines in pop music:

"Give me your heart, make it real or else forget about it."

2) Santana featuring Rob Thomas "Smooth":

One of the many great songs that crossed over from Broadway into pop music. 3) Bobby Darin "Mack The Knife":

Without a doubt one of the catchiest songs ever and worthy of every one of it's 3 billion YouTube views.

4) Mark Ronson featuring Bruno Mars "Uptown Funk":

At least something good came out of the movie "Pearl Harbor". 5)  LeAnn Rimes "How Do I Live":

Well at least they were a two hit wonder. 6) LMFAO Featuring Lauren Bennett & Goonrock "Party Rock Anthem":

7) The Black Eyed Peas "I Gotta Feeling":

Many would consider this one of the most annoying songs ever, however I've always liked this song. 8) Los Del Rio "Macarena" (Bayside Boys Mix)":

The song that seemed to be omnipresent the last couple of years. 9) Ed Sheeran "The Shape Of You":

Many teenage boys had dreams about getting physical with Olivia when this song came out, especially when she came out in all black and saying "stud" in "Grease".

10) Olivia Newton-John "Physical":



That outfit from "Grease". "You're The One That I Want":

A song that time hasn't been kind to. 11) Debby Boone "You Light Up My Life":

12) The Beatles "Hey Jude":

13) Chainsmokers Featuring Halsey "Closer":

A classic.14) Mariah Carey "We Belong Together":

Meh. 15) Toni Braxton "Un-break My Heart":

16) Usher Featuring Lil Jon and Ludacris "Yeah":

17) Kim Carnes "Bette Davis Eyes":

themusicaddict

(Finished August 5th, 2018) What Were The Top 15 Songs on Billboard's First Hot 100?

Hello,

This week is the 60th anniversary of the Billboard Top 100 songs countdown. I stumbled across that piece of information while researching something else. What were the Top 15 songs of that week? I can see why some of these songs are still around in pop culture and I can see why some of these songs have been long forgotten.

1) Ricky Nelson "Poor Little Fool":

2) Perez Prado and his Orchestra "Patricia":

3) Bobby Darin "Splish Splash":

4) Elvis Presley With The Jordainaires "Hard Headed Woman":

5) Kalin Twins "When":

6) Duane Eddy His Twangy Guitar and The Rebels "Rebel-'rouser":

7) The Coasters "Yakety Yak":

8) Jack Scott "My True Love":

9) The Johnny Otis Show "Willie And The Hand Jive":

10) Peggy Lee "Fever":

11) Frankie Avalon "Ginger Bread":

12) Jimmy Clanton And His Rockets "Just A Dream":

13) Patti Page "Left Right Out Of Your Heart":

14) Pat Boone "If Dreams Came True":

 15) Jerry Butler and The Impressions "For Your Precious Love":

themusicaddict

(Finished August 12th, 2020) The Best Songs From 80s Soundtracks Outside The Top Sixteen, Part 6

Hello,

I started this blog August 4th, 2018. Now over two years later I'm finally finishing it.

When I started this project I thought that there would be 12ish Greatest 80s Soundtracks, however after working on this project the last few weeks I've ended up with the 16 Greatest 80's Soundtracks. I've converted two previously written blogs into the first two countdown blogs. Previous blogs written for "Weird Science" (#11) and "The Last American Virgin" (#12) are now official countdown blogs. I'll be counting down the # 16 to #13 and # 10 to #1 80's blog. Anyone that has been a reader of this blog should probably have a pretty good idea what will be some of the Top 80s Soundtracks. That being said, there are some surprises in the Top 80s countdowns. My Top 16 is settled, but not necessarily locked in. There is still some room for changes. But before I get to the countdown, this is the last blog highlighting the songs from 80s soundtracks outside of the Top 16.

"Cocktail", "Stand By Me", "Eddie and The Cruisers", "Urban Cowboy" and Prince's "Parade" were all originally in consideration for Top 80's soundtrack. However when it came time to putting together the actual Top 16, they just didn't have enough songs to warrant admission to the Top 16. As for "Road House" that was a complete surprise to me that the CD was so good.

"Cocktail":

Starship "Wild Again":

Robbie Nevil "Since When":

Georgia Satellites "Hippy Hippy Shake":

The Fabulous Thunderbirds "Powerful Stuff":

The Beach Boys "Kokomo":

Eddie and the Cruisers:

John Cafferty and The Beaver Brown Band "On The Dark Side":

"Road House":

Bob Seger "Blue Monday":

The Jeff Healey Band "I'm Tore Down":

The Jeff Healey Band "Hoochie Coochie Man":

Little Feat "Rad Gumbo":

"Stand By Me":

The Silhouettes "Get A Job":



The Chordettes "Lollipop":

The Coasters "Yakety Yak":

Ben E King's sublime "Stand By Me":



Jerry Lee Lewis "Great Balls of Fire":

"Urban Cowboy":

Joe Walsh"All Night Long":

Johnny Lee "Looking For Love":

Kenny Rogers "Love The World Away":

Boz Scaggs "Look What You've Done To Me":

themusicaddict

(Finished August 1st, 2018) August & September 1991: Two of The Best Months of Rock Music Ever? Part 4

Hello,

This is the second half of an incomplete blog that I started back on March 20th of this year.

All 4 of these CDs were released over a two day period, this two months time was so fertile for great music. New CDs from Guns N' Roses, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Metallica, Brooks & Dunn, Bob Seger, Pearl Jam, Spin Doctors and Joan Jett and the Blackhearts. That's a great two months for CDs. Those were classic CDs by Pearl Jam ("Ten"),  Metallica (self-titled), G N' R ("Use Your Illusion 1 & 2) and The Spin Doctors ("Pocketful of Kryptonite").

Nirvana's "Nevermind" was released on September 24, 1991.

Easily one of the biggest ear worms ever and an incredibly unforgettable song.
"Smells Like Teen Spirit":

"In Bloom":

"Breed":

"On A Plain":

The Cult's "Ceremony" was released on September 23, 1991. 

"Earth Mofo":

"Ceremony":

"Wild Hearted Son":

"Full Tilt":

"Sweet Salvation":

themusicaddict