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101 Best Songs of 1988:#1 – Guns n’ Roses – Sweet Child o’ Mine (1 Viewer)

timschochet said:
A worthy #1 and a terrific list. Very well done! 
 

I plan on finishing the 70s- there are still many more years to do, (and I’d like to do 1980 as well, selfishly) but the rest of the 80s are yours! 
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Thanks Tim.  Appreciate you setting the standard!

 
This was fun to follow Scorchy, thanks for making the effort.

My Personal Top 10

1.  Guns N Roses - Welcome to the Jungle - best song from arguably the best modern-ish rock album of all time

2.  Tracy Chapman - Fast Car - a perfect song

3.  George Michael - Father Figure - the most critically underrated artist of the 80s

4.  George Michael - One More Try - see above

5.  Pet Shop Boys  - What Have I Done to Deserve This - the best art-pop of the era

6.  Hungry Eyes - Eric Carmen - Best Song from one of the best movie soundtracks of all time

7.  New Edition - If It Isn't Love - the best song from these R&B legends

8.  Richard Marx - Endless Summer Nights - a timeless pop love song that holds up well to this day (sans mullet)

9.  Whitney Houston - So Emotional - peak Whitney was a force

10.  Bobby Brown - Don't Be Cruel - Bobby didn't age well, but this is a R&B classic that is worthy of playlists to this day, take that to the bank brohans.

 
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You absolutely crushed it Scorchy.  I will 'attempt' some-sort of next 100 but you completely destroyed my original list wiping out most of my top-40 and leaving me with no way to do my standard next-100.  I will definitely be stretching rules I used in the past but 1988 was a special year in music for me so I will put together something after Christmas.

 
massraider said:
Would have made the cut for me:

Ana Ng, They Might be Giants 

Roll With It, Steve Winwood 

Did I miss Roll With It? Apologies if so. 

I wish someone had introduced me to Blue Eyed Soul when I was a kid. I had to find out much later that it was an actual thing
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I hate They Might Be Giants for a really dumb reason.  They went on late at a festival (not their fault) and played their full set, including lots of annoying kids' songs.  Bad weather was in the forecast and I was getting really antsy b/c I was there for the main act.  Giants finally end their set and The Hold Steady rush to get on the stage - only to play for 20 minutes before thunderstorms shut things down.  I excluded Ana Ng on principle.

Steve Winwood was definitely huge.  He was the AOR god I joked about leaving out b/c no one under the age of 30 was listening to him in 1988.  Bracie thought I was referring to Richard Marx.

 
Bracie Smathers said:
You absolutely crushed it Scorchy.  I will 'attempt' some-sort of next 100 but you completely destroyed my original list wiping out most of my top-40 and leaving me with no way to do my standard next-100.  I will definitely be stretching rules I used in the past but 1988 was a special year in music for me so I will put together something after Christmas.
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Looking forward to it.  Will definitely be following along.

 
TripItUp said:
This was fun to follow Scorchy, thanks for making the effort.

My Personal Top 10
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A couple of those will be on my 1987 list if I get around to it.  Bobby Brown definitely deserved a second entry in '88 but I just can't with Richard Marx, even if Shannon C. did dedicate it to me on the radio one night.  Or maybe that was Hold on to the Night.  Mullet-guy's songs kind of run together for me. 🙂

 
Nice list. A lot of thought provoking choices. 

I have the same nostalgia for Chicago's "Look Away" as I do for "The Flame"--two big time groups with their last hurrah. I hoped it would make the cut.

 
scorchy said:
Steve Winwood was definitely huge.  He was the AOR god I joked about leaving out b/c no one under the age of 30 was listening to him in 1988.  
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I deleted Richard Marx from this quote in purpose. 

I had no idea who Winwood was in 88, but I knew I liked his voice, and I liked his previous album, which was a true monster, and also not for 16 year olds. 

Years later I found out that he was on the local music scene in Birmingham by the time he was 13 or so. When American blues stars like BB King and Muddy Waters hit the UK, and used local bands as was the custom, 14 year old Winwood played the organ when they hit Birmingham. 

And he was 16 flipping years old when he wrote this song, and created this vocal.

Gimme Some Lovin  

 
rockaction said:
In retrospect, maybe the best song of that year. 

:scared:
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These guys put the nerd in Nerd Rock. David Byrne would have given them a wedgie. 

But they had a very catchy, unique thing. 

Well, to me. If someone told me their sound was incredibly annoying, I'd be like, yeah, I can see that. 

 
scorchy said:
I hate They Might Be Giants for a really dumb reason.  They went on late at a festival (not their fault) and played their full set, including lots of annoying kids' songs.  Bad weather was in the forecast and I was getting really antsy b/c I was there for the main act.  Giants finally end their set and The Hold Steady rush to get on the stage - only to play for 20 minutes before thunderstorms shut things down.  I excluded Ana Ng on principle.
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I”d listen to a 3 hour set of They Might Be Giants playing kids songs, that material is great.  Especially if that meant less Hold Steady.

ETA: Supposed to see them in April but it’s the Flood tour so probably no kids songs or Ana Ng.

 
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I’ve seen TMBG twice and both times they were awesome. Both were probably 30+ years ago. 
 

ETA: When I was in high school, I often used to call their dial-a-song number in Brooklyn. My dad was not pleased with the long distance bill. 

