Today we throw back to the week of April 24, 1993, and the most popular white reggae song of all time — Snow’s ‘Informer.’
This borderline incomprehensible track was written by the Canadian artist (real name Darrin Kenneth O’Brien) after he was jailed on charges of attempted murder. The song is a diatribe against the titular snitches who put him behind bars, and seemingly promises violent retribution (Snow pantomimes firing a gun in the video while singing “I lick he boom-boom down”).
It’s week two of Throwback Weekends, and rather than go into all the parameters again I’ll just dive in to the music (you can read the guidelines for these weekends on last week’s post if you’d like).
Today we’re throwing back to the week of April 23, 1983, when English pop band Dexys Midnight Runners topped the Billboard Hot 100 with ‘Come On Eileen.’ This is a classic one-hit wonder in the States, though the band had a decent number of hits in their home country.
Our second Throwback Weekend song comes from the week of April 21, 1973, when Dawn and Tony Orlando reached the top spot of the Hot 100 with ‘Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Old Oak Tree.’
Released the month before the U.S. pulled its last troops out of Vietnam, this song hit a nerve not just in America but all over the world. It topped the charts in eight countries, selling millions of copies worldwide. In the states it was the top-charting single not just of this week but for all of 1973.
Welcome to the inaugural installment of Throwback Weekends! As a reminder, here’s how weekend posts will work going forward…
On the first Saturday (today), I will feature the song that topped the Billboard Hot 100 on the same week 60 years ago. On the first Sunday (tomorrow), I’ll feature the #1 song from the same week 50 years ago. The following weekend, I’ll cover that week’s 40- and 30-year old hits, then 20 and 10 years back on the weekend after that. Then it’s back to 60, rinse and repeat.
Meet Me In Montauk 