Welcome to the new music series Cool Summers. This is where we’ll reminisce about the summers that had the best music. We’ll take it year by year, and explore the hottest, biggest songs of a specific summer, and the impact those songs had on pop culture at that moment, and even presently. Our first entry is the legendary Summer of 1984.
If you’re old enough, you remember how incredible the year 1984 was. Especially the summer of that year. There were unbelievable non-music events that happened. Ghostbusters opened and smashed box office records. So did Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom. The Summer Olympics were held in Los Angeles, and were a roaring success. The NBA draft, held on June 19th, produced four Hall of Famers, including a guy you may have heard of, Michael Jordan. Those items I mentioned would’ve been the high points of any other summer, but they weren’t. The cool stuff...was the music.
In the summer of ‘84, we didn’t get hit songs from artists. We got game changing, anthemic megahits that reshaped American culture. We were treated to songs that we sing to this day at the top of our collective lungs like we’re still 12 years old in our bedrooms with our radios blasting...or our televisions blaring MTV. Let’s take a trip down memory lane, and check out the five biggest songs from the Summer of 1984.
5. Against All Odds (Take A Look at Me Now)- Phil Collins.
This single from Phil Collins (from the movie Against All Odds) charted on Billboard in February of 1984. It hit number 1 on Billboard’s Top 100 pop chart in April. Trust me, this song got plenty of play past April, as it was a mainstay on radio and MTV through the entire summer. This was the song you sang in pretend anguish along with your parents in the car.
4. Footloose- Kenny Loggins
This hit from the Master of Movie Soundtracks (Loggins) was from the identically titled (hit) movie. Fact: not many people associated with the movie thought it would be successful. Not sure if the same thing was felt about this song, or the soundtrack. This single dropped in February ‘84, and reached the top of the Billboard Top 100 chart in March, staying in that spot for three weeks, until April. The Footloose soundtrack album stayed at the top of the Billboard 200 chart for nearly three months, selling nine million copies. This is another song that rocked radios for the remainder of the summer, and really the entire year. This was arguably the feel-good song of the full year of 1984.
3. Ghostbusters- Ray Parker Jr.
Controversial, but massive. Super massive. Ghostbusters became an anthem in the summer of ‘84’, only bested in that category by our number one song on this list. Parker couldn’t rhyme anything with the word 'Ghostbusters', so he created the call and response hook. Amazing decision, as everybody was singing (screaming) “Who ya’ gonna call?!”, and strangers answering “Ghostbusters!!” the entire summer. The song debuted June 16th, and then reached the top of the Billboard Top 100 chart on August 11th, where it stayed for three weeks. It helped that this was the theme song to the biggest grossing movie of the year. This was the movie theme single that showed how big a song like this could be, and how important lead/theme songs were for film projects. We couldn’t escape this cut in ‘84...and we didn’t want to.
2. What’s Love Got to Do with It- Tina Turner
Hard to say what’s more impressive: An older singer making a seismic comeback at age 44, or making a song that was as big as this one was. “What’s Love...” was a mega smash that no one saw coming, but was knocked on their rear ends by. The song was released on May 1st, and soon rose to number one on Billboard’s Top 100 chart, settling there for three weeks. It would end up selling 1.5 million copies worldwide, and catapult Tina Turner to solo superstardom.
This was the triumphant return of a survivor. Tina endured spousal abuse, and closed doors from an industry that seemed to have moved on from her. “What’s Love...” was a battle cry/roar from a lioness who refused to disappear quietly. And women across the country responded by claiming this single (mostly) as their own, sending it to anthem status in the Summer of 1984. After the success of this song, it was no accident older baby boomer acts started making comebacks at advanced ages, and dominating the pop charts until the late 1980’s. Tina strutted and roared, and shook up pop culture.
1. When Doves Cry- Prince
The only things this little ditty accomplished was:
- Become a number one single, and stay in that position for five weeks.
- Became the top selling single of 1984.
- Become the lead single from the insanely huge soundtrack and movie, Purple Rain.
- Become the biggest single in arguably the biggest year in music history.
- Wrestle the royal scepter from the then King of Everything, Michael Jackson.
Yup. That’s all When Doves Cry did, when it dropped May 16th in 1984. It just took over the country, and made Prince the biggest star in the world. And yeah, I mentioned Michael Jackson earlier. Even in ‘84, two years after his Thriller album was released, it was still the biggest album out. And Jackson was still the biggest star on the globe. It was thought that nobody (at that time) could knock him off his perch.
Until Prince re-emerged with When Doves Cry.
When this song hit, it was with megaton bomb force. It vaporized everything else out there, on the radio, and on MTV. In a summer where Bruce Springsteen, Madonna, and once again, Sir Jackson were dominating all airwaves, here came Prince dominating them. When Doves Cry, and soon Purple Rain, would be the hottest phenomenon of the year. When Doves Cry became the clarion call for future artists: if you were going to go big...you’d better go as big as “Doves”. Small wasn’t going to do it any longer (until the 1990’s).
That’s it for the Summer of 1984. What say you? Did the Summer of ‘84 rock you? What was your favorite summer music year? Talk to us.
