Donnell Butler's Top 888 Songs of the Eighties
Just the FAQs!
The Frequently Asked Questions
Donnell Butler's Top 888 Songs of the
Eighties - Year 2000 PDF Version
Donnell Butler's Top 888 Songs of the Eighties - Year
2000 HTML Version
1.) Who is Donnell Butler?
Donnell Butler is a Ph.D. candidate at Princeton University whose Internet site can be found at http://www.djbutler.org.
2.) What is Donnell Butler's Top 888 Songs of the Eighties?
This list is a compilation of my favorite songs of the 1980s. I was 6 when the 80s began and 17 when it ended. I remember the earliest songs of the eighties as vividly as tunes from the late eighties. I plan to recreate the list as my tastes change from time to time. Right now as I am writing this my current work in progress number one song is Morning Train (Nine to Five) by Sheena Easton. However, the non-beta year 2000 version on the web has Kiss on My List by Hall & Oates as number one.
The list is available in PDF or HTML format.
3.) What songs are eligible for the list?
Rule 1: The most important rule is that the song had to be a Billboard ranked Top 40 song. I did this to ensure that my list had wide appeal, and did not include too many songs that I personally love, which no one has ever heard of such as Canary in a Coalmine by the Police.
Rule 2: In addition, the song had to have reached its peak Billboard Hot 100 Singles chart position sometime after January 1, 1980 or before January 1, 1990. If it peaked before 1980 or didn't enter the Top 40 until after January 1, 1990, then it was not eligible.
You would be surprised how many good songs don't make the list based on these rules. For example, Rule 1 eliminates such notable songs of the 1980's as "Oh Yeah" (1985) by Yello off the Stella album, "Once in a Lifetime" (1980) by the Talking Heads off the Remain in the Light album. As well as, All You Zombies - Hooters, Blister in the Sun - Violent Femmes, Bizarre Love Triangle - New Order, or Suburbia - Pet Shop Boys, as well as, most rap, country, punk, metal and new wave songs. The biggest casualty of rule 2 is Escape (The Pina Colada Song) by Rupert Holmes, which peaked in 1979.
4.) How did you make the list?
The unofficial creation of the year 2000 list began in 1994 after a lunch conversation with my friend Jason and a phone conversation with another buddy Brett. It led to a top 100 list created in 1995, which was also introduced on my radio show.
The official creation of the year 2000 list began in 1998 after I quit E&Y and told my friend Brett that I would work on this list in my free time. The process was as follows. First, I wrote down every single 1980s song that I could remember. I used various archival directories by Joel Whitburn to supplement, jog my memory, and address inaccuracies. This resulted in a list of favorite 1980s songs, which numbered well over 900.
I began to rank each song from 1 to 10. Then, within the songs ranked at 10, I re-ranked each of those songs from 1-10, and then within each group those songs, I re-ranked again from 1-10. This process took over three years during my spare time.
5.) Is every Billboard number one song of the 1980s on your list?
Yes, can you guess which Billboard number one is the lowest ranked on my list? Here is a hint, it's below #700.
6.) Do you own all the songs on your list in your personal music collection?
Of course not, but I stopped counting after 200. I probably have well over 300 in my personal collection between CDs, tapes, and albums. But, I don't have any Milli Vanilli, those albums are collector's items and hard to come by.
7.) What qualifies you to make a list of your favorite songs?
Nothing. I'm a fan. I would like to consider myself a very knowledgeable fan. I own a rather extensive collection of songs. I was a radio disc jockey with a regular 1980s radio show (89.1 WFNM in Lancaster, Pennsylvania). And, I have been ranking songs since the early 1980s.
8.) My favorite song is not on your list?
Make sure it fits within the rules stated in FAQ 3. If it does, and you think I may have forgotten a song, then Email me. I'd be happy to reconsider and/or tell you why your favorite song is not in the Top 888 of my favorites.
9.) What song was 889?
Edge of Seventeen - Stevie Nicks. If you are big Stevie Nicks fan, then you will be happy to know that in next list, this song will be on it and ranked fairly high. It has made a rather large leap since the original list was produced. One friend, and 80s music listener, Steve Church noted that I had neglected Doctor! Doctor! by the Thompson Twins, and I had. This will be rectified in the next published list.
10.) Why and when did Donnell Butler start personally ranking songs?
As a latchkey kid, I often found myself after school going through my stepfather's soul music of Earth, Wind & Fire and Ohio Players, and jazz/classical stylings of Herb Alpert and the Salsoul Orchestra. I was also influenced my mother's more disco/rock oriented music of Rod Stewart and Gloria Gaynor. I quickly fell in love with music; it became my companion, my friend.
On Christmas of 1981, I received my own little Sears radio/tape recorder. I loved music and this was and probably always will be my favorite gift of all time. I was living in Germany, and I could only get one radio station (Armed Forces Radio). One night while listening, I heard a song that turned my love of music into a passion:
"What I want, you've got
And it might be hard to handle
But like the flame that burns the candle
The candle feeds the flame"
With those words, melody, and background track, I immediately declared this song, You Make My Dreams by Hall & Oates, to be my favorite song of all-time. This was a big turning point, because before that I never chose favorites with music having been raised listening to so many diverse styles of artists. Every song after that first song, received a relational ranking in my own mind.
Soon after, I begin to hear these weekly countdown shows with Casey Casem and Rick Dees, and I thought I could do this better than them. So, I started making my own Top 10 favorite song lists every week. I spent a lot of time wondering why my favorite songs weren't always in the Top 10. It took me a while to figure out that those rankings are based on a composite system of radio airplay and record sales. I just thought, as I still do today, that most people have suspect taste when it comes to popular music. Leave it to me to think I know popular better than the populace.
11.) Who did this song?
Before asking me, who sang this song or that song, start with the Google search engine. Type in some lyrics in quotations and see what pops up. If that doesn't work you can email me, but my response time to such questions isn't very good. So, if you have a bet or are in a hurry, I would call a local radio station that plays 80s music.
12.) When will the next list be published and will there be any major changes?
I don't know when I will publish the updated list. When I do, I will keep the old rank as well, so people can see who gained and who fell. And, there may be some major changes. My work in progress list currently has Billy Joel and Human League moving in to the top 10. And, there will even be a huge drop (from the top 50 to below 200) for a song by my favorite group of all-time, Hall & Oates. So, stay tuned.
13.) Is it true that you use 80s music as a barrier to dating women?
Yes, but only American women. I have a rule, from which women born or raised
outside of the United States are exempt. The rule is, I will not date an American
woman who can't tell me the popular song 1980s hit by the band Men at Work.
Frankly the way I see it, if she doesn't have any recollection of Men at Work,
then she is probably either too young or too stiff. So, if you think I'm cute,
then you ought to just quickly find out who Men at Work is.
14.) So, where is the list?
Donnell Butler's Top 888 Songs of the Eighties - Year
2000 PDF Version
Donnell Butler's Top 888 Songs of the Eighties - Year
2000 HTML Version
Keywords: Eighties music, '80's music, 1980s music, 1980's music, '80s music
Last Updated on 9/7/01
By Donnell Butler