The year 1984 stands as one of the most monumental years in the history of pop songs. Some of the biggest acts of all time released incredible albums, and artists of every stripe came forth with incredible singles. With all of that going on, it’s understandable if you lived through that era and may have forgotten about these excellent tracks that went all the way to the US Top 10 that fateful year. And if you didn’t live through it the first time, we’re here to tell you to check out these gems for the first time.
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“I Can Dream About You” by Dan Hartman
Wild story with this song, which still holds up well as a smooth bit of neo-soul. Dan Hartman originally wrote it for Hall & Oates to record. But they didn’t have room for it. (Decades later, the duo would do a cover version of the song.) Hartman then handed it off to the producers of the 1984 film Streets Of Fire, knowing that they needed a song for a Motown-style vocal group to perform in the movie. Hartman’s vocals weren’t used in the movie, and neither were the voices of the actors in the scene featuring the song. Instead, a vocal fill-in named Winston Ford handled the chores for the movie. But Hartman was granted the opportunity to do the singing on the single that was released. “I Can Dream About You” gave him the biggest hit of his career by a wide margin.
“Blue Jean” by David Bowie
David Bowie consciously sought to be a huge pop star in the 80s, courting the kind of sounds that would play well on Top 40 radio. It worked like a charm on his 1983 album Let’s Dance, which spun off some huge singles and brought a younger generation to his audience. Wanting to catch the wave of that momentum, he hustled out the album Tonight just a year later. Failing to capture the magic of Let’s Dance, it received some of the weakest reviews of his career. Even Bowie himself quickly put down the record as subpar. And yet, even in the middle of that, “Blue Jean” shines. The saxophone-laced number benefits from a soaring chorus and some effortlessly seductive Bowie vocals.
“Valotte” by Julian Lennon
This song doesn’t get as much airplay these days as “Too Late For Goodbyes”, which also turned out to be a big hit from Julian Lennon’s debut album. In fact, “Too Late For Goodbyes” was chosen as the debut single in the UK, while “Valotte” received that honor in the US. For that reason, the song was the first that most American fans had ever heard of Lennon. And he made a striking impression with this ballad. Although the music relies on sweeping orchestration, the lyrics are much more subtle. Many folks immediately compared it to “Imagine”, the hallowed slow song by Julian’s father John. But “Valotte” holds up quite well today without any of those connections, a bittersweet song of love and loss that heralded an excellent new talent.
“Desert Moon” by Dennis DeYoung
Because of how it was subsequently denigrated by certain members of Styx, many people might assume that Kilroy Was Here, the band’s 1983 album, was a flop. In truth, it did quite well, making it to the Top 5 in the album charts and delivering the band two more Top 10 singles. Nonetheless, Tommy Shaw, Styx’s guitarist, wasn’t crazy about the direction it was taking them. He left after the tour for the album was over. That gave Dennis DeYoung, who had put together the Kilroy concept, time for a solo record. And he immediately scored with a beautiful ballad that he had originally written to be a Styx song. “Desert Moon” stuck out in the best way amidst the forward-looking songs of 1984 with its focus on sweet nostalgia.
Photo by Hulton Archive / Getty Images
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