You *know* you've been waiting for these! There were so many good and/or Popular Songs of 1989 that I had no choice but to make this series a five-parter. Which, if we're honest, isn't a bad thing at all. In fact, it's pretty rad! Enjoy! ~ JH
1) Paula Abdul ~ “Straight Up”
2) Chicago ~ “Look Away”
3) Boy Meets Girl ~ “Waiting For A Star To Fall”
4) Janet Jackson ~ “Miss You Much”
5) Bad English ~ “When I See You Smile”
6) New Kids On The Block ~ “I’ll Be Loving You (Forever)”
Of all the things I've blogged about before, this is not one of them. Until now... Enjoy this first set of songs (of two) featuring some kind of abbreviation, initials, or acronym in the title. ~ JH
1) Tori Kelly ~ “P.Y.T.” (“Pretty Young Thing.” Nice cover of a Michael Jackson hit.)
2) Foo Fighters ~ “D.O.A.” (“Dead On Arrival”)
3) Bea Miller ~ “S.L.U.T.” (It’s not what it looks like. This is shorthand for “Sweet Little Unforgettable Thing.”)
4) Guns N’ Roses ~ “I.R.S.” (No double meaning here. It really does stand for “Internal Revenue Service.”)
5) Mariah Carey ~ “H.A.T.E.U.” (“H.A.T.E.U.” actually means “hate you.” So…it’s not really an abbreviation for anything. You tricky trickster, Mariah!)
6) Kasabian ~ “L.S.F.” (“Lost Souls Forever”)
7) Melanie Fiona ~ “L.O.V.E.” (Also not technically an abbreviation.)
8) Black Sabbath ~ “N.I.B.” (Apparently, “Nib” was the nickname of a band member’s beard. Ozzy put the punctuation marks in there to confuse people. Mission accomplished!)
9) Tegan and Sara ~ “BWU” (“Be With U”)
10) Noah And The Whale ~ “L.I.F.E.G.O.E.S.O.N.” (It means what it looks like it means. N.O.T. A.N. A.B.B.R.E.V.I.A.T.I.O.N. *sigh*)
11) Dua Lipa ft. Charli XCX, Zara Larsson, MØ, & Alma ~ “IDGAF” (I’ll let you Google this abbreviation. Although, seeing as this is the sanitized version of the song, the title should have been shortened further to “IDGA.”)
12) Live ~ “T.B.D.” (“Tibetan Book of the Dead”)
13) Janelle Monáe ft. Erykah Badu ~ “Q.U.E.E.N.” (Also not an abbreviation. I’m spotting a pattern here.)
14) Cream ~ “N.S.U.” (Oddly enough, this stands for “Non-Specific Urethritis.”)
15) Jessie J ~ “L.O.V.E.” (Equally not an actual abbreviation. This may be less the fault of the artists and more the fault of yours truly, the blogger. Sorry…)
16) Rythm Syndicate ~ “P.A.S.S.I.O.N.” (The singer spells out several words in this one. But none of them are abbreviations. He just likes spelling, I guess. Except in the case of his band’s name, which is – apparently – misspelled intentionally. Go figure!)
17) John Mellencamp ~ “R.O.C.K. In The U.S.A.” (The “R.O.C.K.” part doesn’t mean anything other than “Rock.” If you don’t know what the “U.S.A.” part means, you’re either not from around here or you’ve been living under a rock. Either way…find out for yourself.)
18) Le Tigre ~ “TKO” ("Technical Knockout")
19) Harry Chapin ~ “W.O.L.D.” (These are the call letters of a fictional radio station at which the song’s narrator is an aging deejay. Thus a double meaning with the letters “O.L.D.”)
20) Florida Georgia Line ~ “H.O.L.Y.” ("High On Loving You")
Well, here it is. My last chance to post your favorite song(s) from thirty years ago. Hopefully, I covered all the good ones. If not, let me know what I missed. I hope you will... Enjoy! ~ JH
1) Belinda Carlisle ~ “I Get Weak”
2) Bobby Brown ~ “My Prerogative”
3) R.E.M. ~ “Stand”
4) Tanya Tucker ~ “Strong Enough To Bend”
5) Terence Trent D’Arby ~ “Sign Your Name”
6) Aerosmith ~ “Rag Doll”
7) Vixen ~ “Edge Of A Broken Heart”
8) Ricky Van Shelton ~ “Don’t We All Have The Right”
9) Bobby McFerrin ~ “Don’t Worry, Be Happy”
10) Patrick Swayze ft. Wendy Fraser ~ “She’s Like The Wind”
11) Rodney Crowell ~ “I Couldn’t Leave You If I Tried”
Hope you aren't tired of the most Popular Songs Of 1988 yet...because here's another set of 'em! (And there'll be another set after that. And one more.) No filler songs here, all good stuff from almost every conceivable genre. I hope you will...enjoy! ~ JH
1) Bobby Brown ~ “Don’t Be Cruel”
2) Taylor Dayne ~ “I’ll Always Love You”
3) Cinderella ~ “Don’t Know What You Got (Till It's Gone)”
4) Richard Marx ~ “Endless Summer Nights”
5) The Jets ~ “Make It Real”
6) George Strait ~ “Famous Last Words Of A Fool”
7) Breathe ~ “Hands To Heaven”
8) Joan Jett & The Blackhearts ~ “I Hate Myself For Loving You”
9) Ray Boltz ~ “Thank You”
10) Living Colour ~ “Cult Of Personality”
11) Jody Watley ~ “Don’t You Want Me”
12) Peter Cetera ~ “One Good Woman”
13) Paul Carrack ~ “Don’t Shed A Tear”
14) Natalie Cole ~ “Pink Cadillac”
15) Steve Winwood ~ “Valerie”
16) R.E.M. ~ “Orange Crush”
17) Debbie Gibson ~ “Out Of The Blue”
18) Michael Jackson ~ “Dirty Diana”
19) Ronnie Milsap ft. Mike Reid ~ “Old Folks”
20) Anita Baker ~ “Giving You The Best That I Got”
21) George Michael ~ “Faith”
22) Guns N’ Roses ~ “Welcome To The Jungle”
23) Whitney Houston ~ “Where Do Broken Hearts Go”
24) Cheap Trick ~ “Don’t Be Cruel” (Unsurprisingly, this is NOT the same song as Bobby Brown's at the beginning of this list.)
