70's, 80's 'Feel Good' Music

"It Never Rains in Southern California", written by Albert Hammond and Mike Hazlewood, is the title of a song first released by Hammond, a British born singer-songwriter, in 1972. Hammond's version peaked at number five on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 that year.
In the UK the song is perhaps the quintessential example (alongside The Doobie Brothers "Listen to the Music") of a turntable hit: A song which, although very frequently played and requested on radio, never makes it into the charts. Through the 1970s, the record was re-issued at least 5 times by various labels - but remained outside the UK top 40, despite yet more airplay - it's still to be heard on UK radio on a very regular basis.
The song concerns the struggles of a singer who moves out to California to pursue a career in Hollywood but does not have any success and deteriorates in the process. In the chorus, Hammond sings, "It never rains in California, but girl don't they warn ya. It pours, man it pours."



It Never Rains In Southern California／Albert Hammond

"Don't Get Me Wrong" is a song released by the pop-rock group The Pretenders. It was the first single taken from the group's 1986 album, Get Close. It can also be found on the band's The Singles album, released in 1987.
In the US, "Don't Get Me Wrong" became the group's second Top 10 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, peaking at #10. Their first Top 10 pop hit, "Back on the Chain Gang", had reached #5 in 1983. "Don't Get Me Wrong" also spent three weeks atop the Billboard Album Rock Tracks chart in November 1986. In the UK, the song also peaked at #10 in the UK Singles Chart.

The Pretenders - Don't Get Me Wrong

The Pretenders -- I' LL Stand By You

Abba - Hasta Manana

"Party All the Time" was a single originally recorded by comedian and actor Eddie Murphy in 1985, written and produced by Rick James and Kevin Johnston at James's home studio in Buffalo, New York. The single reached No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100, kept off the top by Lionel Richie's "Say You, Say Me". Rick James also provided some vocals for the song.


Eddie Murphy - Party All The Time

"State of Shock" is a 1984 hit single by The Jacksons featuring frontman Michael Jackson and Mick Jagger. It was written by Jackson and guitarist Randy Hansen. "State of Shock" charted at number 3 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and number 14 on the UK Singles Chart. The track was originally to be sung with Freddie Mercury as a duet with Jackson, and was later slated for the Thriller album; however, due to differing time schedules, Jackson ended up recording it with his brothers and Jagger. A clip of the song (an instrumental part) was used on the Immortal album in 2011.
"State of Shock" was the biggest hit from The Jacksons' Victory album, reaching number 3 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and number 14 on the UK Singles Chart. The song was originally recorded with Freddie Mercury, as Jackson and Mercury had been working on several tracks at that time (1981–83), e.g. the unreleased title track "Victory" for the eponymous album and "There Must Be More to Life Than This" from Mr. Bad Guy. The final version featured lead vocals by Michael Jackson and Mick Jagger. "State of Shock" was the last top ten hit for The Jacksons, as well as their last single to be certified gold. The song was later revised by Jagger when he performed it with Tina Turner during their 1985 performance at Live Aid.




State Of Shock

Some Guys Have All The Luck - Rod Stewart

Toto Coelo (renamed Total Coelo in the US) was a 1980s British one hit wonder New Wave group, masterminded by producer Barry Blue. The original members were singers Anita Mahadevan, Lacey Bond, Lindsey Danvers, Ros Holness (daughter of television presenter Bob Holness) and Sheen Doran.
The group is known for its 1982 hit single "I Eat Cannibals Part 1", which reached No. 8 in the UK Singles Chart and was also a hit in many other countries, including South Africa where it was named the seventeenth biggest selling single of 1983, peaking at No. 3, while it only got as high as No. 66 in the U.S. in early 1983. The solid drum sound that underpins the single was provided by session drummer Peter Boita. Boita received a demo cassette from producer Barry Blue and proceeded to score out a drum part that fitted the song. He programmed his Linndrum Computer with the basic drumbeat that is heard throughout the record. Boita also used this same technique on the B-side of the follow-up single, "Mucho Macho", but, apart from a few television appearances, the single failed to make much impression on the charts.
They also issued a less successful follow-up, "Dracula's Tango". An album was issued containing both singles, together with B-sides and a selection of unreleased tracks in 1983 titled Man o' War. It was not a commercial success, although "Milk from the Coconut" charted in the South Africa Top 20, reaching No. 4 in November 1983.





