Saturday, May 12, 1984

Lionel Richie hit #1 with “Hello”

Hello

Lionel Richie

Writer(s): Lionel Richie (see lyrics here)


Released: February 13, 1984


First Charted: February 25, 1984


Peak: 12 US, 12 CB, 2 GR, 2 RR, 16 AC, 12 RB, 16 UK, 11 CN, 13 AU, 3 DF (Click for codes to charts.)


Sales (in millions): 1.0 US, 0.96 UK, 2.11 world (includes US + UK)


Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 185.4 video, 189.33 streaming

Awards:

Click on award for more details.

About the Song:

Michael Jackson’s Thriller changed the game for multi-hit singles from one album and Lionel Richie was one of the earliest beneficiaries. His Can’t Slow Down album, released in late 1983, was fueled to major platinum success and an Album of the Year Grammy on the strength of five top-10 singles. The first two were dance-oriented songs (“All Night Long (All Night)” and “Running with the Night”), but the third (“Hello”) was a ballad.

From his days in the Commodores, Richie had learned to bring in ballads for the group because everyone else would supply the uptempo numbers. It led to the group finding #1 success with “Three Times a Lady” and “Still.” Richie went on to write “Lady,” a #1 ballad for Kenny Rogers, and then dueted with Diana Ross on the #1 ballad “Endless Love.”

The release of his first solo album saw him ride three songs into the top ten, including the #1 ballad “Truly.” The song “Hello” was written for that album, but rejected, despite the protests of Richie’s wife, Brenda. When it was nearly left off Can’t Slow Down, Brenda insisted it be included. FB Good thing she said. It gave her husband his fourth #1 solo hit and, surprisingly enough, the first UK million-selling single for Motown. SF

The song was accompanied by a story video in which Richie is a drama teacher and falls for a student. He loves her from afar, unable to approach her, and is surprised at the end that she has carved a sculpture of him, despite being blind. While the video evoked a creepy, teacher-student relationship, the lyrics themselves were a more universal declaration of unrequited love. Viewers of The Box, a TV channel in the UK, voted it the worst video of all time. SF


Resources:

  • FB Fred Bronson (2003). The Billboard Book of Number One Hits (5th edition). Billboard Books: New York, NY. Page 587.
  • SF Songfacts
  • WK Wikipedia


Related Links:


First posted 11/29/2020; last updated 12/27/2022.

Tuesday, May 8, 1984

Bob Marley’s Legend released

Legend

Bob Marley & the Wailers


Released: May 8, 1984


Recorded: 1973-1983


Charted: May 19, 1984


Peak: 5 US, 112 UK, 23 CN, 14 AU


Sales (in millions): 15.0 US, 2.52 UK, 31.3 world (includes US and UK)


Genre: reggae


Tracks: (Click for codes to singles charts.)

  1. Is This Love [3:52] (2/25/78, #9 UK)
  2. No Woman, No Cry (live) [4:05] (Bob Marley/Vincent Ford) (8/75, #8 UK)
  3. Could You Be Loved [3:33] (5/80, #5 UK, #56 RB)
  4. Three Little Birds [2:56] (8/80, #17 UK)
  5. Buffalo Soldier [5:24] (Bob Marley/Noel Williams) (5/7/83, #4 UK, #71 RB)
  6. Get Up, Stand Up [3:17] (Bob Marley/Peter Tosh) (9/73)
  7. Stir It Up [3:38] (1973)
  8. One Love/People Get Ready [2:52] (Bob Marley/Curtis Mayfield) (4/21/84, #5 UK)
  9. I Shot the Sheriff [3:46] (2/12/73, --)
  10. Waiting in Vain [4:10] (8/77, #27 UK, #38 RB)
  11. Redemption Song [3:48] (10/80)
  12. Satisfy My Soul [3:45] (5/78, #21 UK)
  13. Exodus [5:24] (6/25/77, #14 UK, #19 RB)
  14. Jamming [3:17] (12/10/77, #9 UK)

All songs written by Bob Marley except where noted otherwise.


