This Week . . . 33 Years Ago: Week Three, January 12 – 18

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.

We’re already on Week 3 of 1987 and this week we look at the album chart for the first time. If you’ve missed the first two weeks, be sure to get caught up first – links are below!

On to the charts and other news around the world . . . 33 years ago.

Music

Singles Chart – Top 10

We have a new #1 on the music charts – if you read last week, you know I’m pretty happy about it – and two new entries that you might have heard of.

1. Shake You Down – Gregory Abbott – ⬆ 2
   • Moving up two spots to #1 is Mr. Abbott and his classic “Shake You Down.” We already discussed it last week so go back for that. “Eenie meenie miney mo, come on girl let’s shock the show!” So good. Matter of fact, just go ahead and have another listen.

2. C’est La Vie – Robbie Nevil – ⬆ 2
   • Up three spots is Robbie Nevil and the lone Top-10 hit of his career “C’est La Vie.” He’ll have another song get to #14 later this year, “Dominoes,” but this one is really the only song anyone remembers. I just remember shouting “That’s right!” during every chorus. “C’est La Vie” will peak here at #2. Fun facts: after his singing career lagged into the ’90s, Nevil began composing for acts such as K-Ci & JoJo and Jessica Simpson.

3. Notorious – Duran Duran – ⬇ 1
4. Walk Like An Egyptian – Bangles – ⬇ 3
5. At This Moment – Billy Vera and the Beaters – ⬆ 4
   • The biggest mover of the week, Billy Vera and the Beaters move up to #5 with “At This Moment.” Turns out, this song was written back in 1981 but only made it to #79 on the charts then. However, in 1985, the TV hit Family Ties used the song on multiple episodes and it had a rebirth. The power of Alex P. Keaton. More fun facts: Vera wrote the theme song “Life Goes On” to the sitcom Empty Nest, the spin-off of The Golden Girls. You can also see Vera and the Beaters in the bar scene of Blind Date, the fantastic Bruce Willis-Kim Basinger flick that is released later this year.

6. Control – Janet Jackson
   • Growing up in the shadow of her brothers, Janet struggled in the opening stages of her own career to make a splash. Her first two solo albums hardly yielded anything, so for her third, she broke away from the family management, which controlled everything (get it), and met up with Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. And oh boy did things take off from there. The album Control was released in early ’86 and went to #1 like a rocket. By this time, the album had already had three Top-5 hits (“What Have You Done for Me Lately” (#4), “Nasty” (#3), and “When I Think of You” (#1)), and will end up with two more top hits later this year. It’s also the first compact disc I can remember entering our house – complete with the long cardboard box sleeve that CDs were packaged in – those cardboard sleeves were great and the last attempt to hold onto the cover art aspect of vinyl. Anyhow, here’s Ms. Jackson.

7. Open Your Heart – Madonna – ⬆ 8
8. Land of Confusion – Genesis – ⬆ 3
   • These two are going to be around for a bit – we’ll get into them next week.
9. Is This Love – Survivor – ⬆ 1
   • Fresh off their continued Rocky success (it began with “Eye of the Tiger” from Rocky III in ’82 and then with “Burning Heart” from Rocky IV in ’86, with a few non-Rocky hits in between like “The Search is Over”), Survivor has their last Top 10 hit here.
10. Everybody Have Fun Tonight – Wang Chung – ⬇ 6

Albums Chart – Top 5

1. Slippery When Wet – Bon Jovi
   • Everything about this album is iconic – the cover art, the multiple hit songs, the videos that came with those songs, and of course, the hair! 1986 had been quite the transition year as we pivoted from the synthesizer early ’80s sound and started to make our way into slightly harder rock and all. that. hair. Released in August of last year, Slippery When Wet first hit #1 in October with the single release of “You Give Love a Bad Name.” After spending the last few weeks at #2 behind Bruce, Bon Jovi is set to run the next two months in the top spot and will end up the biggest selling album of the year – spoiler: Just to give you an idea on how the album charts were back in ’86, only 9 albums will hit #1 this year and we’ve already seen two. The album will go on to sell over 28 million copies in its lifetime and will have three more singles – “Livin’ on a Prayer,” “Wanted Dead or Alive,” and “Never Say Goodbye.” We’ll talk about the first two again when they hit the Top 10 charts throughout this year. And since we just missed “You Give Love a Bad Name” in the Top 10, go ahead and listen to it now.

2. Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band Live 1975-1985 – Bruce Springsteen
   • This is Bruce’s first live album and included 40 songs on either five records, three cassettes, or three CDs. It spent 7 weeks at #1 before Bon Jovi dropped it to #2. I have a mostly sealed but new one of these in the personal collection.

3. Third Stage – Boston
   • Also a former #1 in ’86, Boston spent 4 weeks in the top spot in November with Third Stage. It had three singles including “Amanda,” which reached #1 in November, “We’re Ready,” which we’ll see in the Top 10 later this year, and “Can’tcha Say,” which will peak at #20. Since we missed “Amanda” in the singles charts, have at it now.

4. The Way It Is – Bruce Hornsby & The Range
   • Released in September of ’86, The Way It Is peaked at #3 and had four singles, including the title track (#1), “Mandolin Rain,” “Every Little Kiss,” and “On the Western Skyline.” Two of those last three will hit the Top 10 chart this year – I’m sure you can guess which two.
5. Different Light – The Bangles
   • The second studio album from the Bangles, Different Light included the Prince-written “Manic Monday,” which peaked at #2 on the singles chart, “If She Knew What She Wants” (#29), “Walk Like an Egyptian” (#1), and “Walking Down Your Street” (#11).

Movies

At the box office, Lady and the Tramp, Wisdom (that was fast), and An American Tail make their exits and are replaced by The Mission, Assassination, and Platoon. Released back in October, The Mission makes its only appearance in the Top 10 and starred Robert DeNiro and Jeremy Irons. I never saw it. Assassination, the latest Charles Bronson flick, is a new release that will also only see the Top 10 list for one week. Platoon, on the other hand, will be here for a bit. After a very limited release in December, Platoon has been steadily rising up the box office chart and will continue even further in the coming weeks. We’ll discuss it more as it climbs higher. In the meantime, here’s the poster from Assassination, which looks exactly like you thought it would.

Box Office Top 10

1. The Golden Child
2. Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
3. Crocodile Dundee
4. Little Shop of Horrors – ⬆ 1
5. The Mission
6. The Morning After – ⬆ 1
7. Assassination
8. Three Amigos – ⬇ 2
9. Heartbreak Ridge – ⬇ 1
10. Platoon -⬆ 2

Video Games

Finally, this week also saw the release of Zelda II: The Adventure of Link by Nintendo. If that seems a little early in the timeline from what you remember, it is! Turns out, the original Legend of Zelda will not be released in the US for the original Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) until later this year and Zelda II will not be released for the NES until almost two years later.

And there it is . . . Week 3 of 1987 in the books. Stay tuned for next week where we continue our look at music, movies, and more during This Week . . . 33 Years Ago.

Past This Week . . . 30 Years Ago Reviews:

1987: Week One | Week Two