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Song of the Day #6,653: ‘When I Think of You’ – Janet Jackson

Throwing back to the week of Oct. 11, 1986, we find Janet Jackson atop the Billboard Hot 100 with ‘When I Think of You,’ the third single from her blockbuster album Control.

This dance-pop song gave Jackson her very first #1 hit (of an eventual ten). It also made her and brother Michael the first (and to date, last) siblings to have #1 hits as solo artists. Plenty of siblings have topped the charts together (including The Bee Gees, The Jackson 5, The Jonas Brothers, Dire Straits, The Beach Boys, and Hanson) but only these two apart.

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Song of the Day #6,652: ‘Disco Duck (Part One)’ – Rick Dees and His Cast of Idiots

Back in March, in a Throwback Weekends post about Johnnie Taylor’s ‘Disco Lady,’ I noted that it was the first #1 hit with the word “disco” in its title. I went on to write that only one other such song reached #1 in the future… and here we are.

‘Disco Duck,’ a novelty track by Memphis disc jockey Rick Dees, spent a single week atop the Billboard Hot 100 exactly 60 years ago.

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Song of the Day #6,651: ‘I’ll Be Home for Christmas’ – Dolly Parton

Dolly Parton kicked off the 90s with a staple that seems to show up in every artist’s catalog — a Christmas album.

Parton had actually recorded her first Christmas release in 1984 in collaboration with Kenny Rogers. Their Once Upon a Christmas was a double Platinum smash. But 1990’s Home for Christmas was Dolly’s first solo holiday effort.

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Song of the Day #6,650: ‘Why’d You Come in Here Lookin’ Like That’ – Dolly Parton

Following 9 to 5, the rest of Dolly Parton’s 80s output was a mixed bag. She released a well-received country album (1982’s Heartbreak Express), a pop/country crossover (1983’s Burlap & Satin) and an album of synth-pop covers (1984’s The Great Pretender).

Real Love (1985) and Rainbow (1987) chased the era’s production trends with little success, trying to shoehorn Parton into a pop formula that was only occasionally successful. The failure of Rainbow, in particular, pushed her back toward her country comfort zone.

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Song of the Day #6,649: ‘What a Heartache’ – Dolly Parton

Dolly Parton kicked off a side career as a movie actress in 1980’s 9 to 5 and went on to appear in seven more films over the next few decades.

The best of those was 1989’s Steel Magnolias, a sad, funny, Southern melodrama in which Parton more than holds her own opposite a cast of legends.

In between those two major successes came two troubled productions — 1982’s The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas and 1984’s Rhinestone.

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