← Hit Parade | Music History and Music Trivia
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- [00:03]
Jack
What's the best time of day to get a deal? All day with Jack in the Box's All Day Big Deal meal.
- [00:08]
Chris Melanfi
You get to choose from four entrees.
- [00:10]
Jack
Like the supreme croissant and five tasty sides, plus a drink starting at $5. So hurry in or take your time. You've got all day at Jack. Every bite's a big deal.
- [00:25]
Chris Melanfi
Hey there Hit Parade listeners. What you're about to hear is part one of this episode, Part two. Arrive in your podcast feed at the end of the month. Would you like to hear this episode all at once the day it drops? Sign up for Slate Plus. It supports not only this show, but all of Slate's acclaimed journalism and podcasts. Just go to slate.com hit parade+ you'll get to hear every Hit Parade episode in full the day it arrives. Plus Hit Parade the Bridge our bonus episodes with guest interviews, deeper dives on our episode topics, and pop chart trivia. Once again to join, that's slate.com hitparadeplus thanks and now please enjoy part one of this hit Parade episode. Welcome to Hit Parade, a podcast of pop chart history from Slate Magazine about the hits from coast to coast. I'm Chris Melanfy, chart analyst, pop critic and writer of Slate's why Is this Song Number One? Series on today's show. Forty years ago this week, this was the number one song in America, an improbable comeback by a regal, statuesque singer who'd fought hard to return to to the center of the pop conversation. For the woman who came to be known as the Queen of Rock and Roll, the late summer of 84 gave her the first and only Hot 100 chart topper of her career, Tina Turner with what's Love Got To Do With It.
- [02:23]
Cyndi Lauper
Who needs a heart when a heart can be broke?
- [02:29]
Chris Melanfi
Here's a question you maybe haven't considered in all the dozens of times you've probably heard what's Love Got to Do With It? What is this song? How would you classify it? Given Tina Turner's background, you might call it rhythm and blues, but Turner preferred to call herself a rock singer. Critics note that the song's verses have the lilt of reggae or calypso music, but by the way, it was first offered to and recorded by a white British New Wave band. We'll get to them later. Tina's recording charted on Billboard's pop, R& B, Rock, Dance and Adult Contemporary charts. Basically, this is a song for everyone. I would call what's Love Got to do with it 1984 music. It represents everything that made that year of pop legendary. The hits of 1984 were admirably hard to classify, and bands from the world of rock were playing with dance music, funk, even synthesizers.
- [04:11]
Cyndi Lauper
Might as well jump jump. Might as well jump, jump.
- [04:22]
Chris Melanfi
While artists who were classified as R and B were rocking harder than ever. Veteran acts who'd been around for a decade or more were, like Tina Turner, trying new tricks. And a new generation of upstarts were upsetting the status quo.
- [05:06]
Cyndi Lauper
For the very first time. Like a bir.
- [05:13]
Chris Melanfi
Sleek dance music was back, even though we didn't call it disco anymore.
- [05:31]
Cyndi Lauper
No more love on the run.
- [05:35]
Chris Melanfi
A new wave of teen pinups were grabbing for pop's brass ring. And of course, thanks to the dominance of mtv, videos made the charts more colorful than ever. Today on Hit Parade, we will travel back four decades to a year that's been called the greatest in chart history. What made 1984 so exceptional? Why did rockers and rappers, punks and popsters, divas and dreamboats all produce some of their best work? And why? Why, 40 years later, are we still missing that moment? It was a time when some of the most innovative music wasn't the province of hipsters, critics or crate diggers. It was power rotated on the radio. Like, for example, the top Hit of the year.
- [07:09]
Cyndi Lauper
This is what it sounds like when the Doves Cry.
- [07:16]
Chris Melanfi
And that's where your Hit Parade marches today, the week ending August 4, 1984, when Princes When Doves Cry was in its fifth and final week at number one on the Hot 100, on its way to being named Billboard's top hit of the Year. It's rare that any year's biggest hit is also its best, but that's the kind of year 1984 was still the gold standard for chart fans four decades later. So join me as we recall a time when rain was purple, feet were loose, the reflex was a lonely child, and girls just wanted to have fun.
