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.
Two classic movies, ALF, and Huey Lewis & the News. That’s the intro (as if you needed anything else).
Music
Singles Chart – Top 10
Two weeks after entering the Top 10, Bon Jovi finds the top spot for the second straight time with “Livin’ On a Prayer.” In November of last year, “You Give Love a Bad Name” hit #1 for a week. This one will stay a while longer. Meanwhile, Genesis and Glass Tiger drop hard (almost out of the Top 20) while we welcome our old friends Huey Lewis & The News and Lionel Richie to the scene.
- Livin’ On A Prayer – Bon Jovi – ⬆ 2
- Open Your Heart – Madonna – ⬇ 1
- Change of Heart – Cyndi Lauper – ⬆ 1
- Touch Me (I Want Your Body) – Samantha Fox – ⬆ 1
- Keep Your Hands to Yourself – The Georgia Satellites – ⬆ 2
- Will You Still Love Me? – Chicago – ⬆ 3
- At This Moment – Billy Vera and the Beaters – ⬇ 5
- Jacob’s Ladder – Huey Lewis & The News – ⬆ 2
- Following the massive success of Sports through ’83 and ’84 and their 1st #1 hit in ’85 thanks to Back to the Future (“The Power of Love”), Huey Lewis & The News released Fore in September 1986. It hit #1 soon thereafter on the album charts. The first cut, “Stuck with You,” went to #1 and the follow-up “Hip to be Square” got to #3. The album would eventually have three more singles, including “Jacob’s Ladder,” and all will reach the Top 10. How high will “Jacob’s Ladder” reach – more in the coming weeks. For now, a quick story. The first concert I remember going to was at the Birmingham Jefferson Civic Center and it was Huey Lewis & The News’ Fore Tour in 1987. I don’t remember much of it . . . in fact, I remember two things. One, the program. It was huge and it set on my bookshelf for as long as I can remember in the coming years. The other – the opening words out of Huey’s mouth when he hit the stage for the first song . . . “I met a fan dancer, Down in Southside Birmingham.” The place came unglued. It’s the first line of “Jacob’s Ladder.” Here is the opening 45 minutes of their Fore tour stop in Oakland – it’s not the one I went to, but the opening was exactly the same.
- We’re Ready – Boston – ⬆ 1
- Ballerina Girl – Lionel Richie – ⬆ 2
- Starting in 1981, Lionel is working on a streak here of 13 straight Top 10 hits, including 5 #1’s: “Endless Love” (#1), “Truly” (#1), “You Are” (#4), “My Love (#5), “All Night Long (All Night)” (#1), “Running with the Night” (#7), “Hello” (#1),” “Stuck on You” (#3), “Penny Lover” (#8), “Say You, Say Me” (#1), “Dancing on the Ceiling” (#2), “Love Will Conquer All” (#9), and now “Ballerina Girl,” which will peak at #7. Oh, he also sang and co-wrote “We are the World” with Michael Jackson in 1985. Another #1. Add in the 9 Top 10’s he had with the Commodores, including two #1’s (“Still” and “Three Times a Lady”) and you might argue Mr. Richie was a little successful. This will be his last time on the main singles chart, though he will have another Top 10 hit on the country chart later this year with Alabama (“Deep River Woman”) and a #1 hit a few years from now on the R&B chart (“Do It To Me”). For now, here’s the video, which has some strange “Hello” vibes to it.
Albums Chart – Top 5
Well for the first time in our reviews, the Top 5 albums are the same as last week with a few position swaps. Here it is:
- Slippery When Wet – Bon Jovi
- Licensed to Ill – Beastie Boys – ⬆ 2
- Different Light – The Bangles – ⬇ 1
- Night Songs – Cinderella – ⬇ 1
- The Way It Is – Bruce Hornsby & The Range
To make up for it, let’s take a look at the current #1’s for the R&B and Country charts. For R&B, we’ve got “Candy” by Cameo for the 2nd week in a row. Cameo is coming off their Top 10 hit “Word Up,” which peaked at #6 last year. “Candy” will only get to #21 on the main chart, but #1 it sits on the R&B. Which is plenty enough reason to watch this video. As if you needed a reason. Man I love some Cameo.
