Air Supply - Making Love Out of Nothing At All

"Making Love Out of Nothing At All" is a power ballad written and composed by Jim Steinman and first released by Australian rock band Air Supply for their 1983 compilation album Greatest Hits. It reached #2 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100.

It was held off from the top spot by another Steinman production, Bonnie Tyler's recording of "Total Eclipse of the Heart".
The song has been covered by many other artists, with the most successful cover being by singer Bonnie Tyler.

The song subsequently was released as a new track from their 1983 greatest hits album. The B-side of the single was "Late Again" They have included the song on their numerous greatest hits and live albums, and recorded an acoustic version for their 2005 album The Singer and the Song

Steinman offered the song, along with "Total Eclipse of the Heart", to Meat Loaf for his Midnight at the Lost and Found album; however, Meat Loaf's record company refused to pay Steinman for the material so Meat Loaf ended up writing compositions for the album himself. Steinman's songs were then offered to Bonnie Tyler & Air Supply

Corey Hart - Sunglasses At Night

Corey Mitchell Hart (born May 31, 1962) is a Canadian musician.At 13, he sang for Tom Jones and recorded with Paul Anka in Las Vegas and, at 19, recorded demos with Billy Joel and Eric Clapton before signing to a major label at the age of 20.

Hart's first album was recorded in Manchester, England in the spring of 1982. Released in 1983, First Offense, featured the US Top 10 hit songs "Sunglasses at Night" and "It Ain't Enough". The album went platinum in both Canada and the United States.

"Sunglasses at Night" was the first single to be released off his debut album, 1983's First Offense, and became a hit single in the United States, rising to #7 on the Billboard Hot 100 in August 1984. The song is considered by many to be a classic of 1980s pop rock and New Wave music, combining an unflagging synthesizer hook, characteristic arpeggio, rock guitar, obscure lyrics and a punk undercurrent throughout the song.

The song is included in numerous hits collections of the period, especially in the U.S., but it was not as popular throughout the rest of the world at the time. Peaking at #24 in Hart's native Canada, it was not a hit in Europe and failed to chart at all in the UK.

In 2002, 19 years after the original version release, the song was re-recorded, with Original 3 as the producer of the 2002 remake.

Chris De Burgh - Don`t Pay The Ferryman

Chris de Burgh (born Christopher John Davison, 15 October 1948) is a British/Irish singer-songwriter. He is most famous for his 1986 love song "The Lady in Red".

"Don't Pay the Ferryman" is a single from the album The Getaway. It was produced in 1982. In 1983, the single reached #34 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the United States.

The song tells the story of a man who boards a ferryboat and sets off. A storm approaches and the ferryman demands payment from the patron. The song's narrator warns the passenger not to pay the ferryman until the boat arrives at its destination on the other side.

The repetitive lyrics are believed to have a connection with mythology. The song describes the ferryman as "the hooded old man at the rudder," and seems to connect to the classic image of the Grim Reaper, a hooded being (usually a skeleton) who leads lost souls to "the other side," also a lyric in the song. The ferryman demanding his payment is also similar to the Greek ferryman of the dead, Charon. He demanded an obolus (coin) to ferry dead souls across the River Styx. Those who did not pay were doomed to remain as ghosts, remaining on the plane of the mare, the restless dead. Therefore in former cultures coins were laid below the tongues of dead persons.

In the bridge of the song, lines from Shakespeare's The Tempest can be heard, spoken very low by British actor Anthony Head.

Many fans of the British science fiction show Doctor Who believe that the actor who portrayed the "hooded old man at the rudder," in the video for the song is none other than Tom Baker, the fourth actor to play the famous Time Lord. Though he and Chris de Burgh deny this, the rumour persists.

Nena - 99 Luftballons

Gabriele Susanne Kerner (born 24 March 1960), better known by her stage name Nena is a German singer and actress. She rose to international fame in 1983 with the New German Wave song "99 Luftballons", re-recorded in English as "99 Red Balloons". "Nena" was also the name of the band with whom she released the song. With the re-recording and subsequent release of some of her old songs, her career re-emerged in 2002. In 2007, she co-founded the school "Neue Schule Hamburg".

"99 Luftballons" is a protest song originally sung in German and later re-recorded in English as "99 Red Balloons".

Both the English and German versions of the song tell a story of two children who buy a bag of red balloons in a toy shop in Cold War era Berlin and release them into the air at dawn, where they are spotted by the military who don't recognize them as balloons but instead think they are some kind of incoming weapon. They immediately put their troops on red alert and call out jet fighters to intercept which ultimately triggers a nuclear war between the two Cold War adversaries. In the apocalyptic aftermath, one of the children stands in the rubble of the city and finds a single remaining red balloon. Thinking of the other child, he or she then lets the balloon go. The music was composed by Uwe Fahrenkrog-Petersen, the keyboardist of Nena's band, while Karges wrote the original German lyrics.

Having achieved widespread success in Germanic Europe and Japan, plans were made for the band to take the song international with an English version by Kevin McAlea, titled "99 Red Balloons". The English version is not a direct translation of the German and contains a somewhat different set of lyrics.

Violent Femmes - Blister in the Sun

Violent Femmes were an American alternative rock band from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, initially active between 1980 and 1987 and again from 1988 to 2009. The band performed as a trio, including: singer, guitarist and songwriter Gordon Gano, bassist Brian Ritchie, and two drummers, Victor DeLorenzo (1980–1993 and 2002–2009) and Guy Hoffman (1993–2002).