- [08:02]
Cyndi Lauper
She's never satisfied. Why do we scream at each other?
- [08:09]
Chris Melanfi
Stick around.
- [08:19]
Cyndi Lauper
This podcast is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Fiscally responsible financial geniuses, monetary magicians. These are things people say about drivers who switch their car insurance to Progressive and save hundreds because Progressive offers disruptive.
- [08:33]
Chris Melanfi
Discounts for paying in full, owning a home and more.
- [08:36]
Cyndi Lauper
Plus, you can count on their great customer service to help you when you need it.
- [08:40]
Chris Melanfi
So your dollar goes a long way.
- [08:42]
Cyndi Lauper
Visit progressive.com to see if you could save on car insurance, Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. Potential savings will vary. Not available in all states and situations.
- [08:56]
Carvel
This episode is brought to you by Amazon. Sometimes the most painful part of getting sick is the getting better part. Waiting on hold for an appointment, Sitting in crowded waiting room, Standing in line at the pharmacy. That's painful. Amazon One Medical and Amazon Pharmacy remove those painful parts of getting better with things like 24. 7 virtual visits and prescriptions delivered to your door. Thanks to Amazon Pharmacy and Amazon One Medical Healthcare just got less painful. Hi, it's Carvel from Slate's How To Podcast. Are you ready for a fresh start in 2025? To celebrate the new year, Slate is offering an extended free trial of Slate plus exclusively on Apple Podcasts. As a Slate plus member, you'll get ad free listening on every Slate show. Solve life's toughest problems on how to get advice you actually want to follow in Dear Prudence. Keep your pulse on the zeitgeist with culture gabfest and navigate the big questions of life with death, sex and money all uninterrupted. Plus, starting this month, Howto is releasing bi weekly bonus episodes exclusively for Slate plus members. That means more advice, more experts, and more stories to help you tackle life's challenges head on. Don't miss out. Try Slate plus for free now on Apple Podcasts or visit slate.com howtoplus to get access wherever you listen.
- [10:29]
Chris Melanfi
This is Canadian pop star Corey Hart with Sunglasses at night, a number seven hit in the summer of 1984. In September of 2014, 30 years after this song was a hit and 10 years ago this month, Rolling Stone magazine ran a special commemorative feature, a ranking of the 100 Best Singles of 1984 and sunglasses at Night was the song they ranked in 100th place. Which is about right. Corey Hart's American breakthrough single isn't the most devastatingly brilliant hit of 84, but it's a bop, and it is, of its time, a very cheeky, kitschy and melodramatic synth pop jam.
- [11:30]
Cyndi Lauper
Turn to her and say don't switch the blade on the sky.
- [11:37]
Chris Melanfi
All that said, Sunglasses at Night still gets played on classic hits radio stations to this day and has racked up more than 132 million streams on Spotify. And this is the 1984 hit that Rolling Stone ranked last. It should also be noted that the magazine hasn't done similar commemorative countdowns for other years of pop. In fact, when they published their 2014 feature Rolling Stone boldly titled the Countdown 100 Best Singles of 1984, Pop's Greatest Year.
- [12:22]
Cyndi Lauper
Feels like I'm going to lose my mind, you just keep on Pushing my love over the bottom line.
- [12:34]
Chris Melanfi
By the way, here's the song they ranked all the way up at number two, Madonna's Borderline. Bet you've heard that one on the radio recently too. Rolling Stone's countdown is a great read. We'll link to it on the Hit Parade show page. And a good argument starter. The biggest argument might be over that title, Pop's Greatest Year. Aren't there other candidates? By the way, three years ago on this very podcast, we at Hit Parade made the case for the music of 1971. A year of greatness from Janis Joplin, the Stones, Sly Stone, Rod Stewart and Carole King.
- [13:20]
Cyndi Lauper
And it's too late, baby. Now it's too late. So we really did try to make it.
