Favorite Songs of 1988

Two albums in 1988 produced several good songs: Now and Zen by Robert Plant and Rattle and Hum by U2. Plant's extremely Led Zeppelin-like Tall Cool One got everyone talking (unsuccessfully) about a reunion of the survivors of that great band. Desire (with the Bo Diddley beat) and Bullet the Blue Sky (a searing musical etching of the American landscape) were more hard-flavored hits that U2 scored with in 1988. Van Halen, with their "new" singer Sammy Hagar, also had two hits I liked in Feels So Good and Finish What Ya Started. My all-time favorite John Mellencamp tune came out this year with his wistful Check It Out. Terence Trent D'Arby sang his brooding, romantic Sign Your Name. Ex-Go-Go's Belinda Carlisle's best solo work to me was her 1988 Circle in the Sand. Bobby McFerrin had his pop moment of glory (before moving on to other achievements) with his upbeat, iconic Don't Worry Be Happy. My favorite Michael Jackson post-Thriller song was his monument to conscience, Man In the Mirror. INXS tore up the airwaves with their rousing New Sensation and the loud romantic ballad Never Tear Us Apart (both with excellent accompanying videos). George Harrison's track This is Love, off his comeback Cloud Nine album, was my favorite of his since his You in 1976. Edie Brickell and New Bohemians brought back memories of the Greenwich Village scene with their kooky What I Am. My second and third favorite Bruce Springsteen songs (after the later Streets of Philadelphia) were Tunnel of Love and One Step Up, respectively. Guns and Roses had their signature "we're the rowdiest of the rowdiest" hit in Welcome to the Jungle (with an apparently heavy influence from Led Zeppelin's Whole Lotta Love). The Escape Club looked ahead to the '90's with their catchy dance hit The Wild Wild West. My #2 favorite song from 1988 (as I lived it) was the incomparable Tracy Chapman's gut-wrenching tale of a young woman's hopes and ultimate disillusionment, Fast Car. And my favorite of that year was the unlikely collaboration between the Pet Shop Boys and the great, late Dusty Springfield to produce their masterpiece What Have I Done to Deserve This.