#67 of VJ Samsonite's Top 100 80's Dance Hits Countdown: "White Wedding" by Billy Idol (1982)

And were back to the 80's, the countdown that is...and here at #67 we have White Wedding, by Brit post-punk rocker and legend Billy Idol. Idol's real name is William Michael Albert Broad, and he was born on November 30th, 1955 in Stanmore, Middlesex, England, which makes the Brit rocker 54 this year! Idol bounced around a bit in his earlier years, and in fact was first a member of the punk-rock band Siouxsie and the Banshees in 1976, but before they were actually called Siouxsie and the Banshees. In 1977 he moved on to join Chelsea, and then with bandmate Tony James he quit and co-founded the band Generation X, at which point he switched from guitar to lead vocals. In 1981 Idol moved to New York and started up his successful solo career. White Wedding, which comes in on this countdown at #67, was released on his first full-length studio album in July of 1982 following the successful earlier release of the hit single Hot in the City. White Wedding reached #36 on the Billboard Hot 100 upon its release, and reached #6 in the UK. Now don't be surprised if Billy Idol appears a few more times on down the countdown as he is one of top 80's artists of all time...its a nice to....start agaaaaaiinnnnn....

#68 of VJ Samsonite's Top 100 80's Dance Hits Countdown: "I'll Kiss You" by Cyndi Lauper (1983)

Welcome back everybody! Here we are again, this time presenting #68 of the countdown! And the song is....I'll Kiss You, by that very unusual and no doubt one of the most memorable and classic high-octave singer's of the 1980's, miss Cyndi Lauper. This song can be found on Lauper's 1983 release and mega-hit album She's So Unusual as track number 8. Cyndi Lauper herself was born in 1953 in New York City, and according to wikipedia she was the first female singer to have 4 top 5 singles released off of one album, although I can imagine that Madonna would have shortly become the second female singer to do the same, however I am not completely sure on that fact. Her wikipedia page also states that Lauper has released 11 albums and hailed over 40 singles, and that as of the year 2008 she had sold somewhere around 25 million records worldwide, a hard act to follow for most no bout adout it. This song features a great dance beat with Lauper's signature vocals, and I must say that listening to Lauper songs really do take me back to 80's memories as a little kid watching movies with my sister and especially The Goonies (probably because she had a feature song on The Goonies soundtrack). Now don't be surprised if more Lauper hits appear later on this countdown, and watch out for that love potion #8, its #9 that you want right???

#69 of VJ Samsonite's Top 100 80's Dance Hits Countdown: "Goodbye Horses" by Q Lazzarus (1988)

Yes we are back to the 80's once again! This time presenting #69 of the countdown. And the song is....Goodbye Horses by American singer Q Lazzarus. Q Lazzarus is well known for this song, as it was no doubt her one hit wonder of 1988. I don't know why, I just know that I am a bit stoked to put this song on my countdown, it just doesn't show up on other 80's music radars much if you know what I mean. Goodbye Horses may be best remembered for its appearance on the soundtrack of Silence of the Lambs as it was featured as serial killer/skinner character Buffalo Bill's theme song in that movie (ugghh, but I never associated it with that, and maybe that is why so many others don't like the song much due to that association). That said, this same song was also featured on movies Married to the Mob, Clerks II, Lakai Footwears' Fully Flared tv commercial, as well as on the Grand Theft Auto IV and Skate 3 video games, and TV shows Family Guy, and Nip Tuck. Its a song that gets around, that is for sure, and funnily enough and unintentionally it has ended up as #69 on VJ Samsonite's Top 100 Dance Hits of the 80's Countdown, you know, just in case you forgot already ;-) A few more interesting trivia tidbits that I discovered on wikipedia.com are that Q Lazzarus actually appeared in the 1986 film Something Wild, (with Melanie Griffith and Jeff Daniels) and performing the song The Candle Goes Away. She also appeared in the 1993 Tom Hanks Oscar winning film Philadelphia, performing the Talking Heads song Heaven. Another interesting fact is that for a little while she worked as a taxi-cab driver in NYC. Now the video is a bit strange, but really the most normal appearing video of this on youtube, in fact you should check out all the different videos that have been made for this song on youtube if you get the chance. Well, if you want more info, look her up on wikipedia or lastfm, now get out there and dance!

