The Rock of 1989: Doctor, There’s A Great White in My Heartbreaker

About this episode

Dave and Milt explore the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart from May 20, 1989, discussing music, cultural events, and quirky trivia.

Dave and Milt fire up the Top 10 Time Machine and head straight for the week ending May 20, 1989 — but this time they ditch the Hot 100 in favor of the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart, because apparently Aqua Net, guitar riffs, and sleeveless denim vests deserved their own economy. Along the way, they revisit a bizarrely packed week in history featuring Gorbachev’s visit to China, the disappearance of Costa Rica’s golden toad, the death of Gilda Radner, and the cultural majesty of See No Evil, Hear No Evil and the Jessica McClure “Baby Jessica” TV movie nobody asked for but everybody watched anyway. The chart itself is pure late-’80s rock-radio chaos: Saraya crashes in at #10, Richard Marx somehow counts as “rock,” The Outfield keeps “Voices of Babylon” alive long after civilization moved on, and Queen storms in with “I Want It All” while Freddie Mercury quietly battled the illness the public still didn’t know about. Great White shows up with their hit cover and sparks a surprisingly dark detour into the Jack Russell saga and the horrifying Station nightclub fire story. Elsewhere, Dave and Milt debate whether a bologna bagel is cuisine or a cry for help, obsess over backyard bird…

People in this episode

Hosts: Dave, Milt

Topics covered

• 1980s rock music
• Billboard charts
• cultural history
• music commentary
• pop culture events
• music trivia

Keywords

• 1989
• rock music
• Billboard Mainstream Rock
• Aqua Net
• Freddie Mercury
• Station nightclub fire
• music trivia
• pop culture

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Billboard

Products: Aqua Net

Books & works: See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Baby Jessica, Voices of Babylon, I Want It All

Places: Costa Rica

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