Before we return to '83, lets make a detour back to March 16, 1974. Terry Jacks was on top with the depressing-in-every-way-imaginacble "Seasons in the Sun." Other highlights of the Top Ten included "Dark Lady," "Jungle Boogie," "Rock On," and "Jet." And below...
...The first of the newbies shows up at #21, The Spinners mighty "Mighty Love, Part I." Mighty fine. Mighty...At #22, Anne Murray wants to show you "the peaceful feeling of my home" with the comforting "A Love Song"...Charlie Rich continued his run of hits with a song that was recorded several years earlier, the soul-tinged kiss-off "There Won't Be Anymore," found this week at #23...Yes, Stealers Wheel had a non-"Stuck in the Middle with You" American hit, and it was this week's #31, the "success isn't everything" tale "Star"...Dickie Goodman is at #35 with one of his "break-in" records. On "Energy Crisis '74," he uses hits by, among others, Helen Reddy, Stevie Wonder and three of the four Beatles to "interview" members of the Nixon Administration about the consequences of the then-current Arab oil embargo. Okay, but no "Mr. Jaws"..At #36. Johnnie Taylor worries that his illicit love affair is in danger of becoming public on his decent entry in the "adultery soul" genre, "We're Getting Careless with Our Love"...Jim Croce had his final Top Ten with the posthumously released ballad, "I'll Have to Say I Love You in a Song," this week's #38. Very sweet...And this week, I shine the Glovelight on not one but two singles, the first of which is...
26 - "Rock and Roll, Hoochie Koo," Rick Derringer
The guitarist from Indiana who was born Richard Zehringer had his first success with the band the McCoys, who went all the way to #1 in 1965 with "Hang on Sloopy." After that band broke up, he played in Edgar Winter's band, as well as on records by Alice Cooper, Todd Rundgren, and Steely Dan. But he did have one solo moment in the sun with a tale of a wild night at "the Old Town Hall" where he saw a band called "The Jokers" and ended up having sex with a young lady behind a barn. A fun little touchstone of 70s rock. A decade later, Derringer would write and perform what would become his second most famous song, "Real American," which accompanied Hulk Hogan's WWF ring entrances and later, a Newt Gingrich campaign speech.
Also featured this week...
40 - "W*O*L*D," Harry Chapin
The second of Chapin's four Top 40 hit s was this song that takes the form of a phone call from an aging disc jockey to his ex-wife. Inspired by a conversation he overheard between a Boston DJ and his ex, the main character recalls his career ups and downs, and insists that his current gig back in the town where he started, which involves hosting the morning show and emceeing high school dances, is making him happy, so she doesn't have to feel guilty about her contentment with her new husband. But of course, we aren't supposed to believe him. This certainly didn't reach the chart heights "Cat's in the Cradle" would later this year, but for my money, it's his best hit. I especially like the urgency of the strings and the echo that always follows the "D" in the title station's call letters.
Okay, now let's clean up 1983.
20 - "Der Kommissar," After the Fire
19 - "I've Got a Rock n'Roll Heart," Eric Clapton
18 - "Breaking Us in Two," Joe Jackson
17 - "Fall in Love with Me," Earth, Wind and Fire
16 - "Jeopardy," The Greg Kihn Band
The second half kicks off with England's After the Fire covering Austria's Falco. As I said when I encountered it on the year-end show, I like it better in German.
Next is Eric Clapton with a meh ballad in which he confesses to a would-be romantic partner that he "gets off" on '57 Chevys and "screaming guitars." So she'd better be ready for an interesting love life, to say the least.
Then it's Joe Jackson with his follow up to "Steppin' Out." It's a sophisticated piano-pop ballad about a relationship that, in spite of both parties' best efforts, just doesn't seem to work. Classy and classic.
Earth, Wind and Fire are here with what would be their last pop Top 40. It's rubbery midtempo funk in which the singer promises that if one takes him up on his offer, he'll "be your rock when Gibraltar falls." That's a damn good line. Maybe I'll steal it if I find an appropriate occasion to do so.
