A Top Ten Memoir: 1983 - "We're going to party, fiesta, forever..."
There’s no question that 1983 was the year of Michael Jackson. His Thriller album was released late in ’82 and a slew of mega hit singles followed. These songs were everywhere from pop radio to MTV.
My Top Ten of 1983:
1. PYT (Pretty Young Thing) – Michael Jackson
2. One Thing Leads to Another – The Fixx
3. Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’ – Michael Jackson
4. Billie Jean – Michael Jackson
5. (Keep Feeling) Fascination – The Human League
6. Der Kommissar – After the Fire
7. All Night Long – Lionel Richie
8. Stand Back – Stevie Nicks
9. Promises, Promises – Naked Eyes
10. Dead Giveaway – Shalamar
Marlee, Liz, and I continued our regular trips to Lake Geneva, Wisconsin ready to dance the night away. I’d wear the fashionable skinny tie while Marlee and Liz were dressed in their own chic styles for the dancefloor. Olive Oyls was THE bar to hear all the hits. Jackson’s music was played at some of the heightened moments of the night when our Amaretto stone sours were really kicking in. We’d sweat all the alcohol out by the end of the night though. Songs like Shalamar’s Dead Giveaway, and Jackson’s Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’ and Billie Jean packed the dancefloor. The former Jackson hit, in particular, offered the greatest climax of the evening when, after several handclapping “Mama say mama sa ma ma koo sa’s,” the music would make its return leading everyone to jump and move for the song’s big finish. Billie Jean was often paired with Steely Dan’s Do It Again for a unique mix that also kept everyone going.
Later in the year, PYT (Pretty Young Thing) was released as a single. I was already a big fan of the song when it was buried on side two of the album. There was something about the Quincy Jones arrangement, the lyrics, and the song’s own climactic moment near the end that made it my favorite that year. Like the Pointer Sister’s He’s So Shy a few years earlier, this one called to mind the innocence of young desire and love, something that was becoming a reality for me.
Occasionally, Olive Oyls would add some of the big MTV hits such as The Human League’s (Keep Feeling) Fascination, The Fixx’s One Thing Leads to Another, and Naked Eyes’ Promises, Promises. Music was changing.
These “new wave” songs featured familiar songwriting structures but added lots of synthesized and other electronic sounds that felt fresh and exciting. Even Stevie Nicks’ Stand Back seemed to have benefited from this movement. The video was highly energetic as Nicks twirled around singing about the man who didn’t say “stand back in the middle of the room.”
From my perspective, this all seemed to be a movement into a whole new territory of music that, thanks to my friend Mauro’s influence, really captured my tastes for something different. The videos were often avant-garde and full of strange visual images that no one really paid attention to since they featured fast-paced editing. I was also falling big time for the unique styles of the era. I opened a charge account at JC Penney and bought all of the “cool” clothes they had. I was no longer the t-shirt wearing guy from high school I was now becoming one of the new wave. I also loved the haircut: short on top, long in back. Today, some older people view this as the ugly 80s “mullet” while a younger generation has found it and made it their own. At the time, the edgy cool guys wore their hair that way. There wasn’t anything traditional about the look and I loved that! It was part punk and part Mauro.
In addition to the dance clubs, I was also seeing attractive funky guys all over the campus of UIC (by this point the university had dropped “circle” from its name and became simply, University of Illinois at Chicago.) I’d spend time in the big cafeteria, Innercircle, with my SOL friends Gale, Neal, Bernie and many others. We’d put money in the jukebox and wait for our favorite songs to play. While Bernie preferred Bonnie Tyler’s Total Eclipse of the Heart and the Joe Cocker/Jennifer Warnes duet Up Where We Belong, I couldn’t wait for some of the New Wave hits like After the Fire’s Der Kommissar. The lyrics had nothing to do with us but we made some of them our own. For instance, “Woola” was a nickname we gave to Gale. Into the song we inserted: “Your frustration Woola that you speak…” Truthfully, I don’t think any of us knew the actual words: “And your frustration will not let you speak.” (I just had to look that up myself!) It was silly but fun.