The Violent Femmes released eight studio albums and fifteen singles during the course of their career. The band found immediate success with the release of their self-titled debut album in early 1983. Featuring many of their well-known songs, including "Blister in the Sun", "Kiss Off", "Add It Up" and "Gone Daddy Gone", Violent Femmes became the band's biggest-selling album and was eventually certified platinum by the RIAA.

Violent Femmes went on to become one of the most commercially successful rock bands of the 1980s and 1990s, selling over 9 million albums by 2005.
After the release of their third album The Blind Leading the Naked (1986), the band's future was uncertain and they split up in 1987, when Gano and Ritchie went solo. However, they regrouped a year later, releasing the album 3 (1989). Since then, Violent Femmes' popularity continued to grow, especially in the United States where the songs "Nightmares" and "American Music" cracked the top five on the Modern Rock Tracks chart.

"Blister in the Sun" is a song originally released on their 1983 self-titled debut album. In 1998, Indigo Girls recorded a live cover of the song.It has also been covered by Nouvelle Vague on their 2009 album 3.

A music video was created in 1997 to coincide with the film Grosse Pointe Blank. The video features a puppet of Socks and a Chelsea Clinton impersonator, along with clips from the film.

Naked Eyes - Always Something There to Remind Me

Naked Eyes is a British New Wave band that first became popular in the 1980s. The duo is known for their singles: a cover of the Burt Bacharach/Hal David standard "(There's) Always Something There to Remind Me" (Bacharach himself has cited the cover as a personal favourite), and their subsequent hits "Promises, Promises", "When the Lights Go Out" and "(What) In the Name of Love."

Naked Eyes consisted of childhood friends from Bath, England: Pete Byrne on vocals and Rob Fisher on keyboards. The two had formerly played in a band called Neon with future members of Tears for Fears.

Naked Eyes was one of the first bands to make significant use of the Fairlight CMI sampling synthesizer on a recording. Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush had used the instrument on prior efforts, but the usage had been far less than Naked Eyes would employ on their debut effort.

Their second and third singles, "Promises, Promises" and "When the Lights Go Out", were also hit singles, mainly in the U.S. and in Canada. However, their second album Fuel for the Fire and the single "(What) In the Name of Love", were not as well-received, and the group broke up soon after its release.

"(There's) Always Something There to Remind Me" is a song written in the 1960s by songwriting team Burt Bacharach and Hal David, also known as Always Something There to Remind Me.

Twenty years after its composition, "Always Something There to Remind Me" reached the US Top Twenty for the first time via a synthpop reinvention of the song by Naked Eyes which reached the Top Ten on the Billboard Hot 100 in the summer of 1983.

Released in the US in January 1983, Naked Eyes' "Always Something There to Remind Me" gradually gained attention entering the Billboard Hot 100 in March 1983 to peak at #8 that June. The cachet of entering the US Top Ten allowed the single, previously overlooked in its performer's UK homeland , to make a July 1983 UK chart debut but only to rise no higher than #59. "Always Something There to Remind Me" did afford Naked Eyes Top Ten success in Australia (#7), Canada (#9) and New Zealand (#2).

Toni Basil - Mickey

Toni Basil (born Antonia Christina Basilotta on September 22, 1943 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is an American singer-songwriter, actress, filmmaker, film director and choreographer, best-known for her multi-million-selling worldwide #1 hit "Mickey" from 1982.

Basil's recording career began in 1966 with a single for A&M Records which was the title song from the short film Breakaway. She appeared as a guest during the first season of Saturday Night Live as one of The Lockers and on later seasons as a singer as well as a filmmaker with her urban style "Swan Lake".

In 1982, she released the single "Mickey", which went on to achieve international success. This song is a cover of "Kitty," a 1979 release by the UK band Racey, written by British hitmakers Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman and produced by Mike Chapman. The original song did not include the famous 'Oh Mickey, you're so fine' chant, which Basil added.

"Mickey" was actually recorded in 1980 and the video was conceived, directed, and choreographed by Basil herself for the UK-based label Radial Choice nearly a year before the inception of MTV in 1981. Issued on Chrysalis Records in September 1982, the song knocked Lionel Richie from #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in December.

The infectious 45 was quickly certified Gold and in early 1983 reached Platinum status for sales of over 2 million copies in the United States alone.

The music video for "Mickey" was one of the most popular early MTV videos. In the video, Basil wore her head cheerleader uniform from Las Vegas High School from which she graduated. During an interview on VH1's "100 Greatest Songs of The 80's", Basil revealed that she still owns the same cheerleader sweater she wore in the video. In 2003, VH1 ranked "Mickey" Number 6 on its list of the 100 Greatest One Hit Wonders of the '80s.

Olivia Newton-John - Physical

Olivia Newton-John,(born 26 September 1948) is an English-born, Australian-raised singer and actress. She is a four-time Grammy award winner who has amassed five No. 1 and ten other Top Ten Billboard Hot 100 singles and two No. 1 Billboard 200 solo albums.

Eleven of her singles (including two platinum) and 14 of her albums (including two platinum and four double platinum) have been certified gold by the RIAA. Her music has been successful in multiple formats including pop, country and adult contemporary and has sold an estimated over 100 million albums worldwide. She co-starred with John Travolta in the film adaptation of the Broadway musical, Grease, which became one of the most successful films and movie soundtracks in Hollywood history.

Newton-John has been a long-time activist for environmental and animal rights issues. Since surviving breast cancer in 1992,she has been an advocate for health awareness becoming involved with various charities, health products and fundraising efforts.

