Friday 80s Flashback for September 24, 2010 [Uplifting Edition]

I already posted the Angry Edition this morning, but I wanted to end on a more positive note by providing a set of "uplifting" flashback songs. Fortunately, the 80s are rife with upbeat songs that speak to the power of potential. Read about them, and hear them, after the break!

Flashback #1: "One Small Day" kicked off my morning commute every day this week. It is, in fact, the very song that inspired today's afternoon's concept. The first single from Lament (1984), "One Small Day" is much more guitar-driven that any song Ultravox had released up to that point. If this song had received the band's standard synth treatment, I doubt it would have quite the same punch. Even today, more than 15 years after its original release, this song can send an electric shock deep into my system and awaken me from my doldrums. All you need is that one day, one day where you can "feel the strength of love at hand," and you can "live a life the way it's meant to be." And, sometimes, that day is closer than you think.

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Flashback #2: Guilty pleasure warning -- I love "Waiting for a Star to Fall" by the 80s duo, Boy Meets Girl. Is it cheesy, bombastic, fluff? Yes, yes, and hell yes! But when this song comes on the radio, or my iPod, I can't help but have a toe-tapping good time. It's a chart-topper from 1988 (#1 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary Chart), and it was immortalized in the 1990 film, Three Men and a Little Lady. You might be surprised to learn that it was originally penned for Whitney Houston, but she rejected it. I'm glad she did. I cannot imagine her treatment would have the same feel-good power of this little-known duo.

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Flashback #3: Triumph. You have to expect uplifting tunes from a band with a name like that, right? In 1984, this Canadian power trio released Thunder Seven, a concept album that examined "the actions and abnormalities of man at the turn of the 21st century" (per Wikipedia). The second single from that album was the admonition to Follow Your Heart which told the world that "rock and roll hearts never die." A triumphant message that I still follow to this day.



Did you see today's "Angry Edition" of the flashback as well?

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The rule of three applies when doing Flashbacks: I've offered three tunes, so that's all till next week. Fine more flashbacks in the archives. Your comments are welcome on today's, or any other, flashback post. And if you like what I'm doing here, please share the link with your friends. If, however, you don't like the flashback, feel free to share it with your enemies.

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I'll see you in seven!