Hello and welcome back to the 1984 Hideaway 200, a highly biased ranking of our 200 favorite songs from 1984. No charts or music videos were consulted in the compilation of this list - it's a result of 40 years of listening, collecting, and any attached memories the songs may have picked up along the way. Click HERE to catch up on any countdown posts you may have missed. Let's see what our ten random selections are this time...
51
Some songs are forever linked in our heads to the point that if we hear one without the other things feel off. The album-opening pair of songs "1984" and "Jump" from Van Halen's 1984 album are one such coupling. While Top 40 radio played "Jump", our local rocker KLPX would more often than not play the instrumental intro before going into "Jump". Our favorite-sounding version of "1984"/"Jump" is on the target editions of the U.S. and Japanese 1984 compact disc. Both discs were pressed in Japan.
175
As we impatiently wait to audition the SDE exclusive of Into The Gap due out December 6, 2024, we can only imagine how good "Doctor! Doctor!" will sound in its many permutations. (We count 11 different versions/mixes/edits of the song among the disc's 56 tracks.) There is something about that song that never fails to get our attention. Sonically, we enjoy the quiet percussion, the memorable melody, and the clean production making "Doctor! Doctor!" our favorite track from the Into The Gap album. Currently, the best-sounding version of "Doctor! Doctor!" to our ears is the 4:34 album-length version on the 1993 German compilation Pop & Wave Vol. 3.
55
We saw Ratt twice in the brief prime of their career in 1984-1985. The first show was in October 1984 opening for Billy Squier. Ten months later they were headlining, with Bon Jovi opening for them. We're fans of Ratt's first two albums and two of the band's songs are on the 1984 Hideaway 200 countdown. The timely lyrics and aggressive rockin' riffery of "Lack Of Communication" make it the higher-ranked song at number 55. Our favorite-sounding master of "Lack Of Communication" is on the 1985 target West German pressing for the U.S. of Out Of The Cellar.
185
When she bought Break Out on cassette early in 1984 the first track was simply called "Jump" and none of the ten tracks were titled "I'm So Excited". By the time I picked up a vinyl copy of Break Out just before the fall 1984 semester, the opening track had been retitled "Jump (For My Love)" and "I'm So Excited" had been added to the tracklisting bumping the song "Nightline" off the album. One thing that remained constant was how good the song "Automatic" sounded when we played it. Our favorite-sounding version of "Automatic" is the Japan pressing for the U.S. compact disc of Break Out.
29
Like the rest of America, we fell for John Cougar and his America Fool album. We were still playing that album when she picked up the next Cougar tape between Thanksgiving and Christmas 1984. I was undergoing money issues and recently started working as an overnight stocker at Target so I wasn't buying many records then. One day while cruising home from class in her navy blue Camaro, "Play Guitar" came spilling out of the car's Alpine system and I turned it up as loud as it would go. I was hooked. Rewound the tape and played the song repeatedly. Found out later that the song originated with John's hairdresser but we still love it. The most kick-ass-sounding version is on the original West German pressing for the U.S. compact disc of Uh-Huh.
126
This funky new-to-us instrumental began coming out of the tiny speaker at work one night and I made a mental note to find out the title before we left for the night. Checked the tape and it said "Let It All Blow" was the title of the mostly instrumental track and Jukebox was the album's title. Managed to find two different used 12" singles of the song before finally grabbing the album in January 1985. Jukebox finally made its first appearance on compact disc in 2011 along with 1983's Joystick together on a single disc from Funkytowngrooves. It's one of three digital versions of the original album version of "Let It All Blow" we have and probably our favorite sounding.
59
We discovered the music of Los Lobos playing in a record store one day in 1983 and went home with their ...a time to dance EP. When we saw they had a new album coming out around Halloween 1984, we marked our calendar but money got a little tight so we had to wait until late January before we were able to add How Will The Wolf Survive? to our collection. We still think it is a great album full of wonderful songs like "A Matter Of Time". The best-sounding version of that song to our ears is on the early U.S. pressing of the How Will The Wolf Survive? compact disc.
49
After fronting Journey for five years, Steve Perry released a duet with labelmate Kenny Loggins entitled "Don't Fight It", featuring Neil Giraldo on guitar. A couple of years later, Perry released his first solo album Street Talk along with its lead single "Oh Sherrie" which was a big hit in our little world. The song sounds like a Journey song not only vocally but also musically although that's session ace Waddy Wachtel handling the guitar solo instead of Neal Schon. Of the two masterings of Street Talk here in the HERChives, we prefer the sound of the 1984 Japanese pressing.
62
Can't tell you when or where we first heard this song but we'd bet our last dollar buck that we loved "Wouldn't It Be Good" from that first time. It was fun, fresh, and hooky as all get out. Still is if you ask us. Our favorite-sounding version of the full album-length "Wouldn't It Be Good" is found on the Japan pressing for the UK Human Racing compact disc.
200
The song at the bottom of the 1984 Hideaway 200 is another Arthur Baker team reconstruction. The only difference this time around is Baker co-wrote and produced the original song as it appears on the band's self-titled album. "Run From The Shot (Dub Mix)" is the heavily edited dub mix of "Under The Gun", a stuttering cousin to the very similar Rolling Stones Team Baker collage epic "Too Much Blood". The 12" single has a FACE1 and a FACE2 instead of sides. DJPaulT's 2018 archival vinyl rip of FACE2 is our favorite-sounding version of the abrasive "Run From The Shot (Dub Mix)".
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Ten more tracks done with ten more tracks coming very soon. Home game players be sure to verify your cards with the ones below.
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