Tag / Irene Cara

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Fifty Years Of Music – 1983

Fifty years ago, I made my first appeared on the Earth.  In celebration, we are going to take a look at the year-end Billboard Hot 100 singles chart for each year of my life and see what songs resonated with me at the time and if they continue to do so to this day.

We continue our look back at the music of my lifetime with 1983, the year I wrapped up third grade, moved to fourth grade, saw my beloved White Sox make the postseason for the first time in my life, and turned 9.  Michael Jackson’s Thriller, which placed five tracks on the year-end Hot 100, was the first pop album I ever owned.  At 39 songs, nearly 40% of the Hot 100 are familiar to me now, with only 16 of them appearing in my collection in one way or another.

#93: Frank Stallone – Far from Over
iTunes stats: N/A

A top ten single in September 1983, this lone hit from Sylvester’s brother is more familiar to me as a song I played on the organ.

#92: Spandau Ballet – True
iTunes stats: 18 plays

Peaking at #4 on the Billboard Hot 100, the song was sampled for the #1 hit Set Adrift on Memory Bliss by PM Dawn in 1991.

#90: Def Leppard – Photograph
iTunes stats: 24 plays

Written about Marilyn Monroe, this first single from the band’s third album reached #12 on the charts.

#89: Michael Jackson – Human Nature
iTunes stats: N/A

The fifth single from Jackson’s smash Thriller album, it became the album’s fifth top ten hit, reaching #7.

#81: Journey – Faithfully
iTunes stats: 10 plays

Considered one of the greatest power ballads of all time, it peaked at #12 on the Hot 100.

#68: Michael Jackson – Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’
iTunes stats: N/A

Hitting #5, this fourth single from Jackson’s Thriller, originally written in 1978, was the first without a video.

#56: Laura Branigan – Gloria
iTunes stats: 13 plays

Setting a new record for female solo acts with 36 weeks on the Hot 100, it made the year-end charts for both 1982 and 1983.

#53: Madness – Our House
iTunes stats: 10 plays

The first single from the group’s fourth album, it reached #7 on the charts, becoming the band’s biggest hit.

#52: The Clash – Rock the Casbah
iTunes stats: N/A

Becoming the group’s first and only top ten hit in the US, it peaked at #8 on the Hot 100.

#50: Kajagoogoo – Too Shy
iTunes stats: 10 plays

Thanks to heavy rotation on MTV, the song, the group’s only US hit, peaked at #5.

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Fifty Years Of Music – 1980

Fifty years ago, I made my first appeared on the Earth.  In celebration, we are going to take a look at the year-end Billboard Hot 100 singles chart for each year of my life and see what songs resonated with me at the time and if they continue to do so to this day.

We continue our look back at the music of my lifetime with 1980, the start of a new decade and the year I wrapped up kindergarten, entered the first grade, and turned six.  I still have no knowledge of these songs from their original release, but it is strange how few of that year’s songs have stood the test of time.  Only fourteen of the Hot 100 are familiar to me now, with only seven of them appearing in my collection in one way or another.

#100: Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers – Refugee
iTunes stats: 19 plays

Regarded as one of Petty’s best songs, the track peaked at #15 on the charts.

#75: Billy Joel – You May Be Right
iTunes stats: N/A

Topping out at #7 on the Hot 100, the song was the lead track from Joel’s seventh album.

#66: Irene Cara – Fame
iTunes stats: N/A

The theme song of the film of the same name, it took home the Oscar for Best Original Song in 1980.

#64: Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers – Don’t Do Me Like That
iTunes stats: 18 plays

The lead single from the band’s third album, it reached #10 on the charts, becoming the group’s only top ten hit.

#61: Anne Murray – Daydream Believer
iTunes stats: 17 plays

Murray’s version of the Monkees’ classic peaked at #12 on the Hot 100, while topping the Adult Contemporary charts and hitting #3 on the country chart.

#55: Air Supply – All Out of Love
iTunes stats: N/A

Known for singer Russell Hitchcock holding the final note for a then record 16.2 seconds, the track topped out at #2.

#20: Styx – Babe
iTunes stats: N/A

Styx’s first, and only, #1 hit, it was the penultimate single to top the charts in the 1970s.

#19: KC and the Sunshine Band – Please Don’t Go
iTunes stats: 12 plays

The song spent a single week atop the charts, shortly before the breakup of the group.

#11: Rupert Holmes – Escape (The Piña Colada Song)
iTunes stats: 16 plays

The song became the first in Billboard history to climb to #1 on the Hot 100 in two different decades, having been the final #1 hit of the 70s and then returning to the top of the charts in the second week of January.

#9: Billy Joel – It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me
iTunes stats: N/A

The track, Joel’s response to critics of the era’s changing musical styles, spent eleven weeks in the top ten, including two at the top of the charts at the end of July.

#8: Lipps Inc – Funkytown
iTunes stats: N/A

Spending four weeks at #1 on the Hot 100 in the spring, the track ranked #18 in a 2018 listing of the Top 25 Dance Pop Songs of All-Time.

#5: Captain & Tennille – Do That to Me One More Time
iTunes stats: 12 plays

Reaching the top of the charts in mid-February, the song ultimately became the group’s last to crack the Top 40.

#2: Pink Floyd – Another Brick in the Wall, Part II
iTunes stats: N/A

The track was nominated for a Grammy for Best Performance by a Rock Duo or Group and was ranked #384 on Rolling Stone‘s 2010 list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

#1: Blondie – Call Me
iTunes stats: N/A

The theme song to American Gigolo, the song spent six consecutive weeks on the Hot 100, becoming the band’s biggest single.