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1984: The Year In Top 40 Hits (Week 48: December 1, 1984)

Phil Collins overshadows Philip Bailey, plus Ashford and Simpson, General Public, Alphaville, and The Dazz Band getting weird

Stewart Mason
Three Imaginary Girls
11 min readDec 2, 2024

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Photo by Bruno Guerrero on Unsplash

(Note: If you’re new here, you might want to read an introduction to this series to get caught up on what we’re doing. Glad you could make it.)

You know what snack food I miss from 1984? Cornquistos. They were like Combos, which came later, but the cylinder was like a Frito and they were filled with these filling that were like Dorito cheese held together by oil. They were disgusting and I loved them, but I think I’m the only one because they barely lasted the year. I also miss Mrs. Baird’s French Pastries, which were basically a saucer-size Hostess cupcake covered with pecan bits in the chocolate, but I think you have to be a Texan to miss those. Anyway, “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go” was number one for the third week. There were 7 new entries, the highest being “Lover Boy” by Billy Ocean at #56.

At #45, “Easy Lover” by Philip Bailey

When Maurice White broke up Earth Wind and Fire for the first time in 1984, the R&B icon reportedly said that it was because he was sick of hearing his horn section on Phil Collins records. And the man had a…

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Three Imaginary Girls
Three Imaginary Girls

Published in Three Imaginary Girls

Medium’s sparkly indie-pop press! Music discovery, memoir, mixtapes and more.

Stewart Mason
Stewart Mason

Written by Stewart Mason

From West Texas. In Boston. It’s mostly gonna be music, food, and cats.

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