"Physical" is a 1981 song written by Steve Kipner and Terry Shaddick. It shipped two million copies, being certified Platinum. It's her biggest hit in the United States, spending 10 weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100, and her biggest hit on a global scale. "Physical" is one of the most popular songs released in the 80s.

Recorded in early 1981, it first rose to number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in America in November 1981 and stayed there for 10 weeks, until near the end of January 1982. Billboard ranked it as the number one pop single of 1982 (since the chart year for 1982 actually began in November 1981), and it was also the most successful song on the Hot 100 during the entire decade of the 1980s. The famous guitar solo is performed by Toto's guitarist Steve Lukather.

The single, slightly edgier than she had been known for in the past (such as her songs from Grease and her country-pop ballad "I Honestly Love You"), proved to be immensely popular both in America and in the United Kingdom, despite the fact that the song was censored and even banned by some radio stations; due to its sexual and/or violent content, especially the line: "Let me hear your body talk", in spite of Newton-John's status as the reigning queen of soft-rock music at the time, "Physical" peaked at only number twenty-nine on the AC chart (its follow-up, the slightly softer-edged "Make a Move on Me," found more acceptance at AC radio and went to number six AC as well as number five pop.)

The song was a big dance hit, crossed over to the Billboard R&B chart peaking at #28 there, and spawned a music video.

In the United Kingdom the single was not nearly as massive a success as in America, but still became a big hit, reaching #7. It also certified Silver.

The controversial music video that was released to promote the song featured Newton John in a gym with well-built men in the last half. Some of the scenes have sexual subtext, such as the shower scene or when Olivia rubs herself on the men.

The video featured a lusty Olivia, dressed in a tight leotard, working out in a gym with several overweight men, who eventually transform into attractive muscular young men. The gym setting may have been partly an attempt to divert attention from the overt sexual connotations of the term "physical". This was further emphasised by the twist comedy ending of the video, when the transformed men who are now oblivious to Newton-John's advances are ultimately revealed to be gay (this was also a source of controversy; MTV frequently cut the ending when it aired the video, and the sometimes sensuous nature of the video also led to it being banned outright by some broadcasters in Canada and the United Kingdom). The video won a Grammy Award for Video of the Year in 1983.

The Billboard ranked the song at #6 on All Time Top 100 and #1 on Top 50 Sexiest Songs Of All Time.

Indeep - Last Night a D.J. Saved My Life

Indeep was a 1980s New York-based R&B/New Wave group, best-known for its post-disco song "Last Night a D.J. Saved My Life."The group was led by its songwriter-musician Michael Cleveland, and it was known for employing a strong disco-esque bass line and early hip hop lyrics backed by two female singers: Réjane Magloire and Rose Marie Ramsey.

"Last Night a D.J. Saved My Life" was released in 1982 and peaked in early 1983, reaching the top 10 in the US R&B and #2 in the US Club as well as the Top 15 in UK, and was certified for Gold-level sales in France.

The follow-up single, "When Boys Talk," did not do nearly as well on either side of the Atlantic, which, combined with its limited later success, put the group into the one-hit wonders category. Vocalist Magloire later enjoyed some success with the Belgian techno-house outfit Technotronic. "Last Night a DJ Saved My Life" was later covered by Mariah Carey on her 2001 album Glitter, and reached #25 in Spain.

In 2005, editors of Blender magazine placed it at number 406 on its 500 Greatest Songs Since You Were Born list. The song also provided the inspiration of the title of the book Last Night a DJ Saved My Life: The History of the Disc Jockey (2000).

In 2004, UK house/trance music producer Seamus Haji made several popular remixes of the song through his own label, Big Love Records, and released them on a 12" single titled "Last Night a DJ Saved My Life (ATFC mixes)." This version reached number thirteen on the UK Singles Chart and number one on the UK Dance chart in 2006.

Belinda Carlisle - Heaven Is a Place on Earth & La Luna

Belinda Jo Carlisle (born August 17, 1958) is a Grammy Award-nominated American singer and best-selling author who gained worldwide fame as the lead vocalist of the Go-Go's, considered by some to be the most successful all-female band of all time and, historically, the first such group whose members wrote their own songs and played their own instruments.

Topping the Billboard charts with the Go-Go's, she sold more than seven million albums and later went on to a successful solo career with hits "Mad About You", "Summer Rain", "I Get Weak", "Leave a Light On" and "Heaven Is a Place on Earth" and others, which were major successes in the United States and United Kingdom as well as internationally.

Her autobiography, Lips Unsealed, published in June 2010, reached No. 27 on the The New York Times Best Seller list and received favorable reviews. In August 2011, she will be receiving, as a member of the Go-Go's, a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

"Heaven Is a Place on Earth" was written by Rick Nowels and Ellen Shipley, and interpolating the aria "Schlafe, mein Liebster, genieße der Ruh'" from Johann Sebastian Bach's Christmas Oratorio, it hit Number One on the Billboard Hot 100 on December 5, 1987, becoming Carlisle's only U.S. chart-topper with or without The Go-Go's. A month later it hit number one on the UK Singles Chart and held the spot for two weeks. The song reached number one in many other countries, among them Switzerland, Ireland, Sweden, South Africa and Norway. The song also reached number three in Germany, number two in Australia, and number six in Italy. It is widely considered to be Carlisle's signature song because of its success on the charts and its continued relevance today. The song was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance.

The promotional video was directed by Academy Award-winning actress Diane Keaton and features an appearance of Carlisle's husband Morgan Mason. It also features children wearing black masks and a cape while each of them holding an illuminated plastic globe. Carlisle appeared wearing a sampo and later changed to a black off-the-shoulder blouse. The video was partially filmed at Six Flags Magic Mountain theme park in Valencia, California, on the Spin Out ride.

