I hope you got your running shoes on.  Songs tend to conjure up different images, and this next song in this 1983 countdown is going to make you want to run in place really fast.  It is the second of two songs spawned from a movie that have managed to stay atop on their own, and it is just a really good song as well.  The song is instantly recognizable and fun.  Coming in at #9 is Maniac by Michael Sembello.

The next entry in this countdown is our 2nd entry from Ms. Jackson and arguably her biggest hit from this album.  If you listen to similar songs before and after this, you realize how much this song actually changed the game for R&B.  The production of such songs were never the same and seemed to follow production path of this track.  And also, my wife and I just love the tune.  At #9 it’s That’s The Way Love Goes by Janet Jackson.

We begin the top 10 of the best songs released in 1993 with (as indicated in my other countdown) a song I had to discover again in my searches before finishing up this list.  I recall it being a big club hit growing up, and you still hear it play at sporting events too, enough to where it had to make its way in this countdown.  And it stops at #10, it’s Another Night by Real McCoy.

We’ve reached the top 10 of what was an incredibly tough year of choices, and our next entry shows just why it was (this could have been #1 another year).  Starting at the bottom of the top half is the first of two songs that belonged to a movie and have since stood atop on their own.  A list of most recognizable 80s songs would almost certanly have this one, and it enters in at #10 in the top 20 1983 songs countdown.  It’s Flashdance (What a Feeling) by Irene Cara.

As I do these countdowns, I always try to comb back over tracks that I might have missed, and this is one of 2 songs I could not believe I initially missed.  I mean, this song remains a major summer anthem, and once you hear that classic marimba you know what it is.  A perfect song for those heatwave days, I reiterate – I can’t believe I almost forgot this song.  Wrapping up the bottom half of the top 20 songs turning 40 years old countdown, coming in at #11, it’s Cruel Summer by Bananarama.

We reach the halfway point with another potentially controversial entry.  Still, I would argue that this song continues to get a lot of airplay, and the lyrical content fits what a lot of us aspiring musicians and rock stars have gone through and what we all ultimately (if not secretly) want.  It’s also the band’s biggest song, and wraps up the bottom half of the 1993 countdown at #11.  It’s Mr. Jones by Counting Crows.