Throwing back to the dog days of 2013, specifically the week of May 25, we find Macklemore & Ryan Lewis occupying the top spot of the Hot 100 with ‘Can’t Hold Us.’
I find with both Throwback Weekends and the Decades series that the closer I get to present day, the less I like the music. Give me the hits of the 60s, 70s and 80s all day every day, but once we get into the 90s, 00s and god forbid the 10s, it’s a minefield.
Today we throw back to the week of May 24, 2003, when the Billboard Hot 100 was topped by Jamaican reggae rapper Sean Paul and his party song ‘Get Busy.’
‘Get Busy’ spent three weeks in the top spot, the first of two Sean Paul solo tracks to reach #1. The second, ‘Temperature,’ came two years later, so we might see it on a future Throwback Weekend.
It’s a family affair this weekend. A decade after Michael Jackson’s ‘Beat It‘ topped the Hot 100, his sister Janet did the same with ‘That’s the Way Love Goes.’ We’re throwing back to the week of May 15, 1993, when the lead single of Janet Jackson’s album Janet dominated the charts.
‘That’s the Way Love Goes’ and Janet shifted Jackson’s image in a sultry, sexually provocative new direction. The song’s video found her dancing slinkily in a sleeveless half-shirt surrounded by her backup dancers (one of whom is a then unknown Jennifer Lopez).
Today we throw back 40 years to the week of May 14, 1983, when a song called ‘Beat It’ by little-known pop singer Michael Jackson topped the Billboard Hot 100.
I was surprised to see I hadn’t featured ‘Beat It’ on the blog through 5,432 Songs of the Day. The closest I’ve come is a Random Weekend feature of ‘Beat It 2008,’ a bonus track on the 25th anniversary re-release of Thriller that remixed the song and added vocals by Fergie. Exhibit A of why Throwback Weekends are already better than Random Weekends.
Yesterday I noted that Stevie Wonder was the youngest person ever to have a #1 song on Billboard’s Hot 100. Today we throw back to the week of May 12, 1973, to feature Wonder’s third #1 hit, released a decade after that first one.
‘You Are the Sunshine of My Life’ was actually at #2 during the week in question, but it ascended to the top spot the following week. I’m highlighting it today because the song at #1 — ‘Tie A Yellow Ribbon Round The Ole Oak Tree’ by Dawn featuring Tony Orlando — was in the same position a month ago when I kicked off Throwback Weekends.