Total Running Time: 51:01

Rating:

4.776 out of 5.00 (average of 18 ratings)


Quotable: “The standard by which all other reggae albums are judged.” – VH1’s Ultimate Albums


Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Album:

“Ask someone to name a reggae artist, and the first name that comes to mind is always Bob Marley.” NO “For many Marley embodied the music to the exclusion of all other artists.” PR He was born in Jamaica in 1945 to a white man and black woman. As a teenager, he started working and recording with the Wailers, who most prominently included Bunny Livingston (later Wailer) and Peter Tosh.

“Often called Reggae 101,” VU Legend is “the classic Marley album, the one that any fair-weather reggae fan owns.” AMG “To many, this compilation is the reggae album,” NO setting “the standard by which all other reggae albums are judged.” VU This “is the best-selling reggae album of all time” NO with more than 12 million copies sold in the U.S. and 30 million worldwide. In the UK, it logged 12 weeks at #1. Stateside, its #26 peak came decades after its release, showing the album’s longevity. It “is an essential part of any collection.” NO

When Legend came out, “America was bopping to self-indulgent tunes by artists from Madonna to Motley Crue [so] Marley’s simple messages seemed destined for oblivion. Instead, Marley’s hypnotic pleas for social and political justice for the impoverished would seduce the material world” VU and find “an audience ready for music with meaning.” VU “The beauty and simplicity of Marley’s music was as important as his message” AMG and Legend is full of “songs of spirituality, longing, and sacrifice” VU with “relaxing island rhythms that make your soul dance.” ZS

This is “the rare ‘best of’ that really is an artist at his best.” TL “It gives a doubter or casual fan anything they could want.” AMG The collection “exposed virgin ears to a new genre of music and propelled Bob Marley to a figure of almost mystical proportions. But more than anything else, Legend was a classic coda to the excellence of Bob Marley and the Wailers. … and it forever cemented their status… as legends.” VU

Catch a Fire (1973)

Bob Marley & the Wailers were signed to Island Records in 1972 and released Catch a Fire, which would include a reworked version of Stir It Up, a song first recorded by them in 1967. Johnny Nash, an American reggae/pop singer who had a #1 U.S. hit with “I Can See Clearly Now,” recorded the song in 1973, taking it to #12 in the U.S.

Burnin’ (1973)

This would be Marley, Tosh, and Wailer’s last album together. The album featured two of Marley’s best-known works – Get Up Stand Up and I Shot the Sheriff. Marley wrote both with Esther Anderson, his companion through 1973, RS-161 She said she “was teaching Bob how to be a rebel, based on what I learned from living with Marlon Brando for seven years.” SF-160 The song became Amnesty International’s theme song. VU

In 1974, Eric Clapton’s chart-topping version of “I Shot the Sheriff” would give Marley & the Wailers their greatest exposure. Anderson said the line “every time I plant a seed he said kill it before it grow” came out of Marley wondering why she hadn’t got pregnant and her explaining that she was on the pill. SF-161-2 Lee Jaffe, who was living with the Wailers in Kingston at the time, says the song came about as a joke with Marley saying “I shot the sheriff” and Jaffe responding, “but you didn’t get the deputy.” SF-162 He said “it came out of western movies, which Jamiaicans really love. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly was always plaing somewhere in Kingston.” SF-162

Natty Dread (1974)

Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer left after Burnin’, disappointed with how much Marley was being spotlighted and over-commercializing reggae music. The brothers Aston “Family Man” Barrett on bass and Carlton Barrett on drums, who’d worked on the previous two albums, gave the album some consistent players. His wife Rita and backup singer Marcia Griffiths, who’d also worked on previous albums, teamed with Judy Mowatt to form the backing trio the I-Threes.

Their “positive exortation’s sing-along chorus of ‘everything’s gonna be alright’ helped make” SF-185 No Woman, No Cry one of Marley’s most notable songs. The version on Legend is a live recording from July 1975 which adds “more humor, warmth and sex appeal than the original.” TL

Exodus (1977)

The Legend compilation skips Marley’s next album, 1976’s Rastaman Vibration, but serves up a generous helping of cuts from Exodus with the title cut, Waiting in Vain, Jammin’, “the irrepressible Three Little Birds,” TL and One Love/People Get Ready, “an international anthem for unity.” VU All five were top-30 hits in the UK. The 2002 deluxe edition also adds Punky Reggae Party, which was released initially as the B-side of “Jammin’.”

