US #3 Hits (1982 and 1983)

it's a mistake is a fun song. if you pay attention to lyrics, tho (and i do), it can be a little cringe-worthy.

I'm trying to think of other briefly huge pop band whose most beloved hits are on the followup to the best seller.

i'm not sure that's completely true about met at work ('down under' is overwhelmingly their most played track on last.fm and 'who can it be now?' has a huge lead over 'overkill' and 'it's a mistake') but i have often wondered about cargo and why the followup was such a relative flop. maybe it's just inevitable w/ a debut that successful but it's not like there was a huge backlash as far as i'm aware and it's not like that huge a percentage of their sales were to ppl who don't buy many records ie they weren't hootie and the blowfish.

met at work = those awkward intermission interviews during the met live in hd screenings

I'd need to read Paul Grein or somebody at Billboard at the time who said Cargo flopped. Three million instead of six million units shipped is nothing to sneeze at, and the album woudl've gone to #1 had Thriller not parked itself. Another fun fact: Thriller dethroned Business as Usual months earlier.

Maybe there was less of a "need" for Men at Work, with the Police returning at the same time?

I have to say in Safety Dance's defense (I didn't vote for it): I heard it in a big LA dance club in '84, I forget how the fuck we ended up there but there we were, teenagers, and it came on. that synth sound, through a giant 80s system - playing that little dum-dum-dum da-da dum-dum-dum figure? it sounded like nothing else in the world. it came from the damn future, even though the dude's visual schtick was all ren-faire. it just sounded incredible. this left a huge impression on me & I'd guess on many others who heard in in this sort of context.

http://i.imgur.com/Ey1Agtz.gif

that dance wasn't as safe as they said it was

men without hats lied, ppl died

man, I just consulted my Whitburn top ten book, and for a brief moment in May and June '83 Cargo and BAU sat in the top ten at the same time. From November '82 to summer '83 they were the biggest band in the US (BAU sat 15 weeks at #1).

Here's a bunch..