We are almost halfway through!!
Check out previous entries towards the bottom of this one.
Looks like we’re gonna camp out towards the end of the decade for most of this entry. Get your acid wash on!
140. “Bad” by Michael Jackson (3 weeks at #1, October ’87 | Amazon)
While I appreciate (if not entirely respect) “Bad” (the song) these days, the general consensus from me (and a lot of the 
music-buying public) in the fall of 1987 was “is this all he’s got?” In an era when streetwise attitude and music was undergoing a paradigm shift thanks to hip-hop and artists like, uh…Michael’s little sister Janet, was “Bad” the funkiest thing MJ could come up with? At best, the song seemed like a flimsy, almost-cartoonish take on a song that James Brown, Stevie Wonder or Prince could’ve slayed in their sleep. At worst, it suggested that MJ was out of touch and a little behind the times…and the brother wasn’t even 30 yet. Then there’s the video…
With nearly three decades hindsight, I guess you could say I’ve grown to appreciate and even like “Bad,” even though it certainly isn’t on the first or even second tier of Michael Jackson hits. As has become custom with the songs that start each update of this list, I almost wish I could drop “Bad” ten or twenty spots.
Back to the video for a second: as goofy as it is, it makes me laugh warmly. As does a made-up within an inch of his life man wearing a leather bondage getup snarling “yo’ butt is miiiiiine…”
139. “Jam Tonight” by Freddie Jackson (1 week at #1, August ’87 | Amazon)
Freddie was a balladeer, simple and plain. That may have been one of the main things that separated him from Luther Vandross, with whom he competed for the crown of R&B Slow Jam King in the ’80s. Luther could knock out a dance jam in his sleep–“Never Too Much” and “It’s Over Now” were club hits, to say nothing of his tenure working closely with Chic and as a secret weapon vocalist for a who’s who of disco. All of this to say, “Jam Tonight” was the funkiest Freddie was capable of getting without eliciting a side-eye. It’s danceable in an easygoing, supper club, mature kind of way. No one was busting a sweat on the floor to Freddie’s “Jam.” And, you know, that’s cool. Some folks aren’t made to sweat.
138. “Giving You The Best That I Got” by Anita Baker (2 weeks at #1, November ’88 | Amazon)
Baker Residence, Fall 1988:
(knock on door)
Anita Baker: Who is it?
Voice: We’re the police.
Anita: The police?
Voice: Yes. The Grammar Police. We’ve heard the title of your latest song, and we’ve come to arrest you.
Seriously, though…can you imagine a song this weird hitting the top ten nowadays? The melody’s odd, there’s not really a chorus…this is definitive proof of what a hot commodity Anita Baker was in the late ’80s. Anyone else releasing a song like this wouldn’t have even sniffed the top 10, much less #1.
137. “Real Love” by Jody Watley (1 week at #1, May ’89 | Amazon)
When it came time to release the first single from her all-important second album, Grammy-winner Jody Watley didn’t stray too far from the formula that made her debut hit “Looking For A New Love” such a smash. “Real Love” can almost be viewed as a sequel of sorts–there’s certainly a thematic continuity, both from a lyrical and a musical standpoint. Janet Jackson’s success with Control paved the way for Jody’s breakthrough, not only because she was the first real instance of a young, independent streetwise Black woman who also had pop appeal, but also because of the Minneapolis connection. Janet had Jam & Lewis, while Jody had Andre Cymone. Jody also had a shit-ton of fashion sense, and the “Real Love” video was eye-catching in all the right ways. It’s hard to watch Madonna’s “Express Yourself” and “Vogue” videos and not think that she owes a debt of gratitude (and maybe a coupla bucks) to Jody.
136. “Start Of A Romance” by Skyy (2 weeks at #1, May ’89)
When “Start Of A Romance” hit in 1989, the New York funk group Skyy had been without a major hit in seven years. With that much time in the commercial doldrums, and all the changes music underwent in the mid-Eighties, a comeback would’ve seemed improbable. However, the unisex, multi-cultural band beat the odds and scored two of their three #1s in the 1989-1990 period, a notable renaissance. “Start Of A Romance” is boilerplate new jack swing, given new life via the alluring and distinctive vocals of Denise Dunning. Her nasal voice was an acquired taste, but when featured on the right track, it was jammin’.
Do artists still alter song lyrics these days to make mention of radio stations in certain markets? I distinctly remember hearing “Start of a Romance” on New York’s KISS-FM with the first verse lyrics amended to make mention of the station’s call letters. Talk about easy ways to ensure your record will be supported.
135. “Love Is A House” by Force M.D.’s (2 weeks at #1, September ’87 | Amazon)
The Force M.D.’s represented Shaolin a full decade before Wu-Tang Clan hopped on the scene, and the W returned the favor by featuring iterations of the group on various songs. The M.D.’s initially had a much more pronounced hip-hop vibe, but “Love Is A House” is a pure R&B track. It’s not their best single (the amazing “Tender Love” will always have my vote) but it’s no slouch, either. I wonder if there’ll ever be an “UnSung” on these guys, because (at least until I saw the Hi-Five episode) I thought this was the most star-crossed R&B group of the modern era. Three members (including their most prominent vocalist, Antoine “TCD” Lundy) have passed before their time.
