Indie Release [Level 4]
Flashback to the Bush years... the first Bush
I missed out on the original discos of the '70s (I was a child) and I didn't hang out with club-going friends until I was about 23. I started hitting dance clubs in 1988, and continued for about three years, until I sort of dropped out of that group of friends for various reasons, and/or we/they stopped going out as much.
During that time, I got back into new music (since I was hearing and dancing to it), and bought a bunch of cassette tapes and cassette singles that I could listen to in the car. Those tapes have been in storage for about 15 years.
I've been helping my mom clear out a storage shed, and I took all those tapes home last night. I started looking through them, and was a little surprised to find that about half of them were Billboard #1 Dance hits. (!)
So, do you remember where you were dancing 20 years ago? To the following songs (listed with the date that they hit #1):
8/1/87 "Strangelove" - Depeche Mode
Bright Lights, Big City Soundtrack, which contains:
12/12/87 "Pump Up The Volume" - M/A/R/R/S and
6/4/88 "Divine Emotions" - Narada
Actually - Pet Shop Boys, which contains:
1/23/88 "What Have I Done To Deserve This?"
Noel - Noel, which contains:
5/21/88 "Like A Child" and
11/26/88 "Out Of Time"
When In Rome - When In Rome, which contains:
6/11/88 "The Promise"
7/16/88 "What's On Your Mind (Pure Energy)" - Information Society
7/30/88 "Beat Dis" - Bomb The Bass
Big Fun - Inner City, which contains:
10/15/88 "Big Fun"
6/17/89 "Ain't Nobody Better" and
9/23/89 "Do You Love What You Feel"
12/10/88 "The Great Commandment" - Camouflage
1/7/89 "Get On The Dance Floor" - Rob Base and DJ EZ Rock
1/21/89 "Good Life" - Inner City
2/25/89 "Fading Away" - Will To Power
House Hallucinations compilation, which contains:
4/1/89 "This Is Acid" - Maurice
4/15/89 "Like A Prayer" - Madonna
4/29/89 "Buffalo Stance" - Neneh Cherry
Technique - New Order, which contains:
5/27/89 "Round & Round"
3 Feet High And Rising - De La Soul, which contains:
6/3/89 "Me, Myself And I"
5/20/89 "We Call It Acieed" - D Mob (Featuring Gary Haisman) (a VERY annoying song)
6/24/89 "Keep On Moving" - Soul II Soul
7/1/89 "Secret Rendezvous" - Karyn White
7/8/89 "Express Yourself" - Madonna
10/1/89 "French Kiss" - Lil Louis (kind of a "Love To Love You Baby" for the late '80s)
11/4/89 "Pump Up The Jam" - Technotronic Featuring Felly
1/20/90 "Let The Rhythm Pump" - Doug Lazy ("I'm gonna go. Like Flo-Jo, no...)
1/27/90 "C'mon And Get My Love" - D Mob Introducing Cathy Dennis
2/3/90 "1-2-3/Underestimate" - The Chimes
3/17/90 "All Around The World" - Lisa Stansfield
5/5/90 "Alright" - Janet Jackson
5/19/90 "Vogue" - Madonna
7/7/90 "Don't You Love Me" - 49ers
7/21/90 "Everybody Everybody" - Black Box
8/11/90 "Dirty Cash (Money Talks)" - The Adventures of Stevie V
10/13/90 "This Is The Right Time" - Lisa Stansfield (the instrumentation is dated - that hyperactive syn-drum - but this is a great classic sounding disco song) YouTube - Lisa Stansfield
10/27/90 "Wiggle It" - 2 In A Room
3/30/91 "How To Dance" - Bingo Boys (This song features the instructional narrator from K-Tel's Let's Disco! album from 1977, [in your best square white guy voice:] "Now, here come's the music. OK, all you need is some patience and a little practice, and you'll be disco dancing with the best.")
4/6/91 "I've Been Thinking About You" - Londonbeat
These aren't all the #1s from the period, of course, but they should be enough to jog your memory.:icon_mrgreen: Within another year Grunge would take over the new music scene, and clubs were forced to launch "'80s nights" for some good dancable music. :icon_rolleyes:
Has it really been 20 years?!?!?! :icon_eek:
Brian
Last edited by 70spop; January 29th, 2009 at 07:01 PM.
DiscoMusic.com Owner / Administrator
Great selection! Many of these songs are classics and still hold up rather well today. They are always in rotation on my iPod so I never noticed them leaving.
Around this time, 1987-1990, I was working at a record store amongst other jobs and actively acquiring a big chunk of my compact disc collection as well as scoring great deals on used vinyl records that others felt was past its prime.
Bernie (Bernard Lopez)
Owner/publisher of DiscoMusic.com - on the web since 1996.
DiscoMusic.com on Facebook and MySpace
Chart Hit [Level 6]
Brian,
This is a great list and I have wonderful memories of this time period (1987-91). I was in and around high school at this time. Out of that list you provided, I know at least twenty of the songs listed. I remember when Lisa Stansfield came out with her Affection album; I don't ever recall that album getting bad reviews. I even remember in Rolling Stone magazine there they said of her, "Thanks to this British diva, disco music may not be dead." (I'm paraphrasing here, but that was the gist of it.)
"Everyone knows the real reason why you got that part it was the time you spent on that casting couch"--Antoine Merriwether
"Excuse me, Miss Thing, but both of us spent time on that couch"--Blaine Edwards
Indie Release [Level 4]
I didn't listen to "All Around The World" last night. I'll have to give it a listen. I didn't even remember what some of these songs sounded like, let alone that I had bought them.Originally Written by Salsoul1975
Oh, I was also going to mention another one: "Whatcha Gonna Do With My Loving" by Inner City. It's a pretty straightforward cover of Stephanie Mills' disco song "What Cha Gonna Do With My Loving" from 1979. At the time I bought the Inner City version, I didn't know about the Stephanie Mills version, but I now have the Mills version on a cd (the one in my car right now).
