Musical Monday - Islands in the Stream by Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton

#1 on the Billboard Hot 100: October 29, 1983 through November 5, 1983.

#1 on the Cash Box Top 100: November 5, 1983 through November 12, 1983.

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

By 1983, the Bee Gees were essentially persona non grata on the pop charts. Having firmly associated themselves with the disco era, once disco had become an anathema to many people, the Bee Gees went from being the top musical act in the world to an act that couldn't give away tickets. The odd thing is that Bee Gees style music was as popular as ever, as witnessed by the chart-topping success of this song, which had been penned by the Bee Gees, but was handed off to Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton to sing.

Islands in the Stream isn't unique on this score. The 1980s featured several hit songs that were written by one or more of the Bee Gees but sung by someone else - a list of artists that included songs by Barbra Streisand, Diana Ross, and Dionne Warwick. Basically, anyone but the Bee Gees seems like they could have success in the 1980s with a Bee Gees song. This quirky phenomenon suggests that the backlash against disco and disco-associated artists wasn't so much about the music as it was about the culture. Disco music was "urban" music, and "urban" was, as it often is, a code word for black and gay. People didn't like disco because they didn't like the music - they kept making disco-style music into chart-toppers as long as it wasn't called disco and wasn;t sung by recognizable disco acts - they just didn't like black and gay people influencing the wider culture.

A large part of the reason Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton could make Islands in the Stream into a hit in 1983 was that they were safe, white, country music artists who never made a disco song. Except for this one. Which they didn't call a disco song. This isn't to say that Rogers and Parton did anything wrong here, but they definitely benefitted from factors well beyond their control that served to position this song as a hit.

Previous Musical Monday: The Safety Dance by Men Without Hats

Subsequent Musical Monday: Uptown Girl by Billy Joel

Previous #1 on the Billboard Hot 100: Total Eclipse of the Heart by Bonnie Tyler

Subsequent #1 on the Billboard Hot 100: All Night Long (All Night) by Lionel Richie

Previous #1 on the Cash Box Top 100: Total Eclipse of the Heart by Bonnie Tyler

Subsequent #1 on the Cash Box Top 100: All Night Long (All Night) by Lionel Richie

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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