#61 of VJ Samsonite's Top 100 80's Dance Hits Countdown!: "Come Go With Me" by Exposé (1987)

Back to the 80's Countdown, and at number 61 is.....Come Go With Me, by American pop band/vocal group Exposé. Exposé formed originally in 1984, coming out of Miami, Florida and members were Sandra Casañas (1984–1986), Alejandra Lorenzo (1984–1986), Laurie Miller (1984–1986), who were later replaced by 3 new and current vocalists Ann Curless, Jeanette Jurado, and Gioia Bruno. Their debut album, titled Exposure, had 4 top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100, and in fact they were the first group to achieve this with a debut album. An interesting tidbit from wikipedia states that the original 3 singers of Exposé were replaced just before the recording of groups big album Exposure, as the record company felt that the original 3 vocalists lacked "star potential," despite the fact that the original 3 had produced their single Point of No Return, which was later recorded with the new vocalists and re-released in 1987 to reach #5 on the Billboard Hot 100. Come Go with Me, which is #61 on this countdown, was led by vocalist Jeanette Jurado, and was the first official song by the group to reach the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and it also peaked at #5, and the 12" single release also reached #2 on the Billboard Hot Dance Singles Sales chart. It appeared on that same album, which was released in February of 1987. Well, enough trivia, on with the dancing!

#62 of VJ Samsonite's Top 100 80's Dance Hits Countdown!: Wake Me Up Before You Go Go (1984), by Wham!

We are back again, to the 80's of course, and #62 of the countdown is none other than the stellar 80's pop-hit Wake Me Up Before You Go Go by English new-wave-pop duo Wham! Wham! was originally formed in 1981 by George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley, and according to wikipedia there was a conflict of band-names in the beginning, and so they were originally known as Wham! UK, but was later just changed back to Wham! as they were madly more successful than the other band of the same name in the USA. Wham! sold over 25 million certified albums worldwide between the years of 1982-1986, and the duo split and went their separate ways in 1986 as well (at which time George Michael began his solo career). Wikipedia states that George Michael was the composer, singer, producer, and occasional instrumentalist of the duo, whilst Ridgeley was more the businessman. An interesting wikipedia direct quote about the duo is as follows:

"Still teenagers, they promoted themselves as hedonistic youngsters, proud to live a carefree life without work or commitment. This was reflected in their earliest singles which, part-parody, part-social comment, briefly earned Wham! a reputation as a dance protest group."

"Wake Me Up Before You Go Go" was appeared as the first track off of their October 1984 release album titled "Make It Big," which would become their first #1 UK Chart hit. Once again, according to their wikipedia page, the song was inspired by a note written by Andrew Ridgeley to his parents that read "Wake Me Up Before You Go" but with the word "up" accidentally written twice, so Ridgeley then wrote "go" twice, one of those divine accidents that leads to the creation of an all time classic 80's pop-song. This song was obviously quite well known, and very fitting for it's very title as being "definitively 80's" and it regained popularity amongst a much younger generation (many who seem to have the false idea that the song was new in 2001) with its appearance in the 2001 Ben Stiller comedy film "Zoolander." On to the next!

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