- [13:30]
Chris Melanfi
To be clear, rolling stone called 1984 pop's greatest year. Not rock's greatest R B or rap's greatest. This, I think, is defensible. As I said at the top of our show, 1984 was a big year for pop as a center centralizing force. Rock plus R&B plus dance plus country plus hip hop all found a place on the radio in 84. And 1984 was an unbeatable year for the pop single. So naturally, chart nerds like your Hit Parade host hold it in high esteem. Let the music play.
- [14:18]
Jack
It moves from 13 to 10 in.
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Chris Melanfi
Our countdown of the 40 biggest.
- [14:22]
Jack
Shannon at number nine.
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Cyndi Lauper
Here's Cyndi Lauper with Girls Just Want to have Fun.
- [14:37]
Chris Melanfi
Look, I'll just cop to it. As someone born in 1971 who became a teenager in 1984, my bias is undeniable when it comes to both of those years. So of course I think 1984 was a great year for pop. But before I provide more objective reasons why it might not just be me and the staff of Rolling Stone claiming this, there's one more debate we need to address that does often come up in these pop nerd discussions. Was 1984 the great year? Or was it actually 1983? In a recent installment of his online column, radio consultant Sean Ross polled programmers, critics and chart fans over whether they preferred the hits of 1983 or 84. Ross took it as a given that this two year duopoly was the high watermark of contemporary hits radio or CHR, by just under a 2 to 1 margin. Ross's police preferred 1984, but there was a strong 83 contingent. I could just as easily have done this episode about 83. It really was an amazing year. The moment when the second British Invasion took hold with Duran Duran, Eurythmics, Culture Club, Spandau, Ballet Madness, Eddie Grant and Dexie's Midnight Runners, all scoring their first American hits. Major chart comebacks for Donna Summer, Marvin Gaye, Elton John and David Bowie. The peak year for Michael Jackson's streak of hits from Thriller, a late 1982 album that totally dominated 83, as well as the pop breakthrough of Prince. What made 1983 exciting was the upsurge before the cultural wave crested. The truth is, a lot of the 1984 music we'll discuss in this episode was actually released in 83. Big 84 hits by Madonna, Cyndi Lauper, Lionel Richie, Duran Duran, the Pointer Sisters, yes, ZZ Top and Billy Idol, among many others emerged from the cauldron of 83. So in a way, you can think of 1984 on the charts as at least two years rolled into one. The movements that were bubbling up earlier in the decade finally coalesced. As I argued in our 1971 episode of Hit Parade, 71 was when the music of the 60s came into full artistic fruition. Similarly, the innovations of 1982 and 83 bloomed into full flower in 1984. So I'm now going to run down a list of eight reasons why 1984 ruled, and the first reason will take us back before 1983 or 82. In fact, we need to go back to just before the 80s began. Reason one for the awesomeness of 1984. Overcoming the disco Backlash as we have discussed in several prior hit parade episodes, 1979 was a turning point for dance music on the charts and in the popular consciousness. In the wake of Chicago's menacing Disco Demolition Night in July of 79, disco became a dirty word.
- [19:43]
Cyndi Lauper
Wow. On the radio.
- [19:50]
Chris Melanfi
The music did not actually die. Disco acts like Donna Summer and production teams like Sheiks, Nile Rogers and Bernard Edwards continued to score hits into the 1980s. But a backlash to the culture of disco turned the charts away from anything perceived as too dance oriented or black derived. In the first few years of the 1980s, the hit parade pivoted toward light balladry, country crossover.
- [20:37]
Cyndi Lauper
My Heart's on Fire, We'll Fire up.
- [20:44]
Chris Melanfi
And yacht rock. But by 1982 and 83, as new wave synth pop began emerging on the charts, the sound of this so called new pop was essentially disco in another guise, like for example, ABC's top 20 hit the look of Love and the overwhelming chart success of Michael Jackson. Jackson provided a new model for black music that drew from disco production styles but felt more modern by late 83 and early 84 dance music, which is what we called it then, pop fans were careful never to say the other five letter D Word was doing better on the charts than it had since 1979. Sleek club styles were finding their place on the radio, like the electro dance music of the Pointer Sisters, the explosive freestyle of Shannon, and of course the nouveau post disco of a newcomer named Madonna. All discussions of what made 1984 great have to start with the disco backlash and the comeback from the backlash, because this informs virtually everything that brought pop music back to life. Even if no one was saying the word disco, dance music, production tropes and black informed styles were infecting all manner of hit music. Not just club music or R and B, but also straight up rock like ZZ Top, UK synth pop like Bronski Beat and even metal. This 1984 Motley Crue hit, their second single ever to make the Hot 100, is basically disco slowed down and rocked up. All of this erzatz disco, from Madonna to Motley Crue, came packaged with glossy music videos. Which brings us to another development that happened a few years before 1984 that reached its apotheosis that year. Reason 2 For the awesomeness of 1984, the peak of first wave MTV it's only a movie. It's not funny. You were scared, weren't you?
