Musical Monday - Rock With You by Michael Jackson

#1 on the Billboard Hot 100: January 19, 1980 through February 9, 1980.

#1 on the Cash Box Top 100: January 12, 1980 through January 26, 1980.
#1 on the U.K. Chart: Never.

I remember when I first heard Rock With You. My family had returned from living in Tanzania for two years and my parents were visiting some friends they had met years before when my father was in graduate school. Their friends had a daughter who was the same age as me, and in an effort to reintroduce me to American music, she put on Jackson's record. I don't know if there is a more whitebread setting for listening to Michael Jackson than the basement of a house in suburban Illinois, but if there is, I've never been in it.

Rock With You was Michael Jackson's first number one hit of the 1980s. The song appeared on his 1979 album Off the Wall, which was Jackson's first solo album in four years and represented something of a breakthrough for the singer. Four singles from the album reached the top ten, including this one. This album was also the first Jackson recorded for Epic Records, which seems to have freed him somewhat from the style that he had established over the years at Motown Records and may have allowed him to be slightly more experimental with his music.

And yet, despite all of that, Rock With You is just about as bland and generic a pop song as one could imagine. There is almost nothing truly memorable about it other than the fact that it was, in part, what launched Jackson to the pinnacle of pop stardom during the 1980s. One tidbit of information that helps describe just how generic this piece of extruded pop product is is the fact that it was offered to Karen Carpenter for her solo album project, and it only got recorded by Jackson because she turned it down.

I have to admit that I was not, and never have been, a big fan of Jackson's music. I don't deny his skills, but on the Prince-Jackson axis, for example, I have always been decidedly on the "Prince" end of the spectrum. In comparison with so many of the other artists of the 1980s, Jackson's music was pretty much inoffensive and vanilla, which I suspect is one of the reasons why he became so popular. It is also probably why a preteen girl in Illinois playing his records was acceptable in a way that playing Sexy Dancer or Why You Wanna Treat Me So Bad? might not have been. I don't suppose it is an accident that Jackson's two best songs were different from his usual pop pablum and included guitar riffs provided by Eddie van Halen and Steve Stevens.

I guess this is just a long way of saying that I never really understood the hype that surrounded Michael Jackson but most of his songs (including this one) are generally innocuous poppy tunes that lack any kind of edge that would cut through their blandly pleasant nature.

Previous Musical Monday: Escape (The Piña Colada Song) by Rupert Holmes

Subsequent Musical Monday: Brass in Pocket by the Pretenders

Previous #1 on the Billboard Hot 100: Escape (The Piña Colada Song) by Rupert Holmes

Subsequent #1 on the Billboard Hot 100: Do That to Me One More Time by Captain and Tennille

Previous #1 on the Cash Box Top 100: Escape (The Piña Colada Song) by Rupert Holmes

Subsequent #1 on the Cash Box Top 100: Do That to Me One More Time by Captain and Tennille

List of #1 Singles from the Billboard Hot 100 for 1980-1989
List of #1 Singles from the Cash Box Top 100 for 1980-1989
List of #1 Singles on the U.K. Chart for 1980-1989

Michael Jackson     1980s Project     Musical Monday     Home

Book Blogger Hop April 27th - May 3rd: There Are 252 Ways of Writing the Number 4 as a Sum of Six Squares of Integers

Jen at Crazy for Books restarted her weekly Book Blogger Hop to help book bloggers connect with one another, but then couldn't continue, so she handed the hosting responsibilities off to Ramblings of a Coffee Addicted Writer. The only requirements to participate in the Hop are to write and link a post answering the weekly question and then visit other blogs that are also participating to see if you like their blog and would like to follow them.

This week Billy asks: Have you ever thought of writing a respectful, but angry letter to an author to ask them WHY they killed off one of your favorite characters in a novel?

No. I have not.

If an author writes a fictional character well enough, and brings them to life vividly enough that you care when they die, that author has done their work really well. That's something to appreciate and celebrate, not something to be angry about.

Previous Book Blogger Hop: 251 Is a Sophie Germain Prime

Subsequent Book Blogger Hop: Aemilianus Was Roman Emperor for Three Months in 253 A.D.

Book Blogger Hop     Home

Review - Babylon's Ashes by James S.A. Corey

Short review: Earth is in ruins, Mars is in disarray, the OPA is divided against itself, and those are just the easy problems.

Haiku
The Earth on fire
Humanity divided
Can Holden save us?

Long review: Babylon's Ashes is the sixth book in the Expanse series, and is essentially the second part of the story that was begun in Nemesis Games. As this novel opens up, the heroes have been reunited, but the Earth is still under siege and Inaros' splinter portion of the OPA still holds the alien gateway to the thousands of extra-Solar worlds. Even though Holden, Naomi, Alex and Amos are reunited, and Avasarala and Bobbi have survived to try to salvage something out of the wreckage of the inner planets, the "Free Navy" still seems to hold all the cards and our heroes still have their backs up against the wall.

The entire Expanse series of novels has a few themes running through it, and Babylon's Ashes is no exception. The only odd thing about this novel is that one of the themes is not "Holden makes any situation he comes into contact with worse", but the other - "Humans continue to try to kill one another in the  face of inscrutable alien technology" - is definitely to be found here. The grievances that caused Inaros' and his followers to launch their attack on Earth are rooted in the very existence of the alien gateway to the stars that has formed the core storyline that runs through the entire series. Fearful at being left behind now that they are no longer needed, Inaros' radical group of Belters leveraged the existing grievances the denizens of the outer planets had before the protomolecule opened up a thousand new worlds to colonize, and once they had obtained a sufficient power base, they lashed out and murdered hundreds of millions of people on Earth, essentially wrecking the planet (and in the process, almost unthinkingly dooming the people they claimed to be representing). The interesting twist on the running theme is that even though the inscrutable alien technology is the primary driver of the conflict in this novel, it doesn't really appear in it much. The novel is essentially about the consequences of introducing humanity to alien forces, but none of those consequences actually flow from the actions of the alien presence.

This novel continues the practice of rotating between viewpoint characters in each chapter, but unlike previous volumes, the range of viewpoint characters is not limited to a handful of critical individuals. Instead, there are at least seventeen viewpoint characters in this novel, including both Chrisjen Avasarala, Fred Johnson, and Marcos Inaros. The most frequent viewpoint characters are Holden, who is as close as this series has to a central protagonist, and Pa, one of Marcos' fleet captains, but we also have chapters told from the perspective of other familiar character such as Amos, Alex, Naomi, Prax, Bobbie, and even Filip. This works to show just how expansive the conflict is as it reaches across the entire Solar System and affects nearly every human within it, and also emphasizes that every previous element of the series has been leading to the events in this volume, Equally important to the breadth of characters featured is exactly who is featured - the viewpoints expressed come from all sides of the conflict, and in many cases, multiple social levels within each side, resulting in a multifaceted perspective on the interplanetary war. Using the rotating viewpoint has always been an element of this series, but in Babylon's Ashes, the rotating viewpoint is not merely an interesting literary device, it is an integral part of telling the story.

Much of the action in this book is centered on the ongoing war started in Nemesis Games. The book opens with the Earth still subjected to the asteroid bombardment that has killed billions, the Martian government in disarray, and the OPA so divided against itself that it is often difficult to determine who is friend and who is foe. While one might go into the novel feeling like the heroes should rise up in righteous rage and retaliate for the atrocities committed by Inaros' Free Navy, the authors don't let them have that easy of a solution, and that is what makes this story so very compelling. The plot turns as much on delicate political negotiations as it does on military strategy and derring do, which is perfectly in keeping with this series. The only drawback to this is that if one goes into this story expecting to see the villains punished and the virtuous vindicated, then you are likely to be disappointed. Attaining victory, or even something that resembles a settlement, requires compromise and sacrifice from everyone involved, and those who are unwilling to do either almost inevitably end up on the short end of the stick. Corey has created a harsh, unforgiving universe, and this is a harsh, unforgiving story.

