1984: The Year In Top 40 Hits (Week 34: August 25, 1984)
Scandal, Billy Joel, Twisted Sister, Naked Eyes go New Order, and yet another Band Stewart’s Never Heard Of
August 25, 1984, was my dad’s 54th birthday. He was born on the exact same day as Sean Connery. My mother — who was otherwise not the sort of person who had running jokes — always would stare at Connery whenever he showed up on TV, silently turn to look at my dad, turn back to the TV and shake her head in mock wistfulness. Also, this means that in 1984, he turned a year younger than I am now, which feels kind of odd. Anyway, “Ghostbusters” was number one for the third straight week, and there were only six new entries, the highest being “Lucky Star” by Madonna at 49. We will definitely be talking about that one at some point.
At #13, “The Warrior” by Scandal (featuring Patty Smyth)
All together now: bang-BANG! As should be obvious by now, I love a big dumb pop song, and “The Warrior” was probably the biggest and dumbest of the waning days of the summer of 1984. It’s absolutely loaded with hooks and incredibly dumb lyrics, and it came complete with a clearly very expensive and also extremely dopey video that looks like some kind of bizarre cross between West Side Story, Mad Max, and…
