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

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"Livin' on a Prayer" is Bon Jovi's second chart-topping single from their third album Slippery When Wet. Written by Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora, and Desmond Child, the single, released in late 1986, was well received at both rock and pop radio and its music video was given heavy rotation at MTV, giving the band their first No. 1 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart and their second consecutive No. 1 Billboard Hot 100 hit.
The song is the band's signature song, topping fan-voted lists and re-charting around the world decades after its release. The original 45-RPM single release sold 800,000 copies in the United States, and in 2013 was certified Triple Platinum for over 3 million digital downloads. The official music video has over 570 million views on YouTube as of May 2019.
Jon Bon Jovi did not like the original recording of this song, which can be found as a hidden track on 100,000,000 Bon Jovi Fans Can't Be Wrong. Lead guitarist Richie Sambora, however, convinced him the song was good, and they reworked it with a new bassline (recorded by Hugh McDonald uncredited), different drum fills and the use of a talk box to include it on Slippery When Wet. The song spent two weeks at number one on the Mainstream Rock Tracks, from January 31 to February 14, 1987, and four weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100, from February 14 to March 14. It also hit number four on the UK singles chart.
The album version of the song, timed around 4:10, fades out at the end. However, the music video game Guitar Hero World Tour features the song's original studio ending, where the band revisit the intro riff and end with a talk box solo; this version ends at 4:53. The original ending is also playable on the similar video game Rock Band 2, though edited in this case (thereby eliminating the talk box solo at the end). The version included on the 2005 DualDisc edition of Slippery When Wet has an extended version of the original ending, with a different talk box solo playing over the riff (possibly taken from an outtake of the song); this version, which fades out at the end like the standard version of the song, ends at 5:06.
After the September 11, 2001 attacks – in which New Jersey was the second-hardest hit state after New York, suffering hundreds of casualties among both WTC workers and first responders – the band performed an acoustic version of this song for New York. Bon Jovi performed a similar version as part of the special America: A Tribute to Heroes.
In 2006, online voters rated "Livin' on a Prayer" No. 1 on VH1's list of The 100 Greatest Songs of the '80s. More recently, in New Zealand, "Livin' on a Prayer" was No. 1 on the C4 music channel's show U Choose 40, on the 80's Icons list. It was also No. 1 on the "Sing-a-long Classics List". After Bon Jovi performed in New Zealand on January 28, 2008 while on their Lost Highway Tour, the song re-entered the official New Zealand RIANZ singles chart at number 24, over twenty years after the initial release.
Australian music TV channel MAX placed this song at No. 18 on their 2008 countdown "Rock Songs: Top 100". In 2009, the song returned to the charts in the UK, notably hitting the number-one spot on the UK Rock Chart.
In 2010, it was chosen in an online vote on the Grammy.com website over the group's more recent hits "Always" and "It's My Life" to be played live by the band on the 52nd Grammy Awards telecast.
In the Billboard Hot 100 Anniversary 50, "Livin' on a Prayer" was named as 46 in the All time rock songs.[9] After the song was released for download, the song has sold 3.4 million digital copies in the US as of November 2014.
The song, including its original ending, is also playable on the music video games Guitar Hero World Tour and Rock Band 2. The song was re-worked and made available to download on November 9, 2010 for use in the Rock Band 3 music gaming platform to take advantage of PRO mode which allows use of a real guitar / bass guitar, and standard MIDI-compatible electronic drum kits / keyboards in addition to up to three-part harmony or backup vocals.
In November 2013, the song made its return to the Billboard Hot 100 at number 25, due to a viral video.
In 2017, ShortList's Dave Fawbert listed the song as containing "one of the greatest key changes in music history"
The song reveals two characters, Tommy and Gina, a working-class couple who struggle to make ends meet. Tommy loses his job as a dockworker due to a strike while Gina works at a diner as a waitress. It was inspired by real-life events that Jon Bon Jovi and songwriter Desmond Child experienced. Jon Bon Jovi had an acquaintance who was a star baseball player in his school and wanted to be a professional baseball player only for his girlfriend to inform him of her pregnancy wherein he gave up the ambition and took up a job in a factory. Desmond Child was a taxi driver in New York while his then-girlfriend, singer-songwriter Maria Vidal, worked as a diner waitress, similar to Gina in the song. The owner and employees of the diner called Vidal as Gina due to her physical resemblance to Italian actress Gina Lollobrigida.
"It deals with the way that two kids – Tommy and Gina – face life's struggles," noted Bon Jovi, "and how their love and ambitions get them through the hard times. It's working class and it's real… I wanted to incorporate the movie element, and tell a story about people I knew. So instead of doing what I did on 'Runaway', where the girl didn't have a name, I gave them names, which gave them an identity… Tommy and Gina aren't two specific people; they represent a lifestyle."
Bon Jovi explained that he "wrote that song during the Reagan era and the trickle-down economics are really inspirational to writing songs". Tommy and Gina are also referred to in Bon Jovi's 2000 single "It's My Life".

