Tag: MTV

by Eric Vardeman

Music Monday – Week of October 15

US Top 40 Singles for the Week Ending October 15, 1983

Bonnie Tyler still has a stranglehold on the #1 spot. In fact, the top four stay locked in. The biggest mover of the week is “Modern Love” by David Bowie that jumps 14 spots. Some recognizable songs that debut on the chart this week are:

“Love Is a Battlefield”, by Pat Benatar, which moves up to #35.
“Cum On Feel the Noise”, by Quiet Riot, which moves into the #31 spot.
“Say, Say, Say”, by McCartney and Jackson, which DEBUTS on the chart at #26.

by Eric Vardeman

Music Monday – Week of October 8

US Top 40 Singles for the Week Ending October 8, 1983

Not much change this week. Bonnie Tyler stays at in the #1 spot. The big movers are “All Night Long” by Lionel Ritchie (which jumps 14 spots) and “Tell Her About It” by Billy Joel, which jumps into the top 40 at #32.

by Eric Vardeman

Music Monday – Week of October 1

US Top 40 Singles for the Week Ending October 1, 1983

Bonnie Tyler’s “Total Eclipse of The Heart” moves into the #1 spot. A song penned by Jim Steinman, it was originally SEVEN MINUTES long and titled “Vampires In Love”. He wrote it while working on the musical version of Nosferatu.
Another Jim Steinman song, Air Supply’s “Making Love Out of Nothing At All”, moves into the top 5. It’s a song that was originally presented to Meat Loaf for his Midnight at the Lost and Found album. Meat Loaf claims both of these songs were presented to him for said album but Steinman refutes this claim saying he wront “Eclipse” specifically with Bonnie Tyler in mind.

by Eric Vardeman

Music Monday – Week of September 24

US Top 40 Singles for the Week Ending September 24, 1983

After two weeks at #1, Michael Sembello is knocked out of the top spot by Billy Joel.
“Islands In The Stream” is quickly moving up the charts. It’s a song written by the Bee Gees and sung by American country music artists Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton. Named after the Ernest Hemingway novel, it was originally written for Marvin Gaye in an R&B style, only later to be changed for the Kenny Rogers album.

by Eric Vardeman

Music Monday – Week of September 17

US Top 40 Singles for the Week Ending September 17, 1983

Prince moves back into the top 40 with “Delirious”. Fun fact: The instrumental parts of the song was used as the theme song to the Captain Kangaroo segment, “Hello America”, in the 1980s.
“Burning Down The House” by Talking Heads is climbing the charts. It has one of the funniest song stories I’ve read:

The initial lyrics were considerably different, however. In an interview on NPR’s “All Things Considered” aired on December 2, 1984, David Byrne played excerpts of early work tapes showing how the song had evolved from an instrumental jam. Once the whole band had reworked the groove into something resembling the final recording, Byrne began chanting and singing nonsense syllables over the music until he arrived at a phrasing that fit with the rhythms: “and then I [would] just write words to fit that phrasing…at one point in the process, instead of chanting ‘Burning Down the House,’ I was chanting ‘Foam Rubber, USA.'”

by Eric Vardeman

Music Monday – Week of September 10

US Top 40 Singles for the Week Ending September 10, 1983

Michael Sembello moves into the #1 spot with “Maniac”. The song was included in Flashdance after Sembello’s wife accidentally included it on a tape sent to executives at Paramount Pictures who were looking for music to use in the film. Sembello had originally written the song as a horror theme after watching a slasher film (possible 1980’s Maniac) with lyrics such as “He’s a maniac, maniac, that’s for sure / He will kill your cat and nail it to the door.” Producer Phil Ramone convinced Sembello to write new lyrics to reflect the film’s subject matter.
Songwriter Jim Steinman has two hits in the top 20. “Total Eclipse of The Heart” by Bonnie Tyler checks in at #8 while “Making Love Out of Nothing at All” by Air Supply checks in at #15.

by Eric Vardeman

Music Monday – Week of August 20

US Top 40 Singles for the Week Ending August 20th, 1983

For the third week in a row, the top three songs remain unchanged.
David Bowie’s “China Girl” is slowly climbing the charts. It’s a song that he recorded with Iggy Pop in the mid 70’s when they were both spending time in Berlin. Iggy recorded it for his 1977 album The Idiot. It’s a very different sounding version of the song and, I dare say, Bowie’s version is better. While many people thought the song was about drugs, Iggy has stated it is a metaphor about his career with the Stooges.