This bunch is anchored by Greg Kihn's hit about troubled love that became "Weird Al" Yankovic's ode to a then-defunct game show that was revived just months after that song came out. Coincidence? Well, yes.
15 - "I Know There's Something Going On," Frida
14 - "Come On Eileen," Dexy's Midnight Runners
13 - "Twilight Zone," Golden Earring
12 - "All Right," Christopher Cross
11 - "Stray Cat Strut," The Stray Cats
This section begins with former ABBA diva/current German princess Frida and her biggest solo hit. Darker than anything she did with the old band, and that's a good thing.
Next are Dexy's Midnight Runners with their iconic charttopper about a woman who makes the singer thing things that "verge on dirty." And the title of this song has had the same effect on many other people, I'm sure.
Holland's Golden Earring found one more American hit by borrowing a title from Rod Serling and a plot from Robert Ludlum. Even though I'm not a James Bond fan at all, I do have a mental list of songs that weren't Bond themes but could have and perhaps should have been, and this is on it.
Then it's Chris Cross with one of his later hits. The song title overrates it.
This group ends with New York's most successful rockabilly revivalists and their biggest hit, a song about a cat on the prowl. And yes, it does indeed have both cat class and cat style.
Cometh the hour, cometh the Top Ten.
10 - "Mr. Roboto," Styx
Chicago's Bob Seger get all futuristic and take us into a world where there are a lot of robots and people speak Japanese when they aren't mispronouncing the English word "modern." It was such a preposterous career move, and yet it worked. And lovers of the cheesy side of pop and rock are forever grateful.
9 - "One on One," Daryl Hall and John Oates
The uberduo of the decade get seductive while singing about a game that actually takes place nowhere near a basketball court. Or maybe it does. I don't know what these guys were into at this time.
8 - "Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)," Journey
Steve Perry sings that "one night will remind you" why you shouldn't have left him. Really, Steve, you're that good? Well, I have no interest in finding out for myself, so I'll take your word for it.
7 - "We've Got Tonight," Kenny Rogers and Sheena Easton
There was barely any reason for the original version of this song to exist, so a cover is even more negligible. But Kenny and Sheena wrang a Top Ten out of it, so good for them, I guess.
6 - "You Are," Lionel Richie
No, Lionel, you are. And I mean that in a good way.
5 - "Back on the Chain Gang," The Pretenders
Breaking metaphorical rocks with Chrissie Hynde and company on their only U.S. Top Five. This song is nothing like "a pigeon from hell," but I do like that line.
4 - "Hungry Like the Wolf," Duran Duran
The song that broke the Duranies in America. Impossibly catchy, exotic new wave. I will never apologize for making this the first 45 I ever bought. It might be in my all time Top 100.
3 - "Do You Really Want to Hurt Me," Culture Club
Boy George announced himself to the world on this aching ballad. Again, strip away the makeup and the image, and what's left is an undeniable blue-eyed soul gem.
2 - "Shame on the Moon," Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band
And here's the Styx of Detroit. But where his Chicago counterparts went all techno and sci-fi, Bobby went country and introspective. I'm sure this has been performed much less at karaoke, but it's clearly the better artistic achievement.
And 29 years ago, the pop chart was topped by...
1 - "Billie Jean," Michael Jackson
The defining hit of his career, bar none. Think what you want about the man, but this cannot be denied. Quincy Jones thought having the song go thirty seconds before the vocals came in was too long, but Michael disagreed, saying that this part was the "jelly" that made him want to dance. He won out, and then we all did.
The NotCaseys were "It's Raining Men" by The Weather Girls, "Shoud I Stay or Should I Go" by The Clash, "Photograph" by Def Leppard, and "Always Something There to Remind Me" by Naked Eyes. And there were two LDDs. A woman in Trinidad dedicated Kenny Rogers' "You Decorated My Life" to the man she fell in love with and intended to marry, and a Navy sailor deployed in the Mediterrenean sent out John Denver's "Annie's Song" to his wife, despite the fact that her name was Debbie.
And there you have it, whether you want it or not. But you've read this far, so I imagine you did. And if you want more, I will provide in a week or so.
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