1983’S NUMBER TWO QUICKIES

This is a music trivia column, and since 1983 is rapidly coming to an close, this time the questions are all about albums from ‘83 that were # 2 on the record chart.  They may also have been # 1 as well, so pay close attention to the question, which are self explanatory. Give it your best shot.          

QUESTIONS

1.  Throughout January, February and the first week of March 1983, this album was stuck in the # 2 slot on Billboards Top 100 album chart.  It never made it to # 1.  The album title was “Built For Speed”.  Who recorded this album?  Was it:  a. Pat Benatar  b. Stray Cats  c.  Journey

      

2.  In 1983, this album spent 21 weeks (although not consecutively) at # 1.  It also spent 17 weeks at # 2.  This album sold well over 50 million copies and in 1984, it won 8 Grammy Awards, including ‘Album of the Year’.  It was the sixth studio album by this legendary singer/songwriter/dancer.  The cost of production for the album was $750,000.00, but within a year, it became the best selling album of all time and still holds that distinction.  You don’t have to be “Off The Wall” (HINT ALERT) to know the title of this ‘thrilling’ album.  So what’s the name of it already?                    

              

3.  This album by The Police first hit the # 2 spot for the week of July 16^th, 1983.  The following week it was # 1 and remained in the top position for the next 6 weeks, then dropped to # 2 for one week, but the following week it rebounded to # 1 for the next 10 weeks.  What’s the name of this album?  Is it: a. Synchronicity  b. Ghost In The Machine  c. Zenyatta Mondatta                   

                   

4.  Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” kept this album from becoming # 1.  It was locked in the # 2 spot for 9 weeks.  The album title is “Frontiers”.  What’s the name of the group who recorded it?  Is it:  a. Air Supply  b. Toto  c. Journey      

    

5.  This Motown performer was in a hit making group before he went solo.  He wrote and sang lead on many of this groups hits such as “Three Times A Lady” and “Still”.  In 1983, his second solo album, “Can’t Slow Down” was # 2 for only one week in November before leaping to the top spot for the next three weeks.  Who is this Motown musical maven?    

             

ANSWERS

1.  The answer is b. Stray Cats.  “Built For Speed” was their most successful album. Another album released in ’83, “Rant ‘n Rave with the Stray Cats” climbed to # 14, but two later albums didn’t even make it into the Top 100 albums chart.  Stray Cat Brian Setzer released a couple of albums on his own in the 1980’s before forming The Brian Setzer Orchestra.  Their most successful album to date is 1998’s “The Dirty Boogie” which climbed to # 9 on the album chart.                          

2.  Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” was in the Top Ten album chart every single week of 1983 (not always at # 1 though).  It was also the # 1 album for the first 15 weeks of 1984.  If you didn’t know it was MJ’s ground breaking album “Thriller”…shame on you.  You are hereby sentenced to go and get your copy of the album (a CD version or download will also do) and listen to it over and over again until you figure out why it’s the best selling album of all time…or until your ears start to bleed, in which case you should stop listening immediately and see your doctor.           

    

3.  a. Synchronicity is correct.  “Ghost In The Machine” was a # 2 album for The Police in 1982 and “Zenyatta Mondatta” climbed to # 5 in 1981.  “Synchroncity” was the # 1 album for 17 weeks (but not consecutively).  The Police won both the ‘Best Pop Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal’ and ‘Best Rock Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal” Grammy Awards in 1984 for the single “Every Breath You Take”, which came from the “Synchronicity” album.  Also at the ’84 Grammy Awards, Sting won ‘Song Of The Year’ for “Every Breath You Take”.                           

4.  c. Journey is the answer we were looking for.  Their album “Frontiers” first arrived in the # 2 spot for the week of March 12^th, 1983 and remained locked at # 2 until its final week of May 7^th.  The following week, it dropped to # 3, but remained on the Top Ten album chart until the second week of July.  Both Air Supply and Toto charted albums in the Top Ten in 1983.  Air Supply’s album was a “Greatest Hits” release.  Toto had “Toto IV”, which had been a major hit in ’82 but made a brief comeback to the Top Ten album chart in ’83.              

    

5.  Lionel Richie’s self-titled debut album in 1982 got to # 3 on Billboards’ album chart.  ‘83’s “Can’t Slow Down” became his first solo # 1 album.  Three years later, Lionel was back at the top of Billboards’ album chart with “Dancing On The Ceiling”.