It’s likely that when you read these classic 80’s song titles, their hooks popped into your head. That’s the kind of power these songs have, and they’ve been honored for that in many ways. Here you see them individually honored with Authentic, In-House singles, from RIAA authorized manufacturer, DeeJay Products.
“We’ve Got The Beat” by the Go-Go’s, was released in January 1982, and certified gold May 25, 1982…
Here’s the backstory of the accomplishment… “We Got the Beat” became the Go-Go’s biggest hit, spending three weeks at No. 2 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, behind Joan Jett & the Blackhearts’“I Love Rock ‘n Roll“. The song evolved out of the group covering the song that served as the group’s namesake, the 1965 hit “Going to a Go Go” by the Miracles. “We Got the Beat” mentions various early ’60s dances such as the Pony, the Watusi and Go-Go dancing. The song’s music video, filmed at a live performance at Palos Verdes High School in Los Angeles, CA on December 4, 1981, received heavy airplay on MTV. It gained further exposure when it was used in the opening sequence of the film Fast Times at Ridgemont High, released in August 1982. It was during the song’s time in the U.S. top 10 that the Go-Go’s LP Beauty and the Beat topped the U.S. Billboard 200….
“Mr. Roboto” by Styx was released in January 1983, and certified gold on May 16, 1983…
Here’s the backstory of the accomplishment… “Mr. Roboto” is a song written by Styx lead singer and keyboardist Dennis DeYoung, and recorded on the Styx album Kilroy Was Here. The song tells part of the story of Robert Orin Charles Kilroy (ROCK), in the rock opera Kilroy Was Here. It’s performed by Kilroy (as played by Dennis DeYoung), a rock and roll performer who was placed in a futuristic prison for “rock and roll misfits” by the anti-rock-and-roll group the Majority for Musical Morality (MMM) and its founder Dr. Everett Righteous (played by guitarist James Young). The Roboto is a model of robot which does menial jobs in the prison. Kilroy escapes the prison by overpowering a Roboto prison guard and hiding inside its emptied-out metal shell. When Jonathan Chance (played by guitarist Tommy Shaw) finally meets Kilroy, at the very end of the song, Kilroy unmasks and says “I’m Kilroy! Kilroy!”, ending the song. The lyric “Dōmo arigatō, Mr. Roboto” has entered popular culture, and it is used in media such as The Simpsons, Futurama, Arrested Development,Eight Crazy Nights, Austin Powers in Goldmember and The Perfect Man…
“Don’y You Want Me” by The Human League was released in November 1981, and certified gold on July 26, 1982…
Here’s the backstory of the accomplishment… “Don’t You Want Me” is the fourth single from The Human League’s third studio album Dare (1981). It is the band’s best known and most commercially successful recording and topped the Billboard Hot 100 in the US on July 3, 1982 where it stayed for three weeks. The lyrics were originally inspired after lead singer Philip Oakey read a photo-story in a teen-girl’s magazine. The first three tracks released from Dare —”The Sound of the Crowd“, “Love Action (I Believe in Love)“, and “Open Your Heart“—had already been released as successful singles. With a hit album and three hit singles in a row, Virgin’s chief executive Simon Draper decided to release one more single from the album before the end of 1981. His choice, “Don’t You Want Me”, instantly caused a row with Oakey who did not want another single to be released because he was convinced that “the public were now sick of hearing The Human League” and the choice of the “poor quality filler track” would almost certainly be a disaster, wrecking the group’s new-found popularity. Virgin were adamant that a fourth single would be released and Oakey finally agreed on the condition that a large color poster accompany the 7″ single, because he felt fans would “feel ripped off” by the ‘substandard’ single alone. Stephen Thomas Erlewine, senior editor for AllMusic, described the song as “a devastating chronicle of a frayed romance wrapped in the greatest pop hooks and production of its year.” – Wikipedia
___________________________________