- [24:59]
Cyndi Lauper
I wasn't that scared.
- [25:02]
Chris Melanfi
Yeah, you were scared. You could say. 1984 kicked off in spirit on December 2, 1983, when Michael Jackson's cinematic Thriller video, directed by John Landis and modeled after his horror film An American Werewolf in London, premiered on mtv. Jackson's clip gave the fledgling video channel, which had launched just two years earlier, its highest ratings ever. Jackson and MTV were good to each other when Thriller, the song, was issued as a single in January 1984, a full 14 months after Thriller, the album came out. It became the LP's record seventh top 10 single, peaking at number four on the Hot 100 in March of 84. You can do divide early MTV history into before Michael Jackson and after Michael Jackson. Legend has it that the channel largely refused to play videos by black artists before CBS Records threatened to withhold all of their videos unless MTV played Jackson's early 1983 hit Billie Jean. By 1984, MTV was regularly rotating clips by Jackson, Prince, Donna Summer and Lionel Richie. But MTV was also reinventing rock bands that had been around for years as video stars. The Cars, the Boston new wave rockers who'd released their debut album back in 1978, were rebooted in 1984 by their shimmering pop album Heartbeat City and its string of kitschy videos. Their special effects heavy clip for your Might Think not only made that song a top 10 hit, the video upset Michael Jackson's Thriller for Video of the Year at the first MTV Video Music Awards.
- [27:50]
Cyndi Lauper
But I think that you're white when you flash that fragile smile you might think it's foolish but what you put me through, you might think I'm crazy.
- [28:08]
Chris Melanfi
Similarly, Huey Lewis and the News, a San Francisco band that had been around since 1979, played a brand of unpretentious bar room rock and roll. Nothing about the band was hip indeed. These were the guys who years later recorded a song called Hip to Be Square. But for their LP Sports, the telegenic Huey Lewis and his band recorded a string of high concept, comical and plot heavy videos.
- [28:41]
Cyndi Lauper
They say the hotter rock and roll is competing and from what I've seen, I believe I won. Now the over may be barely breathing, but the harder rock and roll, Harder rock and rolls defeat them.
- [28:57]
Chris Melanfi
And they were rewarded with four straight top 10 singles on the Hot 100. Heart and Soul, I Want a New Drug, the Heart of Rock and Roll and if this Is it by the time if this Is it cracked the Hot 100 in the summer of 84, the Sports LP had topped the Billboard album chart and sold 5 million copies. Videos transformed Huey Lewis career and they arguably spurred rock acts of all kinds to up their game to make songs worthy of video treatment. Of course, the bands that had benefited the most from the rise of the music video in America were British New Romantic and New Wave bands who starting in 1982 and 83, went from curios in America to video superstars. By 1984, these bands, led by video demigods Duran Duran, were also chart conquerors in America. As the year began, the band's union of the snake was lodged in the top three on the Hot 100. But what made 84 doubly exciting was that not only were these UK acts still innovating, the US acts had been taking notes. Reason three for the awesomeness of 1984, the second British invasion and America catching up as we discussed in our British Invasions episode of Hit Parade, by the spring of 84, 40% of the Hot 100 was British acts. Fueled in America by MTV, the UK's post punk new romantic and synth pop movements redefined the cutting edge of cool as personified by acts like synth soul duo Eurythmics. Here they are with their ghostly number four hit Here Comes the Rain again.
- [31:23]
Cyndi Lauper
Here comes the rain again Falling on my head like a memory Falling on my head like a new emotion.
