Top Songs of 1983

As I was writing about Anthony Callea's new album 'Thirty', I couldn't help but think about what I was doing 30 years ago. Unlike Anthony, who was busy being born and getting his diapers changed, I had completed my college education and moving to New York City. I had done my internship at the Actors Theatre of Louisville in the Fall of 1982, and came back to regroup before the big move. I would be joining Bill, who was there already doing his graduate work at Columbia. We were moving into an apartment on the Upper West Side. We were young and poor, so we didn't have air conditioning to keep us cool. Instead, we had screens for the windows, and a box fan to keep the air moving. What this also meant was we were getting the full sounds of the city, including the music that was playing on the boomboxes down below.

Clockwise: Michael Jackson; Men At Work; The Police; and Irene Cara.

I can be fairly sure we often heard the Top 5 songs of 1983, according to Billboard Magazine. I shall begin with the #5 song of the year, the first of two in the countdown by the King of Pop, Michael Jackson. His rocking song "Beat It" was a sensation, and it is easy to hear why. Michael certainly was a multifaceted entertainer, able to write, sing, play the instruments, produce, and dance in ways most musicians could not even dream about. Check out the music video for "Beat It".

Australia has long been a good trade partner with the United States, especially when it came to music. They shared The Bee Gees with us, as well as a very young Kylie Minogue doing the "Locomotion". And there was also Midnight Oil, with their big sound on "Beds Are Burning". But in the #4 spot for 1983 we find another Australian band that made the trip across the Pacific worthwhile, Men At Work. They tore up the charts with the song "Down Under", offering us Americans a little slice of Australia, complete with a vegemite sandwich. So here is Men At Work, with Colin Hay on lead vocals, with "Down Under".

In 1983, there might not have been any movie with a bigger influence on Pop culture than 'Flashdance'. The movie was stylishly directed by Adrian Lyne, who used everything at his fingertips, from lighting to steam, to create sexy imagery, from the dancer working in the steel mill, to the ladies dancing in the club. And all this was tied up with a pretty musical bow, as there seemed to be song after song on the soundtrack that was making it up the charts. That includes the #3 of 1983, "Flashdance...What A Feeling" as recorded by Irene Cara. She wrote the song with Giorgio Moroder and Keith Forsey. Cara was already a proven singer, having placed two songs from the soundtrack of "Fame" on the charts in 1980. Enjoy as she sings "Flashdance...What A Feeling".

I have to say, I was surprised when I learned that Michael Jackson's second entry was not at #1, but at #2. You see, I didn't think anything scored on the Billboard charts like Jackson's "Billie Jean", off his album 'Thriller'. But after checking several places, it does seem like "Billie Jean" placed #2 in 1983, one of the many songs off the album that burned up the charts and off the selves of the record stores. And it had this great music video, with the lighting sidewalk that was so innovative at the time. You see, Michael was always pushing the boundaries. Have fun watching Michael Jackson sing "Billie Jean".

The song that ended up on top of the Billboard charts for 1983 is by on the the oh-so-many British Imports of the 1980s, The Police. Sting, Andy Summers, and Stewart Copeland came together to form a Punk band in the mid-1970s, and I remember clearly loving their first album, 'Outlandos d'Amour'. The songs off the album were getting airplay on college radio, and I knew some of the DJs at my college station, so I got to hear the music early. "Roxanne" and others were so different, so new. five years later, they were still making music people wanted to hear, including the #1 song of 1983, "Every Breath You Take" from their album 'Synchronicity'.

Hope you enjoyed this trip down memory lane. All the music is available for purchase on most music services, like iTunes and Amazon.

Billboard Top 5 of 1983

It was an interesting year for me. I had finished my internship at the Actor's Theater of Louisville at the end of 1982, officially sealing off my college career. I returned home to work for a bit, getting money together as I went to move to New York City to try my hand at working in the theater. To be honest, I am not sure I would have made the move alone, so moving in with Bill, there to work on a graduate degree at Columbia, certainly made it easier to take such a large step 'on my own.' He was also working an internship at the Circle Repertory Theater Company in the literary department. Shortly after moving at the end of April, Bill heard of an opening, and told me about it. I went in to interview with the Production Manager, Kate Stewart, and soon was working another internship, earning $50 a week, with the hopes of getting a real job in the fall. I started work on the production of the Sam Shepard's Fool For Love, with the original off-Broadway cast including Ed Harris and Kathy Baker, and a replacement cast with Will Patten and an unknown actor named Bruce Willis as an understudy. I began work taking care of the wardrobe, but my role expanded to also include set maintenance. By the start of the fall subscription series, I was hired on as the Master Carpenter, and I was totally stoked. I was on the staff of the theater whose roster included Marshall W. Mason and Lanford Wilson, along with designer John Lee Beatty, all nestled neatly in Greenwich Village, while living with Bill in an apartment in Spanish Harlem. We had no money, but it was a great time of my life.

