WEBVTT - Introducing Hit Parade from Slate: "What’s 1984 Got to Do with It Edition Part 1" 0:00:15.476 --> 0:00:15.956 Pushkin. 0:00:20.236 --> 0:00:22.156 Hey there, it's justin Richmond. I want to take a 0:00:22.196 --> 0:00:23.996 moment to share a podcast with you that I think 0:00:23.996 --> 0:00:26.796 you'll enjoy. It's called Hit Parade, a show from Slate 0:00:26.876 --> 0:00:31.116 about chart topping hits and what makes a song a smash. 0:00:31.316 --> 0:00:34.636 It's hosted by pop chart analyst and our friend Chris Malanfi. 0:00:35.716 --> 0:00:38.236 Twice a month, Chris tells tales from more than half 0:00:38.236 --> 0:00:42.156 a century of pop chart history through storytelling, trivia, and 0:00:42.236 --> 0:00:45.156 song snippets. Peters Sex how artists you love or hate 0:00:45.236 --> 0:00:49.196 dominated the airwaves and shaped your memories forever. Today, we're 0:00:49.236 --> 0:00:52.076 sharing one of our favorite episodes with you, What's nineteen 0:00:52.116 --> 0:00:55.236 eighty four got to do with It? Edition. In the episode, 0:00:55.356 --> 0:00:58.276 christ Dice Sex eight reasons why nineteen eighty four was 0:00:58.316 --> 0:01:01.116 awesome for pop fans and walks us through all twenty 0:01:01.196 --> 0:01:04.116 years of the year's number one hits, from Jump to 0:01:04.236 --> 0:01:08.116 Hello karm a Chameleon to Caribbean Queen, Let's Go Crazy 0:01:08.156 --> 0:01:10.596 to Like a Virgin. And when you're done listening to 0:01:10.636 --> 0:01:12.836 this episode, make sure to go check out part two 0:01:12.876 --> 0:01:14.916 on Hip Parade's feed and go give the show a 0:01:14.996 --> 0:01:17.036 follow so you never miss another one. 0:01:17.316 --> 0:01:18.636 Now here's Chris. 0:01:19.836 --> 0:01:24.836 Hello, Broken Record fans. Chris Molanfi here. I'm so excited 0:01:24.836 --> 0:01:27.956 to share with you one of hip Parade's most popular 0:01:28.076 --> 0:01:32.876 episodes from the last few months, our exploration of what critics, 0:01:32.996 --> 0:01:36.876 chart fans, and pundits call the greatest year in pop 0:01:37.196 --> 0:01:40.756 nineteen eighty four. What you're about to hear is part 0:01:40.916 --> 0:01:44.156 one of the episode, in which I run down all 0:01:44.276 --> 0:01:48.116 of the factors that made nineteen eighty four an exceptional year, 0:01:48.476 --> 0:01:52.356 from dance music to the Second British Invasion to hair 0:01:52.396 --> 0:01:55.796 metal and hip hop. And there's a whole lot more 0:01:55.876 --> 0:01:59.276 in part two, where we walk through all twenty of 0:01:59.316 --> 0:02:03.116 the number one hits from nineteen eighty four. So when 0:02:03.156 --> 0:02:06.356 you're done listening to Part one, make sure to find 0:02:06.436 --> 0:02:10.476 Hip Parade wherever you listen to podcasts and continue the 0:02:10.556 --> 0:02:15.116 story with Part two. Okay, let's get in the time machine, 0:02:15.196 --> 0:02:19.316 hairspray our bangs, put on some legwarmers, and head back 0:02:19.356 --> 0:02:22.756 to the year when doves cried, feet were loose, and 0:02:22.876 --> 0:02:37.996 girls just wanted to have fun nineteen eighty four. Welcome 0:02:38.076 --> 0:02:41.596 to hip Parade, a podcast of pop chart history from 0:02:41.676 --> 0:02:45.636 Slate magazine about the hits from coast to coast I'm 0:02:45.716 --> 0:02:49.516 Chris molanfy chart analyst, pop critic and writer of Slate's 0:02:49.556 --> 0:02:53.316 Why Is This Song? Number One series on Today's Show 0:02:53.596 --> 0:02:57.436 forty years ago this week, this was the number one 0:02:57.596 --> 0:03:03.076 song in America, an improbable comeback by a regal, statuesque 0:03:03.116 --> 0:03:07.316 singer who'd fought hard to return to the center of 0:03:07.356 --> 0:03:10.836 the pop conversation. For the woman who came to be 0:03:10.996 --> 0:03:14.516 known as the Queen of rock and roll, the late 0:03:14.636 --> 0:03:18.476 summer of eighty four gave her the first and only 0:03:18.676 --> 0:03:23.196 Hot one hundred chart topper of her career, Tina Turner 0:03:23.596 --> 0:03:26.156 with What's Love Got to Do With It? 0:03:29.476 --> 0:03:32.276 Love to Do It? 0:03:33.156 --> 0:03:37.236 By the Hot Man hog at Me Brother. 