Even though the Expanse series is destined to become a nine book series, this volume feels like the end of a major arc. Certainly it is the second half of the story started in Nemesis Games, but it is more than that. This book serves as an effective conclusion for most of the plot threads that have run through the series since Leviathan Wakes. Conflicts are resolved, allies and enemies die or are otherwise removed from the board, there are losses, victories, and compromises, and long-held secrets are forced into the open. This is not to say that there are no remaining mysteries to be solved: The inscrutable alien technology is still inscrutable, at least two inimical forces still lurk out in the void, and while the raging fires have been put out, one can still see the smoldering embers that litter the landscape of the Solar System. Ultimately, this book manages the difficult trick of being both an ending of a number of long-running story arcs, and a promise of a fresh set of new ones at the same time.

By the time a series reaches its sixth volume, it is relatively common for the series to begin to drift, with books filled with padding simply providing pages of nothing to increase the word count. With Babylon's Ashes, the Expanse has managed to avoid this fate. Instead, Corey grabbed all of the characters and plot threads that have been built up over the five previous books and wrapped them into a story filled with action and intrigue. After Babylon's Ashes everything about the Expanse is clearly going to be dramatically changed, but the series is in no danger of slowing down at all.

Previous book in the series: Nemesis Games
Subsequent book in the series: Persepolis Rising

2017 Hugo Longlist
2018 Locus Award Nominees

James S.A. Corey     Book Reviews A-Z     Home

Musical Monday - Escape (The Piña Colada Song) by Rupert Holmes

#1 on the Billboard Hot 100: December 22, 1979 through December 29, 1979, and January 12, 1980.

#1 on the Cash Box Top 100: December 22, 1979 through January 5, 1980.
#1 on the U.K. Chart: Never.

According to Cash Box, Escape was the first #1 single of the 1980s. According to Billboard, it was the second. I mention this because before I began compiling records for this project, I thought that this song had been released a couple of years earlier. It just sounds like a song from 1977 or 1978, and not what I would think of as a song from 1980.

That said, this is a terrible song. The story that runs through it is of a guy in a relationship that has gone stale who answers a personal ad only to discover that the person who placed the ad was his own partner. Once the two realize who the other is, they both share a laugh about the fact that each was willing to toss aside their relationship and run off with someone based on four lines of newsprint.

But that's not what makes this song really terrible. The really terrible part is that the allegedly enticing ad created by the lady that the singer is "tired of" lists just about as banal a set of "shared interests" as one could come up with, and the fact that neither member of the couple has thought to bring these up seems to indicate that they basically never talk to one another. Let's go through them:

If you like piña coladas

Okay, so a shared interest in coconut flavored frozen drinks. That seems to be a kind of flimsy basis to build a relationship upon. Also, if one was that concerned about a shared interest in frozen alcoholic beverages, one would think that one of the two people featured in the song would have brought it up at some point. I mean, I only discovered that my wife liked piña coladas after four years of marriage because I asked her in the context of listening to this song, but neither of us really considers the other's preferences in frozen alcoholic drinks to be a big deal one way or another.

and getting caught in the rain

This one is weirdly specific. I mean, its not just calling for someone to enjoy going out into rain, but rather someone who enjoys getting caught in the rain. On the other hand, I can see this not coming up in normal conversation, as it is really quite specific. That said, a love for finding oneself unexpectedly in downpours seems like an odd basis for a relationship.

If you're not into yoga

Now this line just makes me question the relationship the characters in the song have. Making not being into yoga a big deal seems to imply that they both think that the other is into yoga. I am just picturing the two of them pushing the other to regularly go out and do some yoga while secretly hating every second of the experience because they mistakenly think their partner is into it. I'm not sure how they would have both come to the same mistaken conclusion other than the fact that these two apparently never actually talk to one another.

if you have half a brain

When the singer finds out that his "lady" had written the ad, this line should eat at him. She's looking for someone with half a brain to run away with. The obvious takeaway from that is that she thinks he doesn't have half a brain. I may not be an expert on relationships, but if you've been together long enough to have "fallen into the same old scene" and she is looking for someone with "half a brain", it doesn't matter if you have a funny little story of meeting up when you thought you were meeting someone else, your relationship is probably doomed.

If you like making love at midnight in the dunes of the cape

Okay, so this is really telling. This pair have clearly been together long enough that they should have at least some idea of their partner's lovemaking preferences. I mean, I don't expect couples to talk about their preferences for accidentally getting caught in thunderstorms, but if you've been with someone long enough to get "tired" of them and don't know that they like making love at midnight, then you've got a problem. I suppose one could say that the key there is that it is making love "in the dunes of the cape", but that kind of begs the question: If everyone knows what cape one is referring to, then maybe knowing that someone likes to have late night sex on them isn't information that should be so hard to come by.

Then I'm the love that you've looked for, write to me and escape

All right, we have a drink preference, a weather preference, a desire for someone to be halfway intelligent, and a desire to have sex in the middle of the night on some sand on a cape. And this is the basis for a relationship? Or rather, this is what defines "the love that you've looked for"?

In a later verse, the singer responds to the personal ad, leading off by saying that he does, in fact, like piña coladas and getting caught in the rain, but adds a line of his own in response:

I'm not much into health food, I am into champagne

First, this seems to me to be nonresponsive. The original personal ad mentioned neither health food or champagne. I suppose health food and yoga could be connected, but this text seems to raise similar questions as the previous yoga reference - is he currently being force-fed health food by his girlfriend who also hates it and only chokes it down because she mistakenly thinks he likes it? There is also another reference to a beverage preference, which seems kind of trivial. I mean, liking champagne is nice, but that seems like a thin strand to base a relationship on, especially given that it is probably one of the most common kinds of drink out there. His response is as trivial and meaningless as her initial personal ad. But it gets worse:

I've got to meet you by tomorrow noon and cut through all this red tape

I left wondering who has "red tape" in their relationships? What kind of dating has this guy been doing that he thinks that they need to cut through some red tape in order to get together? Does he also have organizational charts that he refers to when dating? Spreadsheets? Balance books? Of all the ridiculous lines in this song, this one about "red tape" has got to be the most ridiculous.

This relationship isn't destined to fail because he got "tired of his lady" and found out that she was tired of him too in a humorously ironic twist. No, this relationship is destined to fail because these two people have no idea how normal humans communicate.

Previous Musical Monday: Another Brick in the Wall (Part II) by Pink Floyd

Subsequent Musical Monday: Rock with You by Michael Jackson

Previous #1 on the Billboard Hot 100: Please Don't Go by KC and the Sunshine Band

Subsequent #1 on the Billboard Hot 100: Rock With You by Michael Jackson

Subsequent #1 on the Cash Box Top 100: Rock With You by Michael Jackson

List of #1 Singles from the Billboard Hot 100 for 1980-1989
List of #1 Singles from the Cash Box Top 100 for 1980-1989
List of #1 Singles on the U.K. Chart for 1980-1989

Rupert Holmes     1980s Project     Musical Monday     Home

Book Blogger Hop April 20th - April 26th: 251 Is a Sophie Germain Prime

Jen at Crazy for Books restarted her weekly Book Blogger Hop to help book bloggers connect with one another, but then couldn't continue, so she handed the hosting responsibilities off to Ramblings of a Coffee Addicted Writer. The only requirements to participate in the Hop are to write and link a post answering the weekly question and then visit other blogs that are also participating to see if you like their blog and would like to follow them.

This week Billy asks: How do you organize your books for review? Does it work for you or have you had to change it?

I keep my review copies in three place: A pile, a box, and a shelf. That's pretty much the organizational system. If the books are in the stack, then I'm planning on reviewing them soon, where "soon" means "I aspire to read and review them in the next year". When I am picking the next review copy to read, I just pull the one from the stack that seems interesting at the time. The books that are in the box under the stack are the books that I am intent on reviewing after the stack is done - sometimes I explicitly move books from the box to the stack to show their improved status as being in the "soon" category. My remaining review copies are on a bookshelf that I have designated for review copies. These are "the books that I will get to someday".

