James Ingram "How Do You Keep the Music Playing?"

"How Do You Keep the Music Playing?" came from the soundtrack to Best Friends -- a Burt Reynolds and Goldie Hawn rom-com from 1982. The film also co-starred Audra Lindley fresh off her four-year run as Mrs. Roper on Three's Company and later The Ropers.

Jeffrey Osborne "Stay With Me Tonight"

Clapping made its way into a handful of popular '80s songs. Think: "Centerfield" from John Fogarty and  "Private Eyes" from Hall & Oates. Let's not forget about Jeffrey Osborne's steamy "Stay With Me Tonight". Aside from the fireworks between the sheets, there's multiple opportunities for a double hand-clap before the refrain in his 1983 R&B/pop hit.

Styx "Don't Let It End"

Instead of releasing "Mr. Roboto", Styx's record company urged the Chicago rock band instead to release the ballad "Don't Let It End" from their Kilroy Was Here album. Styx defied their record company's wishes, went with "Mr. Roboto" and the rest is history.

Madonna "Holiday"

My friend's parents stocked up on canned peaches in fear of the year 2000. Y2K scared many folks into believing the world would end because our computer systems were ill-prepared to handle the transition from a year beginning with "19" to the year 2000. While working at soft rock Windy 100 in Chicago on New Year's Day 2000, I arrived nearly two hours early and nervously stared at the computer as the clock flipped from 1999 to 2000 with Madonna's "Holiday" playing. Somewhere in my basement, I still have the memo from my boss detailing what to do in case Armageddon happened.

Spandau Ballet "True"

The comments section of YouTube is a never-ending ugly dark hole of filthiness, right? Usually, but not always. Here are some comments from Spandau Ballet's "True":

In 1984 I met a pretty girl at the university and we kind of adopted this song as how we felt about each other. It's weird how a love song can start things that way. It's 34 years later and she's standing behind me as I post this...

Driving late at night, hardly any traffic on the road and this song comes on. oh man!! The best feeling. Takes you to different place, if just for a few minutes..

I remember dancing this at my high school prom with my husband now... love the 80,s Best decade ever...

As a teenager, I remember this song was brutal when it was being played at school dances and you didn't have anybody to dance with. It seemed to go on forever.

The first song i ever slow danced to, with the the girl of my dreams... i was only 15,, Now im married to the same wonderful lady... 25years later😘 Thanks for the memories😌

I don’t care how many times Adam sandler uses this song is his movies it still bangs!

I'd like to know why when I listen to these kinds of songs, I feel like crying... I think to myself that I have got a sensitive soul, since when I was a child. Good times I may remember when I listen to this song. Congrats Spandau Ballet! xxoo

Donna Summer "She Works Hard for the Money"

While doing an internship at a radio station in the mid-'90s, my boss (a woman) made one thing clear: she didn't mind working with me. However, she did mind working for a man who told her what she wanted. In other words, her male bosses at the radio station that targeted 25-54 females told her what women want. We easily can assume that the thoughts of her male bosses didn't gel with her own.

The Greg Kihn Band "Jeopardy"

I was so excited when I saw my mom's cassette tape Chartbusters 1983. The compilation album contained the song "Jeopardy" which I assumed to be the theme song to the game show. Why I was so excited to have a television theme song is still a mystery to me today. Instead, I was treated to The Greg Kihn Band's "Jeopardy" -- a Top 5 hit in 1983. The song inspired Weird Al Yankovich to released "I Lost on Jeopardy!" a year later. Like all of America, I'm rooting for Trebek as he battles pancreatic cancer. Not only did I grow up watching "Jeopardy!", but also "Classic Concentration".

The Police "King of Pain"

As a forty-something adult with no criminal history (minus that time when I was 12 and shot off bottle rockets in a park near my home), I still feel a guilty sensation whenever a police car drives past me. My first instinct is: they're looking for me! I'm not sure who or what to blame for my always-guilty-for-no-reason conscience. An equally guilty feeling overcomes me whenever I exit a department store for fear I'll set off the ever-embarrassing "you stole something" alarm. For the latter, I seem to always be that guy who finds that one clerk who forgot to remove the security tag from my newly-purchased slacks. As for the former, this may or may not stem from Halloween 1991. As that night of trick-or-treating began, I literally walked across the street from my house to my friend Matt's house when a police car stopped me. He offered this threatening warning: my description matched that of a neighborhood bully who was stealing candy from other children. The description apparently was: a boy wearing a black coat. GUILTY! After explaining to the officer that I literally just walked about 50 feet from my house and, for that reason alone, I didn't do it. He warned me that he'd be out all evening to keep an eye on things (i.e. "me").

