My Top 100 Singles of 1986
Here's the Spotify playlist:
1. Nu Shooz - "I Can't Wait"
2. Paul Simon - "You Can Call Me Al"
3. Janet Jackson - "When I Think Of You"
4. Peter Gabriel - "In Your Eyes"
5. Prince and the Revolution - "Kiss"
6. LL Cool J - "Rock The Bells"
7. Pet Shop Boys - "West End Girls"
8. Cameo - "Word Up!"
9. Pretenders - "Don't Get Me Wrong"
10. Boogie Down Productions - "South Bronx"
11. Oingo Boingo - "Dead Man's Party"
12. Bruce Hornsby and the Range - "The Way It Is"
13. The Outfield - "Your Love"
14. Genesis - "Land Of Confusion"
15. Peter Gabriel - "Sledgehammer"
16. Eric B. & Rakim - "Eric B. Is President"
17. The Psychedelic Furs - "Pretty In Pink"
18. Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark - "If You Leave"
19. Huey Lewis and the News - "Stuck With You"
20. Run-DMC - "My Adidas"
21. Anita Baker - "Sweet Love"
22. Robert Palmer - "Addicted To Love"
23. Heart - "These Dreams"
24. The Moody Blues - "Your Wildest Dreams"
25. Cameo - "Candy"
26. Phil Collins - "Take Me Home"
27. Eddie Money f/ Ronnie Spector - "Take Me Home Tonight"
28. Jackson Browne - "In The Shape Of A Heart"
29. Talking Heads - "Wild Wild Life"
30. Mike + The Mechanics - "All I Need Is A Miracle"
31. Van Halen - "Why Can't This Be Love"
32. Janet Jackson - "Nasty"
33. Bon Jovi - "You Give Love A Bad Name"
34. Whitney Houston - "How Will I Know"
35. Dire Straits - "Walk Of Life"
36. Fabulous Thunderbirds - "Tuff Enuff"
37. Duran Duran - "Notorious"
38. Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush - "Don't Give Up"
39. New Order - "Bizarre Love Triangle"
40. Sheila E. - "A Love Bizarre"
41. Huey Lewis and the News - "Hip To Be Square"
42. Oran "Juice" Jones - "The Rain"
43. Genesis - "Invisible Touch"
44. Miami Sound Machine - "Conga"
45. Cyndi Lauper - "True Colors"
46. Jermaine Stewart - "We Don't Have To Take Our Clothes Off"
47. Beastie Boys - "Paul Revere"
48. R.E.M. - "Fall On Me"
49. Janet Jackson - "What Have You Done For Me Lately"
50. Robbie Nevil - "C'est La Vie"
51. Van Halen - "Best Of Both Worlds"
52. Dwight Yoakam - "Guitars, Cadillacs"
53. Glass Tiger - "Don't Forget Me (When I'm Gone)"
54. Junk Yard Band - "Sardines"
55. Prince and the Revolution - "Mountains"
56. Simply Red - "Holding Back The Years"
57. Simple Minds - "Alive And Kicking"
58. Falco - "Rock Me Amadeus"
59. Lionel Richie - "Dancing On The Ceiling"
60. "Weird Al" Yankovic - "Dare To Be Stupid"
61. Daryl Hall - "Dreamtime"
62. Van Halen - "Dreams"
63. Genesis - "In Too Deep"
64. Wang Chung - "Everybody Have Fun Tonight"
65. Dwight Yoakam - "It Won't Hurt"
66. The Ramones - "Somebody Put Something In My Drink"
67. George Jones - "Wine Colored Roses"
68. Baltimora - "Tarzan Boy"
68. Prince and the Revolution - "Anotherloverholenyohead"
69. Run-DMC and Aerosmith - "Walk This Way"
70. John Mellencamp - "Rumbleseat"
71. Tears For Fears - "Mothers Talk"
72. David Lee Roth - "Yankee Rose"
73. Mr. Mister - "Kyrie"
74. Steve Winwood - "Higher Love"
75. Pet Shop Boys - "Opportunities (Let's Make Lots Of Money)"
76. R.E.M. - "Superman"
77. "Weird Al" Yankovic - "Living With A Hernia"
78. James Brown - "Living In America"
79. Billy Joel - "A Matter Of Trust"
80. Fabulous Thunderbirds - "Wrap It Up"
81. Cherrelle with Alexander O'Neal - "Saturday Love"
82. Ozzy Osbourne - "Shot In The Dark"
83. The Bangles - "Manic Monday"
84. The Rolling Stones - "One Hit (To The Body)"
85. Samantha Fox - "Touch Me (I Want Your Body)"
86. The Police - "Don't Stand So Close To Me '86"
87. Patti LaBelle and Michael McDonald - "On My Own"
88. Sade - "Is It A Crime?"
89. Timbuk 3 - "The Future's So Bright, I Gotta Wear Shades"
90. Stevie Wonder - "Overjoyed"
91. Sly Fox - "Let's Go All The Way"
92. Bob Seger - "Like A Rock"
93. Miami Sound Machine - "Bad Boy"
94. Bananarama - "Venus"
95. Eddie Murphy - "Party All The Time"
96. Belinda Carlisle - "Mad About You"
97. Robert Palmer - "I Didn't Mean To Turn You On"
98. Kenny Loggins - "The Danger Zone"
99. Queen - "Who Wants To Live Forever"
100. ZZ Top - "Sleeping Bag"
I was 4 in 1986, so people have been singing "You Can Call Me Al" to me for almost my whole life (although I went primarily by Alex until the late '90s), and people usually assume that I hate the song or am sick of hearing it. And really, I like it, man, it holds up. The songs I have the most memories of from 1986 or around then, though, are "Sledgehammer" and "Land of Confusion" and the Mike + The Mechanics singles, my dad was big into Genesis's big pop crossover moment and those Gabriel and Genesis videos were some of the most memorable stuff I saw in his tapes of I guess Friday Night Videos.
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