0:03:38.636 --> 0:03:42.596 Here's a question you maybe haven't considered in all the 0:03:42.716 --> 0:03:46.676 dozens of times you've probably heard What's Love Got to 0:03:46.756 --> 0:03:50.836 Do With It? What is this song? How would you 0:03:50.916 --> 0:03:55.516 classify it? Given Tina Turner's background, you might call it 0:03:55.636 --> 0:04:00.276 rhythm and blues, but Turner preferred to call herself a 0:04:00.476 --> 0:04:04.516 rock singer. Critics note that the songs versus have the 0:04:04.676 --> 0:04:09.076 lilts of reggae or calypso music, but by the way 0:04:09.236 --> 0:04:12.876 way it was first offered to and recorded by a 0:04:13.036 --> 0:04:16.836 white British New wave band. We'll get to them later. 0:04:17.236 --> 0:04:22.796 Tina's recording charted on Billboard's Pop, R and B, Rock, Dance, 0:04:22.956 --> 0:04:40.076 and Adult Contemporary charts. Basically, this is a song for everyone. 0:04:41.556 --> 0:04:44.636 I would call What's Love Got to Do With It? 0:04:45.196 --> 0:04:50.196 Nineteen eighty four music. It represents everything that made that 0:04:50.356 --> 0:04:54.876 year of pop legendary. The hits of nineteen eighty four 0:04:54.956 --> 0:05:15.716 were admirably hard to classify. Bands from the world of 0:05:15.836 --> 0:05:26.076 rock were playing with dance music, funk, even synthesizers job job, 0:05:32.076 --> 0:05:35.716 while artists who were classified as R and B were 0:05:35.836 --> 0:05:49.676 rocking harder than ever. Veteran acts who had been around 0:05:49.796 --> 0:05:54.196 for a decade or more were, like Tina Turner, trying 0:05:54.316 --> 0:06:09.036 new tricks, and a new generation of upstarts were upsetting 0:06:09.396 --> 0:06:26.156 the status quo. Sleek dance music was back, even though 0:06:26.196 --> 0:06:46.516 we didn't call it disco anymore. A new wave of 0:06:46.756 --> 0:06:58.996 teen pin ups were grabbing for pop's brass ring bye Bye, 0:07:02.116 --> 0:07:07.236 and of course, thanks to the dominance of MTV, videos 0:07:07.316 --> 0:07:20.436 made the charts more colorful than ever. Ben Today, on 0:07:20.676 --> 0:07:24.516 Hip Parade, we will travel back four decades to a 0:07:24.636 --> 0:07:28.476 year that's been called the greatest in chart history. What 0:07:28.716 --> 0:07:34.276 made nineteen eighty four so exceptional. Why did rockers and rappers, 0:07:34.636 --> 0:07:39.476 punks and popsters, divas and dream boats all produce some 0:07:39.756 --> 0:07:44.316 of their best work? And why forty years later are 0:07:44.356 --> 0:07:46.876 we still missing that moment? 0:07:47.756 --> 0:07:56.476 Another break down this long distance Lines and Nights. 0:08:02.156 --> 0:08:05.916 It was a time when some of the most innovative 0:08:06.036 --> 0:08:10.596 music wasn't the province of hipster's crew or crate diggers. 0:08:11.036 --> 0:08:15.676 It was power rotated on the radio, like, for example, 0:08:16.076 --> 0:08:17.796 the top hit of the year. 0:08:18.876 --> 0:08:19.396 This is what. 0:08:20.956 --> 0:08:22.956 Wine doves crime. 0:08:25.996 --> 0:08:29.636 And that's where your hit parade marches today. The week 0:08:29.836 --> 0:08:34.996 ending August fourth, nineteen eighty four, when Princes When Doves 0:08:35.076 --> 0:08:38.596 Cry was in its fifth and final week at number 0:08:38.676 --> 0:08:41.796 one on the Hot one hundred, on its way to 0:08:41.876 --> 0:08:46.316 being named Billboard's top hit of the year. It's rare 0:08:46.516 --> 0:08:50.436 that any year's biggest hit is also its best, but 0:08:50.836 --> 0:08:54.796 that's the kind of year nineteen eighty four was still 0:08:54.916 --> 0:08:59.476 the gold standard for chart fans four decades later. So 0:09:00.116 --> 0:09:03.916 join me as we recall a time when rain was purple, 0:09:04.276 --> 0:09:08.396 feet were loose, the reflex was a lonely child, and 0:09:08.636 --> 0:09:19.516 girls just wanted to have fun. Stick around. 