“Heaven Is A Place On Earth” was a standout among the tons of great songs that arrived as 1987 was coming to a close. It’s an irresistible slice of pop/rock cheese. By this time, Belinda Carlisle had shed any lingering remnants of her punk-rock past and was a full-on California pop diva.

With that said, the one thing that sticks in my head most these days when I play “Heaven Is A Place On Earth” is the fact that-musically, not lyrically- it’s pretty much a note-for-note rewrite of Bon Jovi’s “Livin’ On A Prayer” down to the key change in the last chorus. Seriously. Sing “Prayer”‘s lyrics over “Heaven”‘s music or vice versa. Same damn song. It’s pretty ballsy (or at least was-to some degree-in the ’80s) to rip off a song that was still fairly current, but Carlisle and producer Rick Nowels somehow pulled it off.