I also keep electronic records of the books I own, and all of the review copies I have are marked as such. When I read and review a book, I note that in the records. Theoretically this means that if I were to misplace a book I would still have it marked as one that needs a review. In practice, I have so many books that my electronic records are voluminous enough that there is a pretty good chance that I wouldn't notice a book that slipped through the cracks that way for a while.

That's it. That's my organizational system: Barely controlled chaos.

Previous Book Blogger Hop: Diophantus Wrote Arithmetica in 250 A.D.

Subsequent Book Blogger Hop: There Are 252 Ways of Writing the Number 4 as a Sum of Six Squares of Integers

Book Blogger Hop     Home

Review - Red Planet Blues by Robert J. Sawyer

Short review: Alex Lomax is the only private eye on Mars, and and everyone comes to him with their problems. Unfortunately, these problems involve murder, greed, and treachery and frequently pose serious hazards to Lomax's continued health.

Haiku
When in New Klondike
You can go hunt for fossils
But it's dangerous

Disclosure: I received this book as a Review Copy. Some people think this may bias a reviewer so I am making sure to put this information up front. I don't think it biases my reviews, but I'll let others be the judge of that.

Full review: Red Planet Blues is a noir-ish science fiction novel clearly inspired by the works of Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler. Set on Mars and featuring Alex Lomax, the red planet's only private investigator, the novel presents a set of interconnected mysteries involving murder, money, and insanity with a healthy dose of alien artifacts and imaginative technology to complicate matters. The novel winds through a series of smaller mysteries, that are threaded together by the facts that almost everyone on Mars lives in one relatively small settlement and Lomax is really the only option people have to turn to when they need a crime solved.

Alex Lomax lives in New Klondike, a domed city on the surface of Mars (which is also the only city on Mars), exiled from Earth for somewhat mysterious reasons that are only revealed near the very end of the book. Without much in the way of technical skills, Lomax plies his trade as a private investigator, filling in for the mostly disinterested local police force. The fictional future world Sawyer created for him lives in is dominated by the technology of identity transfer, a development managed by the "NewYou" corporation, and which allows people to move their consciousness into a new and usually much improved body that is often stronger, more durable, and can be made more attractive, even to the point of changing one's appearance to match that of a well-known celebrity. "Transfers" as individuals who have undergone the process are called, also don't need to eat, sleep, or breathe, can comfortably work unprotected on the surface of Mars, and are exempt from certain life-support related taxes, which quite understandably makes transferring quite popular among the denizens of New Klondike. Despite some legal controls, in short order it becomes relatively obvious that this technology, if abused by someone with nefarious intent, can be used to hide one's identity, and make it very difficult to identify who is actually in a particular body.

It should be noted that the first ten chapters of this novel are a moderately rewritten version of the previously published novella Identity Theft, and they work pretty much as a stand-alone story. This is not to say that the first section is disconnected from the rest of the novel, but if one were to read through to the end of chapter ten and stop, one would have read a reasonably satisfying complete story. The novella (and thus, the novel) opens up like most hard-boiled detective stories do: When a beautiful woman named Cassandra shows up in Lomax's office asking him to find her missing husband. Both Cassandra and her missing husband Joshua are not only transfers, they own the local NewYou franchise. Cassandra's missing husband is located in relatively short order, but that only causes the mystery to deepen and the tale of greed, kidnapping, and murder ensues that takes a couple of interesting twists and turns and hinges on the use (or rather misuse) of identity transfer technology and the attendant difficulties that logically ensue concerning how do you prove who someone actually is, or how one proves which one the "real" version of someone is. By the end of the opening novella, the villains have been foiled, the innocent have been vindicated, and at least some modicum of justice has been served.

Even though the remaining plot of the novel is something of a "fix-up", Sawyer is a skillful storyteller, which means that he is able to pick up the slender threads left by these opening chapters and build the rest of the novel upon them to create a coherent whole. The mystery that runs through every section of the book concerns the Alpha Deposit, a legendary find that kicked off the Great Martian Fossil Rush as hungry fortune seekers flocked to the planet hoping to find alien fossils they could ship to collectors back on Earth for huge profits. The location of the Alpha Deposit, and the fate of Weingarten and O'Reilly - the two explorers who found it - is unknown, and, given the fact that anyone who could answer these unknowns would find themselves immensely wealthy, there is keen interest in being the person who can answer them. There is a further mystery involving a notorious passenger ship and the horrors that took place upon it that wraps into the narrative, adding still more intrigue to the story. Everything is told in Sawyer's extremely readable style, and the text of the entire book just flows smoothly. I have always found Sawyer's prose to be extremely enjoyable and capable of being consumed at a rapid clip, and this book is no exception.

There are only a couple of minor flaws to Red Planet Blues. The first concerns the identity transfer technology, which is described as being a well-established technology that has been in use for decades and so well-entrenched in society that only adherents to fringe religious groups object to its use. Despite this, the inhabitants in the story seem to be frequently surprised or unprepared for the realities of dealing with "transfers". For example, Lomax carries a handgun, which is pretty much useless against transfers due to their incredibly durable artificial bodies, but he seems to act like the weapon should serve as protection in such cases, even while simultaneously pointing out that it won't be. Many of the twists in the story turn on people being caught off-guard by what should be pretty routine ways of exploiting transfer technology, and so on. One is also left wondering why everyone who can doesn't simply transfer - as presented in the book, transferring makes one younger, stronger, and essentially immortal. Given the fact that everyone who isn't regarded as a crackpot holds the opinion that identity transfer is a safe and proven process, there doesn't really seem to be a reason for anyone to not do it.

The second flaw concerns the women in the book. Pretty much everyone who shows up in the story gets involved in the deadly hunt for the Alpha Deposit from geologists to down-on-their-luck thugs, to housewives to writers in residence to police officers, each of whom plays a part. While the men are described as coming in all shapes and sizes, almost all of the women are described as various stripes of beautiful with the one notable exception being a woman who is described as looking like an ape - if a woman isn't sexy, apparently the only other option is for her to look simian. Lomax spends his internal monologue leering at and salivating over these women no matter what circumstances he encounters them under, which serves to make him seem kind of sleazy and unlikable.. Further, this collection of women seem to find Alex improbably attractive, even the ones who would seem to have no real reason to. To a certain extent, this is probably an effort to mimic the noir detective stories that inspired Red Planet Blues, after all, beautiful women who fall for hard-boiled detectives are kind of a staple of such novels. The problem is, the trope sticks out like a sore thumb when imported into this novel, and doesn't really do much other than give the story some uncomfortably creepy segments.

Despite these small missteps, Red Planet Blues is a good science fiction detective story. Lomax is a flawed but ultimately engaging and enjoyable character who inhabits a world that is both interesting and plausible. The mysteries that he is confronted with are just cryptic enough to keep the reader guessing but still sufficiently well-laid out that it feels like the author is playing fair. In the end, anyone looking for something akin to The Maltese Falcon on Mars is likely to come away from this book feeling like they got what they came for. If a noir-era mystery in a science fiction setting sounds like something you would enjoy, this is pretty much exactly what you need to scratch that itch.

2006 Hugo Award Finalists
2006 Hugo Award Longlist
2006 Nebula Award Nominees

Robert J. Sawyer     Book Reviews A-Z     Home

2018 Prometheus Award Nominees

Location: Worldcon 76 in San Jose, California.

Comments: The Prometheus Award continues its track record of not really being a "libertarian" award, or at least much of one. The ideologies represented by the list of nominees for the award are all over the place, ranging from Scottish socialism, to reactionary conservatism, to a kind of, sort of libertarianism. This is not a new development for the Prometheus Award - for the last several years I have been trying to figure out what the point of the award is as the libertarian element seems to have faded to an faint background note at best. The odd thing is that writers on the conservative (many of who style themselves as libertarians to a certain extent) have spent the last several years complaining that non-explicitly ideologically oriented genre fiction awards such as the Hugo Award and the Nebula Award have been dominated by factions pushing an ideological agenda, this award, which is supposed to have an explicit ideological bent, has seen its ideological bent leach away into nothingness.

