The AT40 Blog/February 27, 1988: A Beatle comes full circle

George Harrison, John Lennon and Paul McCartney were all teenagers when they first started jamming with one another in the late 1950s. By 1963, the trio, along with new drummer Ringo Starr, were ready to rule the world, which they would do in February 1964 thanks to that memorable trip to New York and performances on The Ed Sullivan Show.

The Beatles had arrived and to this day have never left us, even if the band did break up in 1970.

By 1988, all four Beatles had established themselves as superstars away from one another. McCartney, both as a solo performer, in duets and leading his group Wings, scored nine No. 1 songs. Starr had a pair of No. 1 hits with "Photograph" and "You're Sixteen," and Lennon had scored No. 1s with "Whatever Gets You Thru The Night" and his posthumous No. 1 "(Just Like) Starting Over."

Harrison, dubbed the "The Quiet Beatle," was actually the first Beatle to have a No. 1 hit after the group broke up in 1970 with "My Sweet Lord." He would also be the last to have a No. 1 hit as "Got My Mind Set On You" hit No. 1 on January 16, 1988.

But then came the follow-up hit to that one: It was an ode to his past.

"When We Was Fab" debuted in the Top 40 on February 27, 1988, at No. 34, the second-highest of seven debut singles that week, just missing out on the highest debut by newcomer Pebbles' first hit, "Girlfriend," which came in at No. 33.

"Fab" focused on the hysteria that was Beatlemania in the 1960s, the craziness that grew the Beatles to cult status. The track was co-written by Harrison and close friend Jeff Lynne, the leader of the 1970s and '80s band Electric Light Orchestra and whose rock band became famous for its classical instruments on its records, inspired solely by the work John, Paul, George and Ringo did on their records under the tutelage of producer George Martin.

The two poured their efforts into this track both in words and music, especially the cello work of session musician Bobby Kok, the backward tracking done at the very end like in a number of later Beatles songs, and the sitar of Harrison, featured at the end of the track. It was Harrison's sitar that was found on a number of Beatles tracks in the latter years such as "Norwegian Wood (The Bird Has Flown)," "Within You Without You," and "Love You To," after he discovered the beauty of the instrument through the work of Ravi Shankar and Shambhu Das when the Beatles visited India in 1967 to seek the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi for guidance.

No Beatle took more inspiration from the trip than Harrison, whose work was featured with the Fab Four and on his own.

For this tongue-in-cheek tribute to his own band's success, the music video featured a number of Beatles references and featured the drummer on the track -- fellow ex-Beatle Starr, who had as much fun in the video as Harrison did. The legendary Elton John, who played piano on tracks for Harrison's "Cloud Nine" album and CD, is putting a coin into a cup in the video and Julian Lennon, Lennon's oldest son and star on his own musically at that time, is shown holding a copy of his dad's 1971 album "Imagine." Ray Cooper, the bald percussionist who wears sunglasses and was in Harrison's band for well over a generation, and Paul Simon are also featured in the video.

But there's also a famous shot in the video of Harrison playing alongside a bass player dressed in a walrus suit and mask. Harrison confirmed the rumor later on in a TV interview that the bass player was really McCartney, but he never showed his face because on the day of the shoot, he was "camera shy."

"When We Was Fab," maybe Lynne and Harrison's tip of the cap tribute to the amazing work of the Beatles' classic "I Am The Walrus," sauntered up the Top 40, but not very far -- it would only peak at No. 23.

When it fell off the chart, that was it. Harrison, who would pass away on November 29, 2001, after fighting cancer at the age of 58, never had another Top 40 solo hit (he was part of two Top 40 "Beatles" songs in the 1990s he, McCartney and Starr put vocals and instruments on that the late Lennon had begun to compose, but never finished). Harrison's first Top 40 hit with his famous mates was the iconic "I Want To Hold Your Hand," the song that set off Beatlemania and being called The Fab Four and his last Top 40 hit paid tribute to it.

"When We Was Fab" was actually Harrison's second Top 40 tribute in the 1980s to the Beatles. In 1981, he hit No. 2 with "All Those Years Ago," a tribute to close friend Lennon, who had murdered the previous December.

As for the top of the chart on February 27, 1988, George Michael's second actual release from his "Faith" album, "Father Figure," leaped up from No. 4 to No. 1 and right over the Pet Shop Boys and Dusty Springfield's "What Have I Done To Deserve This?" which held at No. 2. Expose's lone No. 1 hit, "Seasons Change," dropped from No. 1 to No. 6 after one week at the top.

The AT40 Blog/February 18, 1978: "Breakdown" never did break down

If things had worked out instead of falling apart in 1975, the debut Top 40 hit song called "Breakdown" would have been by a group called Mudcrutch.

But they didn't and Mudcrutch broke up that year. A year later, though, some of the members of that band came back together and reformed under a new name.

