Forty years ago today, a new song went to Number One, and it became the only Number One in 1984 to stay at the top of the chart for a single week. On September 22, 1984, the new Number One song was ”Missing You” (video up top) by English musician John Waite. The song, originally released in June 1984, was the first single from his second album, No Brakes. As I said in Part 12 of this series this was “a song that I frankly never think of when I think of 1984”, and I think part of it is that it was its one week at Number One—and there were a lot of big, dominant songs that year.
The song is about a man thinking about a distant lover who left, and he’s trying to pretend that “I ain't missing you at all”. At the time, I thought the song was a nice enough, even though I couldn’t personally relate to the lyrics—at the time; times change. It’s kind of funny to me that the song went Number One forty years ago today, because this past Friday was the fifth anniversary of my Nigel’s death. Over those five years there were definitely times I tried to lie to myself that I wasn’t still missing Nigel as keenly as in the aftermath of that horrible day in 2019. I wasn’t any more successful than Waite was in “Missing You”. I’m always interested in the way a pop song that I once didn’t feel any personal connection to when I first became aware of it can later—even much later—become very relevant indeed. That’s actually happened to me a lot over the past five years. I have a copy of the song on the 1984 CD in the Time-Life series of CDs of 1980s music called Sounds Of The Eighties. Because of that, I think I heard it more after 1984 than I did in the year.
The music video was written, directed, and produced by Kort Falkenberg III—whoever that is? It’s certainly not a name I’ve familiar with. In any case, it’s okay—not one of my favourites from that era, but also not one I disliked. A lot of 1984's mid-tempo/slower songs had similar looks in their videos, and I suppose that could be why it didn’t stand out for me at the time. In any event, it was pleasant enough.
“Missing You” reached Number 5 in Australia, 4 in Canada (Platinum), 18 in New Zealand, 9 in the UK (Silver), and Number One on the USA’s Billboard “Hot 100” and on the Billboard “Mainstream Rock” charts.
The album No Brakes reached Number 27 in Australia, 8 in Canada (Platinum), 64 in the UK, and 10 on the USA’s “Billboard 200” chart (Gold). It didn’t chart in New Zealand.
This series will return next week (!) with another new Number One, this time a song that I knew very well at the time. Only a week from now, huh? You won’t be missing me at all.
Previously in the “Weekend Diversion – 1984” series:
Weekend Diversion: 1984, Part 1 – January 21, 2024
Weekend Diversion: 1984, Part 2 – February 4, 2024
Weekend Diversion: 1984, Part 3 – February 25, 2024
Weekend Diversion: 1984, Part 4 – March 31, 2024
Weekend Diversion: 1984, Part 5 – April 21, 2024
Weekend Diversion: 1984, Part 6 – May 12, 2024
Weekend Diversion: 1984, Part 7 – May 26, 2024
Weekend Diversion: 1984, Part 8 – June 9, 2024
Weekend Diversion: 1984, Part 9 – June 23, 2024
Weekend Diversion: 1984, Part 10 – July 7, 2024
Weekend Diversion: 1984, Part 11 – August 11, 2024
Weekend Diversion: 1984, Part 12 – September 1, 2024
2 comments:
It may be the only 1984 song I DON'T own in any form!
I actually wasn't certain I did. I mean, I kind of thought I did, and I knew that if I did, it'd be part of a compilation CD. I even thought it might be on one of the Time-Life CDs, but I couldn't be sure of any of that until I checked. It's all part of the service I provide.
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