Best Novel

Winner:

The Powers of the Earth by Travis J.I. Corcoran

Finalists:
Artemis by Andy Weir
The Corporation Wars: Emergence by Ken MacLeod
Darkship Revenge by Sarah A. Hoyt
Drug Lord: High Ground by Doug Casey and John Hunt
Torchship, Torchship Pilot, and Torchship Captain by Karl K. Gallagher

Hall of Fame

Winner:

With Folded Hands . . . by Jack Williamson

Finalists:
As Easy as A.B.C. by Rudyard Kipling
Conquest by Default by Vernor Vinge
The Island Worlds by Eric Kotani and John Maddox Roberts
Starfog by Poul Anderson

Previous year's nominees: 2017
Subsequent year's nominees: 2019

Book Award Reviews     Home

Musical Monday - Another Brick in the Wall (Part II) by Pink Floyd

#1 on the Billboard Hot 100: March 22, 1980 through April, 12, 1980.
#1 on the Cash Box Top 100: March 22, 1980 through April 5, 1980.
#1 on the U.K. Chart: December 15, 1979 through January 12, 1980.

Some songs are so inextricably linked with larger works that it is almost impossible to talk about them without referencing that larger work. Another Brick in the Wall (Part II) was part of Pink Floyd's concept album The Wall, and later appeared in the movie also named The Wall which starred Bob Geldof. Because the album wove the various songs together into something of a coherent narrative in which Pink, the protagonist of the story, loses his father, grows up with an extremely protective mother, slowly builds a metaphorical wall around himself that serves to isolate him from everyone around him as he slowly descends into madness, it is difficult to evaluate this song without also touching upon the themes of abandonment and alienation that run through the entire album.

I have seen Another Brick in the Wall (Part II) described as an anti-education song, and the repeated refrain "We don't need no education" would seem to back that up, but I think that is an erroneous interpretation. What the song rails against is conformity and authority, not education. It is just that Waters identified the British education system as enforcing a kind of subservient conformity that is the antithesis of knowledge and understanding, In the context of the story told by The Wall as a whole, this song marks out that Pink's experiences in school formed some of the earliest foundations of the wall that he surrounded himself with. There is an undercurrent of rage that runs through this song, but it is a rage that is corralled and suppressed by the system and can only surface much later in self-destructive ways.

For me, in 1980, that level of analysis was all in the future. I first heard The Wall some time in the summer or autumn of that year. My family had recently returned from Tanzania, and my parents had some function they had to attend. They hired a teenage girl as a sitter for my brother and me, and she brought The Wall with her. In retrospect, it seems obvious that she had just acquired the album and simply could not wait to listen to it, so she took it with her to a job watching an eleven year old and a six year old for the evening. I remember almost nothing about her other than the fact that she worked part time as a model for a local store and that she introduced me to Pink Floyd. I can't even remember what she looked like, let alone remember her name.

I do remember the album though. I remember listening to the songs and trying to connect them with the artwork on the jacket. Even though the movie The Wall wouldn't be released for two more years, the animation style that ended up being used in it was pretty much already fully formed on the album cover in 1980. I was hooked. Maybe it was partly because it was an album brought to my consciousness by a pretty, older (she must have been at least sixteen!) woman, but I was completely drawn in by Pink Floyd's music, which was unlike anything I had previously heard.

I also remember this as the first time I disagreed with my father concerning music - when I brought it up with him, he pretty much dismissed the album as juvenile junk. The odd thing is that he wasn't really all that old - in 1980 he would have been thirty, which made him younger than Roger Waters and David Gilmour. It seems that he turned into a curmudgeonly old fogey pretty early in his life, at least so far as music is concerned.

Another Brick in the Wall (Part II) topped all three of the charts I am using for the 1980s Project, but it topped the U.K. Chart well before it topped out either the Billboard or Cash Box lists. It reached number one on the U.K. chart in December of 1979, but didn't get to the top position on either of the U.S. charts until March of 1980. This seems to be something of a pattern for British-based acts of the era: They made their mark in their home country first, and then made waves in the U.S. after something of a delay, with the reverse being true for those American acts that had success in Britain - for example, in 1976 the Bay City Rollers were able to have a hit in the U.S. with S.A.T.U.R.D.A.Y. Night, a song they had released in the U.K. in 1973. Even in the 1980s, culture was still localized enough that something could make a big splash on one side of the Atlantic and not be noticed until later on the other. The pond was getting smaller, but in the 1980s there was still frequently a delay between a song hitting the charts in the U.K. and a song hitting the charts in the U.S.

Previous Musical Monday: Please Don't Go by KC and the Sunshine Band

Subsequent Musical Monday: Escape (The Piña Colada Song) by Rupert Holmes

Previous #1 on the Billboard Hot 100: Crazy Little Thing Called Love by Queen

Subsequent #1 on the Billboard Hot 100: Call Me by Blondie

Previous #1 on the Cash Box Top 100: Longer by Dan Fogelberg

Subsequent #1 on the Cash Box Top 100: Call Me by Blondie

Subsequent #1 on the U.K. Chart: Brass in Pocket by the Pretenders

List of #1 Singles from the Billboard Hot 100 for 1980-1989
List of #1 Singles from the Cash Box Top 100 for 1980-1989
List of #1 Singles on the U.K. Chart for 1980-1989

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UK Chart #1 Singles 1980-1989

The music charts of the United Kingdom not only use a very different methodology for determining the rankings of various singles, they also reflect a different market from that tracked by either Billboard or Cash Box. Consequently, the list of top songs is very different: Artists who never even scored notable hits in the United States topped the charts multiple times in the U.K. Some artists who dominated the American music scene barely register as a faint blip on the radar screen in the U.K. This really should not come as a surprise - even though some Americans don't seem to realize this, the U.K. is a different country from the United States.

Because the 1980s Project is intended to reflect my thoughts on the music of the era, I am including the chart-topping songs from the U.K. charts in my review. I spent a decent chunk of the 1980s outside of the United States, first in what was then Zaire (which is now called the Democratic Republic of the Congo), then later in Nigeria, and then part-time in Togo. In those countries, the English-language music I was exposed to often reflected the U.K. charts as much as it reflected the U.S. charts. The following list is comprised of all of the #1 singles from the U.K. Chart in chronological order for the years 1980 through 1989:

04/16/18: Another Brick in the Wall (Part II) by Pink Floyd (5 weeks starting on 12/15/79)

05/07/18: Brass in Pocket by the Pretenders (2 weeks starting on 01/19/80)

05/14/18: The Special A.K.A. Live! [Too Much Too Young] by The Special A.K.A. featuring Rico (2 weeks starting on 02/02/80)

05/28/18: Coward of the County by Kenny Rogers (2 weeks starting on 02/16/80)
06/18/18: Atomic by Blondie (2 weeks starting on 03/01/80)
07/02/18: Together We Are Beautiful by Fern Kinney (the week of 03/15/80)

07/09/18: Going Underground/Dreams of Children by the Jam (3 weeks starting on 03/22/80)

07/16/18: Working My Way Back to You – Forgive Me Girl by the Spinners (2 weeks starting on 04/12/80)

07/23/18: Call Me by Blondie (the week of 04/26/80)
07/30/18: Geno by Dexys Midnight Runners (2 weeks starting on 05/03/80)
08/06/18: What's Another Year by Johnny Logan (2 weeks starting on 05/17/80)

08/20/18: Theme from M*A*S*H (Suicide is Painless) by the Mash (3 weeks starting on 05/31/80)

08/27/18: Crying by Don McLean (3 weeks starting on 06/21/80)

