The 1983 HIDEAWAY 200: The 12"s (Part Five)

Welcome into The 1983 Hideaway 200: The 12"s - Part Five of the series that just never seems to end. Today's selection of five twelve-inch singles features songs that made the R&B, Pop, Rock, and Club charts, including a song that made all four of those charts and two songs that inspired Weird Al parodies.

This one has got a groove for days. (There's even an instrumental on the flipside if you need more of it.) The Greg Kihn Band was known as a one-hit wonder by most music fans for his amazing 1981 power-pop classic "The Breakup Song (They Don't Write 'Em)" which made it to number 15 in Billboard and, more importantly to this guy, number 10 on WLS's Forty-fives chart. Then came 1983's "Jeopardy" which made it to number 4 on WLS and number 2 in Billboard. The John Luongo dance mix added his trademark percussion effects and only served to make a good thing better. "Jeopardy" was a number 5 hit on the Rock chart, number 48 on the R&B chart and this John Luongo dance mix was Number One on the Club chart. Weird Al parodied "Jeopardy" as "I Lost On Jeopardy" in 1984.

I first heard "The Safety Dance" in the early Summer of 1983, about the time it peaked on the Canadian charts. I wanna say it was on one of those Friday or Saturday mix shows that aired on Top 40 stations back then. Anyway, I went looking for it a few days later and found it on a Canadian import twelve-inch single with the 4:32 Extended 'Club Mix'. By the time I got my first job in July 1983, the song was getting lots of airplay on the radio. Then the album was released in the US and I picked it up only to discover the Extended 'Club Mix' was track 2 aka the album version. (Earlier in 1983, I experienced a similar issue with Bowie's "Let's Dance" when I bought the twelve-inch single expecting to find a tasty remix only to find out it was the album version.) "The Safety Dance" was a Number One song on the Club chart two months before it hit number 3 on the Pop chart. Weird Al turned "The Safety Dance" into "The Brady Bunch".

Lyrically, a continuation of Bowie's "Space Oddity", Peter Schilling's "Major Tom (Coming Home)" is proof that the machines had taken over and they wanted us to dance. John Luongo's proto-surround sound mix is listed by three different titles on the label pictured above, so your guess is as good as mine as to what to call it: Special Extended Version, Extended Remix, or Club Version? The twelve-inch single settled for runner-up position on Club chart to Madonna's unbeatable "Holiday"/"Lucky Star" combo eight weeks before peaking at number 14 on the Pop chart. This extended remix club version was a mixtape favorite and was popular during car stereo demonstrations and competitions of the day.

Did not realize or more accurately remember that my twelve-inch single of "AEIOU Sometimes Y" was a promo version though when I bought it barely used at Al Bum's back in 1983, it came in a picture sleeve like the retail version. Just another weird but cool sounding song with synths and drum machines running rampant that not a lot of people heard. "AEIOU Sometime Y" did not even Bubble Under the Hot 100 and ARSA shows only one station -  WINZ in Miami - listed it on their hit single surveys. The album version is 6:26 but this 7:38 re-mix by John Luongo peaked at number 20 on the Club chart and that was it. If this was your first time hearing the song, I'd love to hear your opinion of it.

The Extended Remixed Version of Jeffrey Osborne's "Stay With Me Tonight" emphasizes the song's bass line and adds bits of percussion while not getting in the way of Osborne's wonderful vocals. Bill Bottrell gets the remix credit and George Duke produced the track which explains the b-a-s-s BASS! "Stay With Me Tonight" went to number 4 on the R&B chart and number 30 on the Pop chart. The twelve-inch single stalled at number 31 in a ten-week stay on the Club chart.

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