Bon Jovi - Livin' On A Prayer
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"Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree" is a song recorded by Tony Orlando and Dawn. It was written by Irwin Levine and L. Russell Brown and produced by Hank Medress and Dave Appell, with Motown/Stax backing vocalist Telma Hopkins, Joyce Vincent Wilson and her sister Pamela Vincent on backing vocals. It was a worldwide hit for the group in 1973.
The single reached the top 10 in ten countries, in eight of which it topped the charts. It reached number one on both the US and UK charts for four weeks in April 1973, number one on the Australian charts for seven weeks from May to July 1973 and number one on the New Zealand charts for ten weeks from June to August 1973. It was the top-selling single in 1973 in both the US and UK.
In 2008, Billboard ranked the song as the 37th biggest song of all time in its issue celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Hot 100.
The song is told from the point of view of someone who has "done his time" but is uncertain if he will be welcomed home.
He writes to his love, asking her to tie a yellow ribbon around the "ole oak tree" in front of the house (which the bus will pass by) if she wants him to return to her life; if he does not see such a ribbon, he will remain on the bus (taking that to mean he is unwelcome) and understand her reasons ("put the blame on me"). He asks the bus driver to check, fearful of not seeing anything.
To his amazement, the entire bus cheers the response – there are 100 yellow ribbons around the tree, a sign he is very much welcome.

Tony Orlando & Dawn - Tie A Yellow Ribbon 'Round The Ole Oak Tree’
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K.C. & The Sunshine Band - Give It Up

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"The Lady in Red" is a song by British-Irish singer-songwriter Chris de Burgh. It was released in June 1986 as the second single from the album Into the Light. The song was responsible for introducing de Burgh's music to a mainstream audience worldwide.
The song was written in reference to (though not specifically about) his wife Diane and was released on the album Into the Light. On the British TV series This Is Your Life, de Burgh said that the song was inspired by the memory of when he first saw Diane, and how men so often cannot even remember what their wives were wearing when they first met.
The song was a massive hit across the world, quickly becoming de Burgh's best-selling single and his signature song, transforming him from a cult artist into a household name in many countries. It reached the number one position in Canada, the UK, Ireland, Norway and the Flanders region of Belgium. It also reached number three in the United States during the spring of 1987. The song also propelled its parent album Into The Light to the number two position in the United Kingdom and success in other markets. The song was de Burgh's third UK hit single and the first to reach the top 40.
The song tends to divide public opinion and it was voted the tenth most annoying song of all time in a poll commissioned by Dotmusic in 2000. It was one of only two singles in the top ten which were not novelty songs. It was also voted the third worst song of the 1980s by readers of Rolling Stone. It was chosen as the sixth worst love song of all time by Gigwise, who said "it is destined to grate on you at weddings forever more". In a 2001 poll of more than 50,000 Channel 4 viewers and readers of The Observer, the song was voted the fourth most hated UK number-one single.
Neil Norman of The Independent argued in 2006: "Only James Blunt has managed to come up with a song more irritating than Chris de Burgh's 'Lady in Red'. The 1986 mawkfest – according to De Burgh – has reduced many famous people to tears including Diana, Princess of Wales, Fergie and Mel Smith. The less emotionally impressionable, meanwhile, adopt Oscar Wilde's view on the death of Little Nell – that it would take a heart of stone to listen to 'Lady in Red' and not laugh."

Chris De Burgh - Lady In Red

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Tony Orlando & Dawn - Candida
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Entertainment WeeklyDecember 10, 2019

Marie Fredriksson, lead singer of the Swedish band Roxette, has died at the age 61. The news was confirmed Tuesday in a statement from the band’s manager, who shared that Fredriksson had passed after a “17-year-long battle with cancer.”
Perhaps best known in the U.S. for their Pretty Woman hit ballad, “Must Have Been Love” (which was ultimately certified gold in six countries, including the United States and platinum in Australia), pop group Roxette was formed in 1986 by Fredriksson and Per Gessle. Other hits by the band include 1989’s “The Look” (one of four singles to reach the top of the charts in the U.S), “Listen to Your Heart,” and “Joyride.”
The band got its big break in 1988 with their second album, Look Sharp!, which featured “Listen To Your Heart” and “The Look.” When an American exchange student visiting Sweden returned home with a copy of Roxette’s album and handed it over to a DJ at a Minneapolis top 40 station, where it went into rotation, the group landed their long-coveted American recording contract. The duo released eight more albums.

