Looking Back: February 1987

February 1987 brought one of the year's biggest hits, Bon Jovi's "Livin' on a Prayer," the band's second single from their breakthough album Slippery When Wet, and their and second and ultimately biggest #1 hit, spending 4 weeks at the top. Listening to this song now, it sounds so dated, with rock music going through some big changes in the '90s, largely influenced by grunge pioneers like Nirvana. The "wow wow" sound effect is particularly interesting.

Madonna's fourth True Blue single, "Open Your Heart," became her fifth #1 hit in February, and came packaged with one of her most provocative '80s videos, which followed an adolescent boy lusting for a peepshow stripper. Madonna of course played the stripper, entertaining club patrons first before dancing away into the night with the boy.

My favorite discovery of revisiting February 1987 is Cyndi Lauper's "Change of Heart." I'd never heard this song before, and It's pretty cool. I love the hard drumming and prominent bass keyboards. The song was the follow-up to her 1986 #1 hit "True Colors." She would have only one more top 10 single.

Not much else of interest from the month. Chicago had an Air Supply-sounding ballad, "Will You Still Lvoe Me," Southern rockers Georgia Satellites hit #2 with "Keep Your Hands to Yourself," and Samantha Fox tried to raise heart rates with her dated dance pop "Touch Me (I Want Your Body)"