#1 Alert!
Song#: 3414
Date: 02/13/1988
Debut: 49
Peak: 1 (2 weeks)
Weeks: 20
Genre: Pop, R&B
Pop Bits: The mid-80s were highly successful for Ocean. He earned a pair of double-platinum albums that between them generated two #1 Pop hits along with four other Top 10s. He then set out to try for a third hit LP with 1988's Tear Down These Walls. This first single was released and it ended up keep his hot streak going. The bubbly tune would become his third #1 at Pop and his fourth #1 at R&B. It would also get to #5 AC and #25 Dance. The success of the single seemed to indicate that Tear Down These Walls would be another Pop Top 10'er for Ocean, but it ended up stalling at #18. It still went platinum, but the result might have been a signal that Ocean's time ruling the charts was nearing its end. Indeed, this single would become his final Pop Top 10 entry and he would only have one more song after this to make the R&B Top 10.
ReduxReview: I always thought that this song with its screaming synths and "Ghostbusters"-like driving rhythm was just plain silly. It was so loud and goofy. I didn't buy into it and pretty much ignored the tune. In the long run, I don't mind it as much. I still think it is kooky, but if in the right mood the song can be fun with its huge 80s production (courtesy of Robert John "Mutt" Lange) and catchy chorus. It is nothing I'd call up on purpose, however if it somehow gets played I don't recoil in horror.
ReduxRating: 5/10
Trivia: Double Shot! 1) While not necessarily made for the film, the song ended up on the soundtrack to the teen comedy flick License to Drive. Released in the summer of '88, the film famously starred the two Coreys - Haim and Feldman. The movie was not a critical success, but it did fairly well at the box office. The soundtrack would fail to chart. 2) Here is an odd little fact. Billy Ocean would earn three #1 hits on the Pop chart. Each #1 had a title that contained eight words. In addition to this song, Ocean scored with "Caribbean Queen (No More Love on the Run)" and "There'll Be Sad Songs (To Make You Cry)." Weirdly, the title of his song "When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Get Going" contained nine words and perhaps that extra word weighed down the single as it stopped at #2.
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