Roxette - It Must Have Been Love
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"Do That to Me One More Time" is a song performed by the American pop duo Captain & Tennille. It was their 13th charting hit in the United States, and their second number 1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The song was included on the duo's 1979 studio album, Make Your Move, and was written by Toni Tennille. It features a Lyricon solo by saxophonist Tom Scott, though Captain mimed to this part on a descant recorder in the promotional video. Even though an edited version was released as a single, yet another version was created for their many TV performances promoting the song. This version contained a "natural" ending, opposed to the fade-out ending that was featured on the single and album versions. This version was mainly lip-synced by Tennille on such TV programs.

Captain & Tennille - Do that to me one more time

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Foreigner - Urgent
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"Heaven Is a Place on Earth" is a song recorded by American singer Belinda Carlisle for her second studio album Heaven on Earth (1987). Written by Rick Nowels and Ellen Shipley, the song was released as the lead single from the Heaven on Earth album on September 14, 1987, and it hit number one on the US Billboard Hot 100 on December 5, 1987, becoming Carlisle's only US chart-topper, to date. A month later it hit number one in the United Kingdom, where it held the top spot of the UK Singles Chart for two weeks.
The song was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance in 1988 but lost to Whitney Houston's "I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)". In 2017, ShortList's Dave Fawbert listed the song as containing "one of the greatest key changes in music history".
In 2015, Carlisle re-recorded the song as an acoustic ballad. This version appeared on her album Wilder Shores (2017), which combines acoustic tracks with world beats and traditional Sikh chants.

Belinda Carlisle - Heaven Is A Place On Earth
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"Sara" is a song recorded by the American rock band Starship which reached number-one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart on March 15, 1986. It was sung only by Mickey Thomas, of the newly renamed band Starship, from their first album Knee Deep in the Hoopla; for this single, Grace Slick only provided the backing vocals.
The recording became one of the best-selling singles of 1986 in North America. It was the band's second number-one hit after the song "We Built This City" hit the mark a few months earlier in 1985. It also became the band's first number-one song on the adult contemporary chart, where it remained for three weeks. Although written by Peter and Ina Wolf, the song was named for Thomas's wife at the time, Sara (née Kendrick).
The music video for "Sara" prominently features actress Rebecca De Mornay and Thomas in a storyline about a relationship ending, on a Dust Bowl farm in the midwest, with frequent flashbacks to what is presumably Thomas's character's childhood and the tornado that wrecked his home and killed his mother. It ends with an aerial shot of Thomas walking down the dirt road Rebecca drove down, with another dust cloud coming in. The flashback portions of the music video were set in the 1950s and directed by Francis Delia.

Starship - Sara

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"Somebody's Baby" is a song written by Jackson Browne and Danny Kortchmar and recorded by Browne for the 1982 Fast Times at Ridgemont High movie soundtrack. Reaching #7 on the US Billboard Hot 100 after debuting at #73 on July 31, 1982, the track would be Browne's last top ten hit, as well as the highest charting single of his career, spending a total of nineteen weeks on the chart.
The song reached #14 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart, as well. In Canada, "Somebody's Baby" peaked at #16. The single was also released in Italy, Spain and Japan.
It has since been released on several of Browne's greatest hits albums, including The Next Voice You Hear: The Best of Jackson Browne and The Very Best of Jackson Browne. An unplugged acoustic version appears on Browne's album entitled Solo Acoustic, Vol. 2 (2008).

Jackson Browne - Somebody's Baby
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Best Christmas songs of the 80s

 

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"It Might Be You" is a song with music written by Dave Grusin, and lyrics written by Alan & Marilyn Bergman. It was performed by singer/songwriter Stephen Bishop in the 1982 film Tootsie starring Dustin Hoffman and Jessica Lange. The song was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1983.
Bishop's recording peaked at No. 25 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart on May 7, 1983, and spent eight weeks in the Top 40, becoming his final Top 40 song to date. It also spent two weeks at No. 1 on the U.S. adult contemporary chart in April the same year

Stephen Bishop - It Might Be You
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Footloose - Kenny Loggins 1984

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"Just One Look" is a song co-written by American R&B singers Doris Troy and Gregory Carroll. The recording by Doris Troy was a hit in 1963. The Hollies, Anne Murray and Linda Ronstadt recorded hit versions of their own. There have also been many other versions of this song.

Linda Ronstadt - Just One Look
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"Lotta Love" is a song written and recorded by Neil Young and released on his 1978 Comes a Time album. "Lotta Love" was also covered by Nicolette Larson in 1978. Larson's version reached No. 8 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and No. 8 on the Cash Box Top 100 in February 1979. It also hit No. 1 on the Easy Listening chart and was a hit in Australia (No. 11) and New Zealand (No. 22).
Linda Ronstadt, who had sung back-up for Young with Larson, has stated that it was at her [i.e. Ronstadt's] suggestion that Larson record "Lotta Love" and that Larson's producer thanked Ronstadt by having a top-of-the-line sound system installed in her Mercedes convertible.
However, Larson's own recollection was that the suggestion she record "Lotta Love" originated with Neil Young, with whom she had formed a personal relationship while backing him vocally on American Stars 'n Bars. The publishers of Neil Young News quoted Larson as saying:

"I got that song off a tape I found lying on the floor of Neil's car. I popped it in the tape player and commented on what a great song it was. Neil said: 'You want it? It's yours.'