09/24/18: Xanadu by Olivia Newton-John and the Electric Light Orchestra (2 weeks starting on 07/12/80)

10/01/18: Use It Up and Wear It Out by Odyssey (2 weeks starting on 07/26/80)
10/15/18: The Winner Takes It All by ABBA (2 weeks starting on 08/09/80)
10/29/18: Ashes to Ashes by David Bowie (2 weeks starting on 08/23/80)
11/12/18: Start! by the Jam (the week of 09/06/80)
11/26/18: Feels Like I'm in Love by Kelly Marie (2 weeks starting on 09/13/80)
12/03/18: Don't Stand So Close to Me by the Police (4 weeks starting on 09/27/80)
12/17/18: Woman in Love by Barbra Streisand (3 weeks starting on 10/25/1980)
12/24/18: The Tide Is High by Blondie (2 weeks starting on 11/15/80)
01/07/19: Super Trouper by ABBA (3 weeks starting on 11/29/80)
01/21/19: (Just Like) Starting Over by John Lennon (the week of 12/20/80)

01/28/19: There's No One Quite Like Grandma by St. Winifred's School Choir (2 weeks starting on 12/27/80)

02/04/19: Imagine by John Lennon (4 weeks starting on 01/10/81)
02/11/19: Woman by John Lennon (2 weeks starting on 02/07/81)

03/11/19: Shaddap You Face by Joe Dolce Music Theatre (3 weeks starting on 02/21/81)

03/25/19: Jealous Guy by Roxy Music (2 weeks on 03/14/81)
04/08/09: This Ole House by Shakin' Stevens (3 weeks starting on 03/28/81)
04/22/19: Making Your Mind Up by Bucks Fizz (3 weeks starting on 04/18/81)
05/06/19: Stand and Deliver by Adam and the Ants (5 weeks starting on 05/09/81)
05/20/19: Being with You by Smokey Robinson (2 weeks starting on 06/13/81)
06/03/19: One Day In Your Life by Michael Jackson (2 weeks starting on 06/27/81)
06/10/19: Ghost Town by the Specials (3 weeks starting on 07/11/81)
07/08/19: Green Door by Shakin' Stevens (4 weeks starting on 08/01/81)
07/29/19: Japanese Boy by Aneka (the week of 08/29/81)
08/05/19: Tainted Love by Soft Cell (2 weeks starting on 09/05/81)
08/12/19: Prince Charming by Adam and the Ants (4 weeks starting on 09/19/81)

08/19/19: It's My Party by Dave Stewart and Barbara Gaskin (4 weeks starting on 10/17/81)

09/09/19: Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic by the Police (the week of 11/14/81)
02/08/16: Under Pressure by Queen and David Bowie (2 weeks starting on 11/21/81)

09/23/19: Begin The Beguine (Volver A Empezar) by Julio Iglesias (the week of 12/05/81)

09/30/19: Don't You Want Me by the Human League (5 weeks starting on 12/12/81)
10/07/19: The Land of Make Believe by Bucks Fizz (2 weeks starting on 01/16/82)
10/21/19: Oh Julie by Shakin' Stevens (the week of 01/30/82)
11/04/19: Computer Love/The Model by Kraftwerk (the week of 02/06/82)
11/11/19: Town Called Malice/Precious by the Jam (3 weeks starting on 02/13/82)
11/18/19: The Lion Sleeps Tonight by Tight Fit (3 weeks starting on 03/06/82)
12/09/19: Seven Tears by the Goombay Dance Band (3 weeks starting on 03/27/82)
12/23/19: My Camera Never Lies by Bucks Fizz (the week of 04/17/82)

12/30/19: Ebony and Ivory by Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder (3 weeks starting on 04/24/82)

01/13/20: A Little Peace by Nicole (2 weeks starting on 05/15/82)
01/20/20: House of Fun by Madness (2 weeks starting on 05/29/82)
01/27/20: Goody Two Shoes by Adam Ant (2 weeks starting on 06/12/82)
02/03/20: I've Never Been to Me by Charlene (the week of 06/26/82)
02/10/20: Happy Talk by Captain Sensible (2 weeks starting on 07/03/82)
02/17/20: Fame by Irene Cara (3 weeks starting on 07/17/82)

03/09/20: Come On Eileen by Dexys Midnight Runners and the Emerald Express (4 weeks starting on 08/07/82)

03/02/20: Eye of the Tiger by Survivor (4 weeks starting on 09/04/82)
04/06/20: Pass the Dutchie by Musical Youth (3 weeks starting on 10/02/82)

04/13/20: Do You Really Want to Hurt Me by Culture Club (3 weeks starting on 10/23/82)

05/04/20: I Don't Wanna Dance by Eddy Grant (3 weeks starting on 11/13/82)
05/25/20: Beat Surrender by the Jam (2 weeks starting on 12/04/82)
06/08/20: Save Your Love by Renée and Renato (4 weeks starting on 12/18/82)
06/22/20: You Can't Hurry Love by Phil Collins (2 weeks starting on 01/15/83)
06/29/20: Down Under by Men at Work (3 weeks starting on 01/29/83)
07/13/20: Too Shy by Kajagoogoo (2 weeks starting on 02/19/83)
07/27/20: Billie Jean by Michael Jackson (the week of 03/05/83)
08/21/17: Total Eclipse of the Heart by Bonnie Tyler (2 weeks starting on 03/12/83)

08/03/20: Is There Something I Should Know? by Duran Duran (2 weeks starting on 03/26/83)

08/17/20: Let's Dance by David Bowie (3 weeks starting on 04/09/83)
08/31/20: True by Spandau Ballet (4 weeks starting on 04/30/83)
09/07/20: Candy Girl by New Edition (the week of 05/28/83)
09/21/20: Every Breath You Take by the Police (4 weeks starting on 06/04/83)
09/28/20: Baby Jane by Rod Stewart (3 weeks starting on 07/02/83)

10/12/20: Wherever I Lay My Hat (That's My Home) by Paul Young (3 weeks starting on 07/23/83)

10/19/20: Give It Up by KC and the Sunshine Band (3 weeks starting on 08/13/83)
10/26/20: Red Red Wine by UB40 (3 weeks starting on 09/03/83)
11/30/20: Karma Chameleon by Culture Club (6 weeks starting on 09/24/83)
12/21/20: Uptown Girl by Billy Joel (5 weeks starting on 11/05/83)
01/04/21: Only You by the Flying Pickets (5 weeks starting on 12/10/83)
01/25/21: Pipes of Peace by Paul McCartney (2 weeks starting on 01/14/84)
02/01/21: Relax by Frankie Goes to Hollywood (5 weeks starting on 01/28/84)
02/22/21: 99 Red Balloons by Nena (3 weeks starting on 03/03/84)
03/08/21: Hello by Lionel Richie (6 weeks starting on 03/24/84)
03/29/21: The Reflex by Duran Duran (4 weeks starting on 05/05/84)
04/12/21: Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go by Wham! (2 weeks starting on 06/02/84)
04/26/21: Two Tribes by Frankie Goes to Hollywood (9 weeks starting on 06/16/84)
05/24/21: Careless Whisper by George Michael (3 weeks starting on 08/18/84)

06/07/21: I Just Called to Say I Love You by Stevie Wonder (6 weeks starting on 09/08/84)

06/28/21: Freedom by Wham! (3 weeks starting on 10/20/84)
07/19/21: I Feel for You by Chaka Khan (3 weeks starting on 11/10/84)
07/26/21: I Should Have Known Better by Jim Diamond (the week of 12/01/84)
07/04/22: The Power of Love by Frankie Goes to Hollywood (the week of 12/08/84)
07/25/84: Do They Know It's Christmas? by Band Aid (5 weeks starting on 12/15/84)
08/08/22: I Want to Know What Love Is by Foreigner (3 weeks starting on 01/19/85)

I Know Him So Well by Elaine Paige and Barbara Dickson (4 weeks starting on 02/09/85)