0:09:25.036 --> 0:09:26.756 We'll be right back with more from this episode of 0:09:26.836 --> 0:09:27.316 Hit Parade. 0:09:27.516 --> 0:09:41.716 After the break, We're back with hit Parade. 0:09:45.636 --> 0:09:51.356 This is Canadian pop star Corey Hart with Sunglasses at Night, 0:09:51.796 --> 0:09:55.436 a number seven hit in the summer of nineteen eighty four. 0:09:56.116 --> 0:10:01.036 In September of twenty fourteen, thirty years after this song 0:10:01.196 --> 0:10:04.796 was a hit, and ten years ago this month, Rolling 0:10:04.876 --> 0:10:10.076 Stone magazine ran a special commemorative feature ranking of the 0:10:10.476 --> 0:10:15.836 one hundred best singles of nineteen eighty four, and Sunglasses 0:10:15.916 --> 0:10:19.916 at Night was the song they ranked in one hundredth place, 0:10:20.636 --> 0:10:25.796 which is about right. Corey Heart's American breakthrough single isn't 0:10:25.796 --> 0:10:30.356 the most devastatingly brilliant hit of eighty four, but it's 0:10:30.356 --> 0:10:34.716 a bop and it is of its time, a very cheeky, 0:10:34.956 --> 0:10:55.956 kitchy and melodramatic synthpop jam. Maybe all that said, Sunglasses 0:10:56.036 --> 0:11:00.396 at Night still gets played on classic hits radio stations 0:11:00.476 --> 0:11:04.076 to this day and has racked up more than one 0:11:04.156 --> 0:11:09.356 hundred and thirty two million streams on Spotify. And this 0:11:09.436 --> 0:11:13.036 is the nineteen eighty four hit that Rolling Stone ranked last. 0:11:13.796 --> 0:11:17.676 It should also be noted that the magazine hasn't done 0:11:17.796 --> 0:11:22.756 similar commemorative countdowns for other years of pop. In fact, 0:11:22.996 --> 0:11:27.476 when they published their twenty fourteen feature, Rolling Stone boldly 0:11:27.636 --> 0:11:32.156 titled the Countdown one hundred best singles of nineteen eighty 0:11:32.236 --> 0:11:34.796 four Pop's greatest year? 0:11:39.156 --> 0:11:39.316 Is that? 0:11:50.996 --> 0:11:53.476 By the way, here's the song they ranked all the 0:11:53.476 --> 0:11:57.636 way up at number two, Madonna's Borderline. Bet you've heard 0:11:57.716 --> 0:12:02.636 that one on the radio recently too. Rolling Stone's countdown 0:12:02.956 --> 0:12:05.716 is a great read, we'll link to it on the 0:12:05.796 --> 0:12:10.396 Hit Parade show page, and a good argument starter. The 0:12:10.436 --> 0:12:15.236 biggest argument might be over that title pop's greatest year? 0:12:16.036 --> 0:12:20.516 Aren't there other candidates? By the way, three years ago, 0:12:20.716 --> 0:12:24.476 on this very podcast, we at Hip Parade made the 0:12:24.516 --> 0:12:28.476 case for the music of nineteen seventy one, a year 0:12:28.596 --> 0:12:33.636 of greatness from Janice Joplin, The Stones, sly Stone, Rod 0:12:33.756 --> 0:12:35.836 Stewart and Carol King. 0:12:37.196 --> 0:12:37.956 And It's. 0:12:40.356 --> 0:12:41.396 It's to Night? 0:12:42.116 --> 0:12:45.476 Do we really jatindergain? 0:12:47.196 --> 0:12:51.556 To be clear, rolling Stone called nineteen eighty four pop's 0:12:51.876 --> 0:12:58.276 greatest year, not rock's greatest, R and B or rap's greatest. This, 0:12:58.756 --> 0:13:02.676 I think is defensible. As I said at the top 0:13:02.716 --> 0:13:05.956 of our show, nineteen eighty four was a big year 0:13:05.996 --> 0:13:10.676 for pop as a centralizing force. Rock plus R and 0:13:10.796 --> 0:13:15.556 B plus dance plus country plus hip hop all found 0:13:15.556 --> 0:13:19.916 a place on the radio in eighty four, and nineteen 0:13:19.996 --> 0:13:24.196 eighty four was an unbeatable year for the pop single, 0:13:24.716 --> 0:13:29.276 So naturally, chart nerds like your hip parade host hold 0:13:29.316 --> 0:13:30.636 it in a high esteem. 