WHATEVER HAPPENED TO 1984?

1984 was supposed to be the year that we would all be under the thumb of ‘Big Brother’ (at least according to author George Orwell).  That didn’t happen thirty years ago, but it certainly is happening now.  Surveillance cameras are everywhere, cell phones and the internet are being monitored by government agencies, all in the name of security.  But hey, 1984 has its upside too.  It was the year Apple introduced the Macintosh personal computer and that turned out pretty well.

In the music world in 1984, 5 albums and only 5 albums dominated the # 1 spot on Billboard magazine’s Top 100 Album chart for the entire year.  It all works out rather neatly since we have exactly 5 questions, so each question will be about one of the 1984    # 1 albums.  I love it when a plan comes together.  So have at it, y’all.  

     

QUESTIONS

1.  From the week of January 7^th until the week of April 14^th, 1984, this album had a lock on the # 1 spot.  It was the first # 1 album for this performer as a solo artist.  This legendary superstar ‘performed’ his latest song on the Billboard Awards last Sunday despite the fact that he’s been dead since June of 2009.  OK, I suspect you know who the performer is.  What’s the name of his ‘rhymes-with-killer’ 1984 # 1 album?                  

      

2.  The album that replaced the answer to question # 1 stayed on top for 10 straight weeks. It was the soundtrack to a movie about a small American town that had banned dancing and one transplanted big city kid tried to change the town’s thinking.  If you know the name of the movie, then you can easily name the # 1 soundtrack album since the names are identical.  So what is it already?                                          

                

3.  Following the # 1 run of the album that’s the answer to question # 2, this album jumped into the # 1 spot for only one week.  It’s from a San Francisco area group that up to that point, had not had a # 1 single or album.  The number one singles starting happening in 1985 and ’86 when the group had three.  They first charted in 1982 with a Top Ten hit called “Do You Believe In Love” (written by Shania Twain’s ex-husband Mutt Lange).  In ’83 and ’84, they made the Top Ten singles chart four more times.  Then came their big # 1 album in June of 1984.  Be a ‘sport’ and see if you can come up with the name of the album and the group.                               

4.  Replacing the album that’s the answer to question # 3 was the latest from a New Jersey native who’d already been at the top of Billboards’ Album chart once before.  Near the beginning of his career, he was on the cover of both Newsweek and Time magazines simultaneously for the week of October 27, 1975, and was heralded as ‘rock and roll’s future’.  His 1984 # 1 album spawned 7 Top Ten singles.  The video for one of those songs from the summer of ’84 featuring a young actress/dancer named Courtney Cox (10 years before she landed the part of Monica on the TV series “Friends”).  Who’s the singer/songwriter and what’s the name of his 1984 # 1 album?          

    

5.  From the first week in August 1984 until the end of the year (that’s 21 consecutive weeks), this album was # 1.  It continued to sit at the top of the album chart for the first two weeks in 1985 as well, until it was knocked off by the album IT had knocked out of #1 in August of ’84.  Up to this point, this artist had had only one Top Ten album in early 1983.        If you knew the answer to last week’s question # 5, then you also know the answer to this week’s question # 5.  So out with it, who is this guy who liked to party like it was 1999?                     

ANSWERS

1.  1984’s “Thriller” was Michael Jackson’s very first # 1 album.  It had a lock on the # 1 spot for the first 15 weeks of the year.  Quincy Jones produced “Thriller” and “Thriller” produced 3 # 1 singles, “Billie Jean”, “Beat It” and “Say Say Say” (a duet with Paul McCartney).  “Thriller” had originally been released in November 1982 and spent 17 weeks at # 1 through February, March, April, May and June of 1983 but returned to the top of the album chart in late December.  Michael went on to have three more # 1 albums, “1987’s “Bad”, 1991’s “Dangerous” and a greatest hits package in ’95 called “HIStory: Past, Present & Future (Book 1).  From 1994 to 1996, Michael Jackson was married to Elvis Presley’s daughter, Lisa Marie.  He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2001.  Michael died on June 25, 2009.  A hologram of Michael Jackson performing “Slave To The Rhythm” from his latest album “XSCAPE” was one of the highlights of the recent Billboard Music Awards.  “XSCAPE” just debuted at # 1 on the U.K. album chart.       

2.  “Footloose” is the name of the soundtrack album.  Kenny Loggins had a # 1 single for three weeks in March and April of 1984 with the title song.  It was his only solo # 1 hit.  In 2011, Hollywood, for some unknown reason (see: greed), re-made “Footloose”. The new version starred Julianna Huff, Dennis Quaid, Andie MacDowell and Kenny Wormald in the Kevin Bacon role.  Wormald had been born in 1984, the year the original movie had been released.      

