A Flock of Seagulls "I Ran (So Far Away)"

Asked to describe the feelings over his new album, David Hasselhoff called it, "The most surreal project I've ever been involved with and I didn't have to take acid...I felt like I was trippin' balls." Now you're intrigued at the thought of David Hasselhoff collaborating with A Flock of Seagulls on the Hoff's new album, aren't you?

Modern English "I Melt With You"

What the heck happened to The Dove? Since my last visit in March, the soft rock radio station that always sounds locked in a closet dated "1990" has clearly done a music test. Radio stations often "test" hooks of songs and then develop their playlist based on the results. While not an exact science, the methodology continues at most radio stations today.

Clearly The Dove's music test included some participants who were former Disco Queens as I heard more than my requisite fill of Donna Summer, KC & the Sunshine Band and Bee Gees during my stay in Bradenton Beach. Heck, The Dove even added some upbeat '80s tunes like "I Melt With You" from Modern English. All that aside, no part of me is upset that I missed "Escape (The Pina Colada Song)" which seemed to play daily last March.

Stevie Wonder "That Girl"

A Greatest Hits album isn't complete without a couple new tracks, right? In the case of Stevie Wonder's Original Musiquarium I, the 11 greatest hits came with four newcomers including "That Girl".

Neil Diamond "Be Mine Tonight"

On this date in 1982, the Adult Contemporary Chart featured Ronnie Milsap sitting in the #1 spot with "Any Day Now". The song sat atop the AC Chart for three weeks, but right on Milsap's tail was the ageless Neil Diamond with "Be Mine Tonight". My how music has changed!

The Police "Every Little Thing She Does is Magic"

Sting had to convince members of The Police to record "Every Little Thing She Does is Magic". Sting wrote the song a year before The Police and claims the band didn't want to record the song because it was "too soft".

Steve Winwood "Valerie"

If cats get nine lives, "Valerie" is on her fourth life. Originally released to general yawns in 1982, Steve Winwood remixed the song in 1987 and included it on his Chronicles album. The result: a Top 10 hit on the Hot 100 (#2 on the Adult Contemporary Chart). In 2004, Swedish DJ Eric Prydz remixed the song once again and released his version titled "Call on Me". Not to be outdone, Chris Brown then sampled "Call on Me" in his 2009 release "Pass Out".

Air Supply "Sweet Dreams"

Graham Russell and Russell Hitchcock of Air Supply were once poor struggling musicians who would canvass hotel lobbies in search of spare change in couch cushions. With the money they'd find, the two would buy bread and live on a steady diet of....toast. No word on whose toaster they used.

Fleetwood Mac "Hold Me"

A doctor from Massachusetts complained that the on-hold music CVS used haunted him "day and night" so he penned a letter asking for them to change it. Guess what happened? CVS agreed. Good news for CVS shoppers -- their stores will continue to play the soft rock tunes this blog commemorates. Phew!

Kenny Loggins "Heart to Heart"

Not to be confused with the early-'80s amateur detective television show Hart to Hart, Kenny Loggins' "Heart to Heart" was a soft rock hit on the radio in 1982. As with most of Loggins' early smooth gems, he recruited his buddy Michael McDonald for backup vocals and David Sanborn for the requisite '80s sax solo.

Melissa Manchester "You Should Hear How She Talks About You"

Someone convinced Melissa Manchester to cut off her hair and try a different look and sound for her 1982 song "You Should Hear How She Talks About You". Synonymous with sappy ballads including one about a sad clown, Melissa shook off that image. Thinking back, she said:

"It was one of those decisions that you make along the journey of your life, to try something and see how it works. The marketplace was changing, specifically because electronics were being introduced to all of the producers. It’s a solid song; but it was not the norm for me because I’m basically a troubadour. But I cut my hair off, lost lots of weight, glammed up, and ran it up the flagpole—and it worked! It worked all the way to a Grammy, which was kind of surprising. It was a lot of fun. I stopped singing it for awhile, because I needed a little perspective on it. But now I sing it again, and it’s kinda fun."

Frida "Something's Going On"

One listen to Frida's "Something's Going On" and you can hear the influence of Phil Collins. While juggling his solo career and lead singer duties for Genesis, former ABBA member Anni-Frid Lyngstad ("Frida") somehow convinced Collins to add something else to his already busy schedule: produce her solo album. "Something's Going On" was the album's one hit and it features Collins' signature gated drum reverb sound. Aside from the sonic similarities, Collins and Frida both commiserated over their respective painful divorces at the time.

