Pop Shots – A Look At The Top 10 ... From 42 Years Ago

Welcome to your weekly dose of pop world musings. Covering all things pop culture, this week I’m hopping into my time machine again, and this time I’m setting the coordinates to 42 years ago, to take a look at the Billboard Top 10 from this week back in 1983.

With everything from international info, to a bedroom mainstay, to pop, and punk classics, it was a Top 10 that pretty much had it all.

As a nice bonus, I even have a fantastic bit of music trivia at the end of the column!

So let’s get into this exploration in chart history! Of course, since this is Pop Shots, you know everything is seasoned with a little bit of attitude.

1. Toto – Africa

 

If you were a kid in 1983 your working knowledge of Africa might have come entirely from Toto. I’m not saying this as an indictment of the public school system, I’m saying this as an indicator of just how huge the song was.

Weezer famously covered “Africa” in 2018, but based on a recent interview given by Steve Lukather, the Toto founder isn’t entirely sure if Rivers Cuomo and crew actually like the song.

I just gotta ask – how can someone not like “Africa”???

2. Men at Work – Down Under

 

Moving from Africa, to Australia, our ‘80s music education on foreign lands continued with Men at Work teaching us a little something about life “Down Under.”

Of course, I, like most American kids in the ‘80s, had absolutely no idea what Vegemite was, and I don’t think our parents had much of an idea either, but they did a good job of making up an answer when we asked, “What’s a Vegemite sandwich?”

42 years later, many of us still haven’t had Vegemite, but I think we’ve all had at least one friend who’s advised us not to try it.

3. Marvin Gaye – Sexual Healing

 

Not to be too blunt about it, but if you can’t laid after putting on “Sexual Healing,” perhaps you should consider a monastic life.

With this song, along with “Let’s Get It On,” Marvin Gaye was responsible for a significant number of babies being conceived. In fact, if your date of birth is in the fall of ’83, you may owe your existence to “Sexual Healing.”

Sadly, Gaye was killed by his father a little over a year after this song became a hit, and we lost this great voice forever.

4. Patti Austin w/ James Ingram – Baby, Come to Me

 

Staying with music that was made to put you in the mood, with “Baby, Come to Me” Patti Austin and James Ingram gave us a duet that … well … made people want to do some duet type of stuff of their own.

Oddly, this song is rarely mentioned when people talk about ‘80s music. It’s considered a soul classic, but it seems people want their ‘80s nostalgia to have a specific sound, and some of the great soul from the era has been relegated to soul-specific conversations.

To the people who want to leave soul music out of the discussion, I ask – what do you have against love, and/or lovin’?

5. Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band – Shame on the Moon

 

With all due respect to Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band, I have zero recollection of this song. Clearly, there were plenty of people who liked it, as it was #5 this week back in 1983, but I don’t think I’d ever heard it until putting this column together.

It’s not a bad song, but it’s certainly no “Night Moves,” “Old Time Rock & Roll,” or “Turn the Page,” which might be why it’s been lost to time.

6. Daryl Hall & John Oates – Maneater

 

The recent breakup of Hall & Oates was one of the saddest splits in music history. Their combination of pop and soul created a sound that was uniquely theirs, and their extensive catalog of hits is unmatched.

I’d say “Maneater” has always been a personal fave of mine, but to be honest I’d probably call at least a dozen of their songs my personal fave. There’s something special about “Maneater,” though, and it might be that classic ‘80s staple – the epic sax solo.

Here’s hoping one day Hall & Oates will reconcile, and we’ll get to hear this song performed live again.

7. Don Henley – Dirty Laundry

 

Much like “Shame on the Moon,” I don’t remember “Dirty Laundry” at all, but unlike “Shame on the Moon,” “Dirty Laundry” is a jam!

There’s a big Huey Lewis and the News vibe to “Dirty Laundry,” as it’s a rock song with a little bit of a soul backbone. The beat is driving, the keys are addictive, there are two guitar solos … come to think of it, why on earth isn’t this song on every classic rock radio station??? Someone let them know they can play more than just “Boys of Summer”!

8. The Clash – Rock The Casbah

 

There are a lot of people who wear Clash t-shirts who only know “Rock the Casbah,” and maybe one or two other songs from the band. However, there are also a lot of people who dove headfirst into punk rock after hearing “Rock the Casbah.”

A phenomenal song that helped the band cross over, and develop a huge American audience, “Rock the Casbah” is undeniable, even if none of us knew what a Casbah was, and even fewer of us knew the song was a fictional tale about a Middle Eastern king who put a ban on Western rock music.

If you’re keeping track, this would be the third song in this Top 10 that deals with overseas culture.

We really should’ve done better on our history tests … or perhaps this is why we didn’t do well on those history tests.

9. Eddie Rabbitt w/ Crystal Gayle – You and I

 

The third song in this Top 10 that I hadn’t heard before writing this column, “You and I” might be one of the sappiest songs in recorded history. Seriously, it’s so saccharine the FDA should look into the health ramifications of listening to it.

Both Eddie Rabbitt and Crystal Gayle have fantastic voices, but this is the kind of song that would be included in “love music” compilations that were sold via infomercial at 3am.

10. Phil Collins – You Can’t Hurry Love

 

You know what was great about the ‘80s? Phil Collins could look a record exec dead in the eye and say – I’m gonna cover The Supremes, and it’s going to be f*cking awesome.

OK, so maybe the conversation didn’t go exactly like that, but just imagine the chutzpah it took for him to pitch covering “Can’t Hurry Love.” The fact that he didn’t just pull it off, but did an amazing job with it … well, that’s the magic of Phil Collins.

In a fun bit of trivia, this version of the song was first track featured on the initial NOW That's What I Call Music compilation in the U.K.

That’s all for this edition of Pop Shots, but come back next Monday for more shots on all things pop.