"Making Love"

I turned 13 years old at the end of November in 1979. 30 days later, when 1980 rolled around, I had settled in nicely to the role of a teenager.

My days were spent hanging out with friends and doodling our latest crush's name on our notebooks as rock and roll from Survivor, 38 Special, Cinderella, Styx, and Foreigner screamed through our jam boxes at decibels high enough to crack windows.

Nights were filled with the telephone receiver propped on one shoulder sometimes long after I was supposed to be in bed, whispering my undying love to that crush, or crying to my best friend because my heart had been broken and I didn't think life could go on.

But I wasn't alone. There to understand my pain, and sympathize with my plight were the men and women responsible for the ballads. You can't think of 80's music without remembering the likes of Journey, Lionel Richie, Billy Ocean, Debbie Gibson, and REO Speedwagon.

But they aren't the groups that impacted this small town southern girl the most. See, I don't believe there is a single memory of my teenage years that doesn't include Graham Russell and Russell Hitchcock also known as Air Supply.

Starting in 1976 these two Australian born tenors released hit after hit, an album every year from then until 1987. The phenomena started however in 1980 with the "Lost in Love" album. It was followed in 81 with "The One that You Love" and in 1982 with "Now and Forever". It was in 1983 that they released two back to back compilations of greatest hits.

The second release made a huge impact on me. More than 30 years later, I can still recall the words and tune to every single song on "Making Love out of Nothing At All". I didn't ask, but I bet my mother could too, as many times as she had to have heard that cassette tape over and over again!

Those of us raised in the 80's will agree that "Makin Love" was a make-out album. It's what you threw on the stereo, as you cuddled with that special guy or girl, stealing kisses when you didn't think anyone was looking, or when you didn't care. The title cut went to #1 with lyrics like "The beating of my heart is a drum and it's lost And it's looking for a rhythm like you"

Wow! Did those really work on a girl? Umm... can I plead the 5th here?

The album also included the title cuts to "Lost in Love" and "Now and Forever" as well as songs from those albums such as "Even the Nights are Better" and "All out of Love" and my personal all time favorite Air Supply Song.

The ballad is called "Here I Am" and it's all about trying to pick up and move on, but never quite getting there and finally admitting that nothing is right without the other person. It is the song that my (now) husband played for me the night that he proposed. His admission that he couldn't go on without me melted my heart. We just celebrated 22 years of marriage and I love him today more than ever. So would life without Air Supply in the 1980's have changed my world? You better believe it.

"Making Love out of Nothing At All" playlist
1. Lost in Love
2. Even the Nights are Better
3. The One That you Love
4. Every Woman in the World
5. Two Less Lonely People in the World
6. Chances
7. Making Love out of Nothing at All
8. All out of Love
9. Here I am (Just When I thought I was over You)
10. Sweet Dreams
11. Keeping the Love Alive
12. Now and Forever