Supertramp "It's Raining Again"

When TV news anchors tease the weather forecast ("How long will the rain last, I'll let you know in about 6 minutes..."), do they not understand their entire audience can simply check their cell phone to find this information?

Mike Post "Theme from Magnum P.I."

Imagine turning on KISS-FM today and hearing the "Theme from Magnum P.I.". Unlikely, right? Well, it happened in 1982 when Mike Post's instrumental theme song from the original version of Magnum P.I. found a home on the radio. Post also composed and charted other TV theme songs on the radio: "Theme from The Rockford Files", "Theme from L.A. Law" and "Theme from Hill Street Blues" are a couple examples.

Kenny Rogers "Through the Years"

"There are three versions of each of us. The version you think I am, the version I think I am and who I really am. The closer you can make those 3 versions, the longer you’ll last and the more authentic you are.”

                                                                                                              -Kenny Rogers

Fleetwood Mac "Hold Me"

So you think shooting a music video would be fun, huh? Don't expect the folks of Fleetwood Mac to agree with you. While filming the video to "Hold Me" in the Mojave Desert, Producer Simon Fields claimed John McVie was drunk and attempted to punch him, Stevie Nicks refused to walk in the sand with her platform shoes, a surly Christine McVie spent 10 hours in the makeup room, and Mick Fleetwood thought McVie was being a bitch and refused to talk to her. Yikes.

Chicago "Love Me Tomorrow"

You likely first met David Foster on the Bravo reality TV show The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills as the husband to his then wife, Yolanda Hadid. The couple divorced in late-2015 following Hadid's battle with Lyme Disease. David Foster, 68, is now engaged to Katharine McPhee, 34. Foster actually played the piano during McPhee's first wedding in 2008. Foster first met McPhee on the set of American Idol when she was a contestant in 2006. This will be the fifth marriage for the writer and producer of countless hits including the 1982 ballad "Love Me Tomorrow".

John Mellencamp "Jack & Diane"

Is there a song that encapsulates Americana better than "Jack & Diane"? Jack grew up in the heartland and wanted to be a football star but first was busy trying to get in Diane's pants. Aside from the tale of two American teenagers, the lyric that must stuck out to me was "hold onto sixteen as long as you can". When I was 17 years old, I wrote a feature story about it for my high school newspaper. Everyone always tells us that these would be remembered as the best days of our lives, yet I didn't care for those years at all. It had to get better, no? Thankfully, it did.

Karla Bonoff "Personally"

One listen to "Personally" from Karla Bonoff and you'd think you stumbled upon a deep cut from Linda Ronstadt. Bonoff, coincidentally, sang backup for Ronstadt but the singer-songwriter also covered many of her songs along with writing for Bonnie Raitt. "Personally" was Bonoff's one big hit (#3 on Adult Contemporary Chart, #19 on Hot 100) during the summer of 1982.

Paul Davis "Cool Night"

If my mispronouncing the word rain was bad, enter my colleague Rob who took things to another level. During the fall of 1997, Rob quit his gig working with me as part-time DJ doing the evening show. He had just been hired to host a morning show and double as Program Director at a suburban radio station. Being the trooper he was, Rob didn't want to leave his boss in a pinch without giving a full two weeks notice. Instead he soldiered on working practically 20 hours a day for two weeks and one evening his exhaustion finally caught up with him.

Just before signing off, he played the weather jingle and started reading his final weather break of the night. His brain clearly had a plan, but his mouth was not cooperating because the only word to come out of his mouth was "cooley". Standing in the back of the studio, I watched Rob completely freeze and turn a shade of red that even tomatoes envied. He couldn't recover from his blunder and anyone listening that night heard about 20 seconds of a catchy weather jingle play before Rob pressed the "out" jingle. As soon as he turned off the microphone, we both broke out in laughter. He kept saying, "Cooley?!? What the hell was that?!?". Years later, I mentioned the story to him and he claimed to have that infamous weather report on a cassette tape somewhere in his basement. Despite my pleas for a copy, he never turned it over--which, in the era of YouTube, is probably for the best....

Poco "Shoot for the Moon"

Long before R.E.M.'s "Man on the Moon", Poco reached the Top 10 with "Shoot for the Moon" in 1982 -- a song guaranteed to put a grin on the face of any Yacht Rocker.