0:13:33.396 --> 0:13:36.516 Let the music play. It moves from thirteen to ten 0:13:36.596 --> 0:13:40.236 in our countdown of the forty biggest, Shannon at number nine, 0:13:40.276 --> 0:13:51.476 here's Cindy Lauper with girls just want to have fun. 0:13:51.836 --> 0:13:54.396 When you look. 0:13:54.676 --> 0:13:58.516 I'll just cop to it as someone born in nineteen 0:13:58.636 --> 0:14:02.476 seventy one who became a teenager in nineteen eighty four, 0:14:02.996 --> 0:14:06.796 my bias is undeniable when it comes to both of 0:14:06.876 --> 0:14:11.116 those years. So of course I think nineteen eighty four 0:14:11.236 --> 0:14:15.196 was a great year for pop. But before I provide 0:14:15.236 --> 0:14:18.756 more objective reasons why it might not just be me 0:14:19.436 --> 0:14:23.756 and the staff of Rolling Stone claiming this, there's one 0:14:23.836 --> 0:14:28.116 more debate we need to address that does often come 0:14:28.236 --> 0:14:32.516 up in these pop nerd discussions. Was nineteen eighty four 0:14:32.636 --> 0:14:38.996 the great year? Or was it actually nineteen eighty three? 0:14:39.236 --> 0:14:51.716 That's the beasts. In a recent installment of his online column, 0:14:51.956 --> 0:14:56.996 radio consultant Sean Ross pulled programmers, critics, and chart fans 0:14:57.356 --> 0:15:01.036 over whether they preferred the hits of nineteen eighty three 0:15:01.476 --> 0:15:05.116 or eighty four. Ross took it as a given that 0:15:05.396 --> 0:15:09.316 this two year duopoly was the high water mark of 0:15:09.356 --> 0:15:15.676 Contemporary Hits Radio or CCHR by just under a two 0:15:15.756 --> 0:15:21.276 to one margin. Ross's police preferred nineteen eighty four, but 0:15:21.396 --> 0:15:24.556 there was a strong eighty three contingent. 0:15:28.476 --> 0:15:32.876 Sweet Teams as. 0:15:32.996 --> 0:15:37.036 I could just as easily have done this episode about 0:15:37.196 --> 0:15:41.556 eighty three. It really was an amazing year, the moment 0:15:41.716 --> 0:15:46.596 when the second British invasion took hold, with Duran, Duran, Eurhythmics, 0:15:46.836 --> 0:15:51.956 Culture Clubs, Spandau Ballet, Madness, Edie Grant and Dexy's Midnight 0:15:52.036 --> 0:15:57.596 Runners all scoring their first American hits, major chart comebacks 0:15:57.636 --> 0:16:05.756 for Donna, Summer Marvin Gay, Elton John and David Bowie 0:16:07.196 --> 0:16:16.036 put on Red, the peak year for Michael Jackson's streak 0:16:16.076 --> 0:16:19.596 of hits from Thriller, a late nineteen eighty two album 0:16:19.836 --> 0:16:24.076 that totally dominated eighty three, as well as the pop 0:16:24.196 --> 0:16:38.596 breakthrough of Prince. What made nineteen eighty three exciting was 0:16:38.676 --> 0:16:43.956 the upsurge before the cultural wave crested. The truth is 0:16:44.396 --> 0:16:47.916 a lot of the nineteen eighty four music we'll discuss 0:16:48.036 --> 0:16:52.356 in this episode was actually released in eighty three. Big 0:16:52.476 --> 0:16:57.476 eighty four hits by Madonna, Cindy Lauper, Lionel Ritchie, Duran, Duran, 0:16:57.876 --> 0:17:02.756 the Pointer Sisters, yes Zz Top and Billy Idol, among 0:17:02.876 --> 0:17:17.116 many others, emerged from the cauldron of eighty three. So 0:17:17.596 --> 0:17:20.596 in a way, you can think of nineteen eighty four 0:17:20.716 --> 0:17:24.956 on the charts as at least two years rolled into one. 0:17:25.476 --> 0:17:29.076 The movements that were bubbling up earlier in the decade 0:17:29.436 --> 0:17:34.636 finally coalesced. As I argued in our nineteen seventy one 0:17:34.876 --> 0:17:38.596 episode of Hip Parade. Seventy one was when the music 0:17:38.676 --> 0:17:44.796 of the sixties came into full artistic fruition. Similarly, the 0:17:44.836 --> 0:17:49.796 innovations of nineteen eighty two and eighty three bloomed into 0:17:50.076 --> 0:17:55.756 full flower in nineteen eighty four. So I'm now going 0:17:55.796 --> 0:17:59.716 to run down a list of eight reasons why nineteen 0:17:59.876 --> 0:18:03.836 eighty four ruled, and the first reason will take us 0:18:03.876 --> 0:18:08.836 back before nineteen eighty three or eighty two. In fact, 0:18:09.196 --> 0:18:13.276 we need to go back to just before the eighties began. 