Toto Coelo - I Eat Cannibals

"Lies" is a 1982 song by the British New Wave/synthpop band Thompson Twins. It was released as the first single from the album Quick Step and Side Kick (which was renamed Side Kicks in the U.S.), and the song peaked at #67 on the UK singles chart. The single fared better in the United States, where it peaked at #30 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the spring of 1983. Along with the B-side track "Beach Culture", "Lies" also spent two weeks at #1 on the American dance chart in January 1983, becoming the band's second #1 on this chart ("In the Name of Love" had spent five weeks atop this chart in 1982). The music video was played on MTV and other video programs and features a view of the band's feet at the end of an over-sized bed, bouncing back and forth to the rhythm of the song, as a variety of sights pass in a room similar to Bowman's bedroom in 2001: A Space Odyssey or a Magritte painting. At the end, the bed is revealed to be a hospital bed. The song was also featured in the episode "Grilled Cheese Deluxe" of the Cartoon Network original series Regular Show.


Thompson Twins - Lies

"Conga" is the first hit single released by the American band Miami Sound Machine led by Gloria Estefan on their second English language album, and ninth overall, Primitive Love
The single was released worldwide in 1985 (see 1985 in music) and became a smash success around the world, providing the band worldwide mainstream popularity, reaching #10 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and winning the Grand Prize at the 15th annual "Tokyo Music Festival" in Japan.
The single was certified Gold by the RIAA in the U.S. for sales of 500,000 copies.
"Conga" was re-recorded and mashed-up with "Dr. Beat" in a new re-mix in 2001, which was released on Estefan's third compilation album. This new song was released as a promo single in Spain and titled "Y-Tu-Conga".
Music videoThe video is set in a fancy club (the "Copacabana"), hosting a reception for an unspecified ambassador. After a boring piano rendition, MSM is announced as the next featured act (though Gloria insists the setting is not appropriate for the song). The more upbeat song becomes a hit.


MSM - Conga

"In the Heat of the Night" is a pop song by German singer Sandra. The song was released in November 1985 as the second single from the album The Long Play, where it charted at #1 in Switzerland and Israel, #2 in Germany, and #8 in South Africa (in mid-1986).

"Easy" is a 1977 hit single by Commodores for the Motown label, from their fifth studio album, Commodores.
Written by Commodores lead singer Lionel Richie, the song, a slow ballad with country and western roots, expresses a man's feelings as he ends a relationship. Rather than being depressed about the break-up, he states that he is instead "easy like Sunday morning" - something which Richie described as evocative of "small Southern towns that die at 11:30pm", such as his own Tuskegee, Alabama.
Richie wrote "Easy" with the intention of it becoming another crossover hit for the group, given the success of a previous single, "Just to Be Close to You", which spent 2 weeks at #1 on the Billboard R&B chart and peaked at #7 on the Billboard Hot 100 pop charts in 1976.
Released in March 1977, "Easy" reached #1 on the Billboard R&B chart, and #4 on the Billboard Hot 100. The success of "Easy" paved the way for similar Richie-composed hit ballads such as "Three Times a Lady" and "Still" and also for Richie's later solo hits.
The song is noted for a feedback noise, with an echo, that is heard in the Bridge of the song. Also, an electric guitar solo dominates the instrumental portion of the song. In addition, the other Commodores are heard singing wordless harmonies during the Chorus of the song.
The edited version receives the most airplay. The longer version from the album features the chorus being repeated more times, a half step up, from A Flat Major to A Major, a few times before it fades out.

