Breakdown Dead Ahead

"Breakdown Dead Ahead"
"Breakdown Dead Ahead"
Single by Boz Scaggs
from the 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
Songwriters	Boz Scaggs; David Foster;
Producer	Bill Schnee
Boz Scaggs singles chronology

"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 Top Singles (RPM)^[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

References

^ "CASH BOX Top 100 Singles". Tropicalglen.com. May 31, 1980. Archived from the original on December 24, 2016. Retrieved February 7, 2017.
^ "Image : RPM Weekly". Collectionscanada.gc.ca. 17 July 2013. Retrieved 12 August 2018.
^