I had two very worthy candidates for yesterday’s Friday Flashback, though events beyond my control conspired against me to cover either earlier in the day (travel, weather delays, and broken Boingo Wireless at O’Hare). Finally arriving in San Francisco after a 10-hour trek, I chose to post the more timely of the two, since The Posies are live in Chicago later today.

And yet I didn’t really want to wait another week to share this delicious slice of ’80s cheese. Tipped off by a friend of mine (kudos, Rich), a fellow named Ryan Kelly has created a pretty thorough review of sax solos in songs from the decade of excess. From Billy Joel’s “It’s Still Rock And Roll To Me” to Billy Ocean’s “Get Outta My Dreams, Get Into My Car,” Kelly assigns each sax appearance several icons, representing positive or negative attributes, plus an overall grade.

And boy, were we subjected to some horrible sax abuse in the Eighties! Even sax careerist Clarence Clemons (longtime member of Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band) doesn’t escape unscathed. The Big Man receives a “C” for his 1985 pairing with Jackson Browne, “You’re A Friend Of Mine.” At least it matches his initials:

“You’re A Friend Of Mine” peaked at #18 on the Billboard Hot 100 on January 18, 1986, and regrettably, you can count me among those who helped propel it that high. (I was young and didn’t know better.) The video, starring actress Darryl Hannah (who was in a long-term relationship with Browne at the time, and also provided backing vocals), matches the song’s mediocrity:

Check out Ryan Kelly’s complete list of sax offenders (originally posted in 2005). You’ll notice that only one of the selected solos, from OMD’s brilliant “If You Leave” (released just a year after the Clemons/Browne debacle), scores an “A.”