It’s hard to believe that 17 years and 6,348 songs into my daily blogging enterprise I had yet to feature the recording often called the worst song of all time.
Well, that oversight is remedied today, as Starship’s ‘We Built This City’ was the #1 song on the Billboard Hot 100 the week of December 23, 1985. Yes, today we’re throwing back to a time when ‘We Built This City’ was an unironic hit.
Throwing back to the week of November 22, 1975, we find KC & the Sunshine Band atop the Billboard Hot 100 with ‘That’s the Way (I Like It),’ the second single from their self-titled sophomore album.
The first single, ‘Get Down Tonight,’ also reached #1 on the chart. These were the first of five eventual #1 hits for the band. ‘That’s the Way (I Like It)’ has the distinction of hitting #1 twice within the same month, as it was briefly replaced by Silver Convention’s ‘Fly Robin Fly’ after topping the charts the first time.
The week of November 16, 1965, found The Supremes atop the Billboard Hot 100 with ‘I Hear a Symphony,’ one of 12 #1 hits for the legendary girl group.
At #2 that week was Len Barry’s ‘1-2-3,’ a song that ended up embroiled in a copyright claim by those very same Supremes. Motown sued Barry and his co-writers, claiming that ‘1-2-3’ bore a strong resemblance to The Supremes’ ‘Ask Any Girl.‘ After two years in the courts, Motown’s Holland–Dozier–Holland writing team was awarded 15% of the royalties from this song.
Throwing back to the week of November 15, 1955, we find a couple of usual suspects atop the Billboard singles chart followed by Tennessee Ernie Jones at #3 with ‘Sixteen Tons.’ The song would ascend to #1 the following week and spend two months there.
This song was written and recorded by country singer Merle Travis a decade earlier. It is sung from the perspective of an Appalachian coal miner.
Jan Hammer owned the #1 spot of the Billboard Hot 100 on the week of December 9, 1985, with the theme to Miami Vice. I covered that track during a week on TV theme songs that topped the chart.
At #2 that week, following a single week at the top spot, was Stevie Wonder’s ‘Part-Time Lover.’ This was the last of eight #1 hits for Wonder, and it is notable for being the first track to reach #1 on four different Billboard charts: Hot 100, dance, R&B, and adult contemporary.