"La Luna" (The Moon) is the second single from Belinda Carlisle's third album Runaway Horses, released in 1989. The music video was directed by Andy Morahan.

Billy Idol - Rebel Yell

William Michael Albert Broad (born 30 November 1955), better known by his stage name Billy Idol, is an English rock musician. He first achieved fame in the punk rock era as a member of the band Generation X. He then embarked on a successful solo career, aided by a series of stylish music videos, making him one of the first MTV stars. Idol continues to tour with guitarist Steve Stevens and has a worldwide fan base.

He and Tony James co-founded Generation X, with Idol switching from guitarist to lead singer. Generation X signed to Chrysalis Records and released three albums and performed in the 1980 film, D.O.A., before disbanding. Idol's solo career began with the EP titled Don't Stop, which included the Generation X song "Dancing with Myself", originally recorded for their last album Kiss Me Deadly, and a cover of Tommy James & The Shondells' song "Mony Mony". Both songs became his first singles and remain part of his classic live setlists as of 2010. In 1982 Idol instantly became an MTV staple with "White Wedding" and "Dancing with Myself".

Idol's second LP, Rebel Yell (1983) was a major success and established Idol's superstar status in the United States with hits like "Eyes Without a Face," "Flesh For Fantasy", and the title cut. Idol also became very popular in Europe thanks to this album and its singles, particularly in Germany, Italy, Switzerland and later in the UK. Tracks from the album featured in the 1988 Hollywood comedy film Big,which starred Tom Hanks.

"Rebel Yell" is the first song on the Billy Idol album of the same name. When first released in 1984, it charted outside the UK Top 40, but a re-issue in 1985 reached #6. It did not fare as well in the US, only reaching #46. The song was named the 79th best hard rock song of all time by VH1.

According to Billy Idol at a televised performance of VH1 Storytellers, the idea of a song thus entitled came to him at an event he once attended, where Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, and Ronnie Wood of The Rolling Stones were taking swigs of a "Rebel Yell" bottle of bourbon whiskey, a brand unknown to him, the name of which he liked; Billy decided and stated that he would set off to write a "Rebel Yell" song.

The song was co-written by guitarist Steve Stevens. The instrumental introduction, which sounds like a combination of electric guitar and electronic keyboard, is performed by Stevens on guitar alone, who intended it to sound this way. Stevens states that he was inspired by acoustic guitarist Leo Kottke's style.

The Pretenders - In the Middle of the Road

The Pretenders are an English-American rock band formed in Hereford, England in March 1978. The original band consisted of initiator and main songwriter Chrissie Hynde (lead vocals, rhythm guitar), James Honeyman-Scott (lead guitar, backing vocals, keyboards), Pete Farndon (bass guitar, backing vocals), and Martin Chambers (drums, backing vocals, percussion). The band has experienced drug-related deaths of the members, and numerous subsequent personnel changes have taken place over the years, with Hynde as the sole continual member.

In 1978, Hynde made a demo tape and gave it to Dave Hill, owner of the label Real Records. Hill stepped in to manage her career, and began by paying off the back rent owed on her rehearsal room in Covent Garden, London. Hill also advised Hynde to take her time and get a band together. In the spring of 1978, Hynde met Pete Farndon (bass guitar / vocals), and they selected a band consisting of James Honeyman-Scott (guitar / vocals / keyboards), and Martin Chambers (drums / vocals / percussion), put the name The Pretenders on the group, inspired by the song "The Great Pretender" by The Platters.

They recorded a demo tape (including "Precious", "The Wait" and a Kinks cover, "Stop Your Sobbing"), handed it to Hynde's friend Nick Lowe, produced a single ("Stop Your Sobbing/The Wait") and performed their first gigs in a club in Paris. The single was released in January 1979 and hit the Top 30 in UK. The band's early success was followed by their first gigs in Britain where they earned wide critical acclaim. Later that spring (1979), The Pretenders recorded their eponymous first album and hit the charts in UK and US with the song "Brass in Pocket". The band traded on the success of this first album (for Sire Records) for some time, as it wasn't released around the world until well into 1979 (some charts consider it the best album of 1980, for example).

"In the Middle of the Road" is a single that appears on The Pretenders' album Learning to Crawl. It is a song that has a 60s-style rhythm, and it peaked at #19 on the US pop singles chart and #2 on the US mainstream rock chart in January 1984, where it stayed for four weeks. The number is at least quasi-autobiographical, with writer and lead singer Chrissie Hynde exclaiming, I got a kid, I'm thirty-three, hey!

Men at Work - Down Under & Who can it be now

Men at Work are a Scottish-Australian rock band who achieved international success in the 1980s. They are the only Australian artists to have a simultaneous #1 album and #1 single in the United States (Business as Usual and "Down Under" respectively). They achieved the same distinction of a simultaneous #1 album and #1 single in the United Kingdom. The group won the 1983 Grammy Award for Best New Artist, and have sold over 30 million albums worldwide.

Colin Hay emigrated to Australia in 1967 from Scotland with his family. In 1978, he formed a duo with Ron Strykert, which expanded with the addition of drummer Jerry Speiser and Australian progressive rock keyboard player Greg Sneddon. They formed an unnamed four-piece group that would later morph into Men at Work. Sneddon soon left, to be replaced in late 1979 by saxophonist/flautist/keyboardist Greg Ham. Bassist John Rees completed the band.

