Roxette "The Look"

Don't mess with mom when she gives you "the look". 

Poco "Call It Love"

Jim Messina and his Poco buddies reunited in 1989 for Legacy. The album turned out the hit "Call It Love" which featured Rusty Young on vocals and climbed all the way to #2 on the Adult Contemporary Chart.

Waterfront "Cry"

Even with a million plays on the radio in 1989, I somehow missed "Cry" from the British duo Waterfront. The song hit #10 hit on the Hot 100 and #2 on the Adult Contemporary Charts, but I feel like I've never heard it until today. "Cry" proved to be the band's high-water moment.

Swing Out Sister "Waiting Game"

Band members rarely agree on one thing but, in the case of Swing Out Sister, the trio all agreed they hated the band's name. Taken from the title of a 1945 Arthur Treacher film, Swing Out, Sister, the band narrowly missed out on the Top 5 of the Adult Contemporary Chart this week in 1989 with "Waiting Game".

Ton Loc "Wild Thing"

I worked alongside Chicago radio personality Bill Leff who, before his radio career, once starred movies. Leff was one of the Cleveland Indians fans featured throughout the 1989 classic Major League. With his quick wit, spot-on impersonations and huge heart, Leff remains one of most favorite Chicago radio personalities. Today, he comprises half of the "Bill & Wendy Show" on WGN radio.

This year marked the 30th anniversary of Major League. It's streaming on Amazon Prime at the moment and you might notice one of the fictional baseball players in the movie used Leff's name ("Billy Leff"). Keen observers will notice the centerfield scoreboard contains an advertisement for WTMJ--which are call letters for a Milwaukee TV and radio station. Even though the movie was based in Cleveland, it was actually filmed at Old County Stadium in Milwaukee. Scheduling conflicts with the Indians and Browns caused producers to head north to film. While Major League came out around the same time as Ton Loc's "Wild Thing", the movie used a different version of the song.

New Kids on the Block "Didn't I (Blow Your Mind)"

The New Kids did indeed cover The Delfonics' "Didn't I (Blow Your Mind This Time)". NKOTB originally recorded the soulful ballad in 1986, but their record company re-released it in 1989 when the boy band ruled radio, Tiger Beat Magazine and the hearts of every young American girl...

Paula Abdul "Cold Hearted"

When the high temperature in Chicago is below zero, do you still wear deodorant?

Roy Orbison "She's a Mystery to Me"

She was no mystery to me. I used to speak her language. I understood every decision whether it be ill-advised or not. Nothing truly surprised me about her. Even if she did something that caught me off-guard, I'd reflect on it, shrug and nod my head once her motive crystallized. I felt privileged and special because I *got* her in every sense of the word.

One day, I lost her. In reality, we lost each other. Our time had expired. We drove carelessly in a car purposed with four bald tires and the low-fuel light illuminated en route to a destination neither desired. When it was done, cleansing was painful. With every scrub, the abrasive pain radiated. Within minutes, all was lost. Physical memories, mementos and proof of what was once real...was now gone.

Like any athlete or musician who once excelled at something, I've lost knowledge of our vocabulary. It no longer comes easy to me. I ask for definitions, for spellings, for help when I can't translate. Even then, it doesn't make sense. I suppose it's not a bad thing, but rather is a mystery.

Stephen Bishop "Walking on Air"

Dentist offices all across America played Stephen Bishop's "Walking on Air" back in 1989. The cheesy soft rock tune somehow went all the way to #13 on the Adult Contemporary Chart.

B.J. Thomas & Dusty Springfield "As Long As We Got Each Other"

Indeed, the theme song to Growing Pains ("As Long As We Got Each Other") charted on Adult Contemporary radio stations in 1989 (some four years after the show first premiered). The duet featured B.J. Thomas with Dusty Springfield even though the theme song featured Jennifer Warnes in four of the sitcom's seven seasons.

Growing up in the '80s without cable TV meant that my brother and I resorted to free over-the-air TV. Most mornings when there wasn't school, we welcomed the Seavers into our living room as the show aired in syndication on ABC. To this date, I still remember one "very special episode"of the show when Mike Seaver (played by ultra-religious Kirk Cameron) faces peer pressure to do drugs. In the very special 1987 episode entitled Thank God It's Friday, Mike and his high school buddies Eddie and Boner go to a college party where everyone is doing lines of cocaine in the bathroom. Mike faces the challenge to "just say no" and eventually leaves Boner and Eddie at the party as he goes home to talk to his dad (played by the father of Robin Thicke, Alan Thicke). Mike and Jason discuss what happened that night where Jason shares that Boner called and left Mike a message: "they didn't go to the bathroom and didn't want to." Before the final credits, Kirk Cameron insisted he wasn't get paid to say this message: drugs are bad and don't do them.

