Songs In Stereo - 1983 Trivia Quiz

"Africa" opens with the familiar lyrics "I hear the drums echoing tonight". Toto had the 24th biggest hit song of 1983 with "Africa". The song ranked on Rolling Stone's of the "500 Greatest Songs of All-Time". But it wasn't just a hit of the 1980s - it went viral in the 2020s and reached one billion YouTube views in 2024.

"Little Red Corvette" was the second single for Prince and The Revolution from the album "1999". Both the title track and "Little Red Corvette" ranked among the top 100 songs of 1983 coming in at number 43 and number 25 respectively. Both songs were the two first music videos by Prince to appear on MTV.

"Stray Cat Strut" was released in the UK in 1981 but it didn't become a major hit in the United States until much later. The rockabilly band released the song as the lead single from their "Built For Speed" album but it barely charted. Next came "Rock This Town", a mega-hit for the band.

The label choose to re-release "Stray Cat Strut" along with a new music video. It became the band's signature song and ended 1983 as the 42nd biggest hit of the year.

The Greg Kihn Band may be a two-hit wonder band but "Jeopardy" received huge radio airplay in 1983. "The Break-up Song" reached number 15 on the charts and "Jeopardy" exceeded expectations and got to number two on the Billboard Hot 100. The song was parodied by Weird Al Yankovic with his hit single "I Lost On Jeopardy" in 1984.

"Hungry Like The Wolf" was such a big hit that it was released in the summer of 1982 and reached its peak popularity in the States in March of 1983. In 1984, Duran Duran won the Grammy Award for Best Short Form Music Video. The video featured Bermuda model Sheila Ming-Burgess appearing like a tiger-woman and being pursued by lead singer Simon Le Bon.

Who would have guessed a 1929 written by Irving Berlin would be one of the biggest hits of 1983? The musical "Putting On The Ritz" paid reference to the Ritz Hotel. Taco, a true one-hit wonder artist, added synthesizers and a modern beat to the song and took the song to number one worldwide. Irving Berlin was 95 years old when the song reached the top of the charts and set a record at the time for the oldest living songwriter to have a number one hit.

The sixth biggest hit on the Billboard Hot 100 for 1983 was Bonnie Tyler's "Total Eclipse Of The Heart". The song was written by Jim Steinman, famous for his work with Meat Loaf. At one point in 1983, Bonnie's song was number one and the number two song was "Making Love Out of Nothing At All" by Air Supply that was also written by Steinman.

"Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)" was recorded by the duo of Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart who are better known as Eurythmics. The song was the tenth biggest hit of 1983 and landed between Michael Sembello's "Maniac" and Culture Club's "Do You Really Want To Hurt Me?"

"Photograph" has been the title of hit songs by Ringo Starr in the 1970s, Ed Sheeran in the 2010s, and Def Leppard in 1983. The lead single from the UK rock band's mega-selling album "Pyromania" became a heavy rotation music video on MTV. The song was produced by Mutt Lange.

The popularity of the song is undeniable and Def Leppard has consistently included the song in all of the their concert set lists since 1983.

In early 1983, the lead singer of Eagles, Don Henley, saw his first solo single reach number three on the Billboard Hot 100. "Dirty Laundry" was written by Henley at his outrage of how the news media kept turning everything into exploitation including his personal arrest in 1980. The song was released on Henley's solo album "I Can't Stand Still".