- [31:36]
Chris Melanfi
Now just for comparison, here's another number four hit from just a couple of months later, American Laura Brannigan with her ghostly synth pop hit Self Control. It's not a copy of Eurythmics or really any specific act. In fact, it's a cover of an Italian pop song. But you might say that Team Brannigan was taking notes on British new wave. Or further down the chart that same summer, Here's a top 20 hit from British duo Wang Chung, their lush techno pop bop dancehall days, which doesn't sound far removed from this top 20 hit from a few months earlier, Ray Parker Jr's lush technopop ballad I just can't get over loving you.
- [32:46]
Cyndi Lauper
When I hear your name I get more insane Cause I still can't get over loving you.
- [32:59]
Chris Melanfi
Or a few spots further down the chart, here's British progressive rock veterans yes, with their quirky cacophonous electro rock track Leave it, a number 24 hit in the spring of 84. About six months later, here's a number 23 hit by American guitarist Lindsey Buckingham, veteran of Fleetwood Mac with his quirky cacophonous electro rocker go insane.
- [33:42]
Cyndi Lauper
Like I always do.
- [33:46]
Chris Melanfi
In short, let's call this positive transatlantic peer pressure. Three years of British acts setting the bar for hip, smart mass appeal. Pop had rubbed off on the Yanks. Everybody was bringing their A game. So by 1984 it had become expected that a British blue eyed soul group like Culture Club would blend guitars, synthesizers and clattery sound effects on a hit like Miss me blind.
- [34:25]
Cyndi Lauper
I know you miss me.
- [34:27]
Chris Melanfi
But the same week that song was climbing into the top 10. Right next to it were Americans Daryl hall and John Oates with their own blend of guitars, synths and clatter. Adult Education and the Rub Offs weren't just happening across borders, they were happening across genres. Reason four for the awesomeness of 1984. Everybody was crossing over. Let's play a little Name that tune. Here's the intro to a song that broke on the Hot 100 in December 1984. It would eventually peak at number two. Who's the artist? Sounds like moody new wave guitar rock. Is it Duran Duran? The Police? Tears for Fears? Nope, it's R B singer Billy Ocean with Lover boy.
- [35:47]
Cyndi Lauper
I want to be your lover.
- [35:56]
Chris Melanfi
A song that by the way, was co written and co produced by famed rock producer Robert John Mutt Lang, who'd also produced hits earlier in 84 for the cars and Def Leppard Cupboard. Let's Play Again. Whose dance floor breakdown is this? Sounds like hard electro funk club music, right? So who is this chic? The Gap Band? Rick James? Guess again. It's British punk turned pop star Billy Idol. With his fall 84 hit Flesh for Fantasy, it made the top 30 not only on the Hot 100, but also Billboard's rock tracks and dance disco charts.
- [37:00]
Cyndi Lauper
Flash, flash, flash.
- [37:10]
Chris Melanfi
At a time when popular music was coming out of a very segregated period in the 70s and early 80s, with rock and R B and disco staying in separate lanes, the hits of 1984 were all over the genre map. Virtually no one was staying in their lane. Whether it was Lionel Richie, who wrote and recorded a straight up country song called Stuck on youn that made the pop and r b top 10 and even the country charts top 25. An unprecedented chart crossover at the time.
- [37:53]
Cyndi Lauper
Feeling down deep in my soul that I just can't lose Guess I'm on My Way.
- [38:01]
Chris Melanfi
Or Pat Benatar. She'd spent years building a reputation as the leading woman on album rock Radio. She kicked off 1984 with a post disco club rock hybrid whose video featured Benatar leading a troupe of dancers in a syncopated shimmy. The number five hit Love Is a Battlefield. Or Bruce Springsteen, who, as we discussed in our Springsteen episode of Hit Parade, wrote Cover Me for disco queen Donna Summer. Bruce wound up keeping it for himself but maintained its torchy melodrama. The florid operatic rock song was a number seven hit for Springsteen and the E Street Band in the fall of 84.
- [39:09]
Cyndi Lauper
Who will come?
