This Week In 1983: The Top Music of July 22nd, 1983
Another week at the top for The Police and “Every Breath You Take”. In fact, the top six songs remain the same this week as last week. Donna Summers moves into the top ten with “She Works Hard For The Money”, a song that will peak in a few weeks at #3 but reach #1 on the R&B Charts. The video for the song will also be the first video by an African American woman to go into heavy rotation on MTV. “She’s a Beauty” by the Tubes owns this weeks biggest drop, falling fifteen spots to #38. While Journey and Rick Springfield both move up fifteen plus spots to debut on the chart this week, the week’s biggest move up belongs to Def Leppard who move up seven spots with “Rock of Ages” at #22. Stalling out this week at #5 is Michael Jackson and his fourth single from the Thriller album, “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin'”. It’s also our featured song of the week.
Song Story: “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin'” by Michael Jackson
Unlike his previous two singles, “Billie Jean” and “Beat It”, no video was made for this song, but Jackson performed the song while on tour as a solo artist and as a member of The Jacksons. Jackson claims the song the song is about the tabloids and the press hounding him. However, a source close to Michael claims the song is really about his brother’s wives and their penchant for creating trouble.
The chorus heard during the song’s outro, “Ma ma se, ma ma sa, ma ma coo sas”, is a line borrowed from Cameroon native Manu Dibango’s 1972 song “Funky Soul Makossa.” Jackson did not have permission to use the song, and reached an out-of-court settlement with Dibango.
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