134. “Addicted To You” by LeVert (2 weeks at #1, October ’88 | Amazon)
Another cat that got somewhat unfairly labeled as a balladeer was Gerald LeVert. Hell, his dad was certainly capable of getting funky, so why shouldn’t the apple fall close to the tree? Lest we forget, LeVert (the group)’s one major pop hit was “Casanova,” which was certainly uptempo and could easily be considered a proto-new jack track. “Addicted To You” came a year later, was featured as the theme to Eddie Murphy’s flick Coming To America, and even though it didn’t even hit the Pop Top 100, urban radio showed it love all through the summer of 1988. “Addicted” also sort of established the LeVert production aesthetic, sounding like a cross between “Casanova” and Troop’s “Mamacita,” which Gerald co-produced (and rode the charts around the same time as “Addicted” did.)
133. “Joy” by Teddy Pendergrass (2 weeks at #1, June/July ’88 | Amazon)
I recently finished reading Teddy Pendergrass’s autobiography, Truly Blessed. One of the most astonishing things revealed in the book is the fact that at some point after the tragic 1982 auto accident that left him a paraplegic, Teddy resumed using cocaine (a habit he indulged in sporadically prior to the wreck.) I don’t suppose you need the use of your limbs to do coke, but the admission still threw me for a loop. Teddy copped to breaking free of his habits cold turkey in the early ’90s, which means that it’s very possible that the ebullient, life-affirming “Joy” was recorded and released while wheelchair-bound TP was partaking in the booger sugar. Now that makes no sense whatsoever, but, hey. It was the ’80s, right?
Another interesting factoid from the book: in order to strengthen Teddy’s voice (and his stomach muscles,) his girlfriend used to sit on his stomach and Teddy would have to move her. I guess it worked. I mean, his voice had a lighter quality to it post-accident, but Teddy could still scream, shout and cajole with the best of them. Listen to his ad-libs at the end of “Joy” for proof.
132. “Something In The Way (You Make Me Feel)” by Stephanie Mills (1 week at #1, August ’89 | Amazon)
For her fourth #1 (and the leadoff single from her 1989 album Home,) Stephanie Mills got super-self-referential. The breezy “Something In The Way” was written and produced by Angela Winbush, who helmed Stephanie’s first #1, 1986’s “I Have Learned To Respect The Power Of Love.” She interpolates the melody of her biggest pop hit, 1980’s “Never Knew Love Like This Before” in the chorus, and shouts out 1987’s #1 “I Feel Good All Over” while ad-libbing towards the end of the song. Pretty crafty-and a testament to Stephanie’s talent that she’d already experienced a decade of hit making from which to make these references!
Kid Capri’s remix of “Something In The Way” was the hottest thing on the New York streets for a minute. Very clear path from this joint to MJB’s “Real Love.” I wonder if that’s ever been acknowledged.
131. “Batdance” by Prince (1 week at #1, August ’89 | Amazon)
Every summer blockbuster flick needs a 4 1/2 minute commercial performed by the most innovative musician of his era, right?
1989’s Batman film had the mother of all marketing campaigns done up to that point. Everyone from McDonalds to the New Kids on the Block were in on the Batman craze, and bootleg T-shirts with the omnipresent bat logo were all the rage in my Brooklyn neighborhood that summer. Add in a weird-ass video and it’s no surprise that the Batman soundtrack was Prince’s biggest hit in half a decade.
As tied as “Batdance” is to its era, and although Prince was declining artistically during this period, it’s still pretty amazing how he pulled together dialogue from the movie with such disparate musical interludes for the song. There’s some funk, some house, a blistering rock guitar solo, and a smidge of hip-hop. Only Prince, man. Only Prince.
Y’all know ’bout Prince and YouTube, right? So…there ya go.
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3 comments
John says:
Sep 16, 2014
Of course there’s at least one I’d rank higher (“Joy”) and one I would have ranked lower (“Addicted” just seems a bit derivative in the rearview), but as a whole I keep looking forward to these lists. You bring up some great points with “Giving You,” and it’s really impressive how huge the launch of that album was. I’ve always wondered if that #1 ranking came from the fact that no single from Rapture hit number one, because R&B radio seemed to be VERY controlled by label influence, but it even hit #3 on the pop chart. A couple of Grammys will do that for you.
MJ says:
Sep 16, 2014
Yep…Anita was hot as hell during that time, and kudos to Elektra for making sure she didn’t end up being a one-album wonder…knowing what we know now about her temperament, that must not have been easy.
Kelli Strawbridge says:
Sep 19, 2014
Just a side note on Batdance: Prince doesn’t own that, Warners still owns that so that’s why it’s unfind-able on youtube.