Matt OsbornEvery week, we’ll take a step back to this week 33 years ago to remember just how great it was as we review the top music and movie charts, as well as anything else that happened in TV, sports, the news, you name it.
Holy smokes we’re already two months down in 2020 and 1987. As we roll into March and, hopefully, some warm weather, we’re greeted with a little extra music news this week – the 1987 Grammys. Complete with performances by Whitney, Janet, and the Beasties presenting an award to Robert Palmer, it does not disappoint. Add in some Freddy Krueger, Frank Sinatra on Magnum, PI, and the death penalty in college football, and you’ve got yourself just a normal week This Week . . . 33 Years Ago.
Music
Singles Chart – Top 10
For a 3rd straight week, “Livin’ On a Prayer” sits atop the singles chart. But Huey Lewis & the News is steadily rising up and seems poised to jump to #1 in the next week or two. The Georgia Satellites and Chicago start to drop after peaking at #2 and #3, respectively, while Madonna, Samantha Fox, Ready for the World, and Cyndi Lauper all fall from the Top 10. Which means 4 new songs to take their place.
- Livin’ On A Prayer – Bon Jovi
- Jacob’s Ladder – Huey Lewis & The News – ⬆ 2
- Keep Your Hands to Yourself – The Georgia Satellites – ⬇ 1
- Will You Still Love Me? – Chicago – ⬇ 1
- You Got It All – The Jets – ⬆ 1
- Somewhere Out There – Linda Ronstadt & James Ingram – ⬆ 5
- Our 1st new entrant this week is the main theme from An American Tail, a movie we talked about back in Week Five. Go there to see why I loved this song in ’87, but it fell out of grace in ’88 because of a 5th-grade talent show. As to the song itself, it’ll win Song of the Year at the ’88 Grammys and Linda and James will be nominated for Best Pop Performance by a Group or Duo. The song will peak at #2 on this chart in a few weeks, It gives Ronstadt her 8th Top 10 hit to this point and her 3rd to get to the #2 spot – “You’re No Good” got to #1 and “When Will I Be Loved” hit #2, both in ’75. She’ll have one more in a few years with Aaron Neville with a song that runs deep in my family for humorous reasons – the classic “Don’t Know Much.” It’s Ingram’s 2nd Top 10 hit – “Baby, Come to Me” hit #1 in ’82. He’ll also have one more Top 10 hit in the next few years – the #1 “I Don’t Have the Heart,” which 7th grade me really loved. Here’s Linda and James.
- Respect Yourself – Bruce Willis – ⬆ 5
- We talked about Bruce’s Return of Bruno LP launch back in Week Four. The lead single, “Respect Yourself,” a cover of the Staple Singers classic, features June Pointer of the Pointer Sisters. It’ll peak at #5, 7 spots higher than the Staple Singers original back in ’72. We’ll keep this short to give you more time to watch this masterful video at least 3 times.
- (You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (To Party!) – Beastie Boys – ⬆ 6
- As we talked about in Week Six, this song is and will be the only Top 10 hit in the Beastie Boys career. Which goes to show topping the charts is not necessarily required for longevity. The 4th cut from Licensed to Ill, “Fight For Your Right” will peak next week at #7.
- Big Time – Peter Gabriel – ⬆ 6
- Our last new entrant this week is a video pioneer – Peter Gabriel. He’s on his way and he’s making it. The 2nd single released in the US from his Us album, “Big Time” is Gabriel’s 3rd solo Top 10 hit – “I Have the Touch” hit #1 in ’82 and the incomparable “Sledgehammer” reached #1 during the summer of last year. “Big Time” won’t quite reach that high – it’ll peak at #3 – but the video is right up there with “Sledgehammer.” And 19 years later in 2006, it’ll also be used as the theme song for Wrestlemania 22. Here’s that poster, along with the videos for both “Sledgehammer” and “Big Time.”
- Ballerina Girl – Lionel Ritchie – ⬇ 3
Albums Chart – Top 5
This week, fresh off the success of “Keep Your Hands to Yourself,” the Georgia Satellites reach #5 on the album charts. Though it will have only the one hit and only stay in the Top 5 of this chart for one week, the album will go platinum by the summer.
- Slippery When Wet – Bon Jovi
- Licensed to Ill – Beastie Boys
- Night Songs – Cinderella
- The Way It Is – Bruce Hornsby & The Range
- Georgia Satellites – The Georgia Satellites – ⬆ 3
And though it won’t reach the Top 5 on the album charts, we have the release this week of this debut album which will spawn 3 Top 10 hits. Stay tuned for those later this year.
The Grammys
Coming at you live from LA on February 24, 1987, the 29th Annual Grammy Awards, hosted of course by Billy Crystal, featured two timeless performances by Whitney and Janet and just a totally mid-’80s vibe that I wish could be recaptured. Take a look at the Grammy’s own recap:
The winner’s list is just a throwback to everything great about ’80s music. Here’s a sampling:
- Record of the Year – “Higher Love” – Steve Winwood
- Album of the Year – Graceland – Paul Simon
- Song of the Year and Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group – “That’s What Friends Are For”
- Best New Artist – Bruce Hornsby & the Range
- Best Pop Instrumental – Top Gun Anthem
- Best Female Rock Performance – “Back Where You Started” – Tina Turner
- Best Male Rock Performance – “Addicted to Love” – Robert Palmer
- Best Group Rock Performance – “Missionary Man” – The Eurythmics
- Best Male R&B Performance – “Living in America” – James Brown
- Best Country Song and Best Group Country Performance – “Grandpa (Tell Me ‘Bout The Good Old Days)” – The Judds
- Producer of the Year – Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis
Oh, and one more:
- Best Group R&B Performance – “Kiss” – Prince & the Revolution
Heavens sakes. The DN33 Jukebox is going to be ROCKIN’ this week! Here are a few moments from the show. We’ve got the Beasties presenting an award to Robert Palmer (with just a fantastic intro by Billy Crystal), Don Johnson and Whoopi presenting the Album of the Year to Paul Simon, and Whitney bringing the house down. But first, we start with Janet performing “What Have You Done For Me Lately?” Be sure to watch the end when Terry Lewis, Jimmy Jam, and Jerome Benton – all original members of The Time – join Janet for a little Morris Day/Time dancing that’ll how you singing “Jungle Love” the rest of the day.
