On this day in 1981: Mark Chapman was given a 20 year jail sentence for the murder of John Lennon. The 25 year old had shot Lennon five times at close range on December 8th, 1980 in front of The Dakota apartment building in New York City. Over the next few months, Chapman would claim many times to have been beaten by fellow inmates, some of whom allegedly tried to kill him.
On this day in 1985: Huey Lewis and the News started a two week run at #1 on the U.S. singles chart with ‘The Power Of Love’, featured in the movie “Back To The Future.”
Huey Lewis was approached to write a theme song for the film. He met with Bob Gale, Steven Spielberg, and Robert Zemeckis, from the film’s production team, who intended that the band be Mary McFly’s favorite band. Though flattered, Lewis did not want to participate because he did not know how to write film songs and did not want to write one called “Back to the Future”. Zemeckis assured Lewis he could write any song he wanted. Lewis agreed to submit the next song he wrote, which was “The Power of Love”. The lyrics do not make any mention of the film’s storyline.
The song appears early in Back to the Future as Marty McFly (played by Michael J. Fox) skateboards to school. Later in the film, McFly and his band play a hard rock version of the song for a Battle of the Bands audition, at which a judge played by Huey Lewis tells Marty’s group that they are “just too darn loud”, and later when Marty returns to his neighborhood.
Here’s a look at the complete Top 20 on the U.S. Singles chart from this day back in 1985:
1 2 POWER OF LOVE Huey Lewis & The News (Chrysalis)-9 (1 Week at #1) (1)
2 1 SHOUT –•– Tears For Fears (Mercury)-11 (1)
3 3 NEVER SURRENDER –•– Corey Hart (EMI-America)-12 (3)
4 7 ST. ELMO’S FIRE (Man In Motion) –•– John Parr (Atlantic)-10 (4)
5 5 FREEWAY OF LOVE –•– Aretha Franklin (Arista)-10 (5)
6 10 WE DON’T NEED ANOTHER HERO –•– Tina Turner (Capitol)-8 (6)
7 9 SUMMER OF ’69 –•– Bryan Adams (A&M)-9 (7)
8 4 IF YOU LOVE SOMEBODY SET THEM FREE –•– Sting (A&M)-12 (3)
9 6 EVERYTIME YOU GO AWAY –•– Paul Young (Columbia)-16 (1)
10 12 WHAT ABOUT LOVE? –•– Heart (Capitol)-13 (10)
11 8 WHO’S HOLDING DONNA NOW –•– DeBarge (Gordy)-13 (6)
12 15 CHERISH –•– Kool & The Gang (De-Lite)-8 (12)
13 19 DON’T LOSE MY NUMBER –•– Phil Collins (Atlantic)-6 (13)
14 18 YOU’RE ONLY HUMAN (Second Wind) –•– Billy Joel (Columbia)-7 (14)
15 17 INVINCIBLE (Theme From “The Legend Of Billie Jean”) –•– Pat Benatar (Chrysalis)-8 (15)
16 11 YOU SPIN ME ROUND (Like A Record) –•– Dead Or Alive (Epic)-13 (11)
17 23 MONEY FOR NOTHING –•– Dire Straits (Warner Brothers)-7 (17)
18 24 POP LIFE –•– Prince & The Revolution (Paisley Park)-5 (18)
19 27 FREEDOM –•– Wham! (Columbia)-5 (19)
20 25 DARE ME –•– The Pointer Sisters (RCA)-7 (20)