#70 of VJ Samsonite's Top 100 80's Dance Hits Countdown: "I'm Goin Down" by Bruce Springsteen (1984)

Here we are, another 10 songs down, and already we are at #70! And the song is....I'm Goin' Down by the all-American rock-singer-songwriter Bruce (The Boss) Springsteen! I'm Goin' Down was the 6th song to be released off of his #1 hit Born in the U.S.A. album, originally released back in 1984. As it was the 6th single release from that album it resulted that it would reach #9 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in fall of 1985. There was no music video ever made for this song (bit of a bummer as its my personal Springsteen favorite), and it was one of those forgotten great songs as it was released amongst so many other giant single released from that album. According to wikipedia: "There was some controversy surrounding the release of yet another single from the album, which had been out for well over a year at that point. Cliff Bernstein, manager of Def Leppard and Dokken, said "I think a sixth single is a little bit of overkill." Now, youtube doesn't have the recorded version of this song, only the disappointing live versions, which are not even worthy of posting here in place of the recorded version in my opinion. So, go to Itunes to check out what #70 really sounds like. And so there it is, #70 in all its glory, now here's to the Boss!

#71 of VJ Samsonite's Top 100 80's Dance Hits Countdown: "Point Of No Return" by Nu Shooz (1986)

We're Baaackk!! And now to present to you #71 of the TOP 100 80'S DANCE HITS COUNTDOWN (by yours truly) is the song. Now, some of these artists are already repeating and I haven't even reached down to #50 yet, so just know that I am basing these rankings on the songs, not the artists, and as you all know its done in a very professional and accurate manner with crazy mathematical formuli and....not really. So, the song is.... Point of No Return, by American duo (and married couple) Nu Shooz. Now, I know what your thinking, didn't Exposé do the hit 80's song called Point of No Return, and my answer for you is yes they did. However, Portland Oregon based 80's wonder Nu Shooz made a great dance hit by the same name which received much acclaim. Now, you may be disappointed by this, and I am not making any promises, but the Exposé song may appear on this countdown later on, unless it doesn't. So who knows...all we know for now is that #71 is the Nu Shooz, Point of No Return. As I mentioned on the previous post, which came in at #83, this hit came off of their 1986 album release titled Poolside. I encourage you to look to that previous post for more info on the band and such. Also, this particular song is not available on Itunes for some strange reason so I have employed an amazon link. Enjoy your Nu Shooz.

#72 of VJ Samsonite's Top 100 80's Dance Hits Countdown: "Shake It Up" by The Cars (1981)

The Cars! Finally they have appeared on the countdown at #72 with their song Shake It Up! This countdown isn't moving very fast, but I suppose that is part of my strategy, and the strategy of a countdown, to keep you coming back for more right??! Now, The Cars were an American rock band which formed back in 1976 onto what was called the new-wave music scene. Coming out of Boston, Massachusetts the members were Ric Ocasek (vocals and guitar), Benjamin Orr (bass guitar), Elliot Easton (lead guitar), Greg Hawkes (keyboards and synth) and David Robinson (drums). Shake It Up was the second track on the 1981 released album of the same name, and it was their fourth studio album at the time. Shake It Up and Since Your Gone both appeared on The Last American Virgin soundtrack. With its release in 1981 the song Shake It Up reached number 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 and in 1982 it reached number 2 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Chart. The band officially broke up in 1988 and no reunion of original members has ever taken place. Look out for #72!

#73 of VJ Samsonite's Top 100 80's Dance Hits Countdown: "Through The Fire" by Larry Greene (1986)

Well hello again, here we are at #73 of the Countdown! And the song is...Through the Fire, by musician Larry Greene. Now, strange as it might seem, neither wikipedia.org nor lastfm.com have a lick of info on this guy. So I will talk about Top Gun instead, not just because it is also an 80's super smash, but also because this song was on the soundtrack, which was part of what really made that movie such a true 80's classic not to be forgotten. The soundtrack for Top Gun reached #1 on the Billboard 200 for 5 consecutive weeks in the Summer of 1986. For some interesting facts on the movie by wikipedia are as follows:

The AFI's 100 Years of Movie Quotes list had the line "I feel the need - the need for speed!" from Top Gun at number 94 on the list. The film also ranked at number 455 in Empire's 2008 list of the 500 greatest films of all time.[16] Yahoo! Movies recently ranked Top Gun #19 on their list of greatest action films of all-time."