- [39:13]
Chris Melanfi
There were also improbable team ups. A year after Michael Jackson topped the charts with guitarist Eddie Van Halen on Beat it, his brothers the Jacksons upped the ante by teaming with the Stones, Mick Jagger, Mick and Michael yowled over a hard guitar riff on the number three summer 84 hit state of Shock.
- [39:39]
Cyndi Lauper
She Brought Me On My Knees.
- [39:54]
Chris Melanfi
And Phil Collins, who'd been adding Earth, Wind and Fire's horn section to his tracks for years. He finally returned the favor by teaming up with EWF singer Philip Bailey. Their duet Easy Lover, which exploded with Collins booming rock drums and Bailey's fluttery soul vocals, went to number two on the Hot 100, number three R B and number five on the album rock chart.
- [40:30]
Cyndi Lauper
She's the kind of girl you dream of, Dream of keeping hold up.
- [40:39]
Chris Melanfi
And I haven't even mentioned Prince, whose guitar, vocals and very Persona obliterated genre boundaries all over 1984. We'll talk more about him a little later. In the 21st century, genres increasingly seem like quaint relics of a bygone time, and artists record in whatever idiom they like, from Lil Nas X to Steve Lacey, Taylor Swift to Post Malone, Beyonce to Shabuzzi. But in the 80s, this kind of promiscuous genre mixing was revolutionary, and 1984 was ground zero for all of it. More in a moment.
- [41:59]
Jack
Hello, Slate listeners. This is Felix Salmon from Slate Money. I'm sure you've been seeing the headlines from Los Angeles. The wildfires there, the insurance situation there, the prisoners working on the ground as firefighters. So what's really happening and what are the implications of all of this? We just had an episode of Slate Money. It's called the Dire Costs of the LA Fires. My co hosts Emily Peck and Elizabeth Spires and I talk through questions like why people are so fixated on the celebrity homes that have been destroyed.
- [42:36]
Chris Melanfi
I think people are focusing on celebrities right now partly because the bigger macro problems are really overwhelming and terrifying.
- [42:43]
Jack
Where California needs to go from here, and how we should be thinking about the use of inmates as firefighters and whether this choice given to inmates is really a choice at all.
- [42:55]
Chris Melanfi
It's an offer you can't refuse.
- [42:57]
Jack
Listen to the Dire Costs of the LA Fires on Slate Money today.
- [43:09]
Chris Melanfi
Besides all this crossover between genres, there was one genre that really went out of its way to become more accessible in 1984. Reason 5 for the awesomeness of 1984 Metal Goes Pop okay, hold on to your hairnet. I, Chris Melanfi, am about to say something nice about Bon Jovi. Runaway, their debut single, a number 39 hit in April 1984, is a really good song, maybe because it sounds the least like a Bon Jovi song on it. Jon Bon Jovi fronted a group of journeymen, session musicians he never played with again. Runaway was emblematic of glam metal in 1984. And yes, as we discussed in our Hit Parade episode about Bon Jovi, they really were considered metal at that time. After they began topping the Hot 100 a couple of years later, the term hair metal was coined. This brand of metal was frothy, catchy, laced with hooks and piled with synthesizers. Van Halen, whose LP 1984 was the year's top charting hard rock album, did as much for the synthesizer that year as any techno pop act. But even when 1984 metal avoided synths and stuck to guitars, it was shamelessly catchy. Like everything else that year, metal was helping to define the bounds of mass appeal. Pop van Halen scored three top 20 hits in 84, including I'll Wait and Panama and a massive number one hit that we'll discuss later. But they were not alone. They were joined in the top 40 that year by Germany's Scorpions with the number 25 hit Rock youk Like a Hurricane, La Band Rat with their met metallic love song Round and Round. The single reached number 12 and their LP out of the cellar went top 10 and double platinum. And the garish, flamboyant and and deliberately cartoonish Twisted Sister. Their music videos featuring Bugs Bunny style comic violence against parents and principals made Twisted Sister MTV stars. But it must also be said that their number 21 hit, we're not Gonna Take it, written by outspoken Twisted Sister frontman Dee Snider, was a heartfelt, melodic and stirring anthem.
