Peter Gabriel "Sledgehammer"

A remarkable feat in music history occurred on this date (July 26th) in 1986 when the former lead singer of a band nudged his former band's song out of the #1 spot on the Hot 100. Throughout the '70s, Peter Gabriel fronted Genesis before exiting the band thus leaving drummer Phil Collins to fill the void. While Collins juggled a solo career while continuing to perform with Genesis, the band's popularity soared. That July 1986 week saw Genesis' "Invisible Touch" fall out of the #1 spot thanks to Gabriel's "Sledgehammer". Many can and rightfully should credit MTV for helping make the song a hit as the video featured animation never before seen in a music video. The Hit Parade Podcast expertly tackles this unlikely story.

Mariah Carey "I'll Be There"

My Grandfather had an unusual reaction upon seeing Mariah Carey's music video to "I'll Be There" on VH-1. Since my parents didn't have cable, I caught up on MTV and VH-1 while visiting Grandma and Grandpa. The music video for "I'll Be There" was quite vanilla -- it merely contained footage from Mariah's MTV Unplugged special. Since I was a teenager at the time, all my Grandpa's questions about teenagers went directly to me as I apparently was some sort of unofficial spokesperson. About halfway through the video, Grandpa questioned why the folks in the audience of Mariah's video waved their arms side-to-side in the air during the chorus. I explained to him the crowd was just dancing along to the song. Somehow this was Grandpa's tipping point. He turned his swivel chair toward me and exclaimed, "Your generation is fucked." My Dad, who was also in the room at the time, looked to me and said, "Don't worry -- he said the same thing about my generation."

Ashlee Simpson "Pieces of Me"

What we know about Ashlee Simpson:

• Younger sister of Jessica Simpson
• Had her own MTV series which was a spin-off from Nick and Jessica
• Married and later divorced Pete Wentz from Fall Out Boy
• Danced a hoedown on Saturday Night Live when prerecorded vocals from "Pieces of You" played while she attempted to sing a different song -- the band transitioned back to "Pieces of You" when she exited the stage and SNL went to a commercial break

The Cars "Magic"

Ric Ocasek of The Cars walks on water in the video to the band's 1984 hit "Magic". Filmed at the house of Kathy Hilton (mother of Paris Hilton), Ocasic appears to walk on water in the swimming pool located behind the Beverly Hills mansion. During the first take of the video, Ocasek actually shattered the Plexiglass and fell into the water. Toward the end of the video (that aired tirelessly on MTV at the time) others in the video attempted to walk on water only to suffer the same fate as Ocasek in the first take -- they also all fell into the pool.

Paula Cole "Me"

Twenty-one years before Taylor Swift, Paula Cole released the ballad "Me". MTV and VH1 gave Paula's "Me" a bit of exposure, but nothing like what Taylor Swift got from her April 26th release of "Me!".

Guns 'N Roses "November Rain"

With today being the Winter Solstice -- the shortest day of the year, we highlight a song that is anything but short (for that, we'd award Del Amitri's "Roll to Me" which clocks in at just about two minutes). At nearly nine minutes in length, "November Rain" is the longest song to ever chart in the Top 10 of the Hot 100. Guns 'N Roses band mate Slash jokingly refers to the song as "the Layla song" (the Eric Clapton tune clocks in at just seven minutes and eight seconds). During the 1992 MTV Video Music Awards (VMAs), the band performed the song in its entirety along with Elton John on piano.

Backstreet Boys "The One"

Usually a record company decides which singles from a band's album gets released to radio stations. In the case of the Backstreet Boys, they left that decision up to let the fans to choose courtesy of MTV's TRL. Four of the band's members voted for the song "Don't Want You Back", but Nick Carter had other plans. He called into TRL and voted for "The One". His legions of fans followed and up-voted "The One" -- making it the group's final single from their Millennium album.

Eric Clapton "Running on Faith"

Credit Eric Clapton's MTV Unplugged album for introducing me to three-time inductee to the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame (thanks to his work in Cream, the Yardbirds and his solo efforts). The acoustic album recorded for MTV's Unplugged series contained the tear-jerker "Tears in Heaven", a neutered version of his signature "Layla" as well as "Running on Faith"--a cut from his 1989 Journeyman album. While thinking about it, Unplugged was only part of how I discovered Clapton. My parents divorced in 1992 and both eventually re-joined the dating world. It was a strange time for all involved including me. As much as I knew my parents marriage wasn't ever going to work, it was weird to watch them both date. For my dad, he moved out of our house and gradually introduced us to his lady friends. We lived with my mom in the house my parents built, so her private life wasn't so private. Almost immediately, she started dating a man named Steve. Steve was a soft-spoken used car salesman who looked like a cross between Eric Clapton and Kenny Loggins. Steve later opened his own car lot, and I created a fake radio commercial for him. The commercial "aired" within a series of songs on my fake radio station that broadcast from my bedroom. Whenever Steve was driving with friends in the car, he would cue up the cassette tape and say, "Oh, it's almost time for my radio commercial to air." His friends were always quite impressed when it did "air" -- twenty-five years later, I'm still creating commercials...but this time for three Chicago radio stations.

Duran Duran "New Moon on Monday"

When asked what it meant to receive MTV's Lifetime Achievement Award, Duran Duran's Simon LeBon remarked to the host of the morning show I produced: "It means I'm gonna get laid, Mate."