You Spin Me Round (Like a Record) by Dead or Alive (2 weeks starting on 03/09/85)
Easy Lover by Philip Bailey and Phil Collins (4 weeks starting on 03/23/85)
We Are the World by USA for Africa (2 weeks starting on 04/20/85)
Move Closer by Phyllis Nelson (the week of 05/04/85)
19 by Paul Hardcastle (5 weeks starting on 05/11/85)
You'll Never Walk Alone by the Crowd (2 weeks starting on 06/15/85)
Frankie by Sister Sledge (4 weeks starting on 06/29/85)
There Must Be an Angel (Playing with My Heart) by Eurythmics (the week of 07/27/85)
Into the Groove by Madonna (4 weeks starting on 08/03/85)
I Got You Babe by UB40 and Chrissie Hynde (the week of 08/31/85)
Dancing in the Street by David Bowie and Mick Jagger (4 weeks starting on 09/07/85)
If I Was by Midge Ure (the week of 10/05/85)
The Power of Love by Jennifer Rush (5 weeks starting on 10/12/85
A Good Heart by Feargal Sharkey (2 weeks starting on 11/16/85)
I'm Your Man by Wham! (2 weeks starting on 11/30/85)
Saving All My Love for You by Whitney Houston (2 weeks starting on 12/14/85)
Merry Christmas Everyone by the Shakin' Stevens (2 weeks starting on 12/28/85)
West End Girls by the Pet Shop Boys (2 weeks starting on 01/11/86)
The Sun Always Shines on T.V. by A-Ha (2 weeks starting on 01/25/86)

When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Get Going by Billy Ocean (4 weeks starting on 02/08/86)

Chain Reaction by Diana Ross (3 weeks starting on 03/08/86)
Living Doll by Cliff Richard and the Young Ones (3 weeks starting on 03/29/86)
A Different Corner by George Michael (3 weeks starting on 04/19/86)
Rock Me Amadeus by Falco (the week of 05/10/86)
The Chicken Song by Spitting Image (3 weeks starting on 05/17/86)
Spirit in the Sky by Doctor and the Medics (3 weeks starting on 06/07/86)
The Edge of Heaven by Wham! (2 weeks starting on 06/28/86)
Papa Don't Preach by Madonna (3 weeks starting on 07/12/86)
The Lady in Red by Chris de Burgh (3 weeks starting on 08/02/86)
I Want to Wake Up with You by Boris Gardner (3 weeks starting on 08/23/86)
Don't Leave Me This Way by the Communards (4 weeks starting on 09/13/86)
True Blue by Madonna (the week of 10/11/86)
Every Loser Wins by Nick Berry (3 weeks starting on 10/18/86)
Take My Breath Away by Berlin (4 weeks starting on 11/08/86)
The Final Countdown by Europe (2 weeks starting on 12/06/86)
Caravan of Love by the Housemartins (the week of 12/20/86)

Reet Petite (The Sweetest Girl in Town) by Jackie Wilson (4 weeks starting on 12/27/86)

Jack Your Body by Steve "Silk" Hurley (2 weeks starting on 01/24/87)

I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me) by Aretha Franklin and George Michael (2 weeks starting on 02/07/87)

Stand by Me by Ben E. King (3 weeks starting on 02/21/87)
Everything I Own by Boy George (2 weeks starting on 03/14/87)
Respectable by Mel and Kim (the week of 03/28/87)
Let It Be by Ferry Aid (3 weeks starting on 04/04/87)
La Isla Bonita by Madonna (2 weeks starting on 04/25/87)
Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now by Starship (05/09/87)

I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me) by Whitney Houston (2 weeks starting on 06/06/87)

Star Trekkin' by the Firm (2 weeks starting on 06/20/87)
It's a Sin by the Pet Shop Boys (3 weeks starting on 07/04/87)
Who's That Girl by Madonna (the week of 07/25/87)
La Bamba by Los Lobos (2 weeks starting on 08/01/87)

I Just Can't Stop Loving You by Michael Jackson and Siedah Garrett (2 weeks starting on 08/15/87)

Never Gonna Give You Up by Rick Astley (5 weeks starting on 08/29/87)

Pump Up the Volume/Anitina (The First Time I See She Dance) by MARRS (2 weeks starting on 10/03/87)

You Win Again by the Bees Gees (4 weeks starting on 10/17/87)
China in Your Hand by T'Pau (5 weeks starting on 11/14/87)
Always on My Mind by the Pet Shop Boys (4 weeks starting on 12/19/87)
Heaven Is a Place on Earth by Belinda Carlisle (2 weeks starting on 01/16/88)
I Think We're Alone Now by Tiffany (3 weeks starting on 01/30/88)
I Should Be So Lucky by Kylie Minogue (5 weeks starting on 02/20/88)
Don't Turn Around by Aswad (2 weeks starting on 03/26/88)
Heart by the Pet Shop Boys (3 weeks starting on 04/09/88)
Theme from S-Express by S-Express (2 weeks starting on 04/30/88)
Perfect by Fairground Attraction (the week of 05/14/88)
With a Little Help from My Friends by Wet Wet Wet (4 weeks starting on 05/21/88)
She's Leaving Home by Billy Bragg and Cara Tivey (4 weeks starting on 05/21/88)
Doctorin' the Tardis by the Timelords (the week of 06/18/88)
I Owe You Nothing by the Bros (2 weeks starting on 06/25/88)

Nothing's Gonna Change My Love for You by Glenn Medeiros (4 weeks starting on 07/09/88)

The Only Way Is Up by Yazz and the Plastic Population (5 weeks starting on 08/06/88)

A Groovy Kind of Love by Phil Collins (2 weeks starting on 09/10/88)
He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother by the Hollies (2 weeks starting on 09/24/88)
Desire by U2 (the week of 10/08/88)
One Moment in Time by Whitney Houston (2 weeks starting on 10/15/88)
Orinoco Flow by Enya (3 weeks starting on 10/29/88)
First Time by Robin Beck (3 weeks starting on 11/19/88)
Mistletoe and Wine by Cliff Richard (4 weeks starting on 12/10/88)

Especially for You by Kylie Minogue and Jason Donovan (3 weeks starting on 01/07/89)

Something's Gotten Hold of My Heart by Marc Almond featuring Gene Pitney (4 weeks starting on 01/28/89)

Belfast Child by Simple Minds (2 weeks starting on 02/25/89)
Too Many Broken Hearts by Jason Donovan (2 weeks starting on 03/11/89)
Like a Prayer by Madonna (3 weeks starting on 03/25/89)
Eternal Flame by the Bangles (4 weeks starting on 04/15/89)
Hand on Your Heart by Kylie Minogue (the week of 05/13/89)

Ferry 'Cross the Mersey by the Christians, Holly Johnson, Paul McCartney, Gerry Marsden and Stock Aitken Waterman (3 weeks starting on 05/20/89)

Sealed with a Kiss by Jason Donovan (2 weeks starting on 06/10/89)

Back to Life (However Do You Want Me) by Soul II Soul featuring Caron Wheeler (4 weeks starting on 06/24/89)

You'll Never Stop Me Loving You by Sonia (2 weeks starting on 07/22/89)
Swing the Mood by Jive Bunny and the Mastermixers (5 weeks starting on 08/05/89)
Ride On Time by Black Box (6 weeks starting on 09/09/89)
That's What I Like by Jive Bunny and the Mastermixers (3 weeks starting on 10/21/89)
All Around the World by Lisa Stansfield (2 weeks starting on 11/11/89)
You Got It (The Right Stuff) by New Kids on the Block (3 weeks starting on 11/25/89)
Let's Party by Jive Bunny and the Mastermixers (the week of 12/16/89)
Do They Know It's Christmas? by Band Aid II (3 weeks starting on 12/23/89)

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Book Blogger Hop April 13th - April 19th: Diophantus Wrote Arithmetica in 250 A.D.