Well that sounds enough for now, I hope to not have so little info on the artist like this, including the fact that there are no public domain pics of him, but there really aren't very many not so well-known artists on my countdown. Make sure you go out and watch the movie again, mos def a Summertime classic.

#74 of VJ Samsonite's Top 100 80's Dance Hits Countdown: "Say This To Me (12" Dance Remix)" by NEO a4 (1988)

Now we are getting down to it, we've past the first 25 of the countdown, and now on down to the final 74! Speaking of,  #74 is...Say This to Me (12" Dance Remix), by Canadian new wave band NEO a4. What's that you say...never heard of the song or the band??? Don't feel alone, because you aren't. I first discovered NEO a4 whilst watching Friday the 13th part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan. The version of the song I am including on the list is actually the 12" version too (released in 1988), so take note of that. NEO a4 came out of Edmonton, Alberta Canada in 1981 and the members were Ric Johnston, John Tidswell, Joel Anderson. Later, Doug Radford. They lasted as a group until 1989 when they disbanded. If you look on Itunes you will find those albums and this song. I have rated this song on the countdown as I have found them to be a very good and very unrecognized band, with a similar sound to Duran Duran, or the Thompson Twins, some kind of hybrid of groups, and I highly recommend checking out their self-titled album on Itunes, which is the only place I have been able to find it. Youtube has one of their songs, but not this one, and no one else seems to have it available either so their is no video for this, sorry folks, you'll have to go to the link below to find it. In fact this may be the only song on the whole Top 100 Countdown that will be unavailable to watch on youtube, but I suppose there had to be at least one. Enjoy!

Itunes Link to NEO a4 album
The Hard Way

#75 of VJ Samsonite's Top 100 80's Dance Hits Countdown: Tonight I'm Yours (Don't Hurt Me)" by Rod Stewart (1981)

Here we are again folks, now presenting #75 of the Countdown, and the song is...Tonight I'm Yours (Don't Hurt Me), by British singer/songwriter Rod Stewart. Rod Stewart comes out of England, and is of English and Scottish decent. Stewart was born in London way back in 1945 at the close of WWII, and he started his music career with the Jeff Beck Group in the late 1960's and early 1970's. In 1969 he also officially began a solo career with his first debut album. Stewart has had something like 62 hit singles over the 5 decades of his music career and he was voted the 33rd Greatest Singer of All Time by Q Magazine. Stewart has a memorable voice and has always had a memorable hairstyle. Tonight I'm Yours (Don't Hurt Me) is a song that came into my awareness not all that long ago, but it was the title track for his 1981 album of the same name. The album and the song were some of the first of Stewart's where he began adding some synth-pop and an 80's New Wave flavor to his sound which so defined his 80's musical style, and was different from his previous work for sure. Tonight I'm Yours reached #11 on the US Pop Albums Chart, and ended up going platinum. The album generated 5 big singles, and incidentally the biggest hit single from that album was Young Turks which reached #5 on the Pop Singles and Mainstream Rock Charts. Well, enough data, now for the song, enjoy yourself some Rod the Bod! Note, I do apologize for the crappy live-version, there was no other option on youtube, that or no video at all.

#76 of VJ Samsonite's Top 100 80's Dance Hits Countdown: "Run To Paradise" by the Choirboys (1987)

Ahoy There! We are presenting #76 of the countdown on this hot summer day of our lord in North America! Now unless your Aussie you might not be familiar with this song or this band as they were a one hit Aussie rock wonder from 1987. And the song is...Run to Paradise, by Sydney hard-rock band The Choirboys. Run to Paradise is a classic in the Aussie-rock repetoire and the band is considered to be an Iconic Australian Heritage Band. It reached #3 on the Australian Singles Chart back in 1987 with its release. Never heard of them or this song you say?? Well, guess what chicken-butt, now you have!! The Choirboys were formed back in 1979 in the Northern Sydney beaches, which are arguably some of the best sandy-beaches in the world. The original band members are Mark Gable (Singer), Ian Hulme (Bass guitar), Lindsay Tebbutt (Drummer), and Brad Carr (lead guitar). According to wikipedia they are actually still a band, not all the original members of course, but they still perform Run to Paradise around the Aussie summer festivals from time to time and were last spotted performing it at the Gold Coast SuperGP/Indy Carnival in October of 2009. Check em out and see what you think of this legendary Aussie song.