0:18:14.276 --> 0:18:19.796 Reason one for the awesomeness of nineteen eighty four overcoming 0:18:19.996 --> 0:18:35.716 the disco backlash, as we have discussed in several prior 0:18:35.876 --> 0:18:40.676 Hit Parade episodes, nineteen seventy nine was a turning point 0:18:40.796 --> 0:18:45.116 for dance music on the charts and in the popular consciousness. 0:18:45.676 --> 0:18:49.596 In the wake of Chicago's menacing Disco Demolition Night in 0:18:49.756 --> 0:19:06.476 July of seventy nine, disco became a dirty word. The 0:19:06.636 --> 0:19:11.596 music did not actually die. Disco acts like Donna Summer 0:19:11.836 --> 0:19:16.196 and production teams like Sheikh's, Nile Rogers and Bernard Edwards 0:19:16.556 --> 0:19:21.076 continued to score hits into the nineteen eighties, but a 0:19:21.156 --> 0:19:25.396 backlash to the culture of disco turned the charts away 0:19:25.476 --> 0:19:30.596 from anything perceived as to dance oriented or black derived. 0:19:31.196 --> 0:19:34.396 In the first few years of the nineteen eighties, the 0:19:34.516 --> 0:20:07.796 hit parade pivoted toward light balladarie, country crossover, and yacht rock, 0:20:12.476 --> 0:20:16.796 but by nineteen eighty two and eighty three, as new 0:20:16.876 --> 0:20:21.396 wave synthpop began emerging on the charts, the sound of 0:20:21.516 --> 0:20:27.516 this so called new pop was essentially disco in another guise, like, 0:20:27.796 --> 0:20:32.156 for example, ABC's top twenty hit The Look of Love 0:20:33.196 --> 0:20:47.156 Looks and the overwhelming chart success of Michael Jackson provided 0:20:47.276 --> 0:20:51.236 a new model for black music that drew from disco 0:20:51.356 --> 0:21:05.876 production styles but felt more modern. By late eighty three 0:21:06.196 --> 0:21:10.556 and early eighty four, dance music, which is what we 0:21:10.676 --> 0:21:13.956 called it. Then pop fans were careful never to say 0:21:13.996 --> 0:21:18.476 the other five letter D word was doing better on 0:21:18.556 --> 0:21:22.916 the charts than it had since nineteen seventy nine. Sleek 0:21:23.116 --> 0:21:27.196 club styles were finding their place on the radio, like 0:21:27.316 --> 0:21:43.636 the electro dance music of the Pointer Sisters. 0:21:33.676 --> 0:21:33.756 The. 0:21:42.356 --> 0:21:58.916 Explosive freestyle of Shannon, and of course, the nuveaux postdisco 0:21:59.196 --> 0:22:14.476 of a newcomer named Madonna. All discussions of what made 0:22:14.676 --> 0:22:18.756 nineteen eighty four great have to start with the disco 0:22:18.876 --> 0:22:24.596 backlash and the comeback from the backlash, because this informs 0:22:24.796 --> 0:22:29.596 virtually everything that brought pop music back to life, even 0:22:29.636 --> 0:22:35.036 if no one was saying the word disco, dance, music, production, tropes, 0:22:35.356 --> 0:22:40.396 and black informed styles were infecting all manner of hit music, 0:22:40.956 --> 0:22:44.996 not just club music or R and B, but also 0:22:45.316 --> 0:23:03.716 straight up rock like zz Top UK, synthpop like Bronski Beat, 0:23:14.756 --> 0:23:19.196 and even metal. This nineteen eighty four Motley Crue hit, 0:23:19.516 --> 0:23:22.556 their second single ever to make the hot one hundred 0:23:22.996 --> 0:23:38.396 is basically disco slowed down and rocked up. To all 0:23:38.516 --> 0:23:43.276 of this. Erzat's disco from Madonna to Motley Crue came 0:23:43.436 --> 0:23:48.116 packaged with glossy music videos which brings us to another 0:23:48.276 --> 0:23:52.356 development that happened a few years before nineteen eighty four, 0:23:52.836 --> 0:23:58.316 that reached its apotheosis that year. Reason two for the 0:23:58.516 --> 0:24:04.556 awesomeness of nineteen eighty four. The peak of first wave MTV. 0:24:08.396 --> 0:24:11.596 Is Holy mo, it's not funny. 0:24:12.956 --> 0:24:17.156 You was scared? Weren't here? Oh Listen't that scared? 