And thus was born Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers. "Breakdown," a slowed down version of a rocker featuring lead singer Petty's moody vocal, debuted at No. 40 this week in 1978. It would spend just that one week in the Top 40, but it gave the band a foundation to build from and ultimately make them one of the top rock groups of the 1980s and ultimately lead them into the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame in 2002.

Petty, a Gainesville High School student, met fellow guitarist Mike Campbell, a Jacksonville resident who was going to Jean Ribault High. After high school, the pair hooked up with a lead singer named Jim Lenehan, drummer Randall Marsh and another guitarist/vocalist that Petty knew in high school in Gainesville named Tom Leadon. Leadon was the younger brother of Bernie Leadon, who would be one of the original members of another superstar band, The Eagles.

This would be the group Mudcrutch.

But Leadon and Lenehan didn't last long in Mudcrutch and left in 1972. They would be replaced by bass guitarist and guitarist Danny Roberts and keyboardist Benmont Tench. Once established, the band became the house band at a Gainesville-based club called Dub's. In 1974, though, the band finally got a record deal with Shelter Records and part of the deal was to be near the label's facility in Los Angeles. So the band relocated. But one single called "Depot Street" failed to generate any interest and soon after, Roberts left the band to be replaced by Charlie Souza.

However, making ends meet recording in two different studios owned by Leon Russell, one at his home in L.A., the other in his native Tulsa, was becoming difficult for Mudcrutch. And it was by design from the record label -- not the band -- that Mudcrutch would have to break up. That came in late 1975.

But Petty wasn't giving up on his dreams of being a successful rock musician. He was entrenched in the contract at Shelter Records. Meanwhile, Campbell and Tench invited newcomers Stan Lynch to play drums and Ron Blair to play bass. Petty knew Lynch and Blair from his days of playing in and growing up in Gainesville. Petty, the story goes, saw the other four guys jam and did his best to persuade the four other guys to come back to record under a new name. They agreed.

And this time around, Petty took accountability for this new band, naming them after himself and calling the band The Heartbreakers. This time around, they were able to finish an album. It was a self-titled debut album in November 1976 and though it didn't climb any higher than No. 55, it did get their foot through the door outside of those who knew the band in northern Florida and Los Angeles. One of the tracks on that album was "American Girl," which would become a rock staple of the band for years to come.

And then there was "Breakdown." That song with Petty's low and moody vocals and featuring Campbell's master work on guitar, became a favorite in club and concerts that the band would play in throughout 1977. Slowly, the band began getting a reputation throughout the country. And then Shelter president Denny Cordell, who produced the self-titled debut album for the band, made the decision to release "Breakdown" as a single.

"Breakdown' debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 at No. 90 on November 5, 1977. Three weeks later, the song had climbed to No. 65, but on the chart of December 3, 1977, it dropped from No. 65 to No. 100, a crushing blow which meant more than likely the song would be off the chart the very next week.

But something happened. The song got another chance with enough radio stations playing the slow-moving rocker and the single was being bought at the record stores. On December 10, 1977, "Breakdown" leaped back up 11 places to No. 89. Then it moved up another 11 notches to No. 78 and on the final regular Hot 100 on Christmas Eve/Day weekend, it moved up 10 more places to No. 68.

When 1978 began, it continued its steady climb, moving to No. 57 on January 7. But it lost its bullet star on the chart, meaning the song was supposedly losing steam. It moved up two place to No. 55 the next week, then to No. 53, but gained its bullet back on January 28 as it moved up to No. 48. The next week, "Breakdown" continued to move up, going from No. 48 to No. 44. It lost its bullet again on February 11 when it slowed up two places to No. 42.

However, it still had enough steam that in its 16th week on the Hot 100, "Breakdown" inched up two places to land in the Top 40 at No. 40. The next week, "Breakdown" slipped out of its seven-day run in the Top 40 back to No. 60 before dropping of the chart completely the week after that.

The climb was slow and at times painful. But Petty and his band had made it to the big time.

In May 1978, the band released its second album, "You're Gonna Get It!" but it had no Top 40 hits on it, though "I Need To Know" and "Listen To Her Heart" became two more rock classics from the band.

But things soured as 1978 became 1979. Shelter Records, a subsidiary of ABC Records, was bought by MCA Records and they took claim to Petty's work, including his publishing rights, which didn't make him feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Petty soon claimed bankruptcy in attempt to get out of his contract with the new company.

Things may have turned even uglier, but MCA backed down from his threat and gave him his publishing rights back as well as the opportunity to form his own record label called Backstreet Records. In honor of getting his way and moving along in his career with the Heartbreakers, he aptly titled his next album with the band, "Damn The Torpedoes." That featured the Top 15 hits "Don't Do Me Like That" and "Refugee."

The rest, they say, is history.

As for Mudcrutch, Petty helped reform the band in 2008 -- long after he and the Heartbreakers became household names. They, at long last, released a 14-song CD and did a tour with Petty, Campbell, Leadon, Tench and Marsh and in 2014, Petty announced another Mudcrutch project was in the works.

