80's trivia

[mshray]

How well do you remember the 80's?  Or, put another way, how much has your perception been altered by AOR & AAA radio formats since?   

Here are 12 songs from the 80's.  One charted at #1 on the Hot 100. one at #11, one at #21, etc. down to #91.  Now I know what you're thinking, "that only accounts for 10 tracks & you said there were 12"  There's also one song that "bubbled under" at #101, and another track that never even managed to "bubble under" at all.  Place them in the proper order.

The Alarm - "Strength"
The Fixx - "Red Skies"
Huey Lewis - "Jacob's Ladder"
Joe Jackson - "Is She Really Going Out With Him?"
Rockpile - "Teacher, Teacher"
Scritti Politti - "Perfect Way"
Tim Curry - "I Do The Rock"
Tom Tom Club - "Genius of Love"
U2 - "I Will Follow"
Ultravox - "Reap The Wild Wind"
Wang Chung - "To Live & Die In L.A."
XTC - "Making Plans For Nigel"

* my arbitrary scoring works as follows: 2 pts for exactly right, 1 pt for +/- 1 chart position.  If you are +/- 2 positions you break even, +/- 3 positions is -1 pt, and +/- 4 or more positions is -2 pts.

#1 ____
#11 ____
#21 ____
#31 ____
#41 ____
#51 ____
#61 ____
#71 ____
#81 ____
#91 ____
#101 ____
didn't chart ____

For a special bonus, 10 of these songs have multiple Db entires.  For 5 frink points each, which has never appeared in the Db for the past 5 years?  ...and which has only appeared as a sample in another song (said song having multiple entries as well)?

[RGMike]

Tom Tom Club was the one that showed up as a sample (in that Ziggy Marley  "Tumblin' Down" remix). And TTC peaked at #31, methinks.

And I am utterly flabbergasted at this, but "Jacob's Ladder" is the #1.  I know Huey was hot for a long time in the '80s, but jeez.

my guesses:

#1 Huey
#11 Scritti Politti
#21 JJ
#31 Tom Tom Club
#41 Wang Chung
#51 Rockpile
#61 Fixx
#71 Alarm
#81 U2
#91 Tim Curry
#101 Ultraxox
didn't chart XTC

[mshray]

Tom Tom Club was the one that showed up as a sample (in that Ziggy Marley  "Tumblin' Down" remix). And TTC peaked at #31, methinks.

And I am utterly flabbergasted at this, but "Jacob's Ladder" is the #1.  I know Huey was hot for a long time in the '80s, but jeez.

my guesses:

#1 Huey
#11 Scritti Politti
#21 JJ
#31 Tom Tom Club
#41 Wang Chung
#51 Rockpile
#61 Fixx
#71 Alarm
#81 U2
#91 Tim Curry
#101 Ultraxox
didn't chart XTC

I figured "Jacob's Ladder" would throw the spanner in the works, but you nailed it.  And you get half the frink points for "Genius of Love".  Which song has never appeared inthe past 5 yrs? (no peeking Urth!)

You're overall score is 16 - very impressive considering that with the minuses, the range is from -24 to 24.

For an additional mega-bonus frink point award, what is the more significant trivial importance of Jacob's Ladder?

[RGMike]

I figured "Jacob's Ladder" would throw the spanner in the works, but you nailed it.  And you get half the frink points for "Genius of Love".  Which song has never appeared inthe past 5 yrs? (no peeking Urth!)

You're overall score is 16 - very impressive considering that with the minuses, the range is from -24 to 24.

For an additional mega-bonus frink point award, what is the more significant trivial importance of Jacob's Ladder?

Of course, I didn't have Whitburn handy at work this afternoon, but I knew Huey and U2 are the only 2 artists of the 12 who ever had any #1s, and that "I Will Follow" never got near the Top 40 (thanks, years of Casey Kasem listening!).

I'm tempted to say "Ladder" is also the one that's never appeared in the db; I don't recall hearing it but then I don't have fond memories of '87 sets generally. As to the other trivial importance, Bruce Hornsby either wrote or co-wrote it; but he's co-written other hits (like "End of the Innocence") so... I dunno. Something about Vietnam vets?