#77 of VJ Samsonite's Top 100 80's Dance Hits Countdown: "Burning Up" by Madonna (1983)

Welcome back everybody! I am here today to present #77 of the Top 100 80's Dance Hits Countdown. You know, I keep coming across songs that I forgot about or that I haven't heard in awhile thinking that I should have made this countdown an even Top 200 or something, but I suppose I can just post my own professional recommendations following the countdown, and in the meantime lets just get on with it!! Ok, so number 77 is....Burning Up, by the Queen of Pop herself Madonna! Now like I mentioned in the (#80) MJ post Madonna, Prince, and MJ all turned 50 last year, making them all 51 this year of 2010. The Queen of Pop was born on August 16, 1958 in Bay City, Michigan, and it was back in 1977 when she moved to the Big Apple to pursue a career in modern dance, which inevitably led her to the music business and the amazingly prolific success she has had there over the past 31 years or so. Madonna has sold over 250 millions records over the years and is considered the best-selling female artist of the 20th century (according to wikipedia). She has also graced the silver-screen winning both a Golden Globe Award and an Oscar in 1996 for her starring role as Eva Perón in the 1996 movie Evita. There could be entire books written about the controversies, implications, and details of Madonna's life, career, and impact on global culture; in fact as the Queen of Pop she has no doubt been one of the most influential female icons in the past 30 years. Go buy a book or look her up elsewhere if you want more than what I've said here. Burning Up was the 3rd track on Madonna's first studio-released and self-titled album. It was a not a big hit relative to her various other hits, I mean seriously, can you find another highly prolific artist outside of Michael Jackson with the same consistent number of mega-hits as Madonna?? That is why she is the Queen of Pop. Madonna was released in March of 1983, and Burning Up was the second single released following Physical Attraction of that first album. Well, that's all I got for you here, like a said books probably have been written and she is still producing hit albums so no need to go into depth here. Enjoy this classic by the Queen of Pop!

#78 of VJ Samsonite's Top 100 80's Dance Hits Countdown: "A View To A Kill" (1985)

Well hello hello again! Welcome back to the Top 100 80's Dance Hits Countdown, and today I am bringing you #78! Now this next band got their name from the villain of an old 1968 Jane Fonda classic sci-fi movie and the song comes from the 14th James Bond film...have you guessed it yet?? Well, totally rad if you have and if you haven't here is #78 of the Countdown...A View to a Kill, by brit-synth-pop new-wave band, and no doubt one of my personal top fav bands of all time Duran Duran. As I mentioned before Duran Duran were named after Milo O'Shea's character from the sci-fi 60's movie Barbarella, and his characters name was Dr. Durand Durand. Duran Duran formed in Birmingham, England way back in the solid year of our lord 1978. According to wikipedia Duran Duran were one of the most successful band's of the 1980's and they led the Second British Invasion of the United States. Also a direct quote from wikipedia "Since the 1980s, they have placed 14 singles in the Top 10 of the UK Singles Chart and 21 in the Billboard Hot 100 and have, according to the Sunday Mercury, sold more than 100 million records. While they were generally considered part of the New Romantic scene along with bands such as Spandau Ballet when they first emerged, they later shed this image." Band members include the ever memorable (mostly for his hair) lead singer Simon Le Bon, Nick Rhodes (synth and keyboards), John Taylor (bass guitar), Stephen Duffy (vocalist, songwriter and bassist), and Roger Taylor (drummer). They've had many former members but you can look those up if your really keen. A View to a Kill was a stand-alone single (the 13th single by Duran Duran) made for the 1985 release James Bond movie of the same name, and to this very day it is still the only James Bond theme song to have reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. It was co-written by Duran Duran and composer John Barry. Naturally the song was released with the movie in May of 1985. Well, this is one of my favorite bands of all time, so naturally that could be a hint that you might see some more of them on this countdown, but I won't spoil it for you, you'll just have to wait and see, now lets Dance into the Fire!