    

3.  For the week of June 30^th, 1984 Huey Lewis & The News had the # 1 album in North America with “Sports”.  Prior to forming Huey Lewis & The News, Huey Lewis and keyboard player Sean Hopper had been in the band Clover.  The other ‘News’ men, Johnny Colla (sax & guitar), Mario Cipollina (bass) and Bill Gibson on drums had been in a Bay area group called Soundhole.  In 1978, those five musicians came together and became Huey Lewis & the American Express.  In ’79, they added Chris Hayes on guitar and changed their name to Huey Lewis & The News (American Express had complained).  Their # 1 singles were:  1985’s “The Power Of Love” (featured in the first “Back To The Future” movie.  Huey Lewis had a cameo role in that film), “Stuck With You” in 1986 and ‘87’s “Jacob’s Ladder”, a song written by Bruce Hornsby.  In 1986, Huey Lewis & The News had another # 1 album with “Fore”.            

                    

4.  That would be Bruce Springsteen with “Born In The U.S.A.”.  Bruce had previously had a # 1 album in 1980 with “The River”.  ‘84’s “Born In The U.S.A.” was his second # 1 album.  The 7 Top Top singles that came from “Born In The U.S.A.” were: “Dancing In The Dark”    (# 2) and “Cover Me (# 7), both from ’84.  Those were followed by “Born In The U.S.A.”     (# 9), “I’m On Fire” (# 6), “Glory Days” (# 5), “I’m Goin’ Down” (# 9) and “My Hometown” (# 6), all of whom peaked in ’85 except for “My Hometown”, which peaked in January of ’86.         

    

5.  The answer is: Prince with the soundtrack from “Purple Rain”.  As we mentioned last week, Prince has sold over a hundred million records.  His first album, “For You”, didn’t do too well as it ‘bubbled under’ the Top 100 at # 163 in 1978.  It was his 5^th album, “1999” that finally cracked the Top Ten, climbing to # 9 in May of ’83.  Then came Prince’s first # 1 album, “Purple Rain” in ’84, followed by his next # 1, 1985’s “Around The World In A Day”.  The purple one’s third # 1 album was the soundtrack to “Batman” in 1989.                        

ROCKIN’ THE ROYALS

This coming long weekend, known as the ‘Victoria Day Weekend’ in most of Canada, celebrates Britain’s Queen Victoria.  It’s also referred to as the ‘May 2-4 weekend’, although it doesn’t always fall on the 24^th of May.  So just for fun (because there certainly isn’t any profit in it), our quiz this time is about hit songs or groups that have ‘royal’ connections.  Either their name has a ‘royal’ connotation or the song title has ‘royal’ in it.  Example:  Aretha Franklin is referred to as the ‘Queen of Soul’.  Elvis Presley was the ‘King of Rock and Roll’, etc. so of course, none of the questions will be about them.  

            

All of the songs and/or the artists in question went to # 1.  The years range from 1967 to 2013.  Keep a stiff upper lip old chap, take your best ‘royal’ shot and have a happy ‘Vicky’ weekend those of who celebrate such things.  

     

QUESTIONS

1.  This teenaged singer/songwriter from New Zealand had her # 1 ‘royalty’ song win two Grammy Awards this past March.  One was for ‘Song of the Year’.  The other for ‘Best Pop Solo Performance’.  Her mother is a prize winning poet.  In the tradition of Cher or Madonna, this performer also uses only one name.  Do you know what it is?                

      

2.  In 1980, this ‘royal’ British group hit the # 1 spot on Billboards’ Hot 100 chart for the

first time.  They had initially charted in 1975 and eventually charted 29 hits of varying degrees.  Two of their songs made it to # 1.  Mike Myers (the actor, not the movie’s masked murderer) helped take one of this groups’ songs to # 2 on Billboards’ Hot 100 chart for the second time in 1992.  Can you name this ‘killer’ group?                                    

                

3.  This group first made the singles chart in 1966 with a song about a beloved cartoon character versus one of World War I’s German flying ace.  The following year, they recorded a song about the same duo at Christmas.  It went straight to the top of the Christmas charts.  Can you ‘snoop’ around your brain and come up with the name of this ‘royal’ group?                          

