American Top 40 replay- The 1980’s- week of September 1, 1984. A pretty good week with two Prince classics in the Top 10. I count 31 A’s and B’s- sadly the worst song in this countdown- is from the greatest artist- Stevie Wonder jumping the shark with ‘I Just Called To Say I Love You”- one of the worst hits ever by a major artist. Lame.
1 2 WHAT’S LOVE GOT TO DO WITH IT –•– Tina Turner (Capitol)-16 (1 Week at #1) (1) A
2 5 MISSING YOU –•– John Waite (EMI-America)-11 (2) B+
3 3 STUCK ON YOU –•– Lionel Richie (Motown)-11 (3) B
4 1 GHOSTBUSTERS –•– Ray Parker, Jr. (Arista)-12 (1) B-
5 4 WHEN DOVES CRY –•– Prince (Warner Brothers)-14 (1) A+
6 9 SHE BOP –•– Cyndi Lauper (Portrait)-7 (6) B
7 8 SUNGLASSES AT NIGHT –•– Corey Hart (EMI-America)-15 (7) B
8 16 LET’S GO CRAZY –•– Prince & The Revolution (Warner Brothers)-5 (8) A+
9 11 IF THIS IS IT –•– Huey Lewis & The News (Chrysalis)-7 (9) B
10 10 IF EVER YOU’RE IN MY ARMS AGAIN –•– Peabo Bryson (Elektra)-17 (10) B-
11 13 THE WARRIOR –•– Scandal Featuring Patty Smyth (Columbia)-10 (11)B
12 12 ROUND AND ROUND –•– Ratt (Atlantic)-12 (12) A
13 15 LIGHTS OUT –•– Peter Wolf (EMI-America)-8 (13)A
14 18 DRIVE –•– The Cars (Elektra)-5 (14) A
15 6 I CAN DREAM ABOUT YOU –•– Dan Hartman (MCA)-18 (6) A
16 21 THE GLAMOROUS LIFE –•– Sheila E. (Warner Brothers)-12 (16) A+
17 17 ROCK ME TONITE –•– Billy Squier (Capitol)-9 (17) C
18 7 STATE OF SHOCK –•– The Jacksons with Mick Jagger (Epic)-10 (3) B-
19 22 ALL OF YOU –•– Julio Iglesias & Diana Ross (Columbia)-9 (19) C
20 24 DYNAMITE –•– Jermaine Jackson (Arista)-7 (20) C
21 26 CRUEL SUMMER –•– Bananarama (London)-7 (21) A-
22 29 COVER ME –•– Bruce Springsteen (Columbia)-4 (22) A
23 28 WHEN YOU CLOSE YOUR EYES –•– Night Ranger (MCA / Camel)-8 (23) D
24 20 SEXY GIRL –•– Glenn Frey (MCA)-10 (20) D
25 14 SAD SONGS (Say So Much) –•– Elton John (Geffen)-13 (5) B
26 31 WE’RE NOT GONNA TAKE IT –•– Twisted Sister (Atlantic)-6 (26) A
27 27 LEAVE A TENDER MOMENT ALONE –•– Billy Joel (Columbia)-9 (27) B-
28 32 HARD HABIT TO BREAK –•– Chicago (Full Moon / Warner Brothers)-5 (28) B-
29 19 DANCING IN THE DARK –•– Bruce Springsteen (Columbia)-15 (2) A+
30 35 TORTURE –•– The Jacksons (Epic)-3 (30) C
31 33 RIGHT BY YOUR SIDE –•– Eurythmics (RCA)-7 (31) B+
32 23 PANAMA –•– Van Halen (Warner Brothers)-11 (13) B+
33 46 I JUST CALLED TO SAY I LOVE YOU –•– Stevie Wonder (Motown)-3 (33) F
34 39 THE LUCKY ONE –•– Laura Branigan (Atlantic)-5 (34) C
35 40 GO INSANE –•– Lindsey Buckingham (Elektra)-6 (35) A+
36 36 17 –•– Rick James (Gordy)-8 (36) B-
37 42 THERE GOES MY BABY –•– Donna Summer (Geffen)-4 (37) B
38 38 TWO SIDES OF LOVE –•– Sammy Hagar (Geffen)-8 (38) C
39 41 ONLY WHEN YOU LEAVE –•– Spandau Ballet (Chrysalis)-6 (39) B
40 49 LUCKY STAR –•– Madonna (Sire)-2 (40) A+
I was a Jr in High School…I remember most of these very well. Not a bad top 40…
1984 was a pretty good year
Wait. September of ’84? You are class of ’85, yes? Wouldn’t this be your senior year? I was starting college… We are less than five months apart.
