Today's AT40...

...is November 15th, 1986, just through the first half of my Junior Year.  And not a bad one, I think. Yes, I spent most of this time getting into blues-rock with Clapton and the Doors (my dad's vinyl, of course), but there were still some goodies coming out with Rock outwriting the Pop-Dance scene (something that by late '87 would have changed considerably).

My social calendar got a little more full earlier in the year, my first year in marching band.  Band-wise, it was our 2nd year with Markham, and our first with Kristi Thomas (still in Fairfax County Schools, btw) in Concert 3.  My descent into the depths of hell that was American Lit hadn't quite started yet.  Psych class was excellent.  And then there's of course, the Wrath of Keim we had to deal with...

Last week's top 3 were True Colors, I Didn't Mean to Turn You On, and Boston's Amanda, none of which were actually played so the songs today are long or he's got lots of extras to go through.  It looks like this might be one I did last year, but didn't have the time to actually comment much on, so things will be different today.

( 40-30 )

( 29-20 )

( 19-11 )

And into the top ten of mid-November, 1986...

10. Cindy Lauper's True Colors drops like a rock from 3 to 10.
9. Oran "Juice" Jones with The Rain.  I only have vary vague memories of this, and hearing it again now, it doesn't surprise me.  The talking section sounds like it inspired the silliness of Weird Al's recent Confessions pt 3.
   
   Hah - DC's Q-107 (now entirely dedicated to Adult Contemporary) got the "great radio stations" list!  (WAVA was a Rick Dees station at the time).
   
   
8. Peter Cetera and Amy Grant with Next Time I Fall
   
7. Cameo's Word Up.  Comes up a lot in the '86/'87 countdowns, and I hate it...ick ick ick.
   
6. Late and lamented sharp dresser, Robert Palmer, with I Didn't Mean to Turn You On, also dropping from its top-3 spot the previous week.  Quite the shuffle considering some weeks the top three is unchanged.
   
5. Bon Jovi's You Give Love a Bad Name, the first of 3 huge hits from SlimeySlippery When Wet, comes up.  This was certainly at the time the most unavoidable song on the airwaves and MTV.
   
4. Eddie Money with Ronnie Spector peak with Take Me Home Tonite.  As I've written before with this song, why do video directors insist that some people fake-play instruments they have no idea how to play (in this case, Eddie with the saxophone)?
   
3. Madonna's True Blue, of the MTV video contest that nobody remembers anymore...including VH-1 Classic which runs the European video instead.
   
2. The Human League's ballad, Human (so this isn't the same week as the one last year)
   
   And staying at number 1...
   
1. Boston's Amanda