Priority Records put out 13 volumes in The Greatest Rock Hits of the 80s in the 1990s. I only have a few. Here’s the first two compilation CDs in the series. As you can readily tell, Priority. Records decided to try to choose songs for these volumes as middle-of-the-road as possible. Most of these songs made the charts in the 80s to various degrees. Do you remember these songs? Any favorites? GRADE: B
TRACK LIST:
PASSION & POWER:
| 1 | –Glenn Frey | You Belong To The City | |
| 2 | –Sammy Hagar | There’s Only One Way To Rock | |
| 3 | –Toto | Roseanna | |
| 4 | –REO Speedwagon | Keep On Loving You | |
| 5 | –Styx | The Best Of Times | |
| 6 | –Wham! | Everything She Wants | |
| 7 | –John Waite | Missing You | |
| 8 | –Gino Vannelli | Living Inside Myself | |
| 9 | –Eric Carmen | Make Me Lose Control |
LEATHER & LACE:
| 1 | –Tina Turner | What’s Love Got To Do With It | |
| 2 | –Joan Jett And The Blackhearts* | I Hate Myself For Loving You | |
| 3 | –Pat Benatar | We Belong | |
| 4 | –The Go Go’s* | We Got The Beat | |
| 5 | –Bangles | Walk Like An Egyptian | |
| 6 | –Scandal (4) Featuring Patty Smyth | The Warrior | |
| 7 | –The Motels | Only The Lonely | |
| 8 | –Kim Carnes | Bette Davis Eyes | |
| 9 | –Laura Branigan | Solitare |
It’s pretty likely that I’ve heard all of these songs, although I only specifically remember about 8 of them. The Tina Turner song is one of her best. I like “Bette Davis Eyes” but wouldn’t recognize Kim Carnes if she walked into the room. Of the artists on the first CD, only Glenn Frey is a personal favorite and, of course, I do love The Eagles, who don’t seem to be admired by many of the people who generally share my musical taste.
Michael, my wife is a life-long Eagles fan. She has all their albums, knows all their songs, and listens of Glenn Frey’s solo CDs, too.
Me too.
What a horrible first cd. With the exception of the Glen Frey they all suck. It contains some of my all time least favorites like Styx, Sammy Hagar, Reo,Wham, Eric Carmen, Gino Vannelli . An F rating. The second cd is a bit better with Joan Jett, Tina Turner, The Go Gos and the Bangles. Only two I really hare-Pat Benater and Patty Smyth. A B for this cd.
Steve, I’m guessing the rest of the CDs in this series feature the same kind of mix of songs.
Unlike a lot of your previous selections, at least I do know most of these songs. I wouldn’t say there are any real favorites here, though if I had to pick 5 I would go with Glenn Frey, John Waite, Tina Turner, Laura Brannigan, and Joan Jett.
I eagerly await Deb’s judgement.
I actually like some of these songs—gasp! Especially the Joan Jett, Go-Gos, Bangles, and the Motels. And I must confess, the REO Speedwagon song is one of my guilty pleasures.
Deb, I might have an REO Speedwagon GREATEST HITS CD around here somewhere.
George, I have been listening to a lot of music from the seventies and eighties, music I grew up with, and many of those are in your list. I love the song “Bette Davis Eyes”. It’s also nice to see Laura Branigan featured here. She was a big hit when I was in college. I also like Nancy Sinatra’s “These Boots Are Made for Walking” and her “Summer Wine” duet with Lee Hazlewood. I have plenty of other favourites, though.
Prashant, I have plenty of “Best Hits” collections that I listen to–and review here on the blog–on a regular basis.
I don’t remember any of the singers/groups – except Tina Turner of course.
She performed that song live in Frankfurt sometime in the late 80s – and I was there!
I’ll never forget when she started singing “Tonight” – and suddenly David Bowie appeared behind her …
Fun fact:
She changed clothes almost for every new song – from leather to feathers to minimal gowns – great!
OK, Bette Davis Eyes I liked too – but don’t know the singer.
When I read “Only the lonely” I thought for a moment:
Is this the Roy Orbison song? One of my favourites – but of course not.
Wolf, when I saw Cher in Vegas she changed costumes over a dozen times.
Ho-hum. Or, perhaps, meh.
Jerry, I always admire your eloquence!
A bit OT:
Just found many parodies on Trump, based on famous well known songs:
– The liar tweets tonight
– With a little help from the Feds
– Like a kidney stone (seems that Bob Dylan) is even active here …
and many more
http://englewoodindivisible.org/News/NewsItem/157
Is this site well known?
Wolf, thanks for the link!
I like “You Belong to the City” (my daughters gave me the MIAMI VICE soundtrack LP for my birthday in 1985), but I always picture the scene from a MARRIED WITH CHILDREN episode where the song plays on the soundtrack in comic counterpoint to the visual — Al Bundy walking nervously along a downtown street at night.
Fred, wow! I’m impressed by your memory of 1985! I have trouble remembering what I had for breakfast!
Eggs and toast.
Well, the L&L assembly does snatch up some of the more obvious choices from some of the better Top 40 women’s bands. And then a few more of those bands. Interesting they didn’t plump for “Self Control” from Branigan rather than “Solitaire” but perhaps the latter was marginally cheaper. Her life was certainly messed over enough through no fault of her own.
The Go-Go’s, the Bangles, to a lesser extent Joan Jett and the Blackhearts and the Motels would be my preferred bands on the second disc, as well, and Tina Turner wasn’t doing her best work at that time, but she was still herself. The men’s album is pretty unimpressive to me as well, seems to be consensus, with “Missing You” the closest thing to a memorable song and Eric Carmen the closest thing to a reasonably good performer. I will never forgive the Eagles for the number of times I was subjected to “Hotel California”…
I suppose the Frey is at least as not terrible as the Waite.
Wow. They’re both duller than I recalled.