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

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