1984: The Year In Top 40 Hits (Week #6: February 11, 1984)
Michael Jackson, Christine McVie, and how disco reinvented itself. Plus how I stopped being an Adam Ant fan.
(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.)
Honestly, it was the start of a kind of slow couple weeks on the charts this week in in 1984, but there’s still plenty to discuss. There were 10 new entries this week, the highest being the second song we’ll discuss.
At #2, “Joanna” by Kool and the Gang
At the height of the disco era, Kool and the Gang were untouchable. In fact, I’d argue that their hits between 1973’s “Jungle Boogie” through 1981’s “Get Down On It” never had that period that so many of their Saturday Night Fever contemporaries did where they sounded cheesy and dated. A groove like “Too Hot” is just that undeniable.
But after the commercial failure of 1982’s As One, the band had to reinvent themselves for post-disco era. Cutting ties with longtime producer Eumir Deodato in favor of producing themselves, the band pulled back on the horns and brought Ronald Bell and Curtis Williams synthesizers to the fore. And…that was it. No outside…