The fifth most popular song on the Billboard chart from 1983 was the punchy electro-pop song by Eddy Grant, Electric Avenue. Grant lived in England, having moved there with his family from Guyana when just a child. He started making music in the 60s, but didn't start a solo career until the late 70e, and went on to have the platinum-selling song which became a hit worldwide.



The band Toto came together in 1977, made up of some the the best studio musicians of the period. Their rock music was a smooth blend of pop and rock, making seamless records tailored to fit each member of the band. Africa was the second hit from the Triple-Platinum album Toto IV, Rosanna being the first in 1982. Both songs soared on the charts and Africa landed at #4 for 1983.



With torn sweatshirts with cut out necklines, the movie Flashdance made a huge impact on popular culture in terms of fashion, but that was not all. It also contributed several chart-topping songs to the mix, including the #3 song of the year, Michael Sembello's Maniac. Sembello was a songwriter of note, working for some of the top names in the industry, including Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson, and Barbra Streisand, among others, before releasing a solo album. One cut, Maniac, was added to the soundtrack to Flashdance, and the combination of great song in a hit movie brought the song to #3 on the Billboard chart for the year.



The New Wave of rock music was still in full bloom, and it earned the #2 spot on the year-end chart when Australian rockers Men At Work with their quirky song, Down Under. The song was the second hit for the band, the first coming in 1982 with Who Can It Be Now?. Down Under spent four weeks atop the US charts, an impressive feat for the band.



Bonnie Tyler had her first hit on US radio in 1977 with the song It's A Heartache, and had to wait six years to get her second. The song, Total Eclipse of the Heart, was penned by Jim Steinman, who to many was the King of Bombast, having written several hits for Meatloaf with histrionics normally reserved for opera. But paired with Tyler, Steinman mined musical gold, and helped the singer avoid the tag of one-hit-wonder forever.

Billboard Top 5 of 1982

What a big year for me 1982 was. I had finished my college studies, and in the fall, did a 4 month internship at the Actor's Theater of Louisville in Louisville, Kentucky. After spending a couple of years as the Technical Director of the college theater, I was the intern in the shop to build sets for a renown regional theater, and I loved it. The down side, however, was that I had to pack light for the trip, and not bring my music with me. Instead, I had an alarm clock/radio unit that was my only source of tunes, so I heard plenty of the Billboard top 5, starting with Open Arms by Journey. I was a huge fan of Journey, and thought that Steve Perry had one of the most amazing voices from the period. It was so clean, strong and brilliant, you just had to listen to him. Here they are singing the fifth most popular song of the year.



In late 1981, the Australian band Men At Work released their debut album, Business As Usual. It took a few months to really catch on, but with the help of the first single, Who Can It Be Now?, the quirky New Wave music was soon a steady part of the pop music diet, starting with the fourth most popular song of 1982.



Coming in as the third most popular song of the year is Up Where We Belong, sung by Jennifer Warnes & Joe Cocker from the soundtrack of the movie An Officer And A Gentleman. It was written by the greatly talented Jack Nitzsche, Buffy Sainte-Marie and Will Jennings. Warnes became known for have a deft touch with movie theme songs, but her best was this, dueting with the amazing Cocker.



Daryl Hall & John Oates were on quite a roll in the 80s, and had the number 2 song of 1982 with a catchy song Maneater. It was their first single from the album H2O, and while certainly classic pop, it might be one of my least favorite of their songs. But, with the #2 song of the year, here are Hall & Oates.



J. Geils Band was built around guitarist John Geils, who preferred to have his music served with a steady helping of rock and blues. While having been met with critical success, big-time commercial success alluded them until they took a more pop sound, including the mega-hit Centerfold.

