The Mecca 100 - #65-61

[littlebeast13]

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#65. "Cool Places" - Sparks with Jane Wiedlin (1983)

Sparks is a US brother duo band who found their biggest success across the Atlantic in the mid 70's. They did achieve some minor success in the early 80's in the States, but never quite cracked the Billboard Top 40. This song, done in collaboration with Go Go's guitarist Jane Wiedlin, came closest by peaking at #49. This is one of the songs that got caught in the hour and a half loop that played over and over again for weeks in late 2015 at work, and honestly I don't think I've ever heard it outside of then on Mecca Radio. This video shows you just how goofy of a band Sparks was, particularly keyboardist Ron Mael who is as eccentric as he is creepy...





#64. "Go Go Go Go" - Jeff James featuring Daville (2014)

Jeff James, who also goes by the stage name Jeffro, is our second Hawaiian musician in the countdown, born from an African-Canadian father and a Mexican-American mother, and who made a name for himself first in the Philippines for singing songs in Tagalog. This island party anthem made the final Mecca CD and became a pleasant earworm..





#63. "Glow of Love" - Change (1980)

While "Glow of Love" was a huge dance club hit in the waning days of disco, it failed to reach the Billboard Hot 100. It was played frequently on Mecca Radio in the very late evenings circa 2009 and caught my ear as a rather interesting tune. If I told you the group was formed by record producers in Italy, you'd probably never guess that the lead singer was none other than a then-unknown Luther Vandross. Yep, that's him... just listen!





#62. "Geronimo" - Sheppard (2014)

A big hit in many other parts of the world, including #1 in their homeland, this song by the Australian band Sheppard only hit #53 here. But it got its fair share of airplay on Mecca Radio in the post-CD era around 2016-17 or so. Drums! This is almost like a Bastille or Imagine Dragons song...





#61. "I Want Love" - Elton John (2001)

From 1970 to 2000, that's thirty-one years, the legendary Elton John charted a song on the US Billboard Hot 100 EVERY. SINGLE. YEAR. This was the song that broke that streak, only reaching ten spots outside of the Hot 100, and that's a crying shame. I tend to not like slow songs, but there's something about this one that I just love. The music video features actor Robert Downey, Jr. lip synching the song in a single uncut take as he walks through the Greystone Mansion in Beverly Hills. This got played from time to time on Mecca Radio in the early 2010's...




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