Musical Monday - Abracadabra by the Steve Miller Band

#1 on the Billboard Hot 100: The weeks of September 4, 1982 and September 25, 1982.

#1 on the Cash Box Top 100: The weeks of August 28, 1982 and September 25, 1982.

#1 on the U.K. Chart: Never.

Abracadabra is pretty close to being my least favorite song by the Steve Miller Band. Even as a kid, I really liked the Steve Miller Band - I played my copy of their 1978 Greatest Hits album all the time, and loved pretty much every song on it. When I heard that the band was releasing a new album, I was really excited. And then I heard this song. And I truly knew what disappointment was like.

This isn't a terrible song. It just isn't a very good Steve Miller Band song. It lacks the guitar riffs that are the hallmark of the band. The song is gimmicky, with a wacky drum machine solo in the middle. It is as if Steven Miller's crew was channeling Kraftwerk or something - following trends and imitating the kind of music other groups were putting out instead of trying to stake out their own territory.

Sadly, Abracadabra was kind of a last hurrah for the Steve Miller Band. They released more music after this song came out, but none of it had any real impact - none of their subsequent songs managed to crack the top 50 on the main Billboard and Cash Box charts, although they did have some success on the "Mainstream Rock" charts. It was kind of predictable, but it is still kind of sad that the group went out of the popular consciousness on this note.

Previous Musical Monday: Come On Eileen by Dexys Midnight Runners

Subsequent Musical Monday: Hard to Say I'm Sorry by Chicago

Previous #1 on the Billboard Hot 100: Eye of the Tiger by Survivor

Subsequent #1 on the Billboard Hot 100: Hard to Say I'm Sorry by Chicago

Previous #1 on the Cash Box Top 100: Eye of the Tiger by Survivor

Subsequent #1 on the Cash Box Top 100: Jack and Diane by John Cougar

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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