Way Back Wednesday: The Top Music of November 18, 1983

This Week In 1983: The Top Music of November 18, 1983

Lionel Richie and “All Night Long” still holds on to the top spot this week. Quiet Riot reaches their peak of #5. Even though next year (1984) will be the year of Prince Nelson Rogers, QR’s success paves the way for bands like The Scorpions, Twisted Sister, Ratt and especially Van Halen to find chart success next year as well.

On her way to a peak of #5, Pat Benatar and “Love Is A Battlefield” break into the Top 10 as does Hall & Oates with “Say It Isn’t So”. Notable debuts this week belong to Elton John with “I Guess That’s Why They Call It The Blues”, Yes and “Owner of A Lonely Heart” and the first single from Duran Duran’s 1984 smash album, Seven and The Ragged Tiger, “Union of The Snake”. One other debut of note this week is “Synchronicity II” by The Police. It’s also our featured song of the week.

Song Story: “Synchronicity II” by The Police

While I fell in love with this song the very first time I heard it, I had no clue whatsoever what synchronicity was or what the meaning of this song was. I just thought it was a freaky cool song and video. For posterity, synchronicity is a theory, put forth by psychologist Carl Jung, that purports that seemingly coincidental events are connected through their meaning. It was Jung’s attempt to explain paranormal events.

Right? What thirteen year old kid knows that?

During the time period when Sting was writing songs for this album he was reading a lot about Jung and became a believer in the concept (hence the album title and two songs with the same name). Sting said “the synchronicity in this song could be seen as what is happening at the Scottish loch and what is happening inside “Daddy’s” head. The monster is coming out of the water and approaching the cottage. Daddy’s despair and futility over his life are boiling to the surface just as he’s arriving home. We can only imagine what will happen when he goes into the house.”

Right? What thirteen year old kid gets that?

The video was one of the most expensive at the time with the set being made to look like a garbage dump and each band member perched on their own twenty five foot tall tower. At one point, drummer Stewart Copeland’s tower caught fire. The crew started to leave the building but Copeland refused to come down so the video director kept the cameras rolling despite the danger. On an unrelated note: this is seriously one of the most fun songs to play along with on guitar.