Rockwell

Like, like on Saturday mornings, for instance, you know, when my wife and I are enjoying bump and grind time together.

Are we all living in the middle of the Rockwell song Somebody's Watching Me? And for many of you, that joke will require the use of AI or whatever-

[laughs]

... as you search to see who Rockwell it was and what the song Somebody's Watching Me was.

[laughs]

Even if there's not a ghost in the house, what's to stop a ghost that's living on my front lawn from just coming in?

I'm Chris Melanfi, chart analyst, pop critic, and writer of Slate's Why Is This Song Number One series.

On today's show, with Halloween about a month away, let's set the mood with this song, Somebody's Watching Me by Rockwell.

And it is famous, or you might say infamous, for riding the coattails of Michael Jackson, who was then at the peak of his thriller popularity.

That's Michael on the chorus of Somebody's Watching Me, doing a favor for Rockwell, who was the son of Barry Gordy Jr., the founder of Motown.

How popular was Somebody's Watching Me? At this moment of peak Michael mania, it even jumped over Michael's own single, Thriller, on its way into the top 10.

According to my rules, Rockwell is a one-hit wonder.

He did have a coattails hit that followed Somebody's Watching Me called Obscene Phone Caller, which got as high as number 35.

But we can discount that follow-up hit.

Every, every song that gets- Yeah ... that gets, you know, adapted for Halloween.

Like, look, we wrote this album in Ja- in January, but Ro- the Rockwell song, you know, Somebody's Watching You, uh, came out in January as well.

Mm-hmm.

And that wasn't c- it didn't come out as a Halloween song.

This one's worth two.

What's the only hit by the musician Rockwell, which first charted in 1984 and reappeared in the top 20 just after Halloween last year?

Somebody's watching me.

Only because it's spooky, that's how I remember it.

Yeah.

Rockwell, "Somebody's Watching Me."

That was our first-

There's-

That's a good one, too.

Rockwell, I don't know what Rock- oh, Rockwell's the guy in the song Somebody's Watching Me, yeah?

Yeah.

With Michael Jackson.

Check.

Somebody's Watching Me by Rockwell featuring this guy, Michael Jackson.

Check.

Check.

Somebody's watching me.

Oh, that's Rockwell.

All right.

Never mind.