Petty and the Heartbreakers, meanwhile, scored 12 Top 40 hits between "Heartbreaker" and "Mary Jane's Last Dance" in 1994 from the band's greatest hits package. And Petty scored four Top 10 solo hits of his own, one of those songs, "I Won't Back Down," being the basis (maybe unknowingly) behind Sam Smith's breakthrough monster hit that won him multiple Grammys in 2015 called "Stay With Me."

And to think it all started precariously with a barely Top 40 hit called "Breakdown" that didn't break down as it climbed the Hot 100 chart slowly by a band that did break down in a previous incarnation.

It could have easily been Mudcrutch in the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame and not Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers.

The AT40/February 12, 1983: The United Nations Top 40

By mid-February, the year 1983 was already shaping up to be one of those special years in music for numerous reasons. Sure, MTV had become a fixture and a lot of "newer, younger" artists were starting to make their mark on the chart, but this was a year that the rest of t
he world was about to invade this country.

And on the week of February 12, 1983, there were 16 artists in the Top 40 who came from other parts of the world besides the good ol' U.S.A.

Leading the way were 10 British acts, four of which had just gone to No. 1 in their native land -- a young group called Musical Youth was bounding up the chart with a British chart-topper called "Pass The Dutchie," which moved up one place from No. 14 to No. 13. And one step ahead of "Pass The Dutchie" was the first solo hit for the man who led the Ants before breaking out of the ant hill and going solo -- Stewart Goddard, aka Adam Ant, jumped up one place from No. 13 to No. 12 with "Goody Two Shoes," a No. 1 British hit just the previous June.

Below at No. 18 was the first hit for the band Culture Club, a diverse four-man group (from different cultures, henceforth the name) led by a man who dressed as a woman (Boy George), but sounded like an American soul star from the 1960s with that voice of his. The other No. 1 British hit that found its way across the Atlantic by an act from the UK was none other than Genesis lead singer and drummer Phil Collins, whose first hit from his new solo album, "Hello, I Must Be Going" came from the vaults of Motown: His remake of the Supremes' 1966 No. 1 American smash, "You Can't Hurry Love."

Overall, there were six former, future and current No. 1 British hits on the chart as Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean" jumped up four places from No. 27 to No. 23 (it would hit No. 1 in England on March 5) and "Down Under" by the Australian band Men At Work, which was simultaneously No. 1 in England this particular week and in the U.S. where it jumped back into the top spot.

Beside the aforementioned four British acts on the chart, there was also solo star Joe Jackson, who climbed six places from No. 39 to No. 33 with his third Top 40 hit, "Breaking Us In Two," Paul McCartney, whose duet with Michael Jackson, "The Girl Is Mine," would slip down from No. 16 to No. 34, the New Wave synth-pop band A Flock Of Seagulls, whose followup to the Top 10 "I Ran," "Space Age Love Song," moved up one place from No. 31 to No. 30, Duran Duran, another hot new act that made its mark via MTV, jumped up from No. 22 to No. 19 with "Hungry Like The Wolf," and punk rock remnants The Clash, which held at No. 8 with "Rock The Casbah." The 10th act is the Pretenders with all but American lead singer Chrissie Hynde being British. They jumped up from No. 26 to No. 22 with the biggest hit of their careers, "Back On The Chain Gang."

Another act hailed from Scotland: Sheena Easton teamed up with Kenny Rogers on the remake of the Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band classic "We've Got Tonight," moving up from No. 28 to No. 24.

There were three acts from Australia, starting with a monster No. 1 hit Down Under and one-hit wonder by a group called Moving Pictures. "What About Me," which had lingered on the Hot 100 chart for 22 weeks by this point, moved up one place from No. 30 to No. 29, the Little River Band with former Australia solo star John Farnham on lead vocal held at its peak position at No. 11 with "The Other Guy" and, of course, Men At Work's second No. 1 hit in two Top 40 tries with "Down Under."

From the Netherlands hailed the veteran band formed in 1961, Golden Earring, whose first hit since "Radar Love" in 1974, "Twilight Zone," stalked up the chart from No. 33 to No. 26. And from the group ABBA came Norweigen-born Frida, whose one and only solo hit, "I Know There's Something Going On," a song co-produced by Collins, who plays drums and sings backing vocal. It debuted in the Top 40 at No. 36.

And behind those songs in spots Nos. 41 through 50 were future Top 40 debut hits by other foreign acts such as Olivia Newton-John, Supertramp, Eric Clapton, ABC and Dexy's Midnight Runners, whose No. 1 British hit "Come On Eileen" was two weeks away from hitting the Top 40 and over two months away from being No. 1 in this country.

This was the prelude to what would we would the "second British Invasion" that hit our shores in the spring and summer of '83. By February 12, 1983, we were getting a preview of what the rest of the year was like.