0:24:19.476 --> 0:24:29.436 This is scared, you could say. Nineteen eighty four kicked 0:24:29.436 --> 0:24:34.396 off in spirit on December tewod nineteen eighty three, when 0:24:34.516 --> 0:24:40.356 Michael Jackson's cinematic thriller video, directed by John Landis and 0:24:40.516 --> 0:24:44.836 modeled after his horror film and American Werewolf in London, 0:24:45.396 --> 0:24:51.596 premiered on MTV. Jackson's clip gave the fledgling video channel, 0:24:51.756 --> 0:24:56.476 which had launched just two years earlier, its highest ratings ever. 0:24:57.196 --> 0:25:01.956 Jackson and MTV were good to each other. When Thriller 0:25:02.196 --> 0:25:06.436 the Song was issued as a single in January nineteen 0:25:06.516 --> 0:25:11.116 eighty four, a full fourteen month after Thriller the Album 0:25:11.276 --> 0:25:16.396 came out, It became the LP's record seventh top ten single, 0:25:16.756 --> 0:25:19.956 peaking at number four on the Hot one hundred in 0:25:20.156 --> 0:25:21.396 March of eighty four. 0:25:23.356 --> 0:25:23.836 That's not. 0:25:39.436 --> 0:25:45.156 You can divide early MTV history into before Michael Jackson 0:25:45.356 --> 0:25:49.556 and after Michael Jackson. Legend has it that the channel 0:25:49.876 --> 0:25:55.196 largely refused to play videos by black artists before CBS 0:25:55.236 --> 0:26:00.156 Records threatened to withhold all of their videos unless MTV 0:26:00.436 --> 0:26:05.276 played Jackson's early nineteen eighty three hit Billy Jean. By 0:26:05.396 --> 0:26:11.316 nineteen eighty four, MTV was regularly rotating clips by Jackson, Prince, 0:26:11.676 --> 0:26:27.316 Donna Summer, and Lionel Richie Oh. But MTV was also 0:26:27.556 --> 0:26:31.716 reinventing rock bands that had been around four years as 0:26:31.876 --> 0:26:36.676 video stars. The Cars, the Boston new wave rockers who 0:26:36.836 --> 0:26:40.956 released their debut album back in nineteen seventy eight, were 0:26:41.036 --> 0:26:45.476 rebooted in nineteen eighty four by their shimmering pop album 0:26:45.716 --> 0:26:50.876 Heartbeat City and its string of kitchy videos. Their special 0:26:50.916 --> 0:26:55.076 effects heavy clip for You Might Think Not only made 0:26:55.196 --> 0:26:59.076 that song a top ten hit, the video upset Michael 0:26:59.156 --> 0:27:03.116 Jackson's Thriller for Video of the Year at the first 0:27:03.356 --> 0:27:06.156 MTV Video Music Awards. 0:27:08.396 --> 0:27:23.116 When the phrase. 0:27:24.276 --> 0:27:28.836 Similarly, Huey Lewis and the News, a San Francisco band 0:27:28.876 --> 0:27:32.636 that had been around since nineteen seventy nine, played a 0:27:32.676 --> 0:27:37.436 brand of unpretentious barroom rock and roll. Nothing about the 0:27:37.476 --> 0:27:41.356 band was hip, Indeed, These were the guys who years 0:27:41.436 --> 0:27:45.076 later recorded a song called Hip to Be Square. But 0:27:45.636 --> 0:27:50.556 for their LP Sports, the telegenic Huey Lewis and his 0:27:50.716 --> 0:27:55.716 band recorded a string of high concept, comical and plot 0:27:55.876 --> 0:28:16.516 heavy videos. They and they were rewarded with four straight 0:28:16.756 --> 0:28:20.596 top ten singles on the Hot one hundred, Heart and Soul, 0:28:21.076 --> 0:28:24.156 I Want a New Drug, the Heart of Rock and Roll, 0:28:24.276 --> 0:28:26.156 and if This is It. 0:28:26.556 --> 0:28:29.356 The Never, If This is It. 0:28:33.996 --> 0:28:34.076 It. 0:28:38.156 --> 0:28:41.156 By the time If This Is It cracked the Hot 0:28:41.196 --> 0:28:44.676 one hundred in the summer of eighty four, the Sports 0:28:44.836 --> 0:28:49.236 LP had topped the Billboard album chart and sold five 0:28:49.396 --> 0:28:55.876 million copies. Videos transformed Huey Lewis's career, and they arguably 0:28:55.996 --> 0:28:59.236 spurred rock acts of all kinds to up their game 0:28:59.716 --> 0:29:04.236 to make songs worthy of video treatment. Of course, the 0:29:04.276 --> 0:29:07.276 bands that had benefited the most from the rise of 0:29:07.316 --> 0:29:11.556 the music video in America were British New Romantic and 0:29:11.676 --> 0:29:15.996 New Wave bands, who, starting in nineteen eighty two and 0:29:16.116 --> 0:29:26.916 eighty three, went from curios in America to video superstars. 