Men at Work "It's a Mistake"

You mean you've never been thrown out of your company's holiday party?

While working as a board operator at a radio station just a few weeks after surviving a format flip, I happily RSVP'd to the company party which was held at a some fancy pants club in Chicago's River North neighborhood. I was just 19 years old and only worked Sunday mornings from 6-9am, so the number of people I knew (and who knew me) was limited -- especially since most of the people who hired me got fired when the station was sold and the format flipped. That night at the party, I surrounded myself with the handful of on-air folks who also survived the mass firings. My girlfriend, Missy, loved to dance and made a name for herself at the previous year's party when she danced up a storm (while wearing a teeny-tiny dress). She even studied dance at Butler University at the time. I, on the other hand, didn't like to dance and only did it to appease her. Unlike the previous year's party, this party featured a vacant dance floor. Absolutely NO ONE was dancing. As the DJ played song after song, the empty dance floor continued to call Missy's name. Despite her pleas, I held firm that we would not touch that dance floor until someone else made their way onto it.

After the Chicago market manager finished his "we're all one big happy family" speech to the three radio stations celebrating together in that club, two women made their way to the dance floor. Missy seized the opportunity and grabbed my hand as we made our way to dance to the Bee Gee's "Stayin' Alive". This was moment I noticed that all eyes were on us. Those two other ladies (who broke the dance floor's virginity) left the floor.

About five short minutes after we returned to our seats, a security guard tapped me on the shoulder and asked if I had a business card. My first thought was: "Wow! Maybe someone wants to give me a job!". Nope. The security guard wanted to know if I had any proof that I worked for the company. Suddenly, no one was offering me a job but instead wanted proof that I had a job. The security guard kept saying "she wants to know:, so I asked who this infamous "she" was. He walked me through the crowded room and to an angry-looking woman who stood a short distance from us. With her eyes fixed on me, she blurted out: "Who are you? Who do you work for?" I shared an audio version of my resume and her face went pale. "Oh," she said, "I recognized your name, but not your face. In fact, no one knew who you were. I thought you crashed our party."

With the warmth of the market manager's "we're all family now" speech now fully evaporated, I returned to my seat and informed Missy we had danced our last dance of the evening. Suddenly, I was famous for all the wrong reasons. Everyone seemed to find the story amusing, but I felt like an insignificant cog in this giant radio machine. Our station's General Manager later made his way over to me and apologized that the lady (who was part of Human Resources) tried to kick me out of the party. He shook my hand and handed me an envelope containing my Christmas bonus while insisting that I keep on having fun.

Madonna "Lucky Star"

Although the hook has Madonna singing, "Star light, star bright", her 1983 song actually takes the name "Lucky Star".

Culture Club "Karma Chameleon"

After agreeing to attend my first high school dance, the frightening reality hit me: I had no idea how to dance. Known as "Turnabout" at most schools (where the the girl asks out the boy), our school simply labeled the dance "Winter Formal". Easy enough, right? My friend, Mandy, invited me to the dance in November--providing me two solid months to figure out what the heck to do once I stepped foot on the dance floor. Most afternoons that winter, I escaped to the basement right after school and tuned on Chicago's B-96 (which labeled itself "Chicago's Dance Beat" back in those days) on my dad's stereo. The Winter Formal DJ was bound to play songs that were popular on the radio and I reasoned this gave me a chance to practice. A full-length mirror hung in our basement allowing me to take inventory of how stupid I looked while dancing. My goals were modest: find and master one move and stick with it.

Donning a rented tuxedo for the first time in my life, I stood among a houseful of camera-toting family members while awaiting my date and ride  as I was still only 15 years old. After endless "look over here" and "say cheeseburger" comments from my family, my brother failed to make good on his threat to drop a condom as I walked out the door. Thank goodness. That evening, I somehow wound up in a group of folks who were more popular (read: more attractive) than me and yet felt an awkward sense of calm. Since we were all sophomores, the majority of the couples had split up long before the dance but soldiered on as they likely didn't want to blow money on tuxedos and dresses for naught. Most of the guys in the group sat at our table with their arms folded while the girls danced with one another. Since Mandy and I were friends, there was no pressure or awkwardness like one would feel at prom because no matter what happened that night, Mandy's dad was driving me home.

