Keep track of the songs all week to figure out the common theme. If you can name it Friday you can win Free Lunch at Jersey Mikes.
Today’s song managed to make it onto the Billboard Hot 100 during three different decades. It did so twice in the 1980s. Its initial release was in 1982 as the title track of and lead single from this singer’s fifth album. The original release peaked at number 44 on the Hot 100.
The song was then re-released during July of 1983, and performed better on the Hot 100, this time peaking at number 12. The song then managed to make an appearance on the Billboard Hot 100 again during the year that is also the title of the song. This time around, it peaked at number 40, making it the first track in Billboard history named after a year to actually chart in the year it was named after.
Finally, this singer’s premature death in 2016 caused the song to experience a resurgence, once again appearing on the Hot 100, this time peaking at number 27.
Rolling Stone places this classic at number 215 on its 2011 list of the “500 Greatest Songs of All Time” and, as you might expect, there are lots of covers of this song by such artists as Limp Bizkit and Meat Loaf, but did you know that Billy Joel also covered this song?
A Lot of people think this is a Doomsday song, but according to the singer himself, it isn't, actually. The lyrics express millennial-themed worries about the end of the world, of course, but he insisted during a 1999 interview with CNN's Larry King that their message is ultimately optimistic:
According to Rolling Stone magazine, when Prince recorded this track, he would go all day and all night without rest, and turn down food since he felt eating would make him sleepy. It paid off because it is one of the best songs of all time.
This song has a lot in common with other songs: The unique opening separation of voices is a tribute to Stevie Wonder’s “You are the Sunshine of my life” but the most glaring comparison between this song and another is with Phil Collins’ “Sussudio” . Phil later admitted that this song was a huge inspiration for his song. Duh!
Prince...1999...K103's I Know That Song