Pop Shots – A Look At The Top 10 … From 37 Years Ago

Welcome to your weekly dose of pop world musings. Covering all things pop culture, this week I’m hopping into my time machine again, and this time I’m setting the coordinates to 37 years ago, to take a look at the Billboard Top 10 from this week back in 1988.

This Top 10 has two songs with pointed questions, a double dose of artists looking for something cruelty-free, and trips to everywhere from the wild wild west, to a fictional island paradise.

So let’s get into this exploration in chart history! Of course, since this is Pop Shots, you know everything is seasoned with a little bit of attitude.

1. Phil Collins – A Groovy Kind of Love

 

The first of three covers in this top ten, Phil Collins hit it big with his slowed down version of “A Groovy Kind of Love.”

I know it may be hard for younger generations to believe, but there was a time when a balding man without even a hint of abs could rule the charts, and that time was the ‘80s.

During this decade we couldn’t turn on the radio without hearing Phil Collins. He had hit after hit after hit, both solo, and with Genesis, and the airwaves were better for it.

2. UB40 – Red Red Wine

 

Keeping things groovy, at #2 this week back in ’88 was UB40, with their reggae-pop classic “Red Red Wine.”

Nearly 40 years before people were describing things as “a vibe,” this song was a vibe. It’s impossible to not feel like you’re drifting away from life’s troubles while listening to it.

I have no idea what it did for the sales of red wine, but I have to imagine it created an entire new generation of connoisseurs (yes, that’s the word I’m going with here).

3. Information Society – What’s On Your Mind (Pure Energy)

 

Our first of two questions in this Top 10, Information Society wanted to know “What’s On Your Mind?”

The synth-pop classic samples a sci-fi legend, as Spock saying “Pure Energy” is featured prominently in the song. It’s an appropriate line, as “What’s On Your Mind” really is pure ‘80s energy.

Fun Fact – That sample happened thanks, in part, to Nimoy’s son, Adam (great name!), who was a fan of the band.

4. Def Leppard – Love Bites

 

If we’re talking about the greatest pairings in music history (which, of course, is a topic of conversation wherever I go), Def Leppard and Mutt Lang have to rank pretty high. Mutt’s knack for producing great rock music, and arranging killer harmonies, and Def Leppard’s ability to do everything at the highest of levels, gave us countless classics, including “Love Bites.”

Side Note – I have legitimately never seen a Def Leppard album in a used CD, or vinyl bin, which is pretty amazing considering they sold over 100 million albums worldwide.

5. The Escape Club – Wild Wild West

 

Not to be confused with the Will Smith song that would come along 11 years later, The Escape Club’s “Wild Wild West” was one of the most infectious hits of 1988.

Everything about the song was equal parts cool, and fun, which is how a lot of us remember the music of the ‘80s.

The band also gave us a just-bizarre-enough video for it that was pretty memorable, and stayed in rotation on MTV. Oddly, the clip was banned from British television, and no reason was given as to why. Good thing we like things a little wilder in the U.S.!

6. The Beach Boys – Kokomo

 

From the wild wild west, to a fictional island paradise, in 1988 The Beach Boys took us all to “Kokomo,” and in doing so scored their first original Top 20 hit in two decades. It would go on to become their first #1 song in 22 years, but also, their final time in the Top 40.

So how did this legendary group become big one final time? “Kokomo” was in the movie Cocktail, and let’s just say being associated with a huge Tom Cruise film didn’t exactly hurt.

Hilariously, travel agents ended up inundated with calls asking for trips to Kokomo, and had to break it to their clients that the place only existed in the smooth harmonies of The Beach Boys.

7. Steve Winwood – Don’t You Know What The Night Can Do?

 

Our second big question of this Top 10 has Steve Winwood asking, “Don’t You Know What The Night Can Do?”

Honestly, it’s something I haven’t thought a lot about, but I would like to point out that in the video the seductive woman bathing in the water of the outdoor faucet is doing so in the daytime, whereas Steve is singing with a fire raging in the background at night, soooo I think I’ll go with daytime.

8. Bobby Brown – Don’t Be Cruel

 

The title track off of Bobby Brown’s sophomore album, “Don’t Be Cruel” was an absolute jam!

The album actually had a lot of jams, as five of Don’t Be Cruel’s nine full-length songs reached the Top 10, with three climbing all the way to the top spot. 

How wild is it that in 1988 it was simultaneously both Phil Collins’ and Bobby Brown’s world? You had to love the ‘80s!

9. Cheap Trick – Don’t Be Cruel

 

No, this isn’t a typo, the number eight, and nine songs this week back in 1988 had the exact same title. Could you imagine the confusion if Google had existed back then!

None of us confused Bobby Brown and Cheap Trick in 1988 (and none of us would today, either, for that matter), and the two songs with the same name couldn’t have been more different. Bobby’s “Don’t Be Cruel” was a New Jack Swing song, while Cheap Trick gave us an ‘80s rockabilly version of an Elvis Presley classic.

With both of these songs in the Top 10, one thing’s for sure – nobody wanted any type of cruelty this week back in 1988.

10. Kylie Minogue – The Loco-Motion

 

Going from one cover to another, rounding out this Top 10 was Kylie Minogue with her cover of “The Loco-Motion.”

Thanks to Kylie, “The Loco-Motion” achieved quite the unique feat, as it reached the Top 10 in three different decades, performed by three different artists (1962 – Little Eva, 1974 – Grand Funk Railroad, 1988 – Kylie Minogue). All three versions also reached the Top 3, proving there was plenty of motion to go around!

“The Loco-Motion” was the world’s introduction to Kylie Minogue as a recording artist. Since then she’s sold 80 million albums worldwide, and become the highest-selling female Australian artist of all-time, so I guess you could say she’s done alright for herself.

That’s all for this edition of Pop Shots, but come back next Monday for more shots on all things pop.