Sunday, November 8, 2015

Billboard Magazine's top 20 Pop Songs from 1983

"Disco" was finally dead & its' queen, Donna Summer was hanging on with one of her final top hits "She Works Hard for the Money." MTV changed the landscape of pop music with videos & the biggest star of the new genre was Michael Jackson who had a great year with the biggest album ever, "Thriller."

The "Solid Gold" dancers became TV stars in syndication with their scantily clad dance costumes. (My favorite dancer was the gorgeous Beverly). Paramount Pictures created music videos inside movie story lines. Their dance film "Flashdance" was huge & the soundtrack became the biggest selling album since "Saturday Night Fever." Irene's Cara's "Flashdance: What a feeling" was played on the radio way too much. It was a monster hit. Music videos inside films was the trend throughout the 1980's.

The final TV show episode of "M*A*S*H" grabbed over 100 million TV viewers. Remember, there were only 3 major networks back then, NBC, ABC & CBS. It became the years of excess with "President Ronald Reagan 1980's decade." 

My favorite song that year was of course "Billy Jean" by Michael Jackson. I liked "Maniac" by Michael Sembello from "Flashdance" which would be a 1 Hit wonder for him. I absolutely loved "Africa" by Toto. 

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