4 Classic Rock Gems From 1984 That Couldn’t Crack the Pop Top 40

Every year brings its own special musical identity. But 1984 stands out as one of those special years in terms of the sheer amount of monumentally impactful rock music that emanated from that 12-month period.

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It was so stacked with important stuff that some top rock acts were on the outside looking in at the Top 40 in the US. These four songs, all standouts that failed to achieve that hallowed Top 40 status, illustrate our point.

“She Was Hot” by The Rolling Stones

Mick Jagger and Keith Richards spent much of the 80s battling to control the identity of The Rolling Stones. You can hear the dichotomy between the two when it came to the first two singles from the 1983 album Undercover. First up was “Undercover Of The Night”, with its exotic rhythms and topical content, clearly a Mick-leaning song. “She Was Hot”, released as the second single at the start of ’84, revels in a retro Chuck Berry vibe, which seems more like something Keith would have enjoyed. The latter song only made it to No. 44 on the US charts. It’s too bad, because it features the band at its rollicking best. Jagger’s lyrics ooze sexual frustration over a locomotive groove.

“Do It Again” by The Kinks

The Kinks had enjoyed a surprising surge back into pop relevance with their 1983 album State Of Confusion. “Come Dancing”, 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’s an excellent effort, but the public mostly moved on to more modern rock acts. “Do It Again”, the fiery lead single, certainly possesses the characteristics of a winning hit single, even though it only topped out at No. 41. Dave Davies’ chunky guitar chords recall the garage rock potency of the band’s earliest singles. And Ray Davies’ lyrics strike a relevant tone about the monotony of the daily grind.

“For A Rocker” by Jackson Browne

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’d inhabited since the late 70s, one that made him more of a consistent commercial threat on the pop charts. But “For A Rocker”, 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’ guitarist James Honeyman-Scott. He insists upon a party to send his friend into the great beyond, instead of sitting around lamenting that “Things will happen that you won’t be ready for.”

“I Want To Break Free” by Queen

In most cases, circa 1984, videos provided nothing but added value to a rock song’s chances on the US pop charts. “I Want To Break Free”, the second single from Queen’s The Works, offered an exception to the rule. After “Radio Ga Ga” had helped reestablish the band after a bit of a commercial slump, “I Want To Break Free” only made it to No. 46. It’s not the song’s 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’s 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.

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