Most notable during this era was an assassination attempt on Marley. In an effort to ease tension between warring political groups in Jamaica, the prime minister, Michael Manley, organized “Smile Jamaica,” a free concert. On December 3, 1976, two days before the concert, an assassination attempt was made on Marley’s life. He and his wife and manager were wounded inside Marley’s home, but made full recoveries. It was considered a politically-motivated protest from those who saw the concert as a support rally for Manley.

Kaya (1978)

Marley left Jamaica for England at the end of 1976 and recorded Exodus and Kaya while living there. Satisfy My Soul is another song, like “Stir It Up,” which dates back to the pre-Island days of the Wailers. Meanwhile, Is This Love “shows off [Marley’s] ability to make polyrhythm into melody.” TL Easy Skanking, another cut from Kaya, is featured on the 2002 deluxe edition of Legend.

Uprising (1980)

1979’s politically-charged Survival is the second Island-era Marley album to not be represented on the Legend collection. However, 1980’s Uprising, one of Marley’s most religious productions, is showcased with Could You Be Loved, a top-5 hit in the UK, and “the meditative Redemption SongAMG is Marley’s “rallying cry for emancipation from tyranny.” VU

Confrontation (1983)

Marley had been diagnosed with a malignant melanoma under the nail of one of his toes in July 1977. Doctors advised that he have the toe amputated, which he refused because it was against his religious beliefs and would have hampered his performing career. In May 1980, he was in New York to perform shows at Madison Square Garden and collapsed while jogging in Central Park. At the hospital, it was discovered that the cancer had spread to his brain, lungs, and liver. He died a year later on May 21, 1981, at age 36. The posthumous Confrontation album was released two years later. It included “the painful cry of Buffalo Soldier,” VU the album’s sole representation on the Legend collection.

Review Sources:

  • DMDB Encyclopedia entry for Bob Marley
  • AMG All Music Guide review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine
  • NO TheNightOwl.com review by Steve Marshall
  • PR Paul Roland (2001). CD Guide to Pop & Rock. B.T. Batsford LTD: London. Page 162.
  • SF Roger Steffens (2017). So Much Things to Say: The Oral History of Bob Marley. Norton & Company: New York, NY.
  • TL Time Magazine’s All-TIME 100 Albums by Josh Tyrangiel and Alan Light (11/13/06).
  • VU VH1 Ultimate Albums TV series (2002-03).
  • ZS Zagat Survey (2003). Music Guide: 1,000 Top Albums of All Time. Coordinator: Pat Blashill. Music Editor: Holly George-Warren. Editors: Betsy Andrews and Randi Gollin. Zagat Survey, LLC: New York, NY. Page 154.

First posted 5/8/2012; updated 5/10/2021.

Thursday, May 3, 1984

Bruce Springsteen released “Dancing in the Dark”

Dancing in the Dark

Bruce Springsteen

Writer(s): Bruce Springsteen (see lyrics here)


Released: May 3, 1984


First Charted: May 25, 1984


Peak: 2 US, 12 CB, 12 GR, 11 RR, 16 AR, 4 UK, 3 CN, 5 AU, 1 DF (Click for codes to charts.)


Sales (in millions): 2.0 US, 0.6 UK, 2.91 world (includes US + UK)


Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 239.25 video, 380.35 streaming

Awards:

Click on award for more details.

About the Song:

Michael Jackson paved the way for albums with multiple hit singles (seven top 10s) with 1982’s Thriller. The next artist to do so was not one most would have guessed – Bruce Springsteen. While “The Boss” had earned a reputation as a live performer and his albums had become platinum sellers, he wasn’t one to rack up top 10 hits. Prior to his 1984 Born in the U.S.A. album, he’d had six songs total hit the Billboard Hot 100, and only “Hungry Heart” made it to the top 10.