I was heavily involved in student activities by this point. In addition to taking on a second year of work as a student orientation leader, I became an instrumental part of the Circle Center Board.
Part of the excitement over being in this organization was the people I was meeting and becoming friends with. Pat, Sue, Mike, Angie, Ken, and several others became part of my social circle.
That Fall, the group held a retreat at the Starved Rock Lodge in Utica, Illinois. All of our favorite Deans and department heads like Mary, Amy, and Celina would be there taking us through various leadership and group activities. One of those involved creating a human knot that lead to holding hands and figuring out how to come undone. Another student on the board, Dave A., grabbed my hand and held it tight. He seemed to be holding on more than others were. As the evening progressed, parties were held in people’s various lodge rooms. I noticed Dave glancing at me many times. Not knowing exactly what was going on, I suspected that he was interested in me. I announced to the group at one point that I was going out for a walk. Dave said, “I’ll go with you.”
We proceeded to walk in the direction of the building where I was sharing a room with another student named Steve. Dave seemed to be trying to come out to me. As we reached my room and went inside, we sat down on one of the beds and Dave reached his hand out to mine. We quickly embraced and had a passionate kissed. The moment ended with Steve walking in the room asking, “What’s going on?!” in his very typical lighthearted manner. We said nothing and ended our rendezvous.
Once we returned to school though, Dave and I would have lunches together and he’d often walk me to the train, taking over something Gale and Bernie did during SOL season.
Dave was a complex individual. He was a business major and said he’d “do whatever it takes to become successful, even if it means walking over people.” This concerned me a bit. Was he going to walk over me?? He also shared that he’d had a rough relationship with his parents which added a certain tenderness to him. Like John J., he was also a weightlifter and was quite developed by this time. As part of the Circle Center Board he was a unique force to be reckoned with but some people found him to be difficult. He didn’t really “fit” with the gang I was developing so they didn’t tend to spend time with him outside of meetings. It was clear that Dave and I were becoming friends though and when it came time to attend another leadership retreat that Fall in Wisconsin, Dave and I were assigned to be roommates. Happily, we continued our intimacy and spent all night together. It was truly heavenly to sleep with another guy. Throughout the weekend as the partying continued, Lionel Richie’s song All Night Long was one of the big hits played several times. I would forever associate the song with Dave and our nights together. Even Richie’s use of a somewhat Jamaican accent during the song (“Po-ty” instead of Party) related to Dave who would adopt some of that accent when he drank a lot.
As the break between Fall and Winter quarters was approaching it was clear that Dave and I had developed some feelings for each other. Sadly, because we lived on opposite ends of suburban Chicago we weren’t going to see each other for several weeks. Being the era well before personal cellphones, when calling from suburb to suburb was considered long distance, we’d write letters to each other. Then I invited him out to my house for a night and we went up to Lake Geneva for some dancing with Marlee and Liz. As the evening progressed, the slow songs required us to pair up. There was no same-sex dancing at straight bars at the time so naturally Marlee and I danced together while Dave and Liz sat out. All the while I knew Dave was watching. The hormones were flying. Later when Dave and I got home, he told me he loved me. I didn’t know what to say. I didn’t feel quite the same way and couldn’t return the words. There were tears in his eyes. Not long after that we met downtown and enjoyed the city lights on Chicago’s Magnificent Mile. As we took a break in the lobby of the Ritz Carlton Hotel, I told him I just wanted to be friends. Dave’s reaction proved to be delayed for several months.
My feeling towards Dave were as complex as he was. On the one hand, he really seemed to care for me. However, he was a bit outside of the circle I had formed with Pat, Sue, Mike, Angie, and Ken. They had become super important friends to me and sadly, this made Dave somewhat more expendable. Later, I felt bad that I couldn’t return his love.
