Matt OsbornOh for the days of Club Nouveau, the Golden Girls, and, uh . . . . . Jim Bakker. OK, maybe not that last one. But it’s been a weird week, so why not? Come see what was going on when folks could leave their house, This Week . . . 33 Years Ago.
Every 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.
Music
Singles Chart – Top 10
After waiting for weeks to pass up Bon Jovi to take the #1 spot, Huey Lewis & The News is a one-and-done at the top of the singles chart. Taking over the top spot is the Bill Wither’s classic with a fresh new spin by Club Nouveau – “We be jammin, we be jammin, I say!” Dundun dundun dun dun, we be jamunnnnnnnnnn!” I love it!
Only problem is that other debut in the Top 10 from last week – and yes, we get to mention Mannequin yet again – is right on the Club’s heels as Starship jumped 7 spots to #3. We’ll have to wait until next week to see if “Lean On Me” fares better than Huey and his crew did this week in hanging on to the #1 position.
In the meantime, Janet moves up one spot to #2 while “Livin’ On a Prayer” and “You Got It All” make their exits from the Top 10. We’ll see both Bon Jovi and The Jets again before too long. Taking those two spots . . . well just keep reading.
- Lean On Me – Club Nouveau – ⬆ 4
- Let’s Wait Awhile – Janet Jackson – ⬆ 7
- Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now – Starship – ⬆ 7
- Mandolin Rain – Bruce Hornsby & The Range – ⬆ 2
- Somewhere Out There – Linda Ronstadt & James Ingram – ⬇ 3
- Tonight, Tonight, Tonight – Genesis – ⬆ 6
- Back to the charts with their 2nd Top 10 hit of 1987, Genesis makes it 5-for-5 on Top
105 singles from their album Invisible Touch. Prior to “Tonight, Tonight, Tonight,” the band released “Invisible Touch” (#1), “Throwing It All Away” (#4), “In Too Deep” (#3), and, just a few weeks ago, “Land of Confusion” (#4). “Tonight, Tonight, Tonight” will eventually get to #3, but will be the last we hear from Genesis until 1991 when they will enter the Top 10 again with “I Can’t Dance.” Of course, that’s because lead man Phill Collins will be back to doing his solo gig – and be hitting the top of the charts in ’88 and ’89 with tunes you may have heard like “A Groovy Kind of Love,” “Two Hearts,” “Another Day in Paradise” – all three of which will go #1. Genesis may take breaks – but Mr. Collins continues on.
- Back to the charts with their 2nd Top 10 hit of 1987, Genesis makes it 5-for-5 on Top
- Jacob’s Ladder – Huey Lewis & The News – ⬇ 6
- Respect Yourself – Bruce Willis – ⬇ 1
- Come Go With Me – Expose – ⬆ 4
- Back in ’85, Expose released “Point of No Return” on an independent label and it shot to #1 on the US dance chart. Fast forward two years and the band has signed with Arista and released their debut album. The lead single “Come Go With Me” becomes their 2nd #1 dance chart hit and their 1st entry into the Top 10 of the singles chart – and if you’re thinking, “Wait a minute, ‘Point of No Return’ was a singles hit too,” well you would be correct. It is going to get the re-recorded/re-release treatment later this year as the 2nd cut from the album. But you gotta wait for that. “Come Go With Me” will peak soon at #5.
- Big Time – Peter Gabriel
Albums Chart – Top 5
Fresh off of his big Grammy win for Album of the Year, which we covered a few weeks ago, Paul Simon’s Graceland makes its return to the Top 5 in the albums chart this week. Which provides just a fantastic reason to look back at the album’s best-known cut. It will not disappoint.
In new releases this week that won’t eventually make it to the Top 5, we’re got these guys and their debut album Rock the House.
Just the beginning for them. The album will have one single, “Girls Aint’s Nothing But Trouble,” that will peak at #57 on the singles chart. The album will peak at #83 on the albums chart – it’s follow-up next year, He’s the DJ, I’m the Rapper, will make it onto this list below. For this week though, here’s the chart.
- Licensed to Ill – Beastie Boys
- Your weekly Beasties fix is “No Sleep till Brooklyn.” Just like just about all their other cuts, no singles chart success. But who cares. So dope. Including the video.
- Slippery When Wet – Bon Jovi
- The Way It Is – Bruce Hornsby & The Range
- Graceland – Paul Simon – ⬆ 3
- After this week in 2020, we all deserve this. Namely Chevy and a sax.
- Control – Janet Jackson
Movies
Box Office Top 10
For a 3rd straight week, Lethal Weapon holds on to the top spot with only one large nation-wide new release this week – Whoopi Goldberg in Burglar. This one also got released this week, but only in a very limited release.
It’s nation-wide release won’t come for another month. Next week though, be ready for Mr. Willis as he makes his big-screen starring debut. And we get a new #1.
- Lethal Weapon
- Burglar – New Release
- Whoopi was great in The Color Purple and I liked Jumpin’ Jack Flash. This one not so much.
- Platoon – ⬇ 1
- Tin Men
- A Nightmare On Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors – ⬇ 2
- Children of a Lesser God
- The Mission
- Hoosiers – ⬆ 2
- Angel Heart – ⬇ 3
- Mannequin – ⬇ 1
Television
This week draws us to a close on our look at network television schedules for each night of Spring 1987. This week – Saturday. And an all-time classic, especially in the eyes of my dear grandmother Irene.
- 7pm – 8pm
- ABC: Sidekicks/Sledge Hammer!
- CBS: Outlaws
- NBC: The Facts of Life/Sweet Surrender
- 8pm – 9pm
- ABC: Ohara
- CBS: The CBS Saturday Night Movie
- NBC: The Golden Girls/Amen
- 9pm – 10pm
- ABC: Spencer: For Hire
- CBS: The CBS Saturday Night Movie
- NBC: Hunter
Oh yes, it’s Rose, Dorothy, Blanche, and my favorite, dear old Sophia. They were all great. I think my favorite part is that Estelle Getty played Bea Arthur’s mom, even though Arthur was one year older than Getty. All have sadly now passed on except for Betty White who is still kicking, and as popular as ever, at 98 years young.
Never watched the Girls, or just don’t remember Sophia dropped bombs on everyone? Then take a little over six minutes and watch this. She was a damn killer.
US News
In other news around the country, Jim Bakker, a hugely successful televangelist in the ’70s and ’80s, resigned this week from his TV show The PTL Club after allegations of sexual assault and a payoff to Jessica Hahn came to light. If you were around in ’87, Jim and his wife Tammy Faye Baker were huge. And then the downfall – allegations of sexual assault, hush money, and, of course, fraud. Hush money very rarely stays hush.
By ’89, Bakker would be convicted of all kinds of fraud and head to federal prison for a few years.
Meanwhile, Hahn would go on to fame of her own, including appearing on various sit-coms, radio shows and posing for Playboy three times, which led to this People magazine cover later this year.
Last year, 20/20 took an extended look back at the whole saga – here are the opening 8-minutes of it – the full program is available for streaming on ABC’s site.
And finally, in a more uplifting note and a sign of hope for what’s going on in the world right now, this week in 1987 saw the first FDA-approved drug shown to prevent and treat AIDS and HIV.
That’ll do it for This Week . . . . 33 Years ago. Be sure to check out the new DN33 Jukebox later this week with all the music mentioned here plus more. 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 | Week Nine | Week Ten | Week Eleven |
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