0:29:30.716 --> 0:29:35.636 By nineteen eighty four, these bands, led by video demigods 0:29:35.756 --> 0:29:40.716 Duran Duran, were also chart conquerors in America. As the 0:29:40.836 --> 0:29:44.916 year began The band's Union of the Snake was lodged 0:29:44.956 --> 0:29:47.996 in the top three on the Hot one hundred. But 0:29:48.156 --> 0:29:52.236 what made eighty four doubly exciting was that not only 0:29:52.276 --> 0:29:57.116 were these UK acts still innovating, the US acts had 0:29:57.116 --> 0:30:02.076 been taking notes. Reason three for the awesomeness of nineteen 0:30:02.116 --> 0:30:07.356 eighty four, the second British invasion and America catching up. 0:30:08.236 --> 0:30:12.796 As we discussed in our British Invasions episode of Hit Parade. 0:30:13.156 --> 0:30:16.236 By the spring of eighty four, forty percent of the 0:30:16.276 --> 0:30:20.996 Hot one hundred was British acts, fueled in America by MTV. 0:30:21.476 --> 0:30:26.676 The UK's post punk, new romantic and synthpop movements redefined 0:30:26.716 --> 0:30:30.396 the cutting edge of cool, as personified by acts like 0:30:30.716 --> 0:30:35.156 synth soul duo Eurythmics. Here they are with their ghostly 0:30:35.356 --> 0:30:38.436 number four hit here comes the Rain Again. 0:30:40.316 --> 0:30:47.636 Comes flying on my head like a memory flying on 0:30:47.796 --> 0:30:50.076 my head, you emotion. 0:30:52.796 --> 0:30:56.916 Now, just for comparison, here's another number four hit from 0:30:57.076 --> 0:31:01.356 just a couple of months later, American Laura Brannigan with 0:31:01.596 --> 0:31:06.796 her ghostly synthpop hit self Control. It's not a copy 0:31:06.876 --> 0:31:11.236 of Eurythmics or really any specific act. In fact, it's 0:31:11.276 --> 0:31:14.396 a cover of an Italian pop song, but you might 0:31:14.516 --> 0:31:18.876 say that Team Brannigan was taking notes on British new 0:31:18.956 --> 0:31:32.156 wave can Take. Or further down the chart that same summer, 0:31:32.436 --> 0:31:35.956 here's a top twenty hit from British duo Wang Chung 0:31:36.396 --> 0:31:52.356 their lush technopop bop dancehall Days, which doesn't sound far 0:31:52.476 --> 0:31:56.356 removed from this top twenty hit from a few months earlier, 0:31:56.716 --> 0:32:00.716 Ray Parker Junior's lush techno pop ballad I just can't 0:32:00.796 --> 0:32:02.796 get over loving you. 0:32:02.836 --> 0:32:04.276 When I do your name. 0:32:05.556 --> 0:32:06.116 I give. 0:32:08.076 --> 0:32:08.676 Does I do. 0:32:11.916 --> 0:32:12.476 Loving you? 0:32:14.196 --> 0:32:14.676 I can't? 0:32:15.676 --> 0:32:19.356 Or a few spots further down the chart, here's British 0:32:19.436 --> 0:32:24.996 progressive rock veterans Yes with their quirky Cacoffinus electro rock 0:32:25.076 --> 0:32:28.556 track Leave It, a number twenty four hit in the 0:32:28.596 --> 0:32:41.276 spring of eighty four. About six months later, here's a 0:32:41.396 --> 0:32:46.676 number twenty three hit by American guitarist Lindsey Buckingham, veteran 0:32:46.836 --> 0:32:53.156 of Fleetwood Mac, with his quirky Cacoffinus electra rocker Go Insane. 0:32:54.156 --> 0:33:07.236 So say, in short, let's call this positive Transatlantic peer pressure. 0:33:07.676 --> 0:33:11.036 Three years of British acts setting the bar for hip, 0:33:11.236 --> 0:33:15.036 smart mass appeal pop had rubbed off on the Yanks. 0:33:15.516 --> 0:33:19.996 Everybody was bringing their a game. So by nineteen eighty four, 0:33:20.276 --> 0:33:23.756 it had become expected that a British blue eyed soul 0:33:23.796 --> 0:33:29.036 group like Culture Club would blend guitars, synthesizers and clattery 0:33:29.116 --> 0:33:32.436 sound effects on a hit like miss Me Blonde. 0:33:34.476 --> 0:33:39.996 You miss Me and miss Me and miss Me Blood. 