#79 of VJ Samsonite's Top 100 80's Dance Hits Countdown: "Will I Ever Understand You" by Berlin (1986)

Oh my F$#^ing Gawd, its the Fu#$g 80's!!! Welcome back to the countdown, it has been a few days, but we are officially into the 70's now! And yes number 80 had to be an MJ hit, seeing it as the #80 of the 80's. And now, for #79...Will I Ever Understand You, by American new-wave synth pop band Berlin. I bet you thought they were German didn't you??? Was it the name or the blonde lead singer? Berlin actually formed in the late 1970's and originated in Orange County, California. As with my previous post of them, this is their second song appearing on the Top 100 and according to wikipedia there are 4 current members (Teri Nunn is the blond lead singer), and it lists about 10 former band members who were in and out of the band over the years. The core band members of the band are considered to be Teri Nunn, John Crawford , and David Diamond. Nunn left the band temporarily to pursue an acting career at one point and actually auditioned for the part of Princess Leia in the Star Wars films. Wikipedia also lists Berlin as having an inactive period between 1987 and 1998. Berlin are obviously a better known band from the 80's, and have had many hits over the years. Will I Ever Understand You was the first track appearing on their October 1986 release album titled Count Three &; Pray. The song also appeared on the Inner Space soundtrack and a club scene from the movie, back when Meg Ryan was young and hot, those were the days. Enough data and repeating facts from the previous Berlin post and on with da music mahn!

#80 of VJ Samsonite's Top 100 80's Dance Hits Countdown: "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" by Michael Jackson (1982)

Welcome back to VJ Samsonite's top 100 80's Dance Hits Countdown! Today we are presenting #80 of the top 100 countdown, and starting to really get into it! And the song is...Wanna Be Startin' Somethin' by the King of Pop himself Michael Jackson. Now if you don't know who Michael Jackson (R.I.P.) is than I can't help you out. For those of you who don't know much MJ-trivia, he was born in Gary, Indiana in 1958, and he was 50 years old when he passed away just last year on June 25th (almost a frickin year already!!) in Los Angeles California. You might find it interesting to know that Madonna and Prince both also turned 50 years old last year, officially being the Queen and Prince of Pop during the 80's with recently deceased King M.J.. Now I know that there has been speculation about who will be the next, but as far as I am concerned no one currently can sit in the throne, so its empty until someone who really "has it" comes along. I have heard people say they think that Lady Gaga is making her way as the next Queen of Pop, however I remain skeptical on that one as I reckon you have to be extremely prolific and consistent with pop-hits over an extended period of time to take the throne, not that Lady Gaga isn't capable of this, but it remains to be seen. This discussion has me on a bit of tangent so back to the topic at hand. Wanna Be Startin' Somethin', was the first track of Jackson's epic Thriller album which won Jackson a record-breaking eight Grammy Awards in 1984, including Album of the Year, and numbers are uncertain but it has been estimated as having sold approximately 78-110 million copies worldwide as of 2009. Shockingly enough youtube actually allows posting of the actual music video, so enjoy.

#81 of VJ Samsonite's Top 100 80's Dance Hits Countdown: "Under Pressure" by Queen & David Bowie (1982)

Welcome back to VJ Samsonite's top 100 80's Dance Hits Countdown! Today we are presenting #81 of the top 100 countdown, and starting to really get into it! And the song is...Under Pressure by collaboration of artists Queen & David Bowie. Under Pressure was a collaboration between these two outstanding artists, and the first of its kind for David Bowie. The song was recorded in 1981, and was featured on Queen's 1982 album released titled Hot Space. Under Pressure reached #1 on the UK singles chart, and was ranked #31 on VH1's 100 Greatest Song's of the 80's. The song started out as a song by Queen called Feel Like, which transformed into Under Pressure after a jam-session with David Bowie took place in Montreux, Switzerland, thus Freddie Mercury was considered the song's primary writer, but all contributed to the work. This song has always been one of my favorites, and many may be surprised its not further towards the top of my Top 100, but we will see why as time goes on. Enjoy #81!