"Down Under" recorded by Men at Work for their debut album Business as Usual (1981). The song went to #1 on American, British, and Australian charts.

The lyrics are about an Australian traveller circling the globe, proud of his nationality, and about his interactions with people he meets on his travels who are interested in his home country.

One of the verses refers to Vegemite (an Australian food product) sandwiches, among other things; the particular lyric "He just smiled and gave me a Vegemite sandwich" has become a well-known phrase.

Colin Hay told Songfacts: "The chorus is really about the selling of Australia in many ways, the over-development of the country. It was a song about the loss of spirit in that country. It's really about the plundering of the country by greedy people. It is ultimately about celebrating the country, but not in a nationalistic way and not in a flag-waving sense. It's really more than that.»
The song was ranked #96 on VH1's 100 Greatest Songs of the 1980s in October 2006.

"Who Can It Be Now?" was the second single and first track from their 1981 debut album, Business as Usual. "Who Can It Be Now?" was first released as a single in Australia in June 1981, prior to the recording of the rest of the album. The track peaked at #2 on the Australian singles chart in August that year and went on to reach #1 in the USA and #45 in the UK in 1982.

As one of Men at Work's biggest hits, it was featured on their later compilation albums, and a live version can be found on Brazil.

The lyrics of "Who Can It Be Now?" feature the narrative of a reclusive, perhaps paranoid man who hears knocking at his house door and wishes to be left in solitude. The presence of a "childhood friend" is mentioned, and the bridge lyrics give the impression that the narrator fears once again being taken away to a mental institution. Musically, the song features prominent saxophone lines and a mid-tempo beat. Its chorus vocals, which make up the song title, feature a melody that is echoed through saxophone in a call and response fashion. The second chorus pushes the anxious lyrics further and becomes flush with vocal harmony.

"Who Can It Be Now?" remains a popular symbol of New Wave music. Allmusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine called the song an "excellent single that merged straight-ahead pop/rock hooks with a quirky New Wave production and an offbeat sense of humor." Heather Phares reviewed the song specifically and summed up by saying "In keeping with current trends but just quirky enough to be instantly memorable, the song seems custom-built for repeated play; it's easy to see why it became one of 1982's biggest hits, as well as a definitive New Wave single.

Foreigner- Urgent

Foreigner is a British-American rock band,originally formed in 1976 by veteran English musicians Mick Jones and ex-King Crimson member Ian McDonald along with American vocalist Lou Gramm. Foreigner have sold more than 70 million albums worldwide.

Since its inception, Foreigner has been led by English journeyman rocker Mick Jones (former member of Nero and the Gladiators, Spooky Tooth and The Leslie West Band) who, in early 1976, met with McDonald and formed Foreigner with Lou Gramm (ex-Black Sheep), Dennis Elliott, Al Greenwood, and Ed Gagliardi as a sextet. Jones came up with the name from the fact that he, McDonald, and Elliott were English, while Gramm, Greenwood, and Gagliardi were Americans.

The band's debut album Foreigner was released in March 1977 and sold more than four million copies in the United States, staying in the Top 20 for a year with such hits as "Feels Like the First Time," "Cold as Ice" and "Long Long Way From Home." Their second album, Double Vision (released in June 1978), topped their previous, selling five million records and spawned "Hot Blooded," the title track "Double Vision" and "Blue Morning Blue Day."

Their third album, Head Games, which was referred to by Gramm as their "grainiest" album, was also successful because of the thunderous "Dirty White Boy" and another title track hit "Head Games."

"Urgent" is the first single from their hit album 4 in 1981. Foreigner went into the studio with producer Robert John "Mutt" Lange, best known at the time as producer of hard rock band AC/DC. Foreigner's sound wasn't quite as heavy, and the band worked with then-unknown Thomas Dolby to program and play synthesizer. Dolby's work can be heard on "Urgent", along with a saxophone solo by Motown great Junior Walker.

The song entered the U.S. pop charts the week ending July 4, 1981, and reached #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, holding that spot for the entire month of September. "Urgent" hit #1 on the Billboard Rock Tracks chart, a position it held for four weeks.

"Urgent" was the most successful single from the 4 album on album-oriented rock radio, though it was outsold by the album's next single, "Waiting for a Girl Like You", which reached #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 in November 1981 and remained at that spot through the end of the following January, for a total of ten weeks, being certified Gold. 4 went Gold and Platinum during the chart run of the "Urgent" single. The album has since been certified multi-platinum by the RIAA, for selling over six million copies in the U.S. alone.

The song was Foreigner's second-best-selling single (after "I Want to Know What Love Is") in both Canada and Sweden, reaching #1 in Canada in September 1981 and #20 in Sweden in March 1982. In Australia, "Urgent" peaked at #24 in August 1981. In the UK, the song reached only #54 upon its first release in 1981. In 1982, after "Waiting for a Girl Like You" went Top Ten there, "Urgent" was re-released, this time reaching only slightly higher, peaking at #45.

The Cars - Drive

The Cars are an American rock band that emerged from the early New Wave music scene in the late 1970s. The band consisted of lead singer and rhythm guitarist Ric Ocasek, lead singer and bassist Benjamin Orr, guitarist Elliot Easton, keyboardist Greg Hawkes and drummer David Robinson. The band originated from Boston, Massachusetts, and were signed to Elektra Records by George Daly , then A&R head, in 1977.

