So---yesterday, while Mariah and I were having our lunch, just to be funny, I pulled up the music video for “I Want to Know What Love Is” by Foreigner, a super-hardcore ROCK BALLAD that we both remember from our days of hanging out at the local roller rink, SKATE WORLD!!! (It was actually located in Kelso, Washington, and we both lived in Longview, WA, but that’s right across the river from us.) Because I found the song so wonderfully ridiculous, I posted the link for the video on FaceBoot…
…with this note:
Couples skate in the reverse direction! (Hold hands! Don't be shy!!!) [To Mariah!]
(If anybody out there who is old enough to remember roller rinks and “All Night Skates,” drop a note in the comments…)
After this joke between my wife and me, (and, yes, it’s “ME”---objective case---not “I”! I worked in a writing center for almost ten years! Don’t question me on this…)… (Sorry grammar sidetrack. Let’s reset!)
After this joke between my wife and me, she says, “We should ask people on [FaceBoot] what their favorite ‘80’s ballads are!” So I posted this:
Here we go, folks!!! "BEST" ‘80’s ballads!!! GO!!!
And I got a pretty serious number of responses! Directly below is a LIST of all the songs that people mentioned. Below the list, I’m also going to include a few links to some videos, in case you want to take a cruise down roller-skate-memory-lane! I’m keeping all of the contributors anonymous, except me…for legal reasons…and so that I don’t expose anyone’s weird tastes but mine! (Ha!)
“BEST” ‘80’s Ballads (According to my circle of family and friends)
- Journey – “Faithfully” [Mine]
- White Lion – “When the Children Cry”
- Prince – “Purple Rain” [Mine]
- Peter Gabriel – “In Your Eyes (Secret World Live Vers.)”
- Tesla – “Love Song”
- Scorpions – “Still Loving You”
- Guns N’ Roses – “Don’t Cry”
- Motley Crue – “Home Sweet Home” [Mine]
- Styx – “Lady”
- Bon Jovi – “Wanted Dead or Alive”
- Skid Row – “I Remember You”
- George Michael – “Careless Whisper” [Mine]
- The Cure – “Love Song”
- Spandau Ballet – “True”
- Debbie Gibson – “Lost in Your Eyes”
- Animotion – “Obsession”
- Alphaville – “Forever Young”
- Bryan Adams – “Heaven”
- Peter Cetera feat. Amy Grant – “Next Time I Fall in Love”
- Phil Collins – “One More Night”
- Howard Jones – “No One is to Blame”
- Lionel Ritchie – “Stuck on You”
- Def Leppard – “Love Bites”
- Sting – “Fragile”
- Breathe – “How Can I Fall”
- Depeche Mode – “Somebody”
- When in Rome – “The Promise”
- Mr. Mister – “Broken Wings”
- Eurythmics – “Here Comes the Rain Again”
- a-ha – “Take on Me”
- Dolly Parton w/ Kenny Rogers – “Islands in the Stream”
- Cyndi Lauper – “True Colors” [Mine]
- Madness – “It Must be Love” [Mine]
- The Human League – “Human” [Mine]
- Soft Cell – “Tainted Love / Where Did Our Love Go?”
- Naked Eyes – “Always Something There to Remind Me”
- Richard Marx – (no song specified)
- Def Leppard – “Bringin’ on the Heartbreak”
- The Clash – “Should I Stay or Should I Go”
- Depeche Mode – “A Question of Lust”
- Siouxsie and The Banshees – “The Last Beat of My Heart”
- Echo & The Bunnymen – “The Killing Moon”
- Pat Benatar – “We Belong”
- Duran Duran – “Save a Prayer (Live Vers.)”
- Cutting Crew – “(I Just) Died in Your Arms”
- Faster Pussycat – “House of Pain”
- Laibach – “Trans-National”
- Madonna – “Crazy for You”
- Ultravox – “Vienna”
- April Wine – “Just Between You and Me”
- a-ha – “Take on Me (Live from MTV Unplugged)”
- The Bangles – “Eternal Flame” [Mine]
- Alien Sex Fiend – “Breakdown and Cry” [Mine]
- Nick Hayward – “Whistle Down the Wind” [Mine]
- Bryan Adams – “(Every I Do) I Do It for You”
- Paul Young – “Everytime You Go Away”
- Thompson Twins – “Hold Me Now”
- Violent Femmes – “Country Death Song”
- The Police – “Every Breath You Take”
- Michael Jackson – “Billie Jean”
- Queen – “Another One Bites the Dust”
- Men at Work – “Down Under”
- Crowded House – “Don’t Dream It’s Over”
- Camper Van Beethoven – “Come on Darkness”
- Killing Joke – “Eighties”
- Heart – “I Want You So Bad”
- Sinead O’Connor – “Nothing Compares 2U” (written by Prince)
- Gary Numan – “M.E.” [Mine]
I ALMOST included The Normal's "Warm Leatherette", which would have brought us to 69 songs, but I chickened out. I would argue that a few of these aren’t REALLY ballads, but that’s okay. People were having fun reminiscing, and I didn’t want to rain on their parades… One person commented, about halfway through the session, “Best. Thread. Ever.” I’ll admit---it was pretty good.
Now, just to be funny (again), I’m going to include half-a-dozen links to some of these songs's videos, so people can relive the glory (or discover them for the first time, if they’re NEW to ‘80’s tunes!)
And there you have it! We spent a fun couple of hours remembering old songs, listening to a few “classics,” and laughing (virtually) with a few friends. Didn’t cost anything but time and a bit of gloom-loss… Feel free to steal this idea and use it with your own social circle (modifying it however you want! Go WILD!)
[That completes Part 2 of my “Sharing is Caring” series. The first part can be read HERE! The next, and final, piece is going to be LOOOONG… Hopefully, I’ll have it done before bed tonight! Well... Hopefully…]
---Richard F. Yates
(Primitive Thoughtician and Holy Fool)
SUPPORT INDEPENDENT FOLKS WHO ARE JUST MAKING STUFF BECAUSE THEY LOVE IT!!!
@richardfyates
https://noncom.art.blog/reviews-books-movies-music/
https://makersplace.com/store/richardyates/
https://primitiveentertainment.wordpress.com/