88: Jane Wiedlin, "Rush Hour"

By Wm. on July 19, 2025

This weekend marks the eighth anniversary of posting here at The Music of My Life. To denote the occasion, we're taking a look at the two Premiere AT40s on offer; it's fortunate I don't have to stretch too hard to make it a thematic celebration. Today, it's the 80s show, from '88 (see?). We'll dig deeper into the past with the 70s show tomorrow.

The festivities begin with eight observations from the 7/23/88 AT40:

1) This is the penultimate time that Casey played host in his first run at the helm of AT40; Shadoe Stevens would take over the mic after the 8/6/88 show. (The 7/30/88 show was guest-hosted by Daryl Hall & John Oates. I've read in several places over at the AT40 Fun & Games site that H&O gave at best a perfunctory effort during recording. Maybe I'll hear a piece of it someday.)

2) Casey kicks things off by telling us that Corey Hart is on the Top 40 for the eighth time with "In Your Soul" (#40). I like it but can't say I remember hearing it at the time. As it happens, one other male solo artist is enjoying his 8th AT40 hit (though maybe that's with an asterisk, as he also led a group that had several hit records); he shows up below in #7.

3) Trivia question: who's the only act that appeared on both the 7/11/70 and 8/6/88 shows, the bookends of the "Classic Casey" era? Answer: the Moody Blues, debuting here with "I Know You're Out There Somewhere" (#38). They were at #27 on the first show with "Question."

(Michael Jackson is also on both shows, though as part of the Jackson 5 in 1970, of course.)

4) Before playing "I Should Be So Lucky" (#37), Casey tells about 20-year-old Kylie Minogue winning the Australian equivalent of a Best Actress Emmy for her role on the soap opera Neighbours. This is a song I do recall hearing/seeing in real time, on MTV or VH-1. Listening again now, it's obvious that it's a Stock Aitken Waterman joint, a cross between Donna Summer's 1989 comeback tune "This Time I Know It's for Real"and your choice of Rick Astley's first two hits. It's fluff enough, though very catchy fluff--today I'm enjoying the song's key signature machinations. A massive hit pretty much all over the globe except for here in the U.S.

5) The duo Climie Fisher is enjoying their only U.S. Top 40 appearance with "Love Changes (Everything)" (#24), but it's far from the only chart success its members experienced. Simon Climie already had co-write credits for "Invincible" and "I Knew You Were Waiting (for Me)," while the late Rob Fisher had been the keyboard whiz for Naked Eyes earlier in the decade.

6) There are not one, not two, but three songs on this show that share titles (but not melodies or lyrics) with previous Top 40 hits. Taylor Dayne's slowing things down with "I'll Always Love You" (#39), which was also the name of a #35 hit by the Spinners in 1965. Aerosmith was continuing their late 80s comeback with "Rag Doll" (#28), the title of a chart-topper for the Four Seasons in 1964. And Gloria Estefan & the Miami Sound Machine were scoring with "1-2-3" (#11), which in another incarnation was a #2 smash for Len Barry in 1965. (Gloria & the MSM would reach #3, so both songs peaked at a number mentioned in that title.)

7) Over the last 2-3 years I've really come around on Eric Carmen's "Make Me Lose Control" (#7). I see now how it's an homage to some of the hits of Carmen's youth (name-checking "Stand By Me" and "Be My Baby" among others, a Drifters feel to the beat). And don't I hear a nod to his own Raspberries' tune "Overnight Sensation (Hit Record)" in the a cappella chorus/drum fill toward the end?

8) Backing up just a bit, our featured song is one of the very last 45s I purchased as a current hit (maybe the next-to-last--off the top of my head the only later single I can think of is "Waiting for a Star to Fall").

Jane Wiedlin, the cutest, most charming Go-Go, try as she might had only this one Top 40 hit, "Rush Hour" (#10, about to peak one spot higher). Casey tells us on the intro that Wiedlin chose to focus on the "rush" portion of the title when coming up with a concept for the video--"what could be more of a rush than swimming with dolphins?" she asked. The song never fails to put me in a good mood--you got me, Jane.

Bonus content! A couple of years ago, friend Mark over at The CD Project and I butted heads over the songs on the 7/30/88 show. In keeping with the theme, here is a mini-We Just Disagree, our respective top eights:

Only two songs in common this high, though we each have four of the other's missing six in our own Top 20s. If I had a re-do, I might just put "Make Me Lose Control" at #5, though.