This week's song is something different: It was Number One on the USA’s Billboard “Hot 100” for MORE than one week! On November 16 1985, "We Built This City" (video up top) by American rock band Starship began a two week run at the top of the charts. The group was technically a spin-off of sorts of the legendary American rock band Jefferson Starship, which, in turn, was founded as Jefferson Airplane. The main link to the former group was singer Grace Slick, who provides female vocals. The song was Starship’s debit single, and from their debut album Knee Deep in the Hoopla, which takes its name from a lyric in this week’s song.
The song was originally about the decline of live-performance venues in 1980s Los Angeles—which led critics to point out the irony of the song being done in a polished corporate-music style. The song went on to be a hit in many countries (see below), but maybe the critique could be part of the reason so many people seem to hate the song? Whatever, I wasn’t one of them.
Throughout my life, I’ve liked songs for many reasons (or none at all) and this song was one of them. I liked the song mainly because I liked Grace Slick: I bought (and loved) her 1980 solo album, Dreams, and for me she was the main attraction for Starship. In any event, I liked the song and its arrangement, even if I thought some of the lyrics were really stupid, like “Marconi plays the mamba, listen to the radio, don't you remember?”, which I particularly loathed.
I think I’ve been pretty clear that for me pop music doesn’t have to be Great Art™, I just have to have some sort of connection to it—literally ANY connection. If it’s got a good beat and you can dance to it (or, like me, mercifully choose not to dance to it…), I’ll probabably give it a good record rating. Still, it WAS popular.
"We Built This City" reached Number One in Australia, Number One in Canada (Gold), Number 11 in New Zealand, Number 12 in the UK (Platinum), as well as Number One on the USA’s Billboard “Hot 100” and their “Mainstream Rock” Chart. The song also was Number One on the Cash Box “Top 100”. The song was certified Gold in the USA.
The Knee Deep in the Hoopla album reached Number 34 in Australia, Number 16 in Canada (Platinum), Number 43 in New Zealand, and Number 7 on the USA’s “Billboard 200”. The album was certified Platinum in the USA. (There’s no chart information for the UK, which usually means it didn’t reach the bottom rung).
This series will return in—gasp!—two weeks (November 30) with the next Number One in this series. Ironically, perhaps, that song was yet another one-week Number One.
Previously in the “Weekend Diversion – 1985” series:
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 1 – February 2, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 2 – February 16, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 3 – March 12, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 4 – March 30, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 5 – April 13, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 6 – May 11, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 7 – May 18, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 8 – June 1, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 9 – June 8, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 10 – June 22, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 11 – July 6, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 12 – July 13, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 13 – July 27, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 14 – August 3, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 15 – August 24, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 16 – September 7, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 17 – September 21, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 18 – October 12, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 19 – October 19, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 20 – October 26, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 21 – November 2, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 22 – November 9, 2025
4 comments:
I must say I wasn't a fan. JS was a lesser version of JA, and S a lesser version of JS. I LOVED JA. In one of the few comic books I ever wrotem there's the line, "We bilked this city on black and whites", meaning b&w comic books.
I saw them a couple of times in concert. They were really good. And I liked he song too.
I always thought of them as entirely different bands, even though Grace Slick, Paul Kantner, and Marty Balin were, at least sometimes, a feature of two or three (it was complicated…). The Jefferson Starship 1978 album Earth was one of my favourites back in the day, but I never bought any Jefferson Airplane or Starship albums. Also, your line about comic books is pure gold.
I never saw any iteration of the band in concert, but I didn’t go to all that many concerts, really, so that’s not a surprise. I liked several of their songs, even though I wasn’t exactly a “fan”, which also isn’t unusual.
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