94. Ziggy Marley and the Melody Makers, “Tomorrow People” Realistically, the 1988 album Conscious Party was always meant to be be a sort of coming out party for Ziggy Marley. Signed to Virgin Records with his band the Melody Makers, which included a handful of his siblings, the son of the most legendary reggae artist of all time was a focus of the new label, certain they’d be able to capitalize on the familial connection with all those high school and college kids who tacked posters of the Legend album cover to their walls. Talking Heads members and Tom Tom Club … Continue reading CMJ Top 250 Songs, 1979 – 1989, 94 – 92

97. Howard Jones, “New Song” “I’ve played in lots of bands since I was fifteen,” Howard Jones explained in 1983, at the time his debut single, “New Song,” was bounding up the charts. “But the thing that got me down was that other people in the band used to land up arguing at the end of the day, and I wasn’t really into that. So I decided I just wanted to get in with it in my own way. I found there wasn’t anyone around I wanted to play with.” Luckily for Jones, he took that creative stance at precisely … Continue reading CMJ Top 250 Songs, 1979 – 1989, 97 – 95

100. New Order, “The Perfect Kiss” It’s difficult to pin down precisely which version of the New Order song “The Perfect Kiss” sits at the momentous #100 position on this chart. On the 1985 album Low-Life, the song finishes its work in just under five minutes. There are a flurry of other edits of the track across different seven-inch singles, sometimes shaving as much as an additional minute off the song. Arguably the best known, though, is the iteration released as a twelve-inch single, that clocks in at a robust 8:46. And it’s a few second longer yet in the official … Continue reading College Countdown: CMJ Top 250 Songs, 1979 – 1989, 100 – 98

103. The Mighty Lemon Drops, “Inside Out” Other bands that started plying their tunes in the nineteen-eighties had the advantage of fertile local scenes. That wasn’t the case for the Mighty Lemon Drops, who hailed from Wolverhampton. “When we started out in early 1985, there wasn’t much going on locally,” said guitarist Dave Newton. “Not even in nearby Birmingham, with a few exceptions, such as the Nightingales and Pigros. As for Wolverhampton, there was absolutely nothing of note.” But a band as good as the Mighty Lemon Drops is going to draw attention, no matter the geographical limits. They wound … Continue reading CMJ Top 250 Songs, 1979 – 1989, 103 – 101