EASY-Commodores

"Ring My Bell" is a 1979 disco song by Anita Ward. It was originally written for Stacy Lattisaw, but when she signed with a different label, Ward was asked to sing it instead, and it became her only major hit. The song hit number one on the disco charts. "Ring My Bell" went to number one on both the Billboard Hot 100, and soul singles chart. It also reached number one on the UK Singles Chart. "Ring My Bell" has been covered by many artists since its original release, including Blondie, DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince, Ann Lee, Tori Amos, Blood Sisters, Dynamic Duo, D'Flow Production Squad, Collette, Saïan Supa Crew, INOJ, Pato Fu, Joey Boy, Sxip Shirey, and Princess X (a modern interpolation under the title "Gimme All (Ring My Bell)"). It has also been remixed many times and is considered a disco-era classic.

Anita Ward ~ Ring My Bell

"Sexy Music" is a 1981 single taken from Irish female vocal group The Nolans' 1980 album Making Waves, and later hit by Japanese idol duo Wink.
The Nolans' version was released as a single in Japan in April 1981 after winning the Tokyo Music Festival a few days prior to this. It was cut from the album exclusively in Japan to be released as a 7-inch single and a LP containing rearrangements of tracks from Making Waves and Nolan Sisters, gaining commercial success with about 270,000 copies sold.

Sexy Music - The Nolans

The Dooleys were a United Kingdom male–female pop group comprising eight members — six of them family members — at their peak. They achieved several UK chart hits between 1977 and 1981 including top-ten hits "Wanted", "Love of My Life" and "The Chosen Few".

The Dooleys - Wanted

"On The Shelf" is a disco dance song from in the 1978 motion picture soundtrack of Goin' Coconuts, featuring Donny and Marie Osmond. The duet received slight radio airplay in the Provo, Utah area when the film was released.
Songwriters are Steve Voice and Peter Yellowstone.

Donny & Marie Osmond - "On The Shelf

"Sail On" is a Commodores song written by Lionel Richie from their 1979 album Midnight Magic. Released as the first of three singles from the album, it was produced by both Commodores and James Anthony Carmichael. The song reached the top ten on both the US and UK music charts that same year.

Commodores - Sail On

"Sunday Girl" is a 1978 song written and recorded by American group, Blondie. Though never released as a single in the United States, the track was a #1 hit in the United Kingdom for three weeks in May 1979 as well as a #1 hit in Australia.
The song was written by Chris Stein and was the fourth single to be taken from the album, Parallel Lines, in the UK and most other parts of the world. The French language version of the track was first released in the UK on the "Sunday Girl" 12" single; in France and the Netherlands, it was the B-side of the 7". For Blondie's first greatest hits album The Best of Blondie in 1981, producer Mike Chapman created a special mix which incorporated one verse sung in French. The bilingual version appears on the 2002 compilation Greatest Hits.
The single had an unusual release in Australia, with some dispute among fans as to whether it reached #1 there or failed to chart. This is because of its initial release as the lead single from Parallel Lines, due to its being reminiscent of "In The Flesh", Blondie's first hit in Australia. "Sunday Girl" failed to chart, however, and was later re-released as a double A-Side with "Heart of Glass", on the back of its UK success. As a result, it was eclipsed by the disco track, and is rarely recognised as having charted in its own right.
Like Blondie's earlier single, "Hanging on the Telephone", the drumming pattern of "Sunday Girl" employs a double backbeat rhythm. In 2010 a remake of this song was made by the English performer Florrie. It had slightly different lyrics and was used for a Nina Ricci perfume commercial.


Blondie: Sunday girl

Superman - Celi Bee & The Buzzy Bunch


Herbie Mann - Superman

Santa Esmeralda is a U.S./French Disco group formed in the 1970s; perhaps best known for their hit disco remakes of the 1960s hits "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" and "House of the Rising Sun". The group featured singer Leroy Gómez from 1977 until 1978 and singer Jimmy Goings from 1978 until 1983, when the group disbanded.