April 1987 -- yawn!

I'm beginning to think 1987 was a real down year for music -- the last time I caught a show for this year, I thought the music was all rather bland, uninteresting, and occasionally painfully slow.  Whereas in 1985, it seemed a bunch of veterans were all at their peak, mixed in with some fresh voices, a mere two years later, it seemed like a rut.

In April at least we were stuck with late-album hits by big names:

11 14 WALKING DOWN YOUR STREET –•– Bangles – 10 (11)
12 18 LA ISLA BONITA –•– Madonna – 5 (12)
19 24 WHAT’S GOING ON –•– Cyndi Lauper – 6 (19)
14 4 TONIGHT, TONIGHT, TONIGHT –•– Genesis – 10 (3) -- the beer commercial
29 15 WHAT YOU GET IS WHAT YOU SEE –•– Tina Turner – 11 (13)
26 13 LET’S WAIT AWHILE –•– Janet Jackson – 14 (2)
37 42 SE LA –•– Lionel Richie – 4 (37) -- a genre-bending bust
35 40 I KNOW WHAT I LIKE –•– Huey Lewis & The News – 3 (35) -- terrible lyrics

Some under-whelming followups to big albums
21 32 HEAT OF THE NIGHT –•– Bryan Adams – 4 (21)
31 38 BIG LOVE –•– Fleetwood Mac – 4 (31)
15 19 STONE LOVE –•– Kool & The Gang – 11 (15)
40 43 THE RIGHT THING –•– Simply Red – 8 (40)
4 7 SIGN O’THE TIMES –•– Prince – 7 (4)

The emergence of a late-80's sound I hated:
28 36 TALK DIRTY TO ME –•– Poison – 6 (28)
7 2 LEAN ON ME –•– Club Nouveau – 10 (1)

Some whoppingly slow songs:
3 5 DON’T DREAM IT’S OVER –•– Crowded House – 14 (3)
24 30 THE LADY IN RED –•– Chris DeBurgh – 10 (24)
      AS WE LAY -- Shirley Murdock

And big hits that seemed too much by-the-numbers to get me very excited, even by artists I generally liked
1 3 I KNEW YOU WERE WAITING FOR ME –•– Aretha Franklin & George Michael – 9 (1)
2 1 NOTHING’S GONNA STOP US NOW –•– Starship – 12 (1)
5 8 MIDNIGHT BLUE –•– Lou Gramm – 12 (5)

Of course, there were some breakout songs / albums
13 23 WITH OR WITHOUT YOU –•– U2 – 5 (13)
33 16 MANDOLIN RAIN –•– Bruce Hornsby & The Range – 14 (4)
6 12 LOOKING FOR A NEW LOVE –•– Jody Watley – 7 (6)
9 6 COME GO WITH ME –•– Expose – 13 (5)

And the ones I just liked:

8 10 THE FINER THINGS –•– Steve Winwood – 11 (8)

39 51 YOU KEEP ME HANGIN’ ON –•– Kim Wilde – 4 (39)

10 17 (I JUST) DIED IN YOUR ARMS –•– Cutting Crew – 7 (10)

Extra fun was that I'd recorded many songs from American Top 40 with Casey himself back in  April1987, which I'm now digitizing.  His knowledge and enthusiasm put the SiriusXM VJs to shame!