Meanwhile, on the Country chart, continuing his never-ending streak of #1 hits, Ronnie Milsap is here with “How Do I Turn You On.” If I’m counting right, this is his 30th #1 on the Country chart at this point. And no, I’m not listing them all. Ronnie will end up with 35 #1 Country hits, behind only Conway Twitty and George Strait. Some good company there. Not surprisingly, there is no video. So here’s the song with lyrics.
Movies
Box Office Top 10
This week we are jumping ahead a week in the charts. Why do you say? Well, because the movie charts are all measured from Friday to Thursday. Up until this week, the charts we looked at included the chart for the main part of the week (Sunday through Thursday), but the “new releases” were actually those that hit the theater the Friday before (i.e., last week). Doing it that way ended up cutting off the new releases for the week we were actually looking back on because they would not be included until the next week’s charts (since the current chart would cut off on the Thursday for that week). Confusing, yes it is. But whatever.
So this week we are jumping ahead, because I know you are interested in the new releases that hit the theaters this Friday, not last Friday. Also, we didn’t miss much in the week skipped. Same #1, but some awesome new entries coming out this Friday.
- Platoon
- Outrageous Fortune
- Mannequin – New Release
- So I’m pretty sure I never watched this one in the theater, but I guarantee I watched it 1,000 times on video when it hit Star Video in Wood Square in 1988. Andrew McCarthy, Kim Cattrall, and James Spader. But the real star was Meschach Taylor as Hollywood Montrose. For those uninitiated, McCarthy’s character is an unemployed artist who gets a job as a stocker at a department store. One night, a mannequin McCarthy adores comes to life (Cattrall) and they, along with Hollywood, start making tremendously popular window displays featuring Cattrall’s mannequin. Sounds amazing right? Well, it was. And so was the main song from the movie, “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now” by Starship. It’ll be in the Singles Charts soon enough. For now, here’s the trailer.
- Over the Top – New Release
- Lincoln Hawk! Stallone’s cinematic ode to long-haul truckers everywhere. And one of the best trucker movies of all time, second only to Smokey & the Bandit. This VHS was on repeat a ton in my house as well. Hawk turning his hat around, grabbing hands in that way he did, and then the “take em halfway down, let em up a bit, and then slam down” finishing move. Man, we reenacted that sequence at least 4 million times. And I still want a weight machine in my front seat. The movie’s main song, the Kenny Loggins (of course) ballad “Meet Me Half Way” won’t make it to the Top 10, stalling out just short at #11. So you get to watch that glorious video now, along with the trailer.
- Black Widow – ⬇ 2
- Little Shop of Horrors – ⬆ 6
- Crocodile Dundee – ⬇ 2
- From the Hip – ⬇ 1
- Light of Day – ⬇ 5
- The Bedroom Window – ⬆ 5
Television
Continuing our look at the Spring ’87 network television schedules, here’s Monday night (all times central of course):
- 7pm – 8pm
- ABC: MacGyver
- CBS: Kate & Allie/My Sister Sam
- NBC: Alf/Valerie
- 8pm – 9pm
- ABC: ABC Monday Night Movie
- CBS: Newhart/Designing Women
- NBC: NBC Monday Night at the Movies
- 9pm – 10pm
- ABC: ABC Monday Night Movie (cont.)
- CBS: Cagney & Lacey
- NBC: NBC Monday Night at the Movies (cont.)
I mean, all the movies of the week. It’s crazy that the networks showed so many movies then instead of original programming. A time when not every movie was at your beck and call and renting movies was still in its relative infancy.
Still, we had ALF. And ALF is all that mattered on Monday. At least to this 9-year-old.
Missing from all this though was the rise of the game show. Here’s Newsweek’s cover for the week.
And finally, there’s ice cream. Dead ice cream.
And that’ll do it for another edition of This Week . . . 33 Years Ago. Don’t forget that Thursday will get you a new DN33 Jukebox with all the songs mentioned here in a neat little Spotify playlist for your listening pleasure. 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 |
Duck Newton
