This Is Art, Kids!

And here we are. The last ten for the year. Let’s see how this all wraps up.

10.Eurythmics- Sweet Dreams(Are Made Of This)

This was the break out year for The Eurythmics and they really hit the mark with this one. I never realized until now that the “violin” solo is really just another synth. A classic song and video!

09.Michael Sembello-Maniac

Originally about a serial killer(Could you even imagine that?), but repurposed to be about DANCIN’! It might not be about a killer anymore, but it sure does have a killer guitar solo!

08.James Ingram and Patti Austin-Baby,Come To Me

With all the shit I’ve been spraying about cheesy love songs, I should hate this. But, I don’t. I love how smooth Ingram’s voice sounds and how their voices fold together as they sing “Let me put my arms around you”. Wonderful track.

07.Darryl Hall & John Oates-Maneater

The opening to this is pretty special(The elements slowly get added to the bass and drums until Hall comes in with the vocal.). The guitar kind of has rocksteady thing going on too that I’ve never noticed before. A classic, of course.

06.Bonnie Tyler-Total Eclipse Of The Heart

I always think of the literal video version of this song when I hear it(Look it up, it’s so good!). This song has like a million different parts and is so grandiose that I just want to barf. I’m someone who enjoys the long version of “I Would Do Anything For Love”, so that says a lot about it.

05.Michael Jackson-Beat It

The music video for this is iconic(Two rival gangs gearing up for war.), but I’ve never realized how ridiculous it was until now. Michael Jackson just has to put his hand on someone’s shoulder and sing a line of the song and now everything is hunky dory. Obviously still a great song.

04.Men At Work- Men Down Under

The video for this is basically just the visual summation of the song’s lyrics. I don’t listen to this song often, but it’s so charmingly dumb that you can’t help but appreciate it.

03.Irene Cara- Flashdance…What A Feeling

Flashdance is an oddity for me. It was the third highest grossing film of 1983, but you never hear people talk about it anymore. I wonder why that is.

02.Michael Jackson-Billie Jean

It was a shocker for me to read that this wasn’t the first single released for Thriller(That honor goes to “The Girl Is Mine”.), I’ve always thought this was the moment that sealed Michael as the star of the 80’s. The song kicks ass, but you already knew that.

01.The Police-Every Breath You Take

This song has always made me feel a little uneasy. Like, the instrumental portion of this is so good, but this song is soooo creepy. Who does Sting think he is? Santa Claus. It’s amazing that the American public heard the lyrics to this song and went “Yeah, what a bop!”.

A good stretch of tracks here to wrap things up. Out of all 100 songs, I wound up liking about 50. Not a lot of new finds for me, but some all time classics for sure. Moving on to the full albums portion, it’s going to be interesting to find out what the things that were not quite so popular are like.