Way Back Wednesday: The Top Music of March 25, 1983

We continue our look at the top 40 charts of 1983. This week's highlight song is "Twilight Zone" by Golden Earring.

This Week In 1983: March 25th

Michael Jackson and “Billie Jean” continue their reign at #1 for the fourth consecutive week. A month before this, the album Thriller hit #1 on the Billboard album chart and stays there for a record THIRTY SEVEN weeks. This weeks big movers? “Beat It” moves up nine spots to #15 and “Little Red Corvette” moves up ten to #27. Bob Seger and “Shame on the Moon” and The Stray Cats’ “Stray Cat Strut” both drop ten spots to #12 and #21, respectively. One of my favorites, “Twilight Zone” by Golden Earring, moves into the top ten where it reaches its peak of #10.

Song Story: “Twilight Zone” by Golden Earring

The song isn’t inspired by the television show of the same name but rather by the Robert Ludlum novel The Bourne Identity. The song tells a the story of a man on the run from enemy spies before being cornered and is one of the first videos to feature a cinematic story line to match. It was a major hit on MTV. The original version of the video, however, was censored by MTV due to a shot of a topless female “hit-man” and a scene with a syringe being injected into someone. Nevertheless, the band parlayed the success of MTV exposure into an extensive tour of the US, Canada and Europe. MTV even asked the band shoot a movie of final show of the tour. This show included an segment at the beginning that was an extension of the “Twilight Zone” video.

 

 

About Eric Vardeman 115 Articles
80's lover. Screenwriter. Cohost of The Greatest Lists podcast. Christmas enthusiast. Tulsa Curling Club founder. Cherokee. Guitar player. Boomer Sooner. Curator of 80's playlists (https://open.spotify.com/user/127168733)

Be the first to comment

Leave a Reply