However, with Born in the U.S.A., Springsteen joined the elite club of having an album which produced seven top 10 hits. The first of them was “Dancing in the Dark,” a sort of proclamation to the masses that he was about to take the pop world by storm. The song spent four weeks at #2; three of those behind another artist who was achieving blockbuster status with a multi-hit album – Prince, with 1984’s Purple Rain and specifically the song “When Doves Cry.”

While the song didn’t make it to the top in the U.S.A., it did top the charts in Belgium and the Netherlands. In Australia, it peaked at #5 but went on to be the highest-selling single of the year. WK It also won a Grammy for Best Rock Vocal Performance and was voted Single of the Year in the Rolling Stone readers’ poll.

Humorously enough, Springsteen wrote the song when his manager, Jon Landau, wasn’t convinced the album had a single yet. Springsteen’s reaction was, “Look, I’ve written seventy songs. You want another one, you write it.” WK Despite that, he wrote the song in a single night in his hotel room. It captured the feelings frustration in trying to write a hit single. WK “The deep, philosophical message was lost on most listeners who were entranced by the catchy beat.” SF

The straight performance video for the song was shot at the Saint Paul Civic Center in Saint Paul, Minnesota, on June 28 and 29, 1984. In the video, Springsteen plucks a fan from the audience to dance with him on stage. While he’d been told who he was supposed to pick, he himself didn’t know it was professional actress Courteney Cox. She had already been in As the World Turns and went on to even greater fame on Family Ties and Friends. “Dancing in the Dark” won the MTV Video Music Award for Best Stage Performance.


Resources:


Related Links:


First posted 11/28/2020; last updated 12/26/2022.

Bruce Springsteen “Pink Cadillac” released as a B-side

Pink Cadillac

Bruce Springsteen

Writer(s): Bruce Springsteen (see lyrics here)


Released: May 3, 1984


First Charted: June 2, 1984


Peak: 27 AR, 1 DF (Click for codes to singles charts.)


Sales (in millions as B-side of “Dancing in the Dark”): 2.0 US, 0.6 UK, 2.91 world (includes US + UK)


Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 4.7 video, -- streaming

Awards:

Click on award for more details.

About the Song:

The Bruce Springsteen Born in the U.S.A. 1984-1985 era may be the most dominant in the history of the album rock chart. Not only did nine of the album’s twelve cuts chart (seven of which reached the top 10), but three other songs from that era charted as well. The most successful was a live version of the song “Trapped,” a #1 album rock hit which was culled from the We Are the World compilation. The other two, “Pink Cadillac” and “Stand on It” were B-sides.

“Pink Cadillac” came early in Springsteen’s chart domination, as it was the B-side to “Dancing in the Dark,” the first single from Born in the U.S.A. The song only reached #27 on the charts, but that was significant for a song that wasn’t even an album cut. It wouldn’t show up on a Springsteen album until 1998 when it appeared on Tracks, a box set of outtakes.

Springsteen wrote the song in December 1981 under the title “Love Is a Dangerous Thing.” He first recorded an acoustic version of “Pink Cadillac,’ with more lighthearted lyrics, in January 1982 during sessions for the Nebraska album. He recorded it again in the spring of 1983 during sessions for Born in the U.S.A. He cut the basic track at the end of a session and completed it with the E Street Band the next morning. WK

The idea of singing about a pink Cadillac came from Elvis Presley’s 1954 cover of “Baby Let’s Play House” in which the King sang “You may have a pink Cadillac” (a reference to his custom painted Cadillac that was his touring vehicle) instead of the original line “You may get religion.” WK Springsteen played on the automobile as a metaphor for sexual activity much like songs such as Prince’s “Little Red Corvette” and Wilson Pickett’s “Mustang Sally.” The lyric “I love you for your pink Cadillac was supposedly a reference to a vagina. WK Ironically, the song became a top-10 single in 1988 when covered by a woman – Natalie Cole.


Resources:


Related Links:


First posted 8/7/2022.