This is a subject that I have commented about many times at one point or another on this board, but I believe this makes my first time introducing a new topic specifically about all those minor hits from the early '80s that were reissued during the re-release craze of 1988-1989. You know the ones, "Red Red Wine" (UB40), "When I'm With You" (Sheriff), "Into the Night" (Benny Mardones), "Where Are You Now?" (Jimmy Harnen/Synch), "Send Me An Angel" ('89) (Real Life) and "What About Me?" (Moving Pictures). I'm sure there were others, and feel free to fill me in if I forgot one. I was aware that all these tunes received their "second wind"s when they were reactivated by some radio station in Phoenix. What I really wanted to know was why? What did they do that was so "outside the box"? And why did all the other stations follow along like lemmings? Why didn't other stations try something like this? Did other (competing) stations in or near Phoenix also pick up these songs after they "went national" for the second time? And why were most of these resurrected one at a time (as if they were all singles from the same album)? Multiple reissues didn't start showing up on the charts simultaneously until summer 1989, which was near the end of the craze, and that may well have been what finally killed it. (Either that, or it was the reissue of "What About Me?" which was too lame to have been given a second chance, and didn't even do as well the second time.)
I remember reading in Billboard back about that time (late '80s) that the reason why most of these records weren't bigger hits the first time around is that most of them did not have music videos, which was the "kiss of death" back in the 1982-1983-1984 time frame when most of these records first appeared. But I think it went a little deeper than that. I believe the vast majority of them were simply crushed by the Michael Jackson Thriller juggernaut which dominated the radio airwaves in 1983. Take that away, and I believe most of them, at least those that were originally released around 1983, would have made a better showing the first time.
