On this day in 1983: Neil Young was sued by Geffen Records because his new music for the label was ‘not commercial in nature and musically uncharacteristic of his previous albums’. His latest album Everybody’s Rockin’ featured a selection of rockabilly songs (both covers and original material) which ran for just 25 minutes, Young’s shortest album.
On this day in 1984: Jim Diamond was at #1 on the U.K. singles chart with ‘I Should Have Known Better.’ The song was displaced after one week by Band Aid’s charity single ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas’’. Diamond publicly requested that people not buy his single, but instead buy ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas?’
Here’s what was happening on the U.S. singles chart on this day in 1984:
1 1 WAKE ME UP BEFORE YOU GO-GO Wham! (Columbia)-13 (3 Weeks at #1)
2 4 OUT OF TOUCH –•– Daryl Hall & John Oates (RCA)-10 (2)
3 3 I FEEL FOR YOU –•– Chaka Khan (Warner Brothers)-13 (3)
4 2 PURPLE RAIN –•– Prince & The Revolution (Warner Brothers)-9 (2)
5 5 BETTER BE GOOD TO ME –•– Tina Turner (Capitol)-12 (5)
6 8 ALL THROUGH THE NIGHT –•– Cyndi Lauper (Portrait)-9 (6)
7 12 THE WILD BOYS –•– Duran Duran (Capitol)-5 (7)
8 9 PENNY LOVER –•– Lionel Richie (Motown)-9 (8)
9 7 STRUT –•– Sheena Easton (EMI-America)-15 (7)
10 11 NO MORE LONELY NIGHTS –•– Paul McCartney (Columbia)-8 (10)
11 13 SEA OF LOVE –•– The Honeydrippers (Es Paranza)-8 (11)
12 6 CARIBBEAN QUEEN (No More Love On The Run) –•– Billy Ocean (Jive)-17 (1)
13 14 COOL IT NOW –•– New Edition (MCA)-11 (13)
14 19 WE BELONG –•– Pat Benatar (Chrysalis)-6 (14)
15 17 I CAN’T HOLD BACK –•– Survivor (Scotti Brothers)-12 (15)
16 10 I JUST CALLED TO SAY I LOVE YOU –•– Stevie Wonder (Motown)-16 (1)
17 21 IT AIN’T ENOUGH –•– Corey Hart (EMI-America)-10 (17)
18 24 VALOTTE –•– Julian Lennon (Atlantic)-7 (18)
19 22 WALKING ON A THIN LINE Huey Lewis & The News (Chrysalis)-7 (19)
20 15 DESERT MOON –•– Dennis DeYoung (A&M)-13 (10)