#1 on the Billboard Hot 100: January 24, 1984 through January 28, 1984.
#1 on the Cash Box Top 100: January 21, 1984 through January 29, 1984.
#1 on the U.K. Chart: Never.Owner of a Lonely Heart is arguably the most successful song ever released by one of my favorite bands. It is also one of my least favorite Yes songs. I don't actively dislike it, but if you asked me if I wanted to listen to some Yes, I'd be hoping we were going to listen to Roundabout, or Changes, or Hold On, or Starship Troopers, or I've Seen All Good People, or Leave It, or, well you get the idea. Just about every other song in the Yes catalog is more interesting and more enjoyable than this one.
The problem with Owner of a Lonely Heart is that it is such a very generic pop song. It is basically just a guitar riff with attached lyrics and not much else. The music video desperately tries to make this more interesting, first with an odd interlude where four of the five band members turn into animals, and then a strange Kafkaesque sequence involving a man being hauled off by mysterious authority figures while simultaneously having disturbing hallucination, but none of this really matches with the music or the lyrics - in large part because the music is bland and the lyrics are mostly nonsense.
I guess my real complaint here is that this, the most commercially successful Yes song, is really not very "Yes", and I prefer Yes to actually sound like themselves.
Previous Musical Monday: Relax by Frankie Goes to Hollywood
Subsequent Musical Monday: Jump by Van Halen
Subsequent #1 on the Billboard Hot 100: Karma Chameleon by Culture Club
Previous #1 on the Cash Box Top 100: Union of the Snake by Duran Duran
Subsequent #1 on the Cash Box Top 100: Karma Chameleon by Culture Club
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
Yes 1980s Project Musical Monday Home
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