That Fall, during a phone conversation with my old friend Tony who was still in Florida, we came out to each other. He had broken up with Kathy and had become friends with a work buddy named Donny who took him to a few gay bars. Soon Tony found himself to be the center of a number of men’s eyes. In particular, he fell for a guy named Jesse who Tony would have yet another tumultuous relationship with. It was a great thrill to find out that one of my best male friends was gay, something I had suspected all along. While we didn’t share any physical interest in each other, we vowed to get together and visit a gay club in Chicago the next time he came to town.
It was during the break at the end of Fall when Marlee and I decided to have our first Top Ten party. I had shared with Marlee my love of ranking songs, particularly at the end of the year. Marlee was equally interested as she had, the previous year, been forced to stay home alone on New Year’s Eve, thanks to her boyfriend Mike, and listen to the various end of the year radio countdowns. The location for the party was her parents’ basement. We decorated the walls with the album covers from our favorites of the year.
We also included a painting that Marlee’s mother Rosemary created that made us laugh because it wasn’t very good. The character in the painting was named Lynette. From that point on, Marlee would bring Lynette to all Top Ten parties as the painting would be the silly mascot. Perhaps this was our way of acknowledging that we were having fun and weren’t taking this to ultra-geek levels. (Some might disagree though…)
Marlee dressed up in an outfit befitting her love of Morris Day’s The Time, a band she was really into at the time. I wore a simple sweater but my own version of the mullet made me feel trendy. We also agreed to put together our Top Ten songs from 1982 and play several of them before we got to 1983. We also put together a list of our All-Time Favorite songs and planned to play a few of those. Finally, we made predictions for each other with the winner getting treated to fried mushrooms at the local Palatine restaurant, Deer Grove. (Marlee ended up winning.)
Rosemary was the official photographer and took several shots of us looking at our album covers and in various frozen states of dancing. With the official drink being touted as Seagrams Whiskey and Ginger Ale, we started the party at 7PM with a coin toss as to who would play a song first. (Marlee usually won that too.) We then spent the next several hours playing songs from our alternate lists before beginning our number 10 songs of 1983 and then working our way up to number one. Marlee’s was Prince’s Little Red Corvette. We danced and drank before heading to Deer Grove for our fried mushrooms.
And with that the Top Ten parties were born.
Links to my Top Ten of 1983:
Other favorites from 1983:
Heart to Heart - Kenny Loggins, Every Breath You Take - The Police, Wishing - A Flock of Seagulls, I Guess That’s Why They Call It The Blues - Elton John, Too Shy - Kajagoogoo, Looking For a Stranger - Pat Benatar, She’s a Beauty - The Tubes, Our House - Madness, Down Under - Men at Work, She Blinded Me With Science - Thomas Dolby, Enchanted - Stevie Nicks, The One Thing - INXS, Say It Isn’t So - Daryl Hall & John Oates, China Girl - David Bowie, Separate Ways - Journey
What were your favorites of 1983?
Next Up: 1984…”Jump along with Dan’s Top Ten of 1984!…”
The Birth of Top 10. I love it!! So glad there are pictures. This year takes you to having many friends as well as an intimate relationship, not necessarily easy to navigate, but thrilling nonetheless. Good choices on the music. So much to choose from that year!! I had just finished a PhD and was focusing on Speech coaching so was quite busy but managed to keep up with pop music. Below is my (sorry, again) Top 15.
My one and only Spring Break trip was to Daytona Beach in April 1983. Under $200 included transportation and hotel room for a week. A group of Harper students boarded two buses and away we went. I was with four other girls (best friend included!). Five girls, one small hotel room with 2 beds and a rollaway cot and a legal drinking age of 19. And music! Michael Jackson, Men At Work, The Tubes, Duran Duran, Loverboy, Haircut 100 . . .
People watching with a great soundtrack . . . . and a lot of dancing!