Movies
Box Office Top 10
Every 80’s kid had their horror flick or character that scared the living daylights out of them. I remember being about 7 and watching Children of the Corn with my uncle and not sleeping for a week and never going near a cornfield to this day. But if there was a character that froze me in sheer terror, it was Freddy Krueger. And that dang nursery rhyme – 1, 2, Freddy’s coming for you. And for some reason, Nightmare 3 was the worst.
I remember watching it for the first time – I was in Chattanooga with the family visiting my aunt and uncle and my brother was babysitting me. It was ’88 and George Michael’s Faith was all the rage. I had already seen Nightmare 1 and 2 so I knew what was in store, but 10-year-old me was all big and bad and brave now (double digits and all) and I wasn’t gonna let ol’ Freddy scare me. But then he showed up – and in that one scene, his razor fingers turned into syringes. I was wrong. Horribly wrong. Didn’t sleep a wink that night. And 32 years later still remember it vividly.
That’s your #1 movie this week.
- A Nightmare On Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors – New Release
- Aside from scaring the bejesus out of me, the film was also Patricia Arquette’s first main role, and also had an up-and-coming actor still at that time known as Larry Fishburne.
- Platoon -⬇ 1
- Outrageous Fortune – ⬇ 1
- Mannequin – ⬇ 1
- Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home – ⬆ 7
- Some Kind of Wonderful – New Release
- I don’t remember this one at all, but it stars Eric Stoltz, Mary Stuart Masterson, and Lea Thompson. In a fun twist, Michael J. Fox was offered the role but turned it down. That’s fun because Stoltz was originally cast as Marty McFly in Back to the Future back in ’84 but was replaced by Fox after a month of filming. Also in Back to the Future – Lea Thompson.
- The Golden Child – ⬆ 6
- Black Widow – ⬇ 3
- Over the Top – ⬇ 5
- Crocodile Dundee – ⬇ 4
Television
This week, we take a look at Wednesday nights in February 1987 and see quite a few staples of ’80s television. And finally no dang movies of the week or night or whatever.
- 7pm – 8pm
- ABC: Perfect Strangers/Harry
- CBS: The New Mike Hammer
- NBC: Highway to Heaven
- 8pm – 9pm
- ABC: Dynasty
- CBS: Magnum, P.I.
- NBC: Night Court/The Tortellis
- 9pm – 10pm
- ABC: Hotel
- CBS: Houston Knights
- NBC: The Bronx Zoo
So not nearly as good as ABC on Tuesday nights, but decent. That 8 o’clock hour presents a major problem though because I would have had interest in three shows at once – Dynasty, Magnum, and Night Court. Now see, kids, there was no DVR. If you were lucky and had the dang thing set up right, you had a VCR that could tape one show while you watched another. But there was no way to watch a third . . . unless you maybe had a 2nd VCR somewhere in the house. Our house had a VHS VCR in the main room and an old BetaMax in another room, so technically it might have worked. But lord what a hassle.
Though I will say this . . . there was no way in heck I was missing Magnum this week.
Also, please watch the intro for Houston Knights, if only for the commercials that accompany it. New Dodge for $7K with a $151 a month payment. Luke Potter Dodge Winnebago, the #1 Volume Dodge Dealer in the USA! Golden!
Sadly, it looks like Luke Potter Dodge shut its doors in 2000.
Sports
Finally, this week in 1987 saw the death penalty handed down to the Southern Methodist University (SMU) football team for a whole host of infractions including paying players and lying to the NCAA. SMU had previously been on probation in ’85 for recruiting violations and had been on probation five times since ’74. Not great. It’s the only time the NCAA has ever used the death penalty and SMU would have no football team for two years. It’d take them another 20 to get back to a bowl game.
In 2010, ESPN released a 30 for 30 film titled Pony Excess that followed the rise of the program through the early ’80s, with players like Eric Dickerson and Craig James, to its eventual fall. If you have not seen it, it is highly, highly recommended. As with all of the 30 for 30 films. Here’s the trailer.
Well now, that was a week huh? Don’t forget that Thursday equals a new DN33 Jukebox and you can bet it will be a huge list this week – plenty from ’87 and ’86 thanks to the Grammys. And as always, be sure to share if you like what you see!
If you missed any of the past weeks in review, click below and catch up. And if you’re liking them, be sure to share through the social media of your choice below or to the side.
Past This Week . . . 30 Years Ago Reviews:
1987: Week One | Week Two | Week Three | Week Four | Week Five | Week Six | Week Seven | Week Eight |
Acknowledgments:
Embedded tweets come from various Twitter accounts dedicated to all things ’80s (not just 1987), including A special thanks OldSchool80s, LandofThe80s, and RetroNewsNow. All provide fantastic content. We follow all of them and recommend you do too!
Duck Newton