If we started back then…yea technically it could. I always think of 84 as my Jr class. It was real close to starting so I guess so
When did y’all start school? We were in the last week of August. I always started a new grade around my birthday.
Sometimes after September 1st …. there was one year that it was near October because of asbestos. They had to clear it.
I remember hating Labor Day because that meant we went back to school the next day on Tuesday! Summer seemed to last forever to me when i was young.
Yes I remember that too. Now they go back at the beginning of August
how did you feel that year when you went back in October due to the asbestos removal? I can’t imagine what this summer vacation was like- the kids in our town- were out in mid-March due to the virus and just went back this week. I imagine some couldn’t wait to get back and of course others -it won’t be for a couple months before they get used to getting up early…. as a teacher I always liked having a really ‘bad’ kid first period they were still half asleep. you didn’t want to have the bad kid the last period of the day.
I loved it. We used every single day to do things because we knew it was special. I still remember that feeling.
I bet many were glad to be back if they stayed at home mostly… probably few went on vacation or did much but text or play games. It took me a couple of weeks to be awake at work after 2 months.
Good point about the bad kid… never thought of it like that.
other teachers who had the kid would i know get a little mad at me when they’d say so-and so caused them all kinds of problems and I would just say “I have him first period he never says a word!”.. yes you used that free time off to the Max….there was a winter back in 1976-77 when we were off Christmas vacation and then in January due to a cold winter and the energy crisis I think we had a couple days of school in January- they’d cancel school on a Sunday night for the rest of the week- it was always great knowing in advance like that- we have the whole week off! Then the next Sunday they’d do it again!
I don’t know about you guys but we treated those days like those were extra days given to our lives… it was like an extra Christmas. The winter of 77 here was a bad one. I lived on a dangerous road and when it snowed bad here schools would be off for a week or two and then my bus would not run when they opened and that bought me 2-5 Days excuse absences.
We had a snowbird report with our counties on the weather map with snow… I would be a happy boy. That meant closure.
When I think of that winter- there was snow on the ground from thanksgiving to mid- March- and I lived at the top of a hill- the road seemed to be covered with snow most of the winter- a lot of sled riding. Sure did use that time off well. I am glad there were no cell phones back then.
Oh geez I’m glad we didn’t have cell phones either.
Jen tells me about the snow WV got back then… it was incredible.
Our big snow would be 5-7 inches but that would knock the schools out for sometimes 2 weeks. Now we hardly get any.
Sledding was so much fun. We would walk up frozen creeks also.
I remember thinking after that winter- every winter is going to be like this- of course if i recall correctly the next winter was very mild.. and then we got into the pattern where about every winter was mild. Same here little snow now- last year I only had to shovel snow once- and it wasn’t much of a snow actually a couple inches.
Since then… it’s been mild. It just stopped all together pretty much.
The last memory I have of that winter in 77 was a… maybe you remember this… a front came through and dumped a lot of snow and then doubled back and dumped snow again. We got around 7-10 inches… also I remember seeing it thunder and lightning and snowing at night. The only time I remember that.
That is crazy- I can’t recall that but it probably happened here also.. Another memory I have of that winter- our sidewalk since the temps never warmed up all winter- iced over and finally after a good period of time my dad decided it may never warm up- so we went out and cleared the ice off the sidewalk- it was very thick and seemed to take forever. I remember how happy I was when we were finally done with that job. That was the one time I wish I wasn’t the oldest child!
Oh man…clearing thick ice off a sidewalk? That doesn’t sound like a good time at all! I had to clear the porch but that is all…we lived in the country…no sidewalk…thank goodness lol.