Skip to content

Brian A. Wilkins Posts

27 years ago this week (February 25, 1995), “This Is How We Do It” by Montell Jordan debuted at #93 on the Billboard Hot 100

BrianWilkins.org
February 27, 2022

“This Is How We Do It” gradually climbed the charts for the next seven weeks, until it hit #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 on April 15, 1995.

Montell Jordan dethroned Madonna and “Take A Bow,” which had been number-1 for seven-straight weeks. That’s a feat to be proud of.

Jordan and “This Is How We Do It” stayed at number-1 for the next seven weeks. Bryan Adams and “Have You Ever Really Loved A Woman” knocked “This Is How We Do It” out of the number-1 spot on June 3, 1995. I like a lot of Bryan Adams songs, particularly “This Time,” “Heaven,” and “Can’t Stop This Thing We Started.” read more

Leave a Comment

The Facts of Life: 41 years ago today, November 26, 1980, Season 2 debuted and introduced Jo Polniaczek (Nancy McKeon)

BrianWilkins.org
November 26, 2021So the headline isn’t 100% true. The Facts Of Life Season Two debut aired on November 19, 1980. But it was a two-part series. “The New Girl: Part 1” aired on November 19. Part Two aired on November 26, 1980.

Jo Polniaczek (Nancy McKeon) joined Blair Warner (Lisa Whelchel), Dorothy “Tootsie” Ramsey (Kim Fields), Natalie Green (Mindy Cohn), and housemother Edna Garrett (Charlotte Rae) at Eastland, a private, upscale all-girls high school in upstate New York. read more

Leave a Comment

39 years ago today, November 20, 1982, Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warnes were #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 with “Up Where We Belong” for the third consecutive week

BrianWilkins.org
November 19, 2021

I watched “An Officer and a Gentleman” way late at night on Cinemax or HBO in 1983. My calendar journal from that year has a little side note on the August page. It says “Paul’s mom looks like the Officer Gentleman woman.” I don’t recall who exactly Paul (or his mom) is.

I had no idea what was going on in that movie, or what I was watching. Most 8-year-old kids wouldn’t. But something about it, particularly the soundtrack, stuck with me. I still love it today. read more

Leave a Comment

Janet Jackson: “Come Back To Me” peaked at #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 on August 18, 1990 – stayed on charts for 23 weeks

BrianWilkins.org
November 7, 2021

“Come Back To Me” was #2 for two weeks, as it couldn’t overtake “Vision of Love” by Mariah Carey (which frankly isn’t even in my top five of Mariah songs). The final week for “Come Back To Me” on the Billboard Hot 100 was October 20, 1990, when it was #90. That’s a little over 31 years ago – my sophomore year in high school.

The video was filmed in Paris, in November 1989. “Miss Jackson’s” love interest in the video is Mexican songwriter and director René Elizondo Jr. They secretly married on March 31, 1991. In fact it is said to be Elizondo’s hands covering Janet Jackson’s breast on the September 1993 cover of Rolling Stone magazine. read more

Leave a Comment

38 years ago today, “Total Eclipse of the Heart” by Bonnie Tyler was #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for the fourth and final week

BrianWilkins.org
October 18, 2021

I implore every child to keep calendar journals starting right now. Because I couldn’t write these stories without my own journals from childhood.

1983 was a great year for me as an 8-year-old. I was making “good” money from my paper route (about $30/week) and another $5 to $10 per week from golf ball hunting/selling during the summer months. Sure I mostly bought Star Wars action figures, Legos and comic books (the first Transformers toys didn’t come out until 1984). But one of my paper route customers held a garage sale on July 8, 1983; and I bought a used walkman and a tape recorder. At the time, walkmans were still too expensive for an 8-year-old kid to buy brand new with his paper route money. read more

Leave a Comment

39 years ago today, “I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll” by Joan Jett and the Blackhearts was #1 for the fifth of seven weeks in 1982

BrianWilkins.org
April 15, 2021

Damn I’m getting old! I remember so vividly playing Pac-Man at the bowling alley down the street from my house in Marshalltown, Iowa when I heard this for the first time. I got the quarters to play the arcade game from selling golf balls. We used to go golf ball hunting across the street from the golf course, and golfers would buy them. That’s Gen X economics for kids.

Some argue “I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll” is the greatest song of the 80s. Billboard ranked it #56 of all-time in 2008. It’s a classic for sure, with lots of childhood memories tied to it. But many people don’t know that Joan Jett neither wrote the song, nor originally performed it. Those honors go to 1970s glam rock band The Arrows. Lead singer Alan Merrill and guitarist Jake Hooker wrote the song and first performed it in 1975. read more

Leave a Comment

PODCAST – Hip Hop and the negative effects on African Americans

BrianWilkins.org
May 19, 2020

This podcast was recorded on November 10, 2006 for Arizona State University (ASU) radio. It’s about 14 minutes long and may take a few moments to load, depending on your connection speed.

“Hello everyone and welcome to my podcast for Nov. 10, 2006. I’m Brian Wilkins and in today’s podcast, we will discuss the cause (in more ways than one), the effect, and the impact hip-hop is having on young African Americans.

I will quote from my interview with Dr. Chouki El Hamel, a professor of history at Arizona State University, who specializes in African studies, to get his take on hip-hop and its effect on African American youth. We will go over the history of music in black America, how hip-hop started, and why hip-hop now needs to be used more responsibly by those who control it…meaning the rappers, the record companies, and the media conglomerates.” read more

Leave a Comment

The NeverEnding Story: the most influential film of my life

BrianWilkins.org
May 18, 2020

Atreyu and Falkor the luck dragon.

The summer of 1984 was a banner time for movies. See Ghostbusters, Sixteen Candles, Revenge of the Nerds, Karate Kid, et al. The Orpheum theater in Marshalltown, Iowa had a new movie playing called “The NeverEnding Story” (NOTE: last movie I saw at the Orpheum was Caddyshack II in 1988). I had $5.52 in my pocket from my paper route job. That was enough for a movie ticket, popcorn and pop in those days.

I watched “The NeverEnding Story” by myself, with only 40-50 other people in the theater. It shaped me forever. All I wanted from that point forward was to save my Childlike Empress (aka Moon Child). read more

Leave a Comment

George Benson performed “Nothing’s Gonna Change My Love For You” in 1985, before Glenn Medeiros

BrianWilkins.org
April 30, 2020

In all fairness, neither George Benson, nor Glenn Medeiros wrote the song. That honor belongs to co-writers Michael Masser and Gerry Goffin. Masser wrote several hits for Whitney Houston, Diana Ross, Natalie Cole and many others. Goffin wrote several number-1 pop hits including “The Locomotion” and “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow.”

George Benson performed the song in 1985. It was on his 22nd studio album 20/20. The album peaked at #45 on the Billboard 100 album charts on February 15, 1985. But “Nothing’s Gonna Change My Love For You” was only released as a single in Europe. It reached #29 in Belgium and #43 in the Netherlands. It’s unclear why the single was never released in the USA. read more

Leave a Comment