Breakdown Dead Ahead Explained

Breakdown Dead Ahead
Cover:	Breakdown_Dead_Ahead_-_Boz_Scaggs.jpg
Type:	single
Artist:	Boz Scaggs
Album:	Middle Man
B-Side:	Isn't It Time
Released:	March 1980
Recorded:	1979
Genre:	Rock
Length:	4:06 (radio edit) 4:35 (LP version)
Label:	Columbia
Producer:	Bill Schnee
Prev Title:	Hollywood
Prev Year:	1978
Next Title:	Jojo
Next Year:	1980

"Breakdown Dead Ahead" is a 1980 song recorded by Boz Scaggs, and composed by Scaggs and David Foster. It was the lead single of two released from Scaggs's album Middle Man.

During May, the song reached number 15 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and number 12 on the Cash Box Top 100.^[1] The song was a bigger hit in Canada, where it spent two weeks at number eight on the Pop chart.^[2]

Charts

Weekly charts

Chart (1980)	Peak position
Australia (Kent Music Report)^[3]	64
Canada RPM Top Singles^[4]	8
US Billboard Hot 100^[5]	15
US Cash Box Top 100^[6]	12

Year-end charts

Chart (1980)	Rank
Canada^[7]	67
US Billboard Hot 100^[8]	97
US Cash Box Top 100^[9]	93

Personnel

Rick Marotta – drums
Boz Scaggs – lead vocals, guitar
David Foster – acoustic piano
Don Grolnick – electric piano
Lenny Castro – percussion
David Hungate – bass
Steve Lukather – additional guitars, guitar solo
Ray Parker Jr. – guitar
Paulette K Brown – background vocals
Venetta Fields – background vocals
Bill Thedford – background vocals

Notes and References

Web site: CASH BOX Top 100 Singles. Tropicalglen.com. May 31, 1980. February 7, 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20161224164039/http://www.tropicalglen.com/Archives/80s_files/19800524.html. December 24, 2016. dead.
Web site: Image : RPM Weekly. 17 July 2013. Collectionscanada.gc.ca. 12 August 2018.
Book: Kent, David. David Kent (historian). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992. illustrated. Australian Chart Book. St Ives, N.S.W.. 1993. 0-646-11917-6. 266.
Web site: RPM 100 Singles. Bac-lac.gc.ca . June 28, 1980.
Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles 1955-1990 -
Web site: CASH BOX Top 100 Singles, May 24, 1980. Tropicalglen.com. February 7, 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20161224164039/http://www.tropicalglen.com/Archives/80s_files/19800524.html. December 24, 2016. dead.
Web site: Chart. Collectionscanada.gc.ca. 2017-02-07. https://web.archive.org/web/20160425051319/http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/rpm/028020-119.01-e.php?brws_s=1&file_num=nlc008388.0272&type=1&interval=24&PHPSESSID=mhe12pta2k83e08udtq66ot062#. 2016-04-25. dead.
"Pop Singles" Billboard December 20, 1980: TIA-10
Web site: The CASH BOX Year-End Charts: 1980 Top 100 Pop Singles, December 27, 1980. Tropicalglen.com. February 7, 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20180928152344/http://tropicalglen.com/Archives/80s_files/1980YESP.html. September 28, 2018. dead.