- [47:04]
Cyndi Lauper
Oh, we're not gonna take it no, we ain't gonna take it.
- [47:13]
Chris Melanfi
So even the most meat and potatoes rock bands were going the extra mile in 84. On the other end of the spectrum, America's most cutting edge new genre was infiltrating the zeitgeist. Reason 6 For the awesomeness of 1984 hip hop culture becomes pop culture face by 84 Hip hop had existed for over a decade since DJ Kool Herc's legendary 1973 rec room party, and rap had been a recorded medium for more than four years since 1979's Rapper's Delight. The full pop breakthrough of rap was still a couple of years away, but you could feel it getting closer. At the start of the year, Melly Mel's irresistible anti drug jam White Lines was something like a phenomenon, bubbling under the hot 100 and peaking just outside the top 40 on the R and B chart. Famously, the first rap group to break into the top 10 on the Hot 100 would be running Run DMC with their Aerosmith cover Walk this Way. That wouldn't happen until 1986, but in 84 run DMC were already making waves with their self titled debut album and a string of black radio hits including the rock rap fusion rockbox, a number 22 R B hit. And in the summer of 84, Brooklyn rap troupe Nucleus scored a national hit with their zany electro funk classic Jam On it. It reached number 56, pop number 9, R&B, remarkable for a rap single on an independent label. And speaking as a native Brooklynite, I can tell you Jam on it was as huge on the radio that summer as anything by Madonna or Duran Duran. The way you could tell hip hop culture was really going overground was how elements of the culture. Scratching, rapping and especially breaking were infecting middle of the road. 1984 Pop Records actress and pop star Irene Cara, one year past her number one hit Flashdance what a Feeling returned to the top ten with the single Breakdance. As guileless as this song was, it probably did more to introduce breaking to middle America than most rap singles did. And famously 1984 was was the year breaking hit the big screen. Canon Films released two back to back teen sploitation dance movies in 84 in quick succession the hit Breakin and the insta sequel say it with me now breakin two electric boogaloo. The first breakin generated a top 10 hit from electro soul duo Ollie Brown and Jerry Knight. Ollie and Jerry's breakin There's no stopping us reached number nine in August of 84. But possibly rap's biggest pop culture moment of 84 came on a single by an R B veteran. Chaka Khan's I Feel for you was a cover of a song by Prince with guest harmonica playing by Stevie Wonder and samples of Wonder's early hit hit Fingertips. Punctuated most famously by rapping from Melly Mel and up to the minute scratching and hip hop style production. I Feel for you reached number three on the Hot 100 and number one on the R B chart in November. 84. Chaka Khan's biggest pop hit ever served as a mainstream ambassador to hip hop culture. Rap was also becoming famous for beefs the Diss Records. Roxanne, Roxanne and Roxanne's revenge also dropped in late 84. But the biggest beef of the year happened in the pop world between two female newcomers. It was concocted entirely by the media. Yet even there, something positive emerged. Reason 7 for the awesomeness of 1984 Cyndi Lauper plus not versus Madonna Cyndi Lauper and Madonna, two dance pop singers nurtured in New York's downtown arts and club scene, released their solo debut LP she's so Unusual and Madonna respectively, just weeks apart in the second half of 1983. By 1984, both LPs were spinning off strings of hits. My Love over the Water because the patriarchy won't allow two accomplished women to coexist without trying to start a fight. By mid-84, the press and the music industry positioned Cyndi Lauper and Madonna as would be rivals. As we discussed in our Lauper episode of Hit Parade, neither woman actively engaged in this imagined rivalry. The fact that the media even called it a cat fight was depressing. But here's the thing. This was a happening. Not since the early 60s girl group era had two women launched careers simultaneously and had this much chart impact out of the box. By the end of 84, Lauper became the first woman to pull four top five hits from a single album. The number two hit Girls Just Want to have Fun, the number one Time After Time, the number three she Bop and the number five hit All through the Night. Madonna's success took, believe it or not, a bit longer to get rolling. Holiday was only a number 16 hit, borderline a number 10 hit. But by the time Lucky Star reached its peak In October of 80, Madonna had kicked off a six year streak of 16 consecutive top five hits, a still unbroken Hot 100 record. And she matched Lauper's daring from the start. Just weeks after Cindy peaked with her ode to the joys of female masturbation, she Bop Madonna dropped her meditation on reinvigorated Virginia Trinity. We'll get to that song in more detail a bit later in the show. I choose to remember the Cindy Madonna confluence of 1984 as a next level moment for women on the charts rather than a rivalry. Two great artists, each with totally original pop personae, were dropping first rate bops every few weeks. As the meme says, why not both? When they broke in 84, Madonna was over 25 years old, Lauper 30 years old, fairly mature for brand new pop stars, but they were both kids compared with some of the year's big hitmakers. Which brings up one last X Factor about the year. Reason 8 for the awesomeness of 1984 Old dogs learn new tricks.