The Cars were at the forefront in merging 1970s guitar-oriented rock with the new synth-oriented pop that was then becoming popular and which would flower in the early 1980s. The Cars started fresh with their debut album The Cars which went on to go platinum in late 1978, The Cars debut album was called a "genuine rock masterpiece" by allmusic. Probably the most successful and well known song from the album "Just What I Needed", started as a demo in 1977. The song was sent as a mix tape to a local DJ in the Boston area, who played the song in heavy rotation. This soon caught the attention of other DJs, which led to the signing of the band by Elektra Records in 1977. The Cars have mentioned this numerous times including in their "last" interview in June 2000.

The band broke up in 1988, and Ocasek had always discouraged talk of a reunion since then, telling one interviewer in 1997 "I'm saying never and you can count on that."Bassist Benjamin Orr died in 2000 from pancreatic cancer. In 2005, Easton and Hawkes joined with Todd Rundgren to form a spin-off band, The New Cars, which performed classic Cars and Rundgren songs alongside new material. The remaining members reunited in 2010 to record a new album, titled Move Like This, which was released May 10, 2011, and a tour to start on the same day.

"Drive" is a 1984 song by The Cars, the third single from the band's Heartbeat City album and their biggest international hit. It was written by Ric Ocasek and produced by Robert John "Mutt" Lange with the band. Lead vocals were by Cars bassist Benjamin Orr.

"Drive" was The Cars highest charting single in the United States, peaking at number three on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. On the Adult Contemporary chart, the song went to number one. It reached number five in the UK Singles Chart on its initial release; following the Cars' performance at Live Aid, the song was re-released and peaked at number four. It also reached number four in West Germany and number six in Canada. It was famously used as part of the Live Aid concert in 1985 as the background music to a montage of clips showing poverty-stricken Africa.

The music video was directed by actor Timothy Hutton and features model/actress Paulina Porizkova,Ocasec's later wife.

Bonnie Tyler - Total Eclipse of the Heart

Bonnie Tyler (born Gaynor Hopkins on 8 June 1951) is a Welsh singer, most notable for her hits in the 1970s and 1980s.

In 1976, Tyler was spotted in "The Townsman Club" in Swansea by the songwriting and producing team of Ronnie Scott and Steve Wolfe, who became her managers, songwriters and producers.

Following the Top 10 success of her 1976 song "Lost in France", Tyler released her first album in 1977 entitled The World Starts Tonight. A further single from the album, "More Than a Lover", made the UK Top 30, and the follow-up single, "Heaven", reached the Top 30 in Germany.

In 1977, Tyler was diagnosed with nodules on her vocal cords that were so severe that she needed to undergo surgery to remove them. After the surgery, she was ordered not to speak for six weeks to aid the healing process, but she accidentally screamed out in frustration one day. This caused her voice to take on a raspy quality.

At first she believed that her singing career was ruined; but to her surprise her next single, "It's a Heartache," made her an international star. The song reached #4 in the UK, #3 in the US, #2 in Germany, and topped the charts in several countries (including France and Australia).

International breakthrough came with her album, Faster Than the Speed of Night, released in Spring 1983 and included the power-ballad "Total Eclipse of the Heart", which was written by Jim Steinman. The song was a worldwide hit, reaching No. 1 in the UK, France, Australia, and in the United States where it remained at the top for four weeks. At its peak, it sold 60,000 copies per day, and approximately 6 million copies in total. It won the Variety Club award in the UK for best single of 1983.

Her presence in the US chart was at a time when almost one third of the Billboard Hot 100 was filled by songs from UK based acts - a situation not seen since the 1960s British Invasion and Beatlemania.

Faster Than the Speed of Night entered the UK Albums Chart at number 1, and also became a Top Five bestseller in the US and Australia. "Total Eclipse of the Heart" also brought Tyler a nomination for the Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. In 1984, she performed the track at the Grammy Awards, and received another Grammy nomination as Best Rock Female Vocalist for "Here She Comes", a song that was part of the soundtrack for the 1984 restoration of the film Metropolis.

She also released the singles "A Rockin' Good Way", a duet with fellow Welsh artist Shakin' Stevens, which made #5 in the UK, and "Holding Out for a Hero", for the Footloose soundtrack, which made the U.S. Top 40 and later peaked at number 2 in UK in the summer of 1985. "Holding Out For A Hero" (written by Steinman and Dean Pitchford) was also used as the main theme for the 1984 US television series Cover Up, though the version heard on the TV series was not Tyler's original but performed by a Tyler sound-alike.

Pat Benatar - Love Is a Battlefield

Pat Benatar (born Patricia Mae Andrzejewski January 10, 1953) is an American singer and four time Grammy winner. She had considerable commercial success particularly in the United States. During the 1980s, Benatar had two RIAA-certified Multi-Platinum albums, five RIAA-certified Platinum albums, three RIAA-certified Gold albums and 19 Top 40 singles.

Benatar was one of the most heavily played artists in the early days of MTV.

Love Is a Battlefield" is a song written by Holly Knight and Mike Chapman, after Pat Benatar asked Chapman to write her a hit song. It was released as a single from Benatar's album Live from Earth, which was popular in 1983 and 1984.

The single has been certified gold and is her highest charting single in the United States, as it topped Billboard's Mainstream Rock Tracks chart for four weeks and made number five on the Billboard Hot 100. It topped the Australian singles chart for five weeks in 1984. The song was finally released in the United Kingdom in March 1985 and reached #17.

The single was unlike most of Benatar's previous work, as it featured an electronic dance element, but guitars and drums were still present. The song won Benatar a Grammy Award for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance.

The music video, which depicted Benatar as a teenage runaway trying to survive the mean streets of New York City, was nominated for an MTV Video Music Award for Best Female Video and was viewable on the DVD for the movie 13 Going on 30.