Jen at Crazy for Books restarted her weekly Book Blogger Hop to help book bloggers connect with one another, but then couldn't continue, so she handed the hosting responsibilities off to Ramblings of a Coffee Addicted Writer. The only requirements to participate in the Hop are to write and link a post answering the weekly question and then visit other blogs that are also participating to see if you like their blog and would like to follow them.

This week Billy asks: Is there a fictitious town in a book that you would love to live in? What makes it appealing?

I would want to live in Thwil, on Roke Island in Ursula K. Le Guin's Earthsea. This is kind of cheating though, as I would want to live in Thwil because that is where the Roke School of Wizardry is located, and that is really where I would want to live.

Previous Book Blogger Hop: If I Live Another 200 Years After This April 9th, I Will Be 249 Years Old

Subsequent Book Blogger Hop: 251 Is a Sophie Germain Prime

Book Blogger Hop     Home

Musical Monday - Please Don't Go by KC and the Sunshine Band

#1 on the Billboard Hot 100: The week of January 5, 1980.
#1 on the Cash Box Top 100: Never
#1 on the U.K. Chart: Never

Somehow it seems fitting that the first number one hit of the 1980s would be a song from a 1970s icon trying to breathe some life into the dying embers of their career. Though KC and the Sunshine Band had several hits from 1975 through 1980, this was more or less their swan song as a major force of pop music. Though they had a couple other minor hits over the next few years, the band never reached the top of the charts again, and wasn't able to crack the top ten either.

I have no real memory of this song, which shouldn't really be all that surprising given that I was 10 when it was released, and it really isn't one of the songs one thinks of when one thinks of KC and the Sunshine Band. Sure, it reached number one on the charts, but it was only there for a single week and is overshadowed by their earlier, better hits. This is compounded by the fact that the song is completely forgettable. I just listened to it and I've already pretty much forgotten everything about it other than the over the top Seventies nature of KC's outfit complete with a giant popped collar, gold chain necklace, and tons of chest hair.

So that's the start of the 1980s: A completely forgettable song by a band on its last legs trying desperately to hold on to the faded glory of the previous decade.

Previous Musical Monday: Love of a Lifetime by FireHouse

Subsequent Musical Monday: Another Brick in the Wall (Part II) by Pink Floyd

Subsequent #1 on the Billboard Hot 100: Escape (The Piña Colada Song) by Rupert Holmes

List of #1 Singles from the Billboard Hot 100 for 1980-1989
List of #1 Singles from the Cash Box Top 100 for 1980-1989
List of #1 Singles on the U.K. Chart for 1980-1989

KC and the Sunshine Band     1980s Project     Musical Monday     Home

The 1980s Project

So on April 9^th, 2018, I turn 49. This is probably a good time for reflection coupled with a bit of nostalgia. We are shaped by the pop culture of our youth. There are no movies like the ones that we saw in our teen years, no television shows like the ones that we watched as kids, and no music like the music that was the soundtrack of our adolescence. By sheer coincidence, my teen years almost exactly coincide with the decade of the 1980s: I turned 11 in 1980, and turned 20 in 1989. This means that the songs of the 1980s are also the songs to which I grew from a child to an adult.

Covering all of the music of the 1980s would be an impossible task, so I'm going to limit this project to the songs that reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles or the Cash Box Top 100 charts in the United States or reached #1 on the U.K. Chart in the United Kingdom during that time period. This project is to list and comment on, in chronological order, this list of #1 songs from the beginning of 1980 through the end of 1989. Because these three charts diverged as much as they coincided, this means that the account here will be a weird amalgamation of these three sources. I have a rough plan in mind for what order to list the songs on the various charts, that basically boils down to "list the next song to reach #1 on any of the charts, and only list each song once". To the extent that there might need to be tie-breakers, I will simply be incredibly arbitrary about it and just pick which song I want to write about first.

This will obviously miss a lot of good music from the era - including a lot of music that I like more than the music that is on these lists - but these are the songs that shaped the popular culture around me. Even though I actively disliked a fair number of these songs when they were popular (and still do for some of them), these songs were more or less inescapable when they came to the public consciousness. Even if you wanted to ignore them, most of them were so omnipresent that it just wasn't really possible.

I'm merging this project with my regular Musical Monday, so for the foreseeable future, the Musical Monday selections with also be part of the 1980s Project as I work through the decade starting with Another Brick in the Wall (Part II), Escape (The Piña Colada Song) and Please Don't Go and running through Another Day in Paradise and Do They Know It's Christmas? and place each of these songs into my own personal context.

List of #1 Singles from the Billboard Hot 100 for 1980-1989
List of #1 Singles from the Cash Box Top 100 for 1980-1989
List of #1 Singles from the U.K. Chart for 1980-1989

04/09/18: Please Don't Go by KC and the Sunshine Band

04/16/18: Another Brick in the Wall (Part II) by Pink Floyd

04/23/18: Escape (The Piña Colada Song) by Rupert Holmes
04/30/18: Rock with You by Michael Jackson
05/07/18: Brass in Pocket by the Pretenders

05/14/18: The Special A.K.A. Live! [Too Much Too Young] by the Special A.K.A. featuring Rico

