“We Got the Beat” by the Go-Gos (1982)
The Go-Gos’ Beauty and the Beat was the number-one album in the USA for six consecutive weeks in the Spring of 1982. Rolling Stone ranked it as the 60th-best debut of all time. Paste had it at 39 on their list. Its first single, “Our Lips are Sealed,” cracked the top-twenty. The next one, a song written by guitarist Charlotte Caffey and released as a non-album single in 1980, just missed out on number one.
The Go-Gos’ rerecorded “We Got the Beat” for Beauty and the Beat. Caffey's keyboard propelled the new version, which allowed her guitar to wander a bit more. And they dropped the fluffy background vocals. It made the song sound a little fuller and rock a little harder. But the Go-Gos never rocked as hard as the woman who kept them from number one – Joan Jett, whose cover of “I Love Rock n Roll” ensured that, at least for a brief moment in 1982, female rock & rollers held the top two spots on the Billboard chart.
“Dancing in the Dark” by Bruce Springsteen (1984)
I mentioned at the beginning that Tom Petty never had a number-one song. Neither has Bruce Springsteen, which is pretty shocking. The man had a dozen top-ten singles. Almost half of his albums – nine in all – made it to the top of the album chart. But no single ever got there. The closest he ever came was with the lead single from his biggest album, the 17X platinum Born in the USA.
“Dancing in the Dark” has the typical strong beat you associate with Springsteen’s rockers, but keyboardist Roy Bittan tosses in some synthesizers to liven things up. And Springsteen still delivers the desperation that characterizes so many of his best vocals on lines like “I check my look in the mirror – Wanna change my clothes, my hair, my face.” But two different songs kept “Dancing in the Dark” from number one. There’s no shame whatsoever in finishing second to Prince’s groundbreaking “When Doves Cry.” Coming in behind Duran Duran’s “The Reflex” – that’s a different matter.