For the majority of the evening, I danced. One could label my sole dance move "the snow ski" but, hey, I danced. In fact, I danced enough that other girls at my table complained to their indifferent ex-boyfriends that they should also be dancing with them. It didn't work. The majority of the guys had chips on their shoulders that refused to budge. Despite my practicing to B-96's dance music, the DJ mostly stuck to a vanilla playlist of tunes similar to what one would hear at a wedding reception. "YMCA", "The Electric Slide", "Shook Me All Night Long" played and, at one point, the DJ announced he was making good on a request for "Karma Chameleon". Weird. All told, I had a great time and (for whatever reason) didn't talk to Mandy much afterwards. It wasn't that we parted on bad terms, I just moved on and rarely talked to her again. Guilt would eventually get to me and later led to one of the more awkward phone calls of my teen life. Stay tuned for that story.

Eurthymics "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)"

If it wasn't for some DJ in Cleveland who kept playing the song, there would be no "Sweet Dreams". The folks at the Eurthymics record company didn't want to release "Sweet Dreams" because they believed the song lacked a chorus and wouldn't be memorable. Annie Lennox claims she and Dave Stewart of Eurythmics wrote the song after hitting rock bottom. "It's not a happy song--it's dark," she said. Lennox added many people often mistook the lyrics to say: "Sweet dreams are made of cheese". The song went on to the the group's signature tune and climbed from #90 on the Hot 100 Chart all the way to #1 during the summer of 1983 -- proving not only the record company wrong but that the folks in Cleveland (sometimes) know what's up.

Michael Jackson "Billie Jean"

Michael Jackson would've turned 60 this summer. How do you celebrate someone's 60th when they died a decade earlier? Well, if you're USA Today, you start by ranking that person's music. In their case, they decided to rank all 14 songs of his #1 hits. After reviewing their list, I couldn't figure out why "Thriller" didn't make the list. The iconic song never reached #1 (it peaked at #4 in 1984), so it's not included in their survey. For brevity's sake, here is their Top 3:

3. "Beat It"
2. "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough"
1. "Billie Jean"

According to the article, "From its iconic opening drumbeats, the song marches in lockstep deeper into the paranoia-seized psyche of its young star. Not a single one of Quincy Jones' production flourishes is out of place, spanning rock and funk and disco and all anchored by a tortured performance by a 24-year-old Jackson that would remain his all-time career best."

Lionel Richie "My Love"

Yes, that is country music legend Kenny Rogers providing backup vocals on Lionel Richie's "My Love". Originally done in 1983, Lionel re-did the soft rock ballad in 2012 but replaced one Kenny with another. In the remake, country star Kenny Chesney provided backup vocals.

Bryan Adams "Straight From the Heart"

Canadian rocker Bryan Adams make his first appearance on Adult Contemporary radio in 1983 with "Straight From the Heart".

Todd Rundgren "Bang the Drum All Day"

Radio stations all across the country celebrate the end of the work week by playing the upbeat "Bang the Drum All Day" every Friday at 5:00 P.M. WTMX-FM in Chicago was one of those radio stations as part of their "5 O'Clock Whistle" feature. During a staff meeting in 2007, I suggested that we find a new song to freshen up the Whistle. My boss agreed and the station started rotating different upbeat tunes during the "5 O'Clock Whistle". I never imagined the number of angry phone calls and emails that would start pouring in that Friday, but it happened...

UB40 "Red Red Wine"

Did you know "Red Red Wine" originally was a hit for Neil Diamond? It's true. It happened in 1962. A remake of the song in 1983 re-introduced the song to the world and made the reggae-pop group UB40 a household name.

The Motels "Suddenly Last Summer"

Blunt, never minces words, and straight-shooter are words to describe my late-Grandfather. One summer in mid-June during the late-1980s, my Grandfather uttered the phrase that still haunts me today: "Summer vacation is almost over." What? It wasn't even July yet and he's telling us that it's almost time to go back to school?! With just five words, my Grandfather managed to ruin what was left of a wonderful two-plus months of staying up late and sleeping until noon. Every summer after that one, my brother took great pleasure declaring that the summer was almost over on the first day of vacation.

The Romantics "Talking in Your Sleep"

With a racing heart, I wake up drenched in sweat following another "dead air dream". What's a dead air dream, you ask? Well, it's a recurring dream most people in the industry have at one time or another. The premise is simple: you're a DJ whose song is ending and for whatever reason you cannot find another song and the impending dead air paralyzes you. A friend of mine who has been out of radio for over a decade recently admitted he still suffers from the occasional dead air dream nightmare.

Paul Anka "Hold Me 'Til the Mornin' Comes"

Yes, that is vocal bad ass known as Peter Cetera adding his smooth vocals to Paul Anka's bittersweet ballad "Hold Me 'Til the Mornin' Comes". This 1983 ballad was Anka's last song place on the pop charts. You're likely more familiar with one of Anka's other songs: the theme song from The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson which continues to air nightly on Antenna TV.