05/21/18: Do That to Me One More Time by Captain and Tennille
05/28/18: Coward of the County by Kenny Rogers
06/04/18: Cruisin' by Smokey Robinson
06/11/18: Crazy Little Thing Called Love by Queen
06/18/18: Atomic by Blondie
06/25/18: Longer by Dan Fogelberg
07/02/18: Together We Are Beautiful by Fern Kinney
07/09/18: Going Underground/Dreams of Children by the Jam
07/16/18: Working My Way Back to You - Forgive Me Girl by the Spinners
07/23/18: Call Me by Blondie
07/30/18: Geno by Dexys Midnight Runners
08/06/18: What's Another Year by Johnny Logan
08/13/18: Funkytown by Lipps, Inc.
08/20/18: Theme from M*A*S*H (Suicide is Painless) by the Mash
08/27/18: Crying by Don McLean
09/03/18: Coming Up by Paul McCartney
09/10/18: The Rose by Bette Midler
09/17/18: It's Still Rock and Roll to Me by Billy Joel
09/24/18: Xanadu by Olivia Newton-John and the Electric Light Orchestra
10/01/18: Use It Up and Wear It Out by Odyssey
10/08/18: Magic by Olivia Newton-John
10/15/18: The Winner Takes It All by ABBA
10/22/18: Take Your Time (Do It Right) by the S.O.S. Band
10/29/18: Ashes to Ashes by David Bowie
11/05/18: Sailing by Christopher Cross
11/12/18: Start! by the Jam
11/19/18: Upside Down by Diana Ross
11/26/18: Feels Like I'm in Love by Kelly Marie
12/03/18: Don't Stand So Close to Me by the Police
12/10/18: Another One Bites the Dust by Queen
12/17/18: Woman in Love by Barbra Streisand
12/24/18: The Tide Is High by Blondie
12/31/18: Lady by Kenny Rogers
01/07/19: Super Trouper by ABBA
01/14/19: Master Blaster (Jammin') by Stevie Wonder
01/21/19: (Just Like) Starting Over by John Lennon
01/28/19: There's No One Quite Like Grandma by St. Winifred's School Choir
02/04/19: Imagine by John Lennon
02/11/19: Woman by John Lennon
02/18/19: Celebration by Kool and the Gang
02/25/18: I Love a Rainy Night by Eddie Rabbitt
03/04/11: 9 to 5 by Dolly Parton
03/11/19: Shaddap You Face by Joe Dolce Music Theatre
03/18/19: Keep On Lovin' You by REO Speedwagon
03/25/19: Jealous Guy by Roxy Music
04/01/19: Rapture by Blondie
04/08/19: This Ole House by Shakin' Stevens
04/15/19: Kiss On My List by Hall and Oates
04/22/19: Making Your Mind Up by Bucks Fizz
04/29/19: Morning Train (Nine to Five) by Sheena Easton
05/06/19: Stand and Deliver by Adam and the Ants
05/13/19: Bette Davis Eyes by Kim Carnes
05/20/19: Being With You by Smokey Robinson
05/27/19: Stars on 45 Medley by Stars on 45
06/03/19: One Day in Your Life by Michael Jackson
06/10/19: Ghost Town by the Specials
06/17/19: The One That You Love by Air Supply
06/24/19: Jessie's Girl by Rick Springfield
07/01/19: Elvira by the Oak Ridge Boys
07/08/19: Green Door by Shakin' Stevens
07/15/19: Theme from the Greatest American Hero by Joey Scarbury
07/22/19: Endless Love by Lionel Richie and Diana Ross
07/29/19: Japanese Boy by Aneka
08/05/19: Tainted Love by Soft Cell
08/12/19: Prince Charming by Adam and the Ants
08/19/19: It's My Party by Dave Stewart and Barbara Gaskin
08/26/19: Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do) by Christopher Cross
09/02/19: Private Eyes by Hall and Oates
09/09/19: Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic by the Police
09/16/19: Physical by Olivia Newton-John
09/23/19: Begin the Beguine (Volver a Empezar) by Julio Iglesias
09/30/19: Don't You Want Me by the Human League
10/07/19: The Land of Make Believe by Bucks Fizz
10/14/19: I Can't Go for That (No Can Do) by Hall and Oates
10/21/19: Oh, Julie by Shakin' Stevens
10/28/19: Centerfold by the J. Geils Band
11/04/19: Computer Love/The Model by Kraftwerk
11/11/19: Town Called Malice/Precious by the Jam
11/18/19: The Lion Sleeps Tonight by Tight Fit
11/25/19: Open Arms by Journey
12/02/19: I Love Rock n' Roll by Joan Jett and the Blackhearts
12/09/19: Seven Tears by the Goombay Dance Band
12/16/19: That Girl by Stevie Wonder
12/23/19: My Camera Never Lies by Bucks Fizz
12/30/19: Ebony and Ivory by Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder
01/06/20: Chariots of Fire by Vangelis
01/13/20: A Little Peace by Nicole
01/20/20: House of Fun by Madness
01/27/20: Goody Two Shoes by Adam Ant
02/03/20: I've Never Been to Me by Charlene
02/10/20: Happy Talk by Captain Sensible
02/17/20: Fame by Irene Cara
02/24/20: Hurt So Good by John Cougar
03/02/20: Eye of the Tiger by Survivor
03/09/20: Come on Eileen by Dexys Midnight Runners
03/16/20: Abracadabra by the Steve Miller Band
03/23/19: Hard to Say I'm Sorry by Chicago
03/30/19: Jack and Diane by John Cougar
04/06/20: Pass the Dutchie by Musical Youth
04/13/20: Do You Really Want to Hurt Me? by Culture Club
04/20/20: Who Can It Be Now? by Men at Work
04/27/20: Up Where We Belong by Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warnes
05/04/20: I Don't Wanna Dance by Eddy Grant
05/11/20: Gloria by Laura Branigan
05/18/20: Truly by Lionel Richie
05/25/20: Beat Surrender by the Jam
06/01/20: Mickey by Toni Basil
06/08/20: Save Your Love by Renée and Renato
06/15/20: Maneater by Hall and Oates
06/22/20: You Can't Hurry Love by Phil Collins
06/29/20: Down Under by Men at Work
07/06/20: Africa by Toto
07/13/20: Too Shy by Kajagoogoo
07/20/20: Baby Come to Me by Patti Austin and James Ingram
07/27/20: Billie Jean by Michael Jackson
08/03/20: Is There Something I Should Know? by Duran Duran
08/10/20: Beat It by Michael Jackson
08/17/20: Let's Dance by David Bowie
08/24/20: Mr. Roboto by Styx
08/31/20: True by Spandau Ballet
09/07/20: Candy Girl by New Edition
09/14/20: Flashdance . . . What a Feeling by Irene Cara
09/21/20: Every Breath You Take by the Police
09/28/20: Baby Jane by Rod Stewart
10/05/20: Electric Avenue by Eddy Grant
10/12/20: Wherever I Lay My Hat (That's My Home) by Paul Young
10/19/20: Give It Up by KC and the Sunshine Band
10/26/20: Red Red Wine by UB40
11/02/20: Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) by Eurythmics
11/09/20: Maniac by Michael Sembello
11/16/20: Puttin' On the Ritz by Taco
11/23/20: Tell Her About It by Billy Joel
11/30/20: Karma Chameleon by Culture Club
12/07/20: The Safety Dance by Men Without Hats
12/14/20: Islands in the Stream by Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton
12/21/20: Uptown Girl by Billy Joel
12/28/20: All Night Long (All Night) by Lionel Richie
01/04/21: Only You by the Flying Pickets
01/11/21: Say Say Say by Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson
01/18/21: Union of the Snake by Duran Duran
01/25/21: Pipes of Peace by Paul McCartney
02/01/21: Relax by Frankie Goes to Hollywood
02/08/21: Owner of a Lonely Heart by Yes
02/15/21: Jump by Van Halen
02/22/21: 99 Luftballoons by Nena
03/01/21: Girls Just Wanna Have Fun by Cyndi Lauper
03/08/21: Hello by Lionel Richie
03/15/21: Footloose by Kenny Loggins
03/22/21: Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now) by Phil Collins
03/29/21: The Reflex by Duran Duran
04/05/21: Let's Hear It for the Boy by Denice Williams
04/12/21: Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go by Wham!
04/19/21: Time After Time by Cyndi Lauper
04/26/21: Two Tribes by Frankie Goes to Hollywood
05/03/21: Dancing in the Dark by Bruce Springstein
05/10/21: When Doves Cry by Prince
05/17/21: Ghostbusters by Ray Parker, Jr.
05/24/21: Careless Whisper by George Michael
05/31/21: What's Love Got to Do With It by Tina Turner
06/07/21: I Just Called to Say I Love You by Stevie Wonder
06/14/21: Missing You by John Waite
06/21/21: Let's Go Crazy by Prince
06/28/21: Freedom by Wham!
07/05/21: Caribbean Queen (No More Love On the Run) by Billy Ocean
07/12/21: Purple Rain by Prince
07/19/21: I Feel for You by Chaka Khan
07/26/21: I Should Have Known Better by Jim Diamond
07/04/22: The Power of Love by Frankie Goes to Hollywood
07/11/22: Out of Touch by Hall and Oates
07/18/22: The Wild Boys by Duran Duran
07/25/22: Do They Know It's Christmas? by Band Aid
08/01/22: Like a Virgin by Madonna
08/08/22: I Want to Know What love Is by Foreigner
08/15/22: I Know Him So Well by Elaine Paige and Barbra Dickson
08/22/22: You Spin Me Right Round (Like a Record) by Dead of Alive
08/29/22: I Can't Fight This Feeling by REO Speedwagon
09/05/22: Easy Lover by Phillip Bailey and Phil Collins
09/12/22: Material Girl by Madonna
09/19/22: One More Night by Phil Collins
09/26/22: We Are the World by USA for Africa
10/03/22: Move Closer by Phyllis Nelson
10/10/22: 19 by Paul Hardcastle
10/17/22: Crazy for You by Madonna
10/24/22: Don't You (Forget About Me) by Simple Minds
10/31/22: Everything She Wants by Wham!
11/07/22: Everybody Wants to Rule the World by Tears for Fears
11/14/22: You'll Never Walk Alone by the Crowd
11/21/22: Heaven by Bryan Adams
11/28/22: Sussudio by Phil Collins
12/05/22: Frankie by Sister Sledge
12/12/22: A View to a Kill by Duran Duran
12/19/22: Raspberry Beret by Prince
12/26/22: There Must Be an Angel (Playing With My Heart) by Eurythmics
01/02/23: Every Time You Go Away by Paul Young

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