Stars on 45

I recently visited a new half price store in Cedar Rapids. It sells new/used books, videos, DVDs and music. It's a place where you can take your old stuff, aka "classics," in to sell (presumably for some meager pittance) and they will resell.

They have thousands of old vinyl 78's (that's "records" for you young 'uns.) And sitting in a corner, they have a couple of boxes of 45's. Recall, 45's are single songs, and were in production up through 1990 or so.

I've got a couple hundred 45's at my house that I bought for a quarter apiece during the 80's. Ah, memories. Listening to them now, I realize that most records in the 80's were about one thing: sex. Guess I didn't think about it that way at the time, but I think about it now when my kids want me to drag out the recod player and spin a few "oldies."

Like every generation, somewhere along the way my musical tastes changed and I no longer shop for music that would be on today's top 40 stations. Truth be told, I don't even know what stations in town play top 40. Is there even a top 40 tracking device?

But I still like some of my 80s records. Remember these classics?

• "Always Something there to Remind Me" -- Naked Eyes: A sad tale about a guy who has broken up with his love, and now he "walks the streets you used to walk along with me. And every step I take reminds me of just how it used to be ..." A tear-jerker.
• "Mickey" -- Toni Basil: "Oh Mickey what a pity you don't understand. You take me by the heart when you take me by the hand." Oh, yeah.
• "Hip to be Square" -- Huey Lewis and the News: This was my favorite 80s group, and this record is all about me.
• "We're not Gonna Take It" -- Twisted Sister: The one song this group released that was clean enough to be played on the radio, and thus, their only hit. All about opression from the establishment, man (i.e. teachers, parents, any authority figure).
• "Uptown Girl" -- Billy Joel: My favorite Joel song, probably because Christy Brinkley was his wife at the time, and she appeared in the video. You 30-something guys know of what I say.
• "Don't try to Live Your Life in One Day" -- Howard Jones: Still good advice.
• "King for a Day" -- Thompson Twins: "If I were king for just one day, I would give it all away. You know that love is all we need to get us through." The Thompson Twins need to hook up with Naked Eyes.

There are a whole bunch more. I'll post a few more down the road.