The week of March 29, 1986, found two very 80s hits atop the Billboard Hot 100 in Falco’s ‘Rock Me Amadeus‘ and Heart’s ‘These Dreams,’ both of which have already been featured on the blog.
Just behind those tracks that week was R&B band Atlantic Starr’s hit ‘Secret Lovers,’ which peaked at #3. It’s a sign of my lifelong blindspot for R&B music that I can confidently say I’ve never heard this song before.
Throwing back to the week of March 28, 1976, we find Jonnie Taylor atop the Billboard Hot 100 with the sultry funk ballad ‘Disco Lady.’
This song spent a full month at #1 on its way to being named the #3 song of all 1976. It has the distinction of being the first single designated Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America.
The week of March 22, 1966, found the Vietnam era hit ‘The Ballad of the Green Berets‘ hanging on the #1 spot of the Billboard Hot 100. The British Invasion was hot on its heels, with the next two slots going to The Rolling Stones and The Beatles.
The Stones’ ’19th Nervous Breakdown’ sat at #2, where it would peak, held out of the top spot by the Green Berets. This was the band’s third top five single on the U.S. chart in nine months, after ‘(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction’ and ‘Get Off of My Cloud’ became their first #1 hits in the States the previous summer.
Throwing back to the week of March 21, 1956, we find a host of repeats atop the Billboard singles chart — five songs I’ve already covered during Throwback Weekends and won’t bother listing now.
That brings us to #6, where Pat Boone’s ‘I’ll Be Home’ sat on its way to a peak at #5 the following week. Boone released this song a year after it was written by Ferdinand Washington and Stan Lewis, and a few months after doo-wop band The Flamingos dropped their own version.
The week of March 15, 1986, found Starship atop the Hot 100 for the second time. The first ‘Starship’ single to accomplish the feat was ‘We Built This City,’ which reached #1 in December of 1985.
That song is widely considered one of the worst of all time, so ‘Sara’ is an improvement simply by default. It’s certainly a better song than ‘We Built This City,’ and maybe even a somewhat good song, period? You tell me.
Meet Me In Montauk 