Billboard Top 5 - 1983

It was an interesting year for me. I had finished my internship at the Actor's Theater of Louisville at the end of 1982, officially sealing off my college career. I returned home to work for a bit, getting money together as I went to move to New York City to try my hand at working in the theater. To be honest, I am not sure I would have made the move alone, so moving in with Bill, there to work on a graduate degree at Columbia, certainly made it easier to take such a large step 'on my own.' He was also working an internship at the Circle Repertory Theater Company in the literary department. Shortly after moving at the end of April, Bill heard of an opening, and told me about it. I went in to interview with the Production Manager, Kate Stewart, and soon was working another internship, earning $50 a week, with the hopes of getting a real job in the fall. I started work on the production of the Sam Shepard's Fool For Love, with the original off-Broadway cast including Ed Harris and Kathy Baker, and a replacement cast with Will Patten and an unknown actor named Bruce Willis as an understudy. I began work taking care of the wardrobe, but my role expanded to also include set maintenance. By the start of the fall subscription series, I was hired on as the Master Carpenter, and I was totally stoked. I was on the staff of the theater whose roster included Marshall W. Mason and Lanford Wilson, along with designer John Lee Beatty, all nestled neatly in Greenwich Village, while living with Bill in an apartment in Spanish Harlem. We had no money, but it was a great time of my life.

The fifth most popular song on the Billboard chart from 1983 was the punchy electro-pop song by Eddy Grant, Electric Avenue. Grant lived in England, having moved there with his family from Guyana when just a child. He started making music in the 60s, but didn't start a solo career until the late 70e, and went on to have the platinum-selling song which became a hit worldwide.



The band Toto came together in 1977, made up of some the the best studio musicians of the period. Their rock music was a smooth blend of pop and rock, making seamless records tailored to fit each member of the band. Africa was the second hit from the Triple-Platinum album Toto IV, Rosanna being the first in 1982. Both songs soared on the charts and Africa landed at #4 for 1983.



With torn sweatshirts with cut out necklines, the movie Flashdance made a huge impact on popular culture in terms of fashion, but that was not all. It also contributed several chart-topping songs to the mix, including the #3 song of the year, Michael Sembello's Maniac. Sembello was a songwriter of note, working for some of the top names in the industry, including Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson, and Barbra Streisand, among others, before releasing a solo album. One cut, Maniac, was added to the soundtrack to Flashdance, and the combination of great song in a hit movie brought the song to #3 on the Billboard chart for the year.



The New Wave of rock music was still in full bloom, and it earned the #2 spot on the year-end chart when Australian rockers Men At Work with their quirky song, Down Under. The song was the second hit for the band, the first coming in 1982 with Who Can It Be Now?. Down Under spent four weeks atop the US charts, an impressive feat for the band.



Bonnie Tyler had her first hit on US radio in 1977 with the song It's A Heartache, and had to wait six years to get her second. The song, Total Eclipse of the Heart, was penned by Jim Steinman, who to many was the King of Bombast, having written several hits for Meatloaf with histrionics normally reserved for opera. But paired with Tyler, Steinman mined musical gold, and helped the singer avoid the tag of one-hit-wonder forever.

Billboard Top 5 - 1982

What a big year for me 1982 was. I had finished my college studies, and in the fall, did a 4 month internship at the Actor's Theater of Louisville in Louisville, Kentucky. After spending a couple of years as the Technical Director of the college theater, I was the intern in the shop to build sets for a renown regional theater, and I loved it. The down side, however, was that I had to pack light for the trip, and not bring my music with me. Instead, I had an alarm clock/radio unit that was my only source of tunes, so I heard plenty of the Billboard top 5, starting with Open Arms by Journey. I was a huge fan of Journey, and thought that Steve Perry had one of the most amazing voices from the period. It was so clean, strong and brilliant, you just had to listen to him. Here they are singing the fifth most popular song of the year.



In late 1981, the Australian band Men At Work released their debut album, Business As Usual. It took a few months to really catch on, but with the help of the first single, Who Can It Be Now?, the quirky New Wave music was soon a steady part of the pop music diet, starting with the fourth most popular song of 1982.



Coming in as the third most popular song of the year is Up Where We Belong, sung by Jennifer Warnes & Joe Cocker from the soundtrack of the movie An Officer And A Gentleman. It was written by the greatly talented Jack Nitzsche, Buffy Sainte-Marie and Will Jennings. Warnes became known for have a deft touch with movie theme songs, but her best was this, dueting with the amazing Cocker.



Daryl Hall & John Oates were on quite a roll in the 80s, and had the number 2 song of 1982 with a catchy song Maneater. It was their first single from the album H2O, and while certainly classic pop, it might be one of my least favorite of their songs. But, with the #2 song of the year, here are Hall & Oates.



J. Geils Band was built around guitarist John Geils, who preferred to have his music served with a steady helping of rock and blues. While having been met with critical success, big-time commercial success alluded them until they took a more pop sound, including the mega-hit Centerfold.