[Gazoo]

I'll take a stab (I am 98% certain that 1-41 are all correct):

#1 Huey Lewis - "Jacob's Ladder"
#11 Scritti Politti - "Perfect Way"
#21 Joe Jackson - "Is She Really Going Out With Him?"
#31 Tom Tom Club - "Genius of Love"
#41 Wang Chung - "To Live & Die In L.A."
#51 The Alarm - "Strength"
#61 The Fixx - "Red Skies"
#71 Rockpile - "Teacher, Teacher"
#81 Tim Curry - "I Do The Rock"
#91 XTC - "Making Plans For Nigel"
#101 Ultravox - "Reap The Wild Wind"
didn't chart U2 - "I Will Follow"

As to the other significance of "Jacob's Ladder": I'll take a guess that it was the 500th #1 hit of the rock era.

[mshray]

I'll take a stab (I am 98% certain that 1-41 are all correct):

#1 Huey Lewis - "Jacob's Ladder"
#11 Scritti Politti - "Perfect Way"
#21 Joe Jackson - "Is She Really Going Out With Him?"
#31 Tom Tom Club - "Genius of Love"
#41 Wang Chung - "To Live & Die In L.A."
#51 The Alarm - "Strength"
#61 The Fixx - "Red Skies"
#71 Rockpile - "Teacher, Teacher"
#81 Tim Curry - "I Do The Rock"
#91 XTC - "Making Plans For Nigel"
#101 Ultravox - "Reap The Wild Wind"
didn't chart U2 - "I Will Follow"

As to the other significance of "Jacob's Ladder": I'll take a guess that it was the 500th #1 hit of the rock era.

Mike was a little closer overall, but you also scored well

The correct order is
#1 Huey Lewis - "Jacob's Ladder"
#11 Scritti Politti - "Perfect Way"
#21 Joe Jackson - "Is She Really Going Out With Him?"
#31 Tom Tom Club - "Genius of Love"
#41 Wang Chung - "To Live & Die In L.A."
#51 Rockpile - "Teacher, Teacher"
#61 The Alarm - "Strength"
#71 Ultravox - "Reap The Wild Wind"
#81 U2 - "I Will Follow"
#91 Tim Curry - "I Do The Rock"
#101 The Fixx - "Red Skies"
didn't chart  XTC - "Making Plans For Nigel"

The other significance of "Jacob's Ladder" (which is not in the Db) is that it & "The Way It Is" were consecutive #1's, and as rare as it is for an artist to have consecutive #1's as a performer, it is even rarer to have consecutive #1's when you performed one & wrote the other.  I believe Prince has done this, and maybe one of the Gibbs bros.  Not sure who else back in the early days, but in any case it's a damn short list & NOT one you'd expect to find Bruce Hornsby on.

[RGMike]

The other significance of "Jacob's Ladder" (which is not in the Db) is that it & "The Way It Is" were consecutive #1's, and as rare as it is for an artist to have consecutive #1's as a performer, it is even rarer to have consecutive #1's when you performed one & wrote the other.  I believe Prince has done this, and maybe one of the Gibb bros.  Not sure who else back in the early days, but in any case it's a damn short list & NOT one you'd expect to find Bruce Hornsby on.

Barry Gibb actually did a 3-way: he cowrote Andy's "Love is Thicker Than My Penis", which was succeeded at #1 by "Night Fever", which was in turn replaced by "If I Can't Have You". Dunno about Prince; if you were thinking of "Rapberry Beret" and the Bangles' "Manic Monday" (as I was), both peaked at #2.

[mshray]

The other significance of "Jacob's Ladder" (which is not in the Db) is that it & "The Way It Is" were consecutive #1's, and as rare as it is for an artist to have consecutive #1's as a performer, it is even rarer to have consecutive #1's when you performed one & wrote the other.  I believe Prince has done this, and maybe one of the Gibb bros.  Not sure who else back in the early days, but in any case it's a damn short list & NOT one you'd expect to find Bruce Hornsby on.

Barry Gibb actually did a 3-way: he cowrote Andy's "Love is Thicker Than My Penis", which was succeeded at #1 by "Night Fever", which was in turn replaced by "If I Can't Have You". Dunno about Prince; if you were thinking of "Rapberry Beret" and the Bangles' "Manic Monday" (as I was), both peaked at #2.

Wait, Andy's love is thicker than whose penis??

Totally reminded me that yesterday when I had to take BART to dwtn SF, on my return as I headed down from 2nd & Market there was a graffitto by the escalator which read:

"Jesus Christ had the biggest penis EVER!"

[Gazoo]

"Jesus Christ had the biggest penis EVER!"

A joke that used to make the rounds at the Duplex bar here in NYC:

Q: Why do teh gays love Jesus?

A: Because he was hung like this! < stretches arms out as if on cross >