0:33:42.316 --> 0:33:43.076 You Miss Me. 0:33:43.556 --> 0:33:46.436 But the same week that song was climbing into the 0:33:46.476 --> 0:33:50.116 top ten. Right next to it were Americans Daryl Hall 0:33:50.196 --> 0:33:53.916 and John Oates with their own blend of guitars, synths 0:33:53.996 --> 0:34:09.876 and clatter. Adult Education and the Ruboffs weren't just happening 0:34:09.956 --> 0:34:16.236 across borders. They were happening across genres. Reason four for 0:34:16.436 --> 0:34:21.316 the awesomeness of nineteen eighty four. Everybody was crossing over. 0:34:21.996 --> 0:34:25.796 Let's play a little name that tune. Here's the intro 0:34:25.996 --> 0:34:28.276 to a song that broke on the Hot one hundred 0:34:28.356 --> 0:34:31.996 in December nineteen eighty four. It would eventually peak at 0:34:32.076 --> 0:34:46.796 number two. Who's the artist? Sounds like moody new wave 0:34:46.916 --> 0:34:52.996 guitar rock. Is it Duran, Duran? The Police Tears for Fears. Nope, 0:34:53.236 --> 0:35:05.396 it's R and B singer Billy Oshan with Loverboy the 0:35:13.236 --> 0:35:16.156 a song that, by the way, was co written and 0:35:16.276 --> 0:35:20.636 co produced by famed rock producer Robert John mutt Lang, 0:35:21.036 --> 0:35:24.276 who'd also produced hits earlier in eighty four for The 0:35:24.356 --> 0:35:29.516 Cars and def Leppard. Let's play again? Whose dance floor breakdown? 0:35:29.756 --> 0:35:29.836 Is? 0:35:29.996 --> 0:35:30.156 This? 0:35:47.556 --> 0:35:52.156 Sounds like hard electro funk club music, right, So who 0:35:52.236 --> 0:35:56.876 is this? Chic the Gap band Rick James Guess again, 0:35:57.316 --> 0:36:01.156 it's British punk turned pop star Billy Idol. With his 0:36:01.356 --> 0:36:05.396 Fall eighty four hit Flesh for Fantasy. It made the 0:36:05.436 --> 0:36:08.556 top thirty not only on the Hot one hundred, but 0:36:08.676 --> 0:36:27.356 also Billboards Rock Tracks and dance disco chartssh rash. At 0:36:27.436 --> 0:36:30.196 a time when popular music was coming out of a 0:36:30.396 --> 0:36:34.516 very segregated period in the seventies and early eighties, with 0:36:34.796 --> 0:36:38.796 rock and R and B and disco staying in separate lanes, 0:36:39.276 --> 0:36:42.716 the hits of nineteen eighty four were all over the 0:36:42.876 --> 0:36:47.196 genre map. Virtually no one was staying in their lane, 0:36:47.716 --> 0:36:51.396 whether it was Lionel Ritchie who wrote and recorded a 0:36:51.436 --> 0:36:55.636 straight up country song called Stuck on You that made 0:36:55.676 --> 0:36:58.356 the pop and R and B Top ten and even 0:36:58.436 --> 0:37:03.516 the country charts Top twenty five, an unprecedented chart crossover 0:37:03.676 --> 0:37:04.316 at the time. 0:37:04.996 --> 0:37:12.196 Yeah, the feeding down, deep and massole. Then I just 0:37:12.396 --> 0:37:14.476 came use guess. 0:37:14.196 --> 0:37:14.876 A mon. 0:37:17.716 --> 0:37:22.236 Or Pat Benattar. She'd spent years building a reputation as 0:37:22.276 --> 0:37:25.956 the leading woman on album rock radio. She kicked off 0:37:26.076 --> 0:37:29.756 nineteen eighty four with a post disco club rock hybrid 0:37:30.036 --> 0:37:34.196 whose video featured Benatar leading a troop of dancers in 0:37:34.276 --> 0:37:46.236 a syncopated shimmy. The number five hit Love is a Battlefield. 0:37:50.076 --> 0:37:52.276 That is a bed. 0:37:53.676 --> 0:37:58.196 Or Bruce Springsteen, who, as we discussed in our Springsteen 0:37:58.316 --> 0:38:02.676 episode of Hit Parade, wrote cover me for disco Queen 0:38:02.876 --> 0:38:06.756 Donna summer. Bruce wound up keeping it for himself, but 0:38:06.996 --> 0:38:11.876 maintained its torchy millow dry. The florid operatic rock song 0:38:12.236 --> 0:38:15.316 was a number seven hit for Springsteen and the East 0:38:15.316 --> 0:38:30.516 Street Band in the fall of eighty four. There were 0:38:30.676 --> 0:38:35.396 also improbable team ups. A year after Michael Jackson topped 0:38:35.396 --> 0:38:38.836 the charts with guitarist Eddie Van Halen on Beat It, 0:38:39.196 --> 0:38:43.116 his brothers The Jacksons upped the ante by teaming with 0:38:43.236 --> 0:38:47.956