Billy Joel - Uptown Girl

William Martin "Billy" Joel (born May 9, 1949) is an American musician and pianist, singer-songwriter, and classical composer. Since releasing his first hit song, "Piano Man", in 1973, Joel has become the sixth best-selling recording artist and the third best-selling solo artist in the United States, according to the RIAA.

Joel had Top 40 hits in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s; achieving 33 Top 40 hits in the United States, all of which he wrote himself. He is also a six-time Grammy Award winner, a 23-time Grammy nominee and has sold over 150 million records worldwide. He was inducted into the Songwriter's Hall of Fame (1992), the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (1999), the Long Island Music Hall of Fame (2006) and the Hit Parade Hall of Fame (2009).

Joel discontinued recording new material after 1993's River of Dreams but continues to tour.

“Uptown Girl" is a song written by musician Billy Joel, first released in 1983 on his album An Innocent Man. The lyrics describe a working-class "downtown man" attempting to woo a wealthy "uptown girl." The style of music, including the doo-wop beat, the close harmonies and Joel's use of falsetto singing, is reminiscent of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons.
The single peaked at #3 on the Billboard charts in the US, and #1 in the UK, staying at that position for 5 weeks;

It was the second biggest selling single of 1983 in the United Kingdom behind only Culture Club's "Karma Chameleon", which Joel had knocked off the number one position on November 1, 1983;

In 1988, Rolling Stone ranked "Uptown Girl" #99 on their list of the 100 most important singles of the period 1963-1988. The song was the 19th biggest selling single of the 1980s in the United Kingdom.

The title character in the music video was played by Christie Brinkley. Joel and Brinkley married in 1985 and divorced in 1994.

Joan Jett & the Blackhearts - I Love Rock N Roll

Joan Jett (born Joan Marie Larkin; September 22, 1958) is an American rock guitarist, singer, songwriter, producer and actress.

She is best known for her work with Joan Jett & the Blackhearts including their hit cover "I Love Rock 'n' Roll", which was #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 from March 20 to May 1, 1982, as well as for their other popular recordings including "Crimson and Clover," "I Hate Myself for Loving You," "Do You Want to Touch Me," "Light of Day," "Love Is All Around," "Bad Reputation," and "Little Liar."

Her musical and songwriting approach is heavily influenced by the hard-edged, hard beat-driven rhythms common to many rock bands of her native Philadelphia, often featuring lyrics surrounding themes of lost love, criticisms of insincerity, the quest for authenticity, the struggles and resolutions of the American middle class. She has 3 albums that have been certified Platinum or Gold, and she has been referred to as the "Queen of Rock 'n' Roll" many times during her career. In Venus Zine's 2010 "Queen of Rock" feature, Jett won the Readers' Pick in an online poll ahead of Stevie Nicks and Ann Wilson.

Jett produced several bands prior to releasing her debut and her label Blackheart Records released recordings from varied artists such as thrash metal band Metal Church and rapper Big Daddy Kane.

The press touted Jett as the "Godmother of Punk" and the "Original Riot Grrrl." In 1994, the Blackhearts released the well-received Pure and Simple, which featured tracks written with Babes in Toyland's Kat Bjelland, L7's Donita Sparks and Bikini Kill's Kathleen Hanna.

Jett was inducted into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame in October 2006.

In 2003, Jett was named in the Rolling Stone greatest 100 guitarists of all time at number 87. She was one of only two women in this list, the other being Joni Mitchell at number 72.

Jett is listed as one of Blender's "hottest women of rock" 21 years after she started The Runaways.

«I Love Rock 'n Roll" is a rock song written in 1975 by Alan Merrill and Jake Hooker of Arrows, who recorded the first released version. The song was later made famous by the hit version recorded by Joan Jett & the Blackhearts in 1981.

The song was originally recorded and released by the Arrows in 1975 on RAK Records, with lead vocals by Alan Merrill and produced by Mickie Most. In an interview with Songfacts, Merrill said he wrote it as "a knee-jerk response to The Rolling Stones' 'It's Only Rock 'n Roll (But I Like It)'."This version was first released as a B-side, but was soon re-recorded and flipped to A-side status on a subsequent pressing of the record. Although not a chart hit in its original version as a result of non-existent promotion by the band's label, the song has come to worldwide prominence due to very successful cover versions that have been recorded.The initial CD release was in 1992 on Blackheart Records and featured 13 tracks. The album was digitally remastered and reissued on CD in 1998 and featured two additional bonus tracks

Joan Jett saw the Arrows perform "I Love Rock 'n' Roll" on their weekly television series Arrows when she was touring England with The Runaways in 1976. She first recorded the song in 1979 with two of the Sex Pistols: Steve Jones and Paul Cook. This first version was not released until 1993 in Flashback. In 1981, Jett re-recorded the song, this time with her band, The Blackhearts. This recording became a U.S. Billboard Hot 100 number-one single for seven weeks, effectively launching Jett's solo career. The single was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America, representing One million units sold. All versions count once toward certification. This success propelled Jett's I Love Rock 'n Roll album to number two on the Billboard 200. Joan Jett's version was ranked #89 in the list 100 Greatest Guitar Songs of Rolling Stone.

"I Love Rock 'n Roll"'s gritty, black-and-white music video received heavy play from the then-young MTV network. In it, Jett and the Blackhearts travel to a small, dingy bar and proceed to excite the drunken crowd by performing the song and yelling out its famous chorus. A snippet of Jett's 1981 hit, "Bad Reputation," is featured at the beginning of the video. Jett followed "I Love Rock 'n Roll" up with another cover — her version of Tommy James and the Shondells' "Crimson and Clover" was a top-ten U.S. hit. The video was originally in color, but it was converted to black and white due to the way Joan Jett felt her red leather jacket looked in color.

