Hello! Welcome back to 80s countdown top 5 recap. Every week SiriusXM’s 80s on 8 channel broadcasts a countdown from the “decade of excess” hosted by the original MTV VJs. (Remember music videos?)
The week’s 80’s topic is based on one of my favorite groups and how they changed ballads in the 80’s. Every week, it’s a different year or topic and I will be providing fun feedback about the song and trivia tidbits about songs that I recap. We’re calling it Nick’s Mix as a nod to the mixtapes we all made back in the day.
Happy New Year 2025!! Welcome to a new year. So a little programming note. At the end of last week’s 80s Countdown, it was announced that this week’s show would be for 1983. That struck me as weird since they’d just done 1983 three weeks earlier. When this week’s show kicked off, they actually chose to do the chart from 1980.
For a little something different, I am going to do a deep dive into the ballads of one of my favorite bands: Air Supply.
First, a fun fact: the last Top 40 single by Air Supply group was 1985’s “Just as I Am”. It reached #15.
Without further ado, let’s discuss my five favorite songs from them. I can’t take credit for the, “Shhhhhhh! Air Supply is on.” That is all our leader, Dan. And remember: Dan has started building a community here on his new web site. Please check it out!
Number Five: Are the nights better?
“Even The Nights Are Better”. This is one of the few upbeat ballads by Air Supply. It was one of the eight Top 5 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 that they’ve had in their career. It’s pretty remarkable for any artist to get eight Top 10 hits that all hit the top 5!
“Even The Nights Are Better” reached #5 on the Hot 100 and #1 on the Adult Contemporary charts!
FUN FACT: Air Supply is not a duo, even though just two of the singers are the leads. They are considered a band.
Number four: Which one hit #1?
One of the great things about Air Supply is the face you can crank up all the songs and sing from the top of your lungs!
FUN FACT: “The One That You Love” was their ONLY #1 single on the Billboard charts. Keep reading to see my number one song and why I think this was their only chart topper.
Number Three: Are all dreams sweet?
“Sweet Dreams”
The beginning of this song is short, but cool. This song reached #5. Russell has the pipes.
FUN FACT: Russell and Graham share vocals on this.
Number Two: Here I am, really.
“Here I Am” is a top-of-the-lungs song! This song also topped out at number five. I like this song better than “All Out of Love”. It’s better to sing to and it has a subtitle!
FUN FACT: It is subtitled “Just when I thought I was over you”
… and the number one song I love by Air Supply is:
I can’t just give you the song. There are rules! So, here are the hints: It is written by uberwriter John Steinman. It was number two for three weeks and kept out of the top spot by another John Steinman hit — Bonnie Tyler’s “Total Eclipse of the Heart.”
DRUMROLL PLEASE
If you guessed “Making Love Out of Nothing at All” you got it right!
I can’t tell you how much I love this song. The lyrics are really cheesy; however, I crank it up at home and in the car. It truly is an amazing song. Check out the ending of the song too, still great!
FUN FACT: Bonnie Tyler has a version of this song that you can see on YouTube. Check it out. Here version contains some lyrics not in the Air Supply version:
I can make you find your power
I can make you lose your fear
I can make your body do some very magical things
I’ll make your inhibitions all disappear
I can make tonight forever
Until the next record spins
Thanks for learning and reading about songs from the Ballad kings. Happy New Year to you all. If you get the chance, look up “Two Less Lonely People in the World” and “All Out of Love.” Great songs, that I did not rank!
If you are on Twitter/X, be sure to join our live tweets every Friday night at 9pm Eastern/6pm Pacific using the hashtag #80sCountdown to be part of the fun! For the 80’s countdown it will be back to the countdown with the year TBD.
Nick
Thanks for the fun reminder of Air Supply! One of my guiltiest pleasures back in the day, and you reminded me of how much I love their songs! I only knew one other person in college in the 80’s who liked them (or who admitted to liking them). He was a cis Latino guy and I loved that he loved Air Supply! We even traveled across the Bay Area to see them in concert together. Such fun memories. (My favorite: All Out of Love- but I love them all, and belting them out in my car!)