- [58:38]
Cyndi Lauper
That time's gotta be nice.
- [58:45]
Chris Melanfi
As I said at the top of our show, Tina Turner pulled off a major comeback in 1984, becoming a bigger hit maker than she'd ever been at the ripe old age of 44. And she was in good company. A wave of pop veterans scored major hits in 80 before not just keeping up with the whippersnappers, but totally reinventing themselves. You might say Tina Turner wasn't the only elder superstar with legs. Legs ZZ Top's first ever top 10 hit in the summer of 84 peaked just as the bearded Texas trio's members turned 35. As we discussed in our Legacy Hits episode, after spending the 70s as Electric Blues Craftsman, ZZ Top rebooted themselves on their Eliminator album as Electrodes dance rockers, retrofitting their guitar crunch with sequencers and synthesizers. And they rebooted themselves as MTV stars in a series of cheeky videos. Or let's consider a very different but just as senior rock band Chicago. They'd been recording since the late 60s. In 1984, as Chicago's members were all between 35 and 40, the Horn Inflected Troupe went multi platinum with Chicago 17, their most hit packed LP ever. Four of its hits crack the top 20 and two of them reached the top five, including the number three hit Hard Habit to Break. And those were just the groups Veteran soloists were also scoring in 84. David Bowie, who had just turned 37, kept up his hot streak that he'd kicked off the year before on the let's Dance LP with his glossy 84 single Blue Jean, a number eight hit in November. Even some of the apparent youngins were older than they looked. Two men who both turned 35 in 1984 had each just recorded his biggest, most hit packed album ever. Lionel Richie, whose Can't Slow Down LP produced five top 10 hits, including two number ones.
- [62:06]
Cyndi Lauper
We were running.
- [62:13]
Chris Melanfi
And Bruce Springsteen, who's born in the USA would produce a record seven top 10 hits across 1984, 85 and 86.
- [62:28]
Cyndi Lauper
Born in the US.
- [62:35]
Chris Melanfi
For Bruce, the only bad news was none of those seven hits reached number one on the Hot 100. But several veterans did go all the way on the big chart, along with avatars of the new pop. From Boy George to Madonna, Duran Duran to Wham. Let's spend part two of this show walking through all of these number one hits hits. When we come back, we'll take a spin through the 20 songs that reach number one on the Hot 100 in 1984. They exemplify all the hallmarks that made 84 pop's greatest year. They were cinematic and charismatic ballads and bops, old school and Next Wave. And the only artist who repeats is let's call him the kid who maybe Was Just Too Bold. Non Slate plus listeners will hear the rest of this episode in two weeks. For now, I hope you've been enjoying this episode of Hit Parade. Our show was written, edited and narrated by Chris Melanfi. That's me. My producer is Kevin Bendis. Derek John is executive Producer of Narrative Podcasts and we had help from Joel Meyer. Alicia Montgomery is VP of Audio for Slate Podcasts. Check out their roster of shows@slate.com podcasts. You can subscribe to Hit Parade wherever you get your podcasts, in addition to finding it in the Slate Culture feed. If you're subscribing on Apple Podcasts, please rate and review us while you're there. It helps other listeners find the show. Thanks for listening, and I look forward to leading the hit parade back your way. We'll see you for part two in a couple of weeks. Until then, keep on marching on the one. I'm Chris Melanphe, SA.