 
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Osaurus said:
ETA: When I was in high school, I often used to call their dial-a-song number in Brooklyn. My dad was not pleased with the long distance bill. 
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This is where we really miss the laughing emoji.  

When I was in 6th grade, some kid was giving out one of those 976 phone sex #s and told everyone it was free.  I was suspicious, but definitely wanted to listen, so I convinced a girl from the bus stop to let a group of us call from her house.  Spoiler: it wasn't free.

 
Pip's Invitation said:
You’re lucky Northern Voice is taking a break from the board, because if he came across this while drunk, he would release hellfire. 😂
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Was gonna say that given it was Xmas Eve when he posted that nonsense, I wouldn't be surprised if the Spirit of Hold Steady Shows' Past (RIP GB @Tremendous Upside) paid a visit to fatguy last night and showed him the error of his ways.  Upside was at the festival with us and was way angrier at TMBG than I was.

 
Yes, nice job with the thread!  A few omissions (by mainstream acts):

U2 - All I Want Is You (their best song, IMO, and the best of 1988)
Bruce Hornsby & The Range - The Valley Road

And I thought OU812 and Now and Zen both deserved better representation rather than both getting just one song each stuck in the 90s, but I get that opinions vary. :)

 
Ghost Rider said:
Yes, nice job with the thread!  A few omissions (by mainstream acts):

U2 - All I Want Is You (their best song, IMO, and the best of 1988)
Bruce Hornsby & The Range - The Valley Road

And I thought OU812 and Now and Zen both deserved better representation rather than both getting just one song each stuck in the 90s, but I get that opinions vary. :)
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I am not the biggest U2 fan, but I really like this song. 

 
Ghost Rider said:
Yes, nice job with the thread!  A few omissions (by mainstream acts):

U2 - All I Want Is You (their best song, IMO, and the best of 1988)
Bruce Hornsby & The Range - The Valley Road

And I thought OU812 and Now and Zen both deserved better representation rather than both getting just one song each stuck in the 90s, but I get that opinions vary. :)
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Yeah, All I Want Is You should have been in there.  I didn't think R&H warranted three songs so stuck with God Part II and Desire, even though I didn't love the latter.  Hagar-era VH and solo Robert Plant definitely fall into opinions vary for me.

ETA: Nevermind, now I remember.  All I Want Is You was released as a single in the summer of '89.  Otherwise, it would have been there.

 
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1987 and 88 were special years in music for me. I graduated in 87 and went to US Air Force basic training in November. These songs were the soundtrack to me becoming a man.

My list would obviously be a lot different but that's what makes music great! It affects every one differently Thanks for the flashback @scorchy

 
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massraider said:
These guys put the nerd in Nerd Rock. David Byrne would have given them a wedgie. 

But they had a very catchy, unique thing. 

Well, to me. If someone told me their sound was incredibly annoying, I'd be like, yeah, I can see that. 
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Yeah, I can see the annoying label, too. I won't dispute that. I had friends that liked music like I did (I don't qualify by taste, only that one gives careful consideration of the form and such) and did not like They Might Be Giants at all. 

 
Great job @scorchy

Agree completely with #1. 

Wish Living Colour had made it bigger. I was a huge fan and saw them in concert a number of times. They were fantastic. Thanks for the memories. 

(or maybe thanks for reminding me of childhood memories....)

 
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scorchy said:
#1 – Guns n’ Roses – Sweet Child o’ Mine
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You know you have a hit song when a small Baptist church in Texas decides they are going to play it acoustically during a child dedication service (think baptism without the water and without the free will of those being dedicated). The hip music director decided the lyrics sounded enough like a parent to a child and hey, they said "pray" in the song, so Jesus.

While I was well into my "only listening to soundtracks" phase, and about to enter my dark "Christian music only" phase that lasted until I stepped foot on a college campus, I knew of G'n'R and Appetite and the album art and was shocked they were playing it in church. At the end, my more secular friend at the time applauded, stood, and shouted "now Nighttrain!!'" I don't think the music director lasted to Christmas.

 
Bogart said:
You know you have a hit song when a small Baptist church in Texas decides they are going to play it acoustically during a child dedication service (think baptism without the water and without the free will of those being dedicated). The hip music director decided the lyrics sounded enough like a parent to a child and hey, they said "pray" in the song, so Jesus.

While I was well into my "only listening to soundtracks" phase, and about to enter my dark "Christian music only" phase that lasted until I stepped foot on a college campus, I knew of G'n'R and Appetite and the album art and was shocked they were playing it in church. At the end, my more secular friend at the time applauded, stood, and shouted "now Nighttrain!!'" I don't think the music director lasted to Christmas.
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That's a really great story!

 
They played "Who Will You Run To" by Heart at some church youth thing I went to one time, it was a nice change of pace from convoluted Petra songs about Bible stories.  We were supposed to listen to the song and pretend it was God talking to us.  You could tell they were trying to be edgy.  

Nowadays most US church services are just terrible rock concerts, going by my limited experience.  The olds still clap along.

 
plinko said:
Nowadays most US church services are just terrible rock concerts, going by my limited experience.  The olds still clap along.
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Helped with a church plant in my mid 30s (wasn't religious but was intrigued by the social and business aspect of it) and this was true with every new church. Drum kits, electric guitars and covering popular music to "bring in the kids".

My favorite example was Buckhead Church covering Saliva. You can tell at 0:55 that this guy is going to save souls with the power of rock.

 
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