A-Z Challenge Wrap-Up

I just want to take a minute and thank each and every one of you who stopped by, favorited, retweeted, and left comments on my A-Z Challenge. I had so much fun making new ’80s friends and reading everyone’s comments. Some of the comments really cracked me up!

It is so awesome to see so many ’80s fans reminiscing about the good times.

I’m going to take a week or two off to regroup and start writing my new YA novel, which has a huge ’80s vibe, and work on some ’80s fiber art projects that I’ll be entering in a few contests.

But be sure to check back here mid-May for new posts. I think we’ll take a break from music, just for a bit, and focus on the movies, TV, and fashion of the ’80s. I’ve also got ideas for some themed posts for the summer and fall and a few fun ’80s DIY/craft projects. You won’t want to miss out!

In case you missed a day or just want to see the list again, here are links to all of the letters:

A-Z Challenge: Songs of 1985

A: All I Need
B: Born in the U.S.A.
C: Careless Whisper
D: Don’t You (Forget About Me)
E: Easy Lover
F: Find a Way
G: Greatest Love of All
H: Home Sweet Home
I: In My House
J: Just a Gigolo/I Ain’t Got Nobody
K: Kyrie
L: Like A Virgin
M: Money for Nothing
N: Never
O: In and “O”ut of Love
P: Power of Love
Q: “Quirky” Goonies ‘R’ Good Enough
R: Rock Me Amadeus
S: Summer of ’69
T: Take On Me
U: Unchain the Night
V: A View to a Kill
W: We Are the World
X: A”x”el F
Y: You Belong to the City
Z: Who’s “Z”oomin’ Who

Thanks again, y’all! It has been super fun. I hope you had fun too.

See you in a few weeks!

Z: Who’s “Z”oomin’ Who?

Well, this is it! The end is here. The final song in my Songs from 1985 A-Z Challenge.

Here we go. . .

“Now the fish jumped off the hook, didn’t I, baby?
(Who’s zoomin’ who?)”

I hate to even admit this, but in the ’80s I only knew Aretha Franklin from this song and Freeway of Love. I had no idea who she was until I got to college. I think it speaks to the talent of a singer when their career spans several decades. Aretha Franklin is definitely one of those singers.

She was definitely busy in the ’80s with her solo album and singing duets with The Eurythmics and George Michael.

Who’s Zoomin’ Who? reached number seven on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart, number two on the R&B chart, and number one on the dance chart. Interesting fact: Who’s Zoomin’ Who? appears in an episode of Miami Vice. Weren’t we just talking Miami Vice yesterday?

Well, this is it! The final letter in the A-Z Challenge. I hope you have had fun reminiscing about 1985! I know I have. There sure were a ton of fantastic songs that year that helped define the sound of the ’80s.

Be sure to check back on Monday for my A-Z Challenge wrap-up, including links to all of the songs and letters. I’ll also be discussing a few topics we’ll be covering in the upcoming weeks.

Y: You Belong to the City

“You still don’t know where you’re goin’
You’re still just a face in the crowd”

Another huge hit that is a theme song. This one is for the TV show, Miami Vice.

Written by Glenn Frye and Jack Tempchin, You Belong to the City was written specifically for Miami Vice. I grew up in South Florida and Miami Vice was everywhere! My uncle worked in Miami and almost daily came across filming for the show. It never really interested me, probably because I lived in Florida. I mean, once you’ve seen one palm tree you’ve seen them all.

Fun fact about this song, Glenn Frye played all of the instruments except for the saxophone and drum track. Pretty impressive!

The song peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100 charts, Starship’s We Built This City was number one, but it did reach number one on the Billboard Top Rock Tracks chart. The soundtrack, on the other hand, spent 11 weeks on the top of the Billboard 200 chart, and according to Wikipedia, makes it “the bestselling album of 1985 and the most successful TV soundtrack of all time”.

X: A”X”el F

“♩♩ ♩♩♩♩♩♩ ♩
♩♩♩♩ ♩ ♩ ♩♩♩♩ ♩♩”

I am not a big fan of instrumentals, but this one is a good one.

From one of the biggest movies of 1985 and actually all of the ’80s, Axel F is performed by Harold Faltermeyer and is the theme song of Eddie Murphy’s character, Axel Foley in Beverly Hills Cop.

Axel F was a number one international hit and the entire Beverly Hills Cop album won a Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media. It is a great album. You can’t go wrong with the Pointer Sisters singing the Neutron Dance.

W: We Are the World

“We are the world, we are the children
We are the ones who make a brighter day so let’s start giving”

We are nearing the end of the A-Z Challenge. I can’t believe we only have 4 more letters until the end. Where did the time go?

Today we are featuring the star-studded supergroup USA for Africa.

We Are the World was written by Lionel Richie and Michael Jackson weeks after Band Aid (the UK supergroup) released Do They Know It’s Christmas? Both songs were written about the famine in Ethiopia.

I liked this song, a lot! It was the first time so many huge stars came together for one song. This song had every huge American star, except for Madonna. What was up with that? I do have to admit that I did like Band Aid a little better, but only because it included Duran Duran and Bananarama.

Does anyone else sing this song in each singer’s voice? I do! And, I can do a pretty mean Cyndi Lauper, at least in my mind I can. And why was Dan Aykroyd in this video?

I remember when HBO showed the making of the song. At one point Quincy Jones kept hearing something in the playback. It turned out to be Cyndi Lauper’s necklaces that kept hitting the microphone when she jumped around. Lol!

This was one successful song! According to Wikipedia, the song “won three Grammy Awards, one American Music Award, and a People’s Choice Award.”  Plus, “We Are the World raised over $63 million for humanitarian aid in Africa and the US.”