Los del Rio "The Macarena"

Speaking of songs that should be banned at wedding receptions, Los del Rio stormed every mainstream radio station, sporting event, wedding reception, and soccer mom's minivan during the summer of 1996. That same year, my mom finally sprung for cable television, and I was treated to the video to "The Macarena" when it first aired on MTV and VH-1.

Soon afterwards, my friends picked me up and we drove around Northwest Indiana listening to the radio when (go figure) "The Macarena" played. I said, "I love this song is sung by two old Mexicans." My friend Matt immediately turned around and excitedly said, "That's the name of the band?!?" After I explained that the video featured two older Mexican guys singing, Matt was quite upset and claimed that Two Old Mexicans is a great name for a band.

.38 Special "Hold on Loosely"

Answering the question, "What was the 13th video played on MTV?" is "Hold on Loosely" from .38 Special. The rock-tune aired during MTV's first day on the air: August 1, 1981.

Enigma "Return to Innocence"

While most teenagers spent their high school Spring break getting drunk on the beaches of south Florida, I spent my high school Spring breaks staying with my grandparents in Bradenton, Florida. Bradenton is about an hour south of Tampa and neighbors the city of Sarasota.  Since my parents didn't have cable at home during my high school years, I got my fill of music videos from MTV and VH-1 during Spring break in between countless trips to the pool and The Outback Steakhouse. One of my many memories from Spring Break 1994 featured "Return to Innocence" from the New Age band Enigma on heavy rotation at VH-1. The relaxing tune seemed destined to be the soundtrack at massage parlors, but instead managed to receive heavy radio airplay across multiple formats. The ear worm turned into a hit song in over a dozen countries.

Eric Clapton "Layla (Unplugged)"

When MTV revived their Unplugged television series in 2017, the cable network tabbed Shawn Mendes to perform on the reboot of the show. The series originally debuted in 1989 and featured big names such as Elton John, Maroon 5, Pearl Jam, Nirvana, and nearly 100 others, but less than 30 Unplugged episodes were turned into albums. One of the most successful Unplugged editions featured Eric Clapton. Originally taped in 1992, Clapton originally didn't want to release music from his performance, but later changed his mind. It's a good thing he did. Clapton's Unplugged album went on to sell over 26 million copies worldwide and earned him six Grammy Awards. His unplugged version of "Layla" was a night-and-day take on one of his biggest hit and gained radio airplay across multiple formats and introduced Clapton to a whole new audience.

Rod Stewart "Have I Told You Lately?"

Over the course of four years, "Have I Told You Lately" charted three times--once by Van Morrison and twice by Rod Stewart. Van Morrison released the ballad in 1989 followed by Rod Stewart in 1991. Both versions of the song charted on the Adult Contemporary Chart (Van Morrison's version peaked at #12 and Stewart's went to #33). Two years later, Rod released Unplugged & Seated--an acoustic album performed for MTV's Unplugged series. That live version of the ballad went straight to #1 (#5 on the Hot 100). His Unplugged & Seated album also charted "Having A Party" and "Reason to Believe".

Cher "If I Could Turn Back Time"

Nearly as famous as the song itself, the music video to "If I Could Turn Back Time" ruffled plenty of feathers back in 1989. Filmed aboard the USS Missouri while it was docked in Los Angeles, the music video featured Cher singing to an excited bunch of seamen aboard the vessel. In the video, Cher wore a short black leather jacket over a fishnet body stocking. This fashionable (?) outfit conveniently left her butt exposed which upset an on-site Navy official who kindly asked Cher to cover up--but we all know that wasn't going to happen. Seeing that it was still 1989, the music video was considered too risque and was banned by most television networks including MTV (who later agreed to air it, but only after 9pm). The result: the song went to #3 on the Hot 100 (#1 on the Adult Contemporary Chart) and helped propel Cher's comeback. Oh, it also caused the Navy to place a ban on filming music videos aboard their ships. All together now: Thanks, Cher!

Michael Jackson "Remember the Time"

Remember the time when Michael Jackson created a nine minute-long music video?

Sophie B. Hawkins - "Damn I Wish I Was Your Lover"

How many popular songs have a swear word in the title?  I can only think of a couple including "Damn I Wish I Was Your Lover" from Sophie B. Hawkins, her debut single from 1992.  Sure the title contained the not-so-bad word damn, but the video was even juicier prompting MTV to ban it.  Of course, there was also that lyric from the song: "I give you something sweet everything you come inside my jungle book...".  Damn.

Phil Collins - "I Wish It Would Rain Down"

The video for Phil Collins' "I Wish It Would Rain Down" clocked in at eight and one-half minutes and featured Jeffrey Tambor, Eric Clapton (who played guitar on the song), and various other members of Collins' band.  The song dominated the charts in 1990.

Eddie Money - "Think I'm in Love"

The video for Eddie Money's "Think I'm in Love" received major airtime during MTV's early days thanks to its incorporating elements from classic vampire movies.  (Oh, that's why you posted this on Halloween...I get it now.)

Annie Lennox - "Why"

Sign of the times: Annie Lennox's sleepy ballad "Why" won the award for Best Female Video at the 1992 MTV Video Music Awards.