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Monday, July 8, 2019

Musical Monday - Green Door by Shakin' Stevens


#1 on the Billboard Hot 100: Never.
#1 on the Cash Box Top 100: Never.
#1 on the U.K. Chart: August 1, 1981 through August 22, 1981.

Music in the U.K. in the early 1980s was almost schizophrenic. When we last visited the U.K. Chart, the number one song was a bitter reggae style song with biting lyrics about urban decay and despair. This song, on the other hand, is a cover of a rockabilly song from the 1950s that is mostly notable because a famous porn movie was inspired by the lyrics.

On the other hand, in the United States, the two songs that hit number one on the Billboard and Cash Box charts in this same time frame that this song was number one in the U.K. were Rick Springfield's Jessie's Girl, the Oak Ridge Boys' Elvira, Joey Scarbury's Theme from the Greatest American Hero and Lionel Richie and Diana Ross' Endless Love, so maybe those of us on this side of the Atlantic don't have much room to talk when it comes to musical schizophrenia.

The early 1980s were clearly an ever-shifting time of chaos in the music world.

Previous Musical Monday: Elvira by the Oak Ridge Boys
Subsequent Musical Monday: Theme from the Greatest American Hero by Joey Scarbury

Previous #1 on the U.K. Chart: Ghost Town by the Specials
Subsequent #1 on the U.K. Chart: Japanese Boy by Aneka

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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