Neil Young recorded "Lotta Love" for his Comes a Time album with backing from Crazy Horse. Larson provided background vocals for the album but did not sing on its "Lotta Love" track, a spare version which emphasized the song's melancholy.
Larson's version of "Lotta Love"—which featured a string arrangement by Jimmie Haskell (whose credits include work with Bobbie Gentry), plus a classic soft rock horn riff and a flute solo—presented the song as optimistic. Larson would recall: "It was a very positive song and people don't want to hear how bad the world is all the time. It had a nice sound rhythm and groove.

NICOLETTE LARSON - Lotta Love

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Laura Branigan - Gloria

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"Will You Love Me Tomorrow", also incorrectly known as "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow", is a song written by Gerry Goffin and Carole King. It was originally recorded in 1960 by the Shirelles, who took their single to number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The song is also notable for being the first song by a black all-girl group to reach number one in the United States. It has since been recorded by many artists over the years, including a 1971 version by co-writer Carole King.
In 1971 Carole King, the co-writer of the song, recorded a version of "Will You Love Me Tomorrow" for her landmark studio album Tapestry, with Joni Mitchell and James Taylor performing background vocals on separate audio channels.[8] King's version of the song was taken at a considerably slower tempo. David Hepworth analyzed it as "less like the pleas for gentleness on the part of a trembling virgin and more like a mature woman requiring parity in a relationship."[8] It gained considerable album-oriented rock airplay due to the large-scale commercial success of the album.

Carole King - Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow

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"Desperado" is a song by the American rock band Eagles. It was written by Glenn Frey and Don Henley and appeared on the 1973 album Desperado as well as numerous compilation albums. Although the song was never released as a single, it is one of the group's best known songs and ranked No. 494 on Rolling Stone's 2004 list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time"
According to Henley, Desperado was based on a song he started in 1968, written in the style of old songs by Stephen Foster. The song was originally about a friend named Leo and began with "Leo, my God, why don’t you come to your senses..." In 1972, after they had recorded their first album Eagles in London, Glenn Frey and Henley decided that they should write songs together. In their first songwriting session after returning from London, Henley played Frey the unfinished version of the song, and said: "When I play it and sing it, I think of Ray Charles and Stephen Foster. It’s really a Southern Gothic thing, but we can easily make it more Western." According to Henley, Frey "leapt right on it – filled in the blanks and brought structure", and the song became "Desperado". Henley added: "And that was the beginning of our songwriting partnership ... that’s when we became a team."
The song was recorded at Island Studios in London, with musicians from the London Philharmonic Orchestra. The orchestra was conducted by Jim Ed Norman, Henley's friend from his former band Shiloh, who also wrote and arranged the strings for the song. According to Henley, he was given only four or five takes to record the song by the producer Glyn Johns who wanted to record the album quickly and economically. Henley felt intimidated by the large orchestra, and would later express regret that he did not sing as well as he could. He said: "I didn't sing my best ... I wish I could have done that song again.
"Desperado" is one of Eagles' most famous songs, and it was ranked No. 494 on the Rolling Stone's list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time" in 2004. It was voted the No. 2 favorite Eagles song in a poll of Rolling Stone readers. In 2000 the song was listed in MOJO magazine's list of greatest songs compiled with songs nominated by songwriters such as Paul McCartney, Hal David, and Brian Wilson. Members of the Western Writers of America included it in their list of the Top 100 Western songs of all time.
William Ruhlmann of AllMusic considered it one of Eagles' major compositions. Paul Gambaccini of Rolling Stone felt it was Henley's rough voice that made the song memorable. Although the song is one of Eagles' best-known songs, their recording never charted on Billboard until the death of Glenn Frey, when it reached No. 20 on the Rock Digital Songs chart. After the antagonist of the film Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 claimed that Brandy by the Looking Glass was "Earth’s finest composition", the lead singer of the Looking Glass countered that Desperado should have that title.
Linda Ronstadt on her 1973 album Don't Cry Now. Henley credited Ronstadt for popularizing the song with this early cover of the song, and described her version as "poignant, and beautiful"

LINDA RONSTADT ~ "DESPERADO


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Magic Fly is the first studio album by French band Space. It was released in April 1977 by Disques Vogue. The album reached #11 on the UK Albums Chart and included the hit single of the same name, which had reached #2 on the UK Singles Chart.

Magic Fly - Space
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