On this day in 1986, “How Will I Know” by Whitney Houston hit #1 on the Billboard charts. This was the third single released off of Whitney’s legendary self-titled debut album, and was her second #1 hit. The song received two nominations at the 1986 MTV Video Music Awards; Best Female Video and Best New Artist, winning the former category.
It was written by George Merrill and Shannon Rubicam who are best known as the duo Boy Meets Girl and had a hit in 1988 with “Waiting For A Star To Fall.” They had originally written it for Janet Jackson for her Control album. But, Janet’s people passed.
The video was directed by Brian Grant, who also did Olivia Newton-John’s “Physical” and Donna Summer’s “She Works Hard For The Money.” According to Songfacts, Grant recalls Houston being very grounded, showing up at the shoot with just a friend and a rep from her record company. He told her to relax and have fun with it, which she did despite being apprehensive at first about the bevy of dancers popping out at her.
Another Return to the ’80s podcast episode is finally here! After several mishaps, the Whitney Houston March Madness Tournament is finally complete. Even though there were some setbacks, it was still a blast!
And this podcast episode is an absolute blast! The “Rad” Caroline and Claire join us in this fun episode! We talk Whitney, music videos, album covers, and the good ole days of liner notes. Enjoy the show!
– Mishaps
– Slow Dancing with Robert “Kool” Bell
– Tournament Results
– Videos, album covers, and liner note discussion
You can follow ’80s Radical Sabbatical on the following social media accounts:
Due to techniucal complications, voting will be held on Twitter and/or the Return to the ’80s group page.
I will set this up for 3 days to give time for people to vote.
Better late than never, but the 4th annual Return to the ’80s March Madness tournament is here! If you are new to this site, each year one artist is chosen for the March Madness Tournament. We pit their own hit songs against each other. As with last year, voting will be done right here on the site, Twitter – @Returntothe80s, And the Return to the ’80s group page on Facebook.
Previous winners have been:
2018 – “Out of Touch” in the Hall & Oates March Madness
2019 – “Purple Rain” in the Prince March Madness
2020 – “Crazy For You” in the Madonna March Madness
This year, I was going to go with Phil Collins, but with my busy schedule, I have to jump right into the elite 8. And Collins had way too many top 40 hits to limit it to just 8.
Since Whitney had 7 number one hits in the ’80s, a Wild Card tournament was held to fill in the final slot. The winner was “You Give Good Love.”
Since this tournament will go into April, there is literally no time to waste! So let’s get this party started!
This round will close on Friday April 2.
You can click on the song titles to get the YouTube videos. The poll is at the bottom.