In 1993 Joan Jett and the Blackhearts made another music video for the song as part of the Wayne's World 2 soundtrack. In the video appear several scenes from the movie with Mike Myers and Dana Carvey mixed with Joan and her band playing in a concert. It was again released as a single by Warner/Reprise with "Activity Grrrl" as the B-side.

Jett's version has received many accolades, including:
Ranking #85 on Q magazine March 2005 list of the 100 Greatest Guitar Tracks
Ranking #484 on the Rolling Stone magazine's list of "the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time"
Ranking #56 in Billboard's Greatest Songs of all time.

ABC - The look of Love

ABC are an English band, that charted ten UK and five US Top 40 singles between 1981 and 1990. The band continues to tour and released a new album, Traffic in 2008.

ABC has its roots in the band Vice Versa. Vice Versa was formed in 1977 in Sheffield by Stephen Singleton, Mark White and David Sydenham, they founded their own label, Neutron Records, releasing the EP Music 4. They had similarities to The Human League, whom they supported in 1978. Martin Fry, who wrote the fanzine Modern Drugs, interviewed the band, and shortly afterwards, they asked him to join as synthesizer player, and Fry accepted, and shortly afterwards the band evolved into ABC, with Fry taking over on vocals.

The group's first single, "Tears Are Not Enough", made the UK Top 20 in 1981. Soon afterwards, David Robinson left the band and was replaced by drummer David Palmer.

In 1982, the band released their debut album The Lexicon of Love, which reached number one in the UK Albums Chart.Produced by Trevor Horn, it often featured in UK critics' lists of favourite albums: it ranked 42nd in The Observer Music Monthly's "Top 100 British Albums" (June 2004) and 40th in Q magazine's "100 Greatest British Albums" (June 2000). The band had three Top 10 hits during 1982: the singles "Poison Arrow", "The Look of Love (Part One)" and "All of My Heart" and shot high-concept music videos.

ABC found it difficult to follow up their debut. The second album, Beauty Stab, was released in November 1983.It performed poorly in comparison to its predecessor. Gary Langan, who had engineered The Lexicon of Love, produced the effort. The first single, "That Was Then but This Is Now", briefly appeared in the UK Top 20, followed by a Top 40 showing for "S.O.S.". The band eschewed remixes for the project, and the 12" single for "That Was Then but This Is Now" featured the disclaimer "This record is exactly the same as the 7" version. The choice is yours." Stephen Singleton retired from the band in 1984.

Now a duo of Fry and White, augmented by two non-performing band members, Fiona Russell-Powell (known as Eden) and David Yarritu, ABC's chart fortunes in the UK dwindled further with the 1985 album How to Be a...Zillionaire!.Keith LeBlanc from Tackhead programmed much of the beatbox work for the album. The group did score its first US Top 10 hit with "Be Near Me" (which also made the UK Top 30). The album also featured the singles "(How to Be a) Millionaire", "Vanity Kills" and "Ocean Blue". ABC was one of the first bands to do video scratching" for several videos from the How to Be a... Zillionaire album, including the video for "Be Near Me".

Following a hiatus, during which Fry was treated for Hodgkin's disease, ABC returned with Alphabet City. Best known for "When Smokey Sings", a tribute to Smokey Robinson, the album also spawned "The Night You Murdered Love" and "King Without a Crown" as singles. All three tracks would make the CD version of the group's first anthology.

In 1989, the duo issued Up, their fifth and final PolyGram studio album. This time experimenting with house music, ABC scored a minor UK hit with the single "One Better World". They then released another single, "The Real Thing". During this period the group worked on a couple of outside productions aimed at the house music scene. One was Paul Rutherford's (Frankie Goes to Hollywood) solo album and first single release; the other was for Lizzie Tear on the group's own Neutron label.

In 1990, the band released a greatest hits compilation album, Absolutely. This covered all of ABC's albums up until 1990, and featured all of their singles. The compilation made the UK Top 10. A video package featuring promos was also released. One new song, "The Look of Love '90", was released to promote the package.

The group then moved to the EMI label (and MCA in North America), where they recorded the 1991 LP Abracadabra. "Love Conquers All", the first single, barely placed in the UK chart, though Italian production team Black Box provided remixes of "Say It" which appeared in the US dance chart.
"The Look of Love" is a song recorded by ABC in 1981, included on their debut album, The Lexicon of Love.

Released as a single and as a 12" remix, the went to number one on the Billboard Dance/Disco chart as well as the Canadian pop singles chart. It was their biggest hit in the UK Singles Chart, peaking at number 4, and was a Top 20 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 in the U.S., peaking at number 18.
The single consists of four parts, referred to as "Parts One, Two, Three and Four". Part One is the standard album version, Part Two is an instrumental version, Part Three is a vocal remix and Part Four is a short acoustic instrumental part of the song, containing strings and horns, as well as occasional harp plucks and xylophone. A different remix version by producer Trevor Horn appeared on the 1982 U.S. 12".

The music video for the song, taped on a soundstage, was influenced by old British music hall, the chalk pavement sequence in the Mary Poppins film, carnival sideshows, and Punch and Judy puppet shows; the four band members were featured wearing Edwardian-style light suits with vertical pastel stripes, accompanied by many colourful extras. The video vaguely pays homage to the ballet sequence from An American in Paris.