\u201cCome Dancing\u201d<\/a>, a bittersweet gem with a sound that hearkened back to a pre-rock era, put them in the US Top 10. They attempted to follow that up with more of the same pre-rock goodness on Word Of Mouth in 1984. It\u2019s an excellent effort, but the public mostly moved on to more modern rock acts. \u201cDo It Again\u201d, the fiery lead single, certainly possesses the characteristics of a winning hit single, even though it only topped out at No. 41. Dave Davies\u2019 chunky guitar chords recall the garage rock potency of the band\u2019s earliest singles. And Ray Davies\u2019 lyrics strike a relevant tone about the monotony of the daily grind.<\/p>\n\u201cFor A Rocker\u201d by Jackson Browne<\/p>\n
Lawyers In Love, the album that Jackson Browne released in 1983, felt like an attempt to lighten up his approach without dumbing it down. It captured the singer-songwriter in the more rocking mode that he\u2019d inhabited since the late 70s, one that made him more of a consistent commercial threat on the pop charts. But \u201cFor A Rocker\u201d, as punchy and precise in its way as something you might hear from a New Wave act, failed to ignite as the second single from the album. Browne wrote it in part as a tribute to late Pretenders\u2019 guitarist James Honeyman-Scott. He insists upon a party to send his friend into the great beyond, instead of sitting around lamenting that \u201cThings will happen that you won\u2019t be ready for.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI Want To Break Free\u201d by Queen<\/p>\n
In most cases, circa 1984, videos provided nothing but added value to a rock song\u2019s chances on the US pop charts. \u201cI Want To Break Free\u201d, the second single from Queen\u2019s The Works, offered an exception to the rule. After \u201cRadio Ga Ga\u201d had helped reestablish the band after a bit of a commercial slump, \u201cI Want To Break Free\u201d only made it to No. 46. It\u2019s not the song\u2019s fault. Written by bassist John Deacon and featuring amusing synth parts provided by guest musician Fred Mandel, the song sounds both relevant to the era and very much in Queen\u2019s wheelhouse. But a video where the band all cross-dressed was lost in translation in the US, which helped to sink the song at the radio.<\/p>\n
Photo by Gary Gershoff\/Getty Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Every year brings its own special musical identity. But 1984 stands out as one of those special years…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":603976,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[20278,88,216,2156],"class_list":{"0":"post-603975","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-1980s","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-music","11":"tag-rock-music"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/603975","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=603975"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/603975\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/603976"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=603975"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=603975"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=603975"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}