# Best Canadian RPM Number 1 Singles:1984 **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 16, 2015, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-canadian-rpm-number-1-singles-1984/734815 "2015-10-16T14:35:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Nema98](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/d2c977/32.png) [@Nema98](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nema98)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2015, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-canadian-rpm-number-1-singles-1984/734815/1 "2015-10-16T14:35:29Z")
It’s 1984 and 25 singles hit #1, excluding “Say Say Say”. No Canadian artist had a #1 hit on this Canadian pop charts but two Germans did. Which would you vote for? Older Polls are always open, please vote: 1964-[Canadian RPM Number 1 Singles:1964 - Cafe Society - Straight Dope Message Board](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=767524) 1965-[Canadian RPM Number 1 Singles:1965 - Cafe Society - Straight Dope Message Board](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=767714) 1966-[Canadian RPM Number 1 Singles: 1966 - Cafe Society - Straight Dope Message Board](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=767890) 1967-[Canadian RPM NUMBER 1 SINGLES: 1967 - Cafe Society - Straight Dope Message Board](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=768306) 1968-[Canadian RPM Number 1 Singles:1968 - Cafe Society - Straight Dope Message Board](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=768597) 1969-[Best Canadian RPM NUMBER 1 SINGLES: 1969 - Cafe Society - Straight Dope Message Board](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=768867) 1970-[Best Canadian RPM NUMBER 1 SINGLES: 1970 - Cafe Society - Straight Dope Message Board](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=769085) 1971-[Best canadian rpm number 1 singles:1971 - Cafe Society - Straight Dope Message Board](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=769397) 1972-[Best canadian rpm number 1 singles: 1972 - Cafe Society - Straight Dope Message Board](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=769624) 1973-[Best Canadian RPM Number 1 Singles: 1973 - Cafe Society - Straight Dope Message Board](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=769837) 1974-[Best Canadian RPM Number 1 Singles: 1974 - Cafe Society - Straight Dope Message Board](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=770060) 1975-[Best Canadian RPM Number 1 Singles:1975 - Cafe Society - Straight Dope Message Board](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=770295) 1976-[Best Canadian RPM Number 1 Singles: 1976 - Cafe Society - Straight Dope Message Board](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=770513) 1977-[Canadian RPM Number 1 Singles: 1977 - Cafe Society - Straight Dope Message Board](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=770753) 1978-[Best Canadian RPM Number 1 Singles: 1978 - Cafe Society - Straight Dope Message Board](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=771010) 1979-[Canadian RPM Number Singles: 1979 - Cafe Society - Straight Dope Message Board](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=771209) 1980-[Best Canadian RPM Number 1 Singles: 1980 - Cafe Society - Straight Dope Message Board](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=771416) 1981-[Best Canadian RPM Number 1 Singles: 1981 - Cafe Society - Straight Dope Message Board](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=771571) 1982-[Best Canadian RPM Number 1 Singles: 1982 - Cafe Society - Straight Dope Message Board](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=771845) 1983-[Best Canadian RPM Number 1 Singles: 1983 - Cafe Society - Straight Dope Message Board](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=772126) You may vote for more than 1 song. ---
**Author:** ![Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/les_espaces_du_sommeil/32/308_2.png) [@Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Les_Espaces_Du_Sommeil)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2015, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-canadian-rpm-number-1-singles-1984/734815/2 "2015-10-16T16:12:41Z")
_Time After Time_ and _When Doves Cry_ are the clear winners here but I also voted for _Girls Just Want To Have Fun_ (it was definitely **Cyndi Lauper** ’s year) and _99 Red Balloons_ although in latter’s case I prefer the original version in German. I didn’t vote for _Talking In Your Sleep, Jump, Against All Odds, Hello, Self Control_ or _Caribbean Queen_ but they’re good songs, too. And of course _Ghostbusters_ brings back great childhood memories. So, another good year, the third in a row. Hey, the 80s were not that terrible after all 😃 (not that I ever believed it in the first place). However, and rather amazingly, the 1984 list also features one of the worst songs ever: _Red Red Wine_. Like _Pass The Dutchie_ in 1983. Ugh. ---