The character of Mike Seaver started as a trouble-making teenager who lied, cheated and broke any rule in sight. He would learn a lesson during sitcom's 23-minute run, but he went right back to making bad decisions in the next episode. This all ended when Cameron became a born-again Christian and suddenly found himself at odds with the character he played. Stories surfaced about his clashes with the show's writers for storylines he found inappropriate. His character seemingly grew up and matured very quickly by the show's peak in 1990. His off-screen relations with fellow cast members also shifted. He withdrew from others on the show and only spoke with co-star Chelsea Noble (another born-again Christian) who he later married in real life. None of his other co-stars on the show received an invitation to their wedding. When Growing Pains wrapped up in 1992, Cameron left and didn't speak to any of them. The silence continued until 2000 while the cast reunited to film The Growing Pains Movie.

Today, Cameron continues to be active in his ministry. He remains married to Noble and the couple has six children. Since the two married, Noble serves as a body-double for whomever Cameron has to kiss on-screen as he refuses to kiss any actresses.

Vanessa Williams "Darlin' I"

The ballad "Darlin' I" from Vanessa Williams symbolizes what Adult Contemporary radio sounded like in 1988. The Top 10 hit on the AC Chart also placed on the Hot R&B Chart (#10) and Hot 100 (#88). 

Rick Astley "Ain't Too Proud to Beg"

While Elton John kicked off his Farewell Yellow Brick Road Tour in 2018, Rick Astley made his comeback -- including his first tour of the United States in years. Did you know the two singers actually performed together on one of Elton's signature tunes? You can hear Astley singing backup vocals in "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" on Elton's famed Lion King Soundtrack.

Surface "Shower Me With Your Love"

Only recently did I learn of "shower beer" (when you drink a beer in the shower), but now there's an invention making the rounds on the internet: the Sipski. The Sipski is a wine glass holder for your shower. You know, for when you can't manage an entire shower without a glass of pinot. And in the shower, you don't have to worrying about spilling wine on your new blouse. To quote my mother: "if you have to drink wine in the shower, you have bigger issues"....

Tears for Fears "Sowing the Seeds of Love"

By today's standards, how political is "Sowing the Seeds of Love"? The 1989 tune came in reaction to the British Conservative Party's Margaret Thatcher winning her third term as Prime Minister. 

Starship "It's Not Enough"

The answer to why Starship didn't have a major hit after 1989's "It's Not Enough" is simple: following a 1989 concert in Pennsylvania, the group's lead singer Mickey Thomas got into a fight with drummer Donny Baldwin. Thomas, who replaced Grace Slick, was injured so badly that he needed facial surgery that required two titanium plates being implanted into his skull. This forced the band to postpone future shows and, thus, killed any momentum for the band's popularity. The band hasn't charted a Top 40 hit since.

B-52s "Love Shack"

When you've been to as many weddings as I had at the ripe age of 17, you've earned the right to create a "Do Not Play" list for the DJ at your own wedding. Along with four of my close friends, I worked as a busboy at a banquet hall during most of my high school years. Each Saturday night, three weddings took place and we were subjected to countless plays of "Achy Breaky Heart", "Celebration", and "Love Shack" from each respective DJ. There were nights where the "The Electric Slide" played simultaneously at all three wedding receptions and led us busboys to take an extended trip outside to "take out the garbage". One particular night, all of us busboys had enough of "The Chicken Polka" and huddled together to make an oath: we all agreed to NEVER allow certain hackneyed wedding reception songs to play at our respective weddings. The majority of these songs are part of  a list that's made the rounds on the internet this week. Several years later, my friend (and busboy alum) Pat claimed he hired his DJ immediately after he showed him and his future bride a list of songs on his "never ever ever play list".

Belinda Carlisle "Leave A Light On"

R.A.D. wasn't just a bad '80s catchphrase, it was a Public Service Campaign called Rockers Against Drugs. The foundation aired a series of television commercials featuring artists like Lou Reed, Ted Nugent and Belinda Carlisle who warn of the dangers of drugs. In Carlisle's infamous PSA, she walks along a beach while admitting she looked into the mirror one day, decided she was sick of doing drugs and, in turn, "now life is a beach". Carlisle later admitted she still did cocaine when she filmed that R.A.D. video and continued abusing drugs for years--it wasn't until a fateful three-day binge in 2005 that caused her to seek help. She claims to be drug-free today and is surprised she still has nostrils. Lovely.

Fine Young Cannibals "She Drives Me Crazy"

Chicago television commercials touting Q101's "Murphy in the Morning Show" from the early-'90s featured "She Drives Me Crazy" from Fine Young Cannibals. Many Chicagoans may recall that Murphy wore a straitjacket in many of the commercials. During the short time I worked with Murphy in the early 2010's, he admitted he was beyond tired of fielding questions about the infamous straitjacket.

New Kids on the Block "I'll Be Loving You (Forever)"

What were the kids ladies listening to during the summer of 1989? Chances are it was the ballad "I'll Be Loving You (Forever)" from New Kids on the Block (or NKOTB, as the kids called them). The song spent six weeks in the Top 10 of the Hot 100 peaking at #1 on June 17, 1989.

Gloria Estefan "Get on Your Feet"

Fans of the sitcom Parks & Recreation remember Gloria Estefan's Latin-Pop song "Get on Your Feet" during a number of hilarious episodes in Season 4. If that's not your thing, you can look forward to "On Your Feet!", a Broadway musical about Miss Estefan (and perhaps the Miami Sound Machine).