Throwing back to the week of Nov. 2, 1954, we find a familiar trio hanging on at the top three of Billboard’s singles chart: Eddie Fisher’s ‘I Need You Now‘ and two Rosemary Clooney tracks, ‘Hey There‘ and ‘This Ole House.’
At #4 that week was Perry Como’s ‘Papa Loves Mambo,’ a tune that capitalized on a nationwide interest in the Cuban dance music style.
We nearly had a Stevie Wonder two-fer this weekend, as the #1 song the week of October 27, 1984, was his ‘I Just Called to Say I Love You.’
But I featured that insipid track a week ago, so it’s just one Stevie Wonder song (a much better one) this weekend. Still, it’s impressive that Wonder was able to hold the #1 spot on the same week a decade apart.
Throwing back to the week of October 26, 1974, we find Dionne Warwick atop the Billboard Hot 100 with ‘Then Came You,’ covered here a couple of weeks ago.
At #2 was Stevie Wonder’s political screed ‘You Haven’t Done Nothin’.’ which would reach the top spot the following week before dropping out of the top ten. Wonder was backed up on this track by the Jackson 5, whom he calls out by name after the second and third choruses.
English rock band Manfred Mann held the #1 spot on Billboard’s Hot 100 the week of October 20, 1964, with ‘Do Wah Diddy Diddy,’ a song I think I first heard when Bill Murray marches to it in Stripes.
‘Do Wah Diddy Diddy’ started its life as ‘Do-Wah-Diddy,’ a 1963 release by the vocal group The Exciters. That version peaked at #78 before the white boys claimed it and took it to the top of the charts.
After writing about one too many lazy R&B jams, I’ve made the executive decision to narrow Throwback Weekends to the 50s through the 80s. I’m always excited to discover which songs were popular in those four decades, and seldom excited to relive the hits of the 90s and 00s, so why not make it official?
Part of the appeal of the earlier decades is that they all predate my adulthood. I was either a teenager, a kid, or not yet born when those songs came out. That makes for a more entertaining throwback than revisiting the hits of my 20s and 30s. Plus, popular music in the 90s and 00s frequently sucked.