**Author:** ![Ponch8](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponch8/32/9883_2.png) [@Ponch8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponch8)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2015, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-canadian-rpm-number-1-singles-1984/734815/3 "2015-10-16T16:14:53Z")
Similar to 1983, there are a ton of good ones and few bad ones, so I again limited myself to the best three: Say Say Say, When Doves Cry, and Footloose. It’s funny that Red Red Wine is on this list, when it didn’t become a US hit until four years later. ---
**Author:** ![Nema98](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/d2c977/32.png) [@Nema98](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nema98)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2015, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-canadian-rpm-number-1-singles-1984/734815/4 "2015-10-16T21:54:10Z")
Peter Schilling got my vote as did Nena, and I prefer the English “99 Red Balloons” to the German “99 Luft Balloons”, which I find terrible. Ugly language to my ears. Yes UB40 got my vote, it’s a fun song. Phil Collins, Lauper’s "Time After Time, John Waite, Deneice Williams, Scandal, Wham! and Night Ranger got my vote. Steve Perry squeezed into getting my vote, and the Willie Nelson/Julio Iglesias duet only got my vote because my mom likes it. The Romantics and Vsn Halen did not make the cut. Unlike “Time After Time”, “Girls Just Want To Have Fun” is terrible and Prince did not get my vote. I just dislike the man. ---
**Author:** ![Nema98](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/d2c977/32.png) [@Nema98](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nema98)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2015, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-canadian-rpm-number-1-singles-1984/734815/5 "2015-10-16T21:55:31Z")
> [@Ponch8](#): > > Similar to 1983, there are a ton of good ones and few bad ones, so I again limited myself to the best three: Say Say Say, When Doves Cry, and Footloose. It’s funny that Red Red Wine is on this list, when it didn’t become a US hit until four years later. Yes it was originally released this time and was a #1 in Canada and UK in 1983-1984. The U.S only sent the rerelease to number one in 1988. ---
**Author:** ![Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/les_espaces_du_sommeil/32/308_2.png) [@Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Les_Espaces_Du_Sommeil)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2015, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-canadian-rpm-number-1-singles-1984/734815/6 "2015-10-17T06:44:19Z")
> [@Nema98](#): > > Peter Schilling got my vote as did Nena, and I prefer the English “99 Red Balloons” to the German “99 Luft Balloons”, which I find terrible. Ugly language to my ears. ☹ I couldn’t disagree more, both on the song and the language. The English version sounds watered down and clumsy to me. As for the language… have you ever read/heard poetry in German? I find it beautiful. Not in a singing kind of way like Italian but… noble. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Nema98](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/d2c977/32.png) [@Nema98](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nema98)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2015, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-canadian-rpm-number-1-singles-1984/734815/7 "2015-10-17T21:35:41Z")
> [@Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](#): > > ☹ > > I couldn’t disagree more, both on the song and the language. The English version sounds watered down and clumsy to me. > > As for the language… have you ever read/heard poetry in German? I find it beautiful. Not in a singing kind of way like Italian but… noble. > > 😉 I did not mean to say that German is an ugly language, but her singing on “Luft” hurts my ears and is more loud. The English “Red” version is soothing and nice. I like the opening lyrics: “You and I in a little toy shop I’ll buy a bag of balloons with the money we’ve got Set them free at the break of dawn Till one by one they were gone Back at base bugs in the software Flash the message something’s out there Floating in the summer sky 99 red balloons go by” But hey, different strokes for different folks my friend. I DO LIKE the German version of “Rock Me Amadeus” by Falco, but Nena-not so much. ---
**Author:** ![Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/les_espaces_du_sommeil/32/308_2.png) [@Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Les_Espaces_Du_Sommeil)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2015, 8:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-canadian-rpm-number-1-singles-1984/734815/8 "2015-10-18T08:30:20Z")
A yes, _Rock Me Amadeus_ is such a fun song and the German rap verses are a huge part of it. For some beautiful German “songs”, there’s **Schubert** : [Ständchen](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndWOc1qLLNA) [Gute Nacht](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxj24ExkL24&index=24&list=PLA769AD4D7C935A83) [Der Leiermann](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jrQAhKDGvuQ&index=1&list=PLA769AD4D7C935A83)