Musical Monday - Girls Just Wanna Have Fun by Cyndi Lauper

#1 on the Billboard Hot 100: Never.

#1 on the Cash Box Top 100: March 17, 1984 through March 24, 1984.

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

While Nena was singing about the specter of nuclear armageddon, Cyndi Lauper was putting out an anthem of female empowerment phrased as a simple statement: Girls want to have fun. Though the lyrics seem somewhat banal now, the fact that they centered a woman and her desire to enjoy herself was somewhat revolutionary. In the case of this song, it was originally written by a man, and was written from a male perspective, with the lyrics being gender-bent for Lauper to sing. The original was somewhat bland and boring, since songs of male empowerment are a dime a dozen, but the mere act of switching the genders for one of those male-empowerment songs makes it into a revolutionary anthem.

I hope that maybe, someday, this sort of gender-flip won't be such a big deal. We aren't there yet, but we seem to be closer than we were in 1984.

Previous Musical Monday: 99 Luftballoons by Nena

Subsequent Musical Monday: Hello by Lionel Richie

Previous #1 on the Cash Box Top 100: 99 Luftballoons by Nena

Subsequent #1 on the Cash Box Top 100: Footloose by Kenny Loggins

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

Cyndi Lauper     1980s Project     Musical Monday     Home