Chart Hit [Level 6]
I don't even remember Inner City, but some of those songs listed really take me back! "The Promise" by When In Rome--love it! "All Around The World" is excellent. For early 1990, this sound was really out of left-field, but not for long; New Kids On The Block's "Step By Step", which hit the charts in the spring of '90, had the disco strings going and it turned out to be their biggest hit! Another of Lisa's songs worth seeking and listening to is "You Can't Deny It".
"Everyone knows the real reason why you got that part it was the time you spent on that casting couch"--Antoine Merriwether
"Excuse me, Miss Thing, but both of us spent time on that couch"--Blaine Edwards
Chart Hit [Level 6]
thanks, 70sPop, for that great trip down memory lane ! Faves of mine from that time period I'd add are:
"Fascinated" by Company B
"Never Can Say Goodbye" by Communards
"Never Gonna Give You Up" by Rick Astley
"Always On My Mind" by Pet Shop Boys
"Symptoms of True Love" by Tracie Spencer
"Theme From S-Express" by S-Express
"I Want You" by Shana
"If You Leave Me Now" by Jaya
"You Are The One" by TKA
"Too Many Broken Hearts" by Jason Donovan
"Love's About To Change My Heart" by Donna Summer
Chart Hit [Level 6]
Oh I have to add some tunes to this list now:
"Strike It Up" by Black Box
"I Don't Know Anybody Else" by Black Box
"Enjoy The Silence" by Depeche Mode
"Policy Of Truth" by Depeche Mode
"Get Up (Before The Night Is Over)" by Technotronic
"Power Of Love" by Deee-lite
"The Power" by Snap
"Another Sleepless Night" by Shawn Christopher
"You're My One And Only (True Love)" by Seduction
"Two To Make It Right" by Seduction
"Dreamin' Of Love" by Stevie B
"Spring Love" by Stevie B
"Party Your Body" by Stevie B
"Trouble" by Nia Peeples
"I Wanna Have Some Fun" by Samantha Fox
"The Only Way Is Up" by Yazz
"Yo No Se" by Pajama Party
"Head To Toe" by Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam
"Lost In Emotion" by Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam
"Fishnet" by Morris Day
"Rocket 2 U" by The Jets
"Wiggle It" by 2 In A Room
"Boy I've Been Told" by Sa-Fire
"Dancing On The Fire" by India
"Just Got Paid" by Johnny Kemp
"I Want Her" by Keith Sweat
"Because Of You" by Cover Girls
"Funk Boutique" by Cover Girls
"Temptation" by Corinna
"Touch Me (All Night Long)" by Cathy Dennis
"Everyone knows the real reason why you got that part it was the time you spent on that casting couch"--Antoine Merriwether
"Excuse me, Miss Thing, but both of us spent time on that couch"--Blaine Edwards
Indie Release [Level 4]
I listened to "All Around The World" last night, and it was like, "Oh yeeeaaahhh...". No wonder I liked it; it sounds like a Three Degrees track except for the New Jack syn-drum beat.
YouTube - Lisa Stansfield - All around the world
The Inner City song that I really liked was "Good Life", which at the time I thought sounded like an update of Chic.
YouTube - Inner City - Good Life (HQ)
Listening to it now, I think more like Evelyn "Champaign" King.
"The Promise" is a great song (I had the album on tape, and I've got the album on cd now, too). I also really like "Heaven Knows" from the same album, but there isn't really much else that I like that much from the album. This sounds like a remix version of "Heaven Knows":
YouTube - When In Rome - Heaven Knows
Indie Release [Level 4]
I've got all the early Pet Shop Boys albums on tape and cd (up through Very) - great stuff.
I've got the cassette single of TKA's "You're The One".
I'm sure I had a cassette single of "Theme From S-Express" (how could anyone forget that title?), but it doesn't seem to be in the box.
Indie Release [Level 4]
I've got the cassette single of "Enjoy The Silence". One of these days I'll probably pick up that album on cd.
I could have sworn I'd bought "Groove Is In The Heart" by Deee-Lite and "Touch Me (All Night Long)" by Cathy Dennis, but they seem to be missing.
I don't have those Stevie B songs, but I do have "In Your Eyes". Haven't listened to it yet, but I remember really liking it.
I remember hearing those songs a lot at clubs at the time. "Situation" and "Don't Go" by Yaz got played a lot, and I remember hearing "Just Got Paid" a lot at the clubs, too.
The scary part about going dancing in Sacramento was that songs that were closer to real disco/dance music got a luke-warm reception, depending on their beat. But if the DJ threw on AC/DC's "You Shook Me All Night Long" or Guns-n-Roses' "Paradise City" or "Sweet Child O' Mine", the floor would fill. Every time. :icon_rolleyes: Such a rocker/jock town.
Chart Hit [Level 6]
Actually, I think I made a mistake. The group who sang "The Only Way Is Up" was by Yazz and the Plastic Population. I don't think this group and the aforementioned Yaz were one and the same.
"Everyone knows the real reason why you got that part it was the time you spent on that casting couch"--Antoine Merriwether
"Excuse me, Miss Thing, but both of us spent time on that couch"--Blaine Edwards
Chart Hit [Level 6]
Thought of another cool one from that era that I should've added to my original post:
does anybody else remember and/or dig:
"Nemesis" by Shriekback (1987ish)
(probably the only dance song in history -- and from this point forward -- to feature a chorus of "Priests and Cannibals, Prehistoric Animals" and to include the scientific term "parthenogenesis" in its lyrics).
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