4.  She’s a multi Grammy Award winning singer/songwriter - the most successful female songwriter of all time.  Some of the hits she wrote or co-wrote were recorded by Aretha Franklin, The Shirelles, James Taylor, Bobby Vee, The Monkees, Little Eva and The Beatles.  In 1971, her solo album ”Tapestry” was # 1 for 15 weeks from June 19^th until September 25^th.  She’s in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as well as the Songwriters Hall of Fame.  Who the heck is this ‘queen’ of the record charts?        

    

5.  It was 20 years ago this year that this singer/songwriter hit # 1 on Billboards’ Hot 100 singles chart.  In fact, that year, he did it twice.  He’s a colourful performer who prefers purple.  He famously had a few problems with his record company, Warner Bros.  So much so, that he insisted they not call him by his name and that he be known only by a symbol.  He also wrote several hits that other artists made successful, including “Manic Monday”, a # 2 hit for The Bangles in 1986 and “Nothing Compares 2 U”, a # 1 smash for Sinead O’Connor in 1990.  On his own, he charted over 50 single hits and that includes 5 # 1’s.  Do you know his artists’ name?  Don’t ‘go crazy’ trying to figure it out though.                     

ANSWERS

1.  New Zealander Lorde won her two Grammy Award this year for her song “Royals”.  Her real name is Ella Marija Lani Yelich-O’Connor but she says she chose her stage name Lorde because of her fascination with royalty and aristocracy.  She says she though Lord was too masculine so she added the ‘e’ at the end and became Lorde.  She was first signed to Universal Music at the age of 13, but didn’t hit big time success with “Royals” until she was 17.  She’s the first solo artist from New Zealand to have a # 1 hit on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart.     

2.  Freddie Mercury, Brian May, Roger Taylor and John Deacon were Queen.  Their first chart hit was 1975’s “Killer Queen” which got to # 12.  That was followed by “Bohemian Rhapsody” (the first time around) which went to # 9.  Several more chart hits followed, but nothing made it to the top spot until February 23^rd, 1980 when “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” climbed to # 1.  That song fought off all comers for 4 weeks until Pink Floyd’s “Another Brick In The Wall (Part II)” replaced it.  Queens’ “Another One Bites The Dust” also went to # 1 for 3 weeks in October of ‘80.  “Bohemian Rhapsody” had a comeback in 1992 thanks to the movie “Wayne’s World”.  This time around, it climbed to # 2.  Lead singer Freddie Mercury died in 1991 at the age of 45.  The members of Queen were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2001.  As well, the current hit play, “We Will Rock You” is built around the songs of Queen.  

    

3.  In 1967, The Royal Guardsmen took their hit “Snoopy’s Christmas” straight to # 1 on the Christmas singles chart.  The previous year, “Snoopy Vs The Red Baron’ had climbed all the way to # 2 on Billboards’ Hot 100, but it was kept out of the # 1 spot by The Monkees “I’m A Believer”.   

                    

4.  1971 was the year singer/songwriter Carole King first hit # 1 on Billboards’ Hot 100 chart as a solo performer with her song “It’s Too Late” from her album “Tapestry”.  Carole wrote (or co-wrote with her then husband Gerry Goffin), 118 hits that charted on Billboards’ Hot 100, including “You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman” (Aretha Franklin), “Pleasant Valley Sunday” (The Monkees), “Loco-Motion” (Little Eva/Grand Funk), “Up On The Roof” (The Drifters) and “Chains” (The Cookies/The Beatles).  She’s won 4 Grammy Awards (plus a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and Grammy Trustees Award), has a star on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame and, along with former husband Gerry Goffin, was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990.  The duo had previously been inducted (in 1987) into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.  While in high school, Carole briefly dated fellow student (and later hit maker) Neil Sedaka.  She’s also guest starred in such television shows as “The Mary Tyler Moore Show”, “The Tracy Ullman Show” and most recently, “The Gilmore Girls”.                    

    

5.  Prince is the award winning name we were looking for.  Real name: Prince Rogers Nelson.  Prince has sold over a hundred million records around the world.  He first charted in 1978, but the song, “Soft And Wet” only managed to make it to # 92 on Billboards’ Hot 100 chart.  He first cracked the Top Ten in ’83 with “Little Red Corvette” (# 6), then did it again a few months later with “Delirious” (# 8).  His five # 1 hits are: “When Doves Cry” (1984), “Let’s Go Crazy” (1984), “Kiss” (1986), “Batdance” (1989) and “1991’s “Cream”.  Prince always produces himself and has a state-of-the-art recording studio complex in Minneapolis he calls Paisley Park.