On this day in 1980: The film ‘McVicar’ with Roger Daltrey from The Who in the title role premiered in London, England. John McVicar was a 1960s armed robber turned writer who Scotland Yard publicly announced to be Public Enemy Number One and “wanted dead or alive”.
On this day in 1983: Michael Jackson started a three week run at #1 on the U.S. singles chart with ‘Beat It.’ It was produced by Jackson and Quincy Jones. Quincy Jones encouraged Jackson to include a rock song on the album, though Jackson had never previously shown an interest in the genre. Jackson later said of “Beat It”, “I wanted to write a song, the type of song that I would buy if I were to buy a rock song… That is how I approached it and I wanted the children to really enjoy it—the school children as well as the college students.”
The song is also notable for its music video, which features Jackson bringing two gangsters together through the power of music and dance, and for Eddie Van Halen’s guitar solo. The music video helped establish Jackson as an international pop icon. “Beat It” has been cited as one of the most successful, recognized, awarded and celebrated songs in the history of pop music ; both the song and video had a large impact on pop culture.
Here’s a look at the Top 20 on the U.S. singles chart from this very day back in 1983:
1 2 BEAT IT –•– Michael Jackson (Epic)-10 (1 week at #1) (1)
2 1 COME ON EILEEN –•– Dexys Midnight Runners (Mercury)-15 (1)
3 4 JEOPARDY –•– The Greg Kihn Band (Beserkley)-14 (3)
4 3 MR. ROBOTO –•– Styx (A&M)-12 (3)
5 6 DER KOMMISSAR –•– After The Fire (Epic)-12 (5)
6 9 LET’S DANCE –•– David Bowie (EMI-America)-6 (6)
7 5 BILLIE JEAN –•– Michael Jackson (Epic)-15 (1)
8 10 SHE BLINDED ME WITH SCIENCE –•– Thomas Dolby (Capitol / Harvest)-11 (8)
9 15 OVERKILL –•– Men At Work (Columbia)-4 (9)
10 12 LITTLE RED CORVETTE –•– Prince (Warner Brothers)-10 (10)
11 16 I WON’T HOLD YOU BACK –•– Toto (Columbia)-8 (11)
12 8 SEPARATE WAYS (Worlds Apart) –•– Journey (Columbia)-13 (8)
13 13 EVEN NOW –•– Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band (Capitol)-8 (13)
14 18 SOLITAIRE –•– Laura Branigan (Atlantic)-7 (14)
15 7 ONE ON ONE –•– Daryl Hall & John Oates (RCA)-14 (7)
16 11 HUNGRY LIKE THE WOLF –•– Duran Duran (Harvest)-19 (3)
17 31 RIO –•– Duran Duran (Capitol)-5 (17)
18 14 DO YOU REALLY WANT TO HURT ME –•– Culture Club (Virgin)-22 (2)
19 26 PHOTOGRAPH –•– Def Leppard (Mercury)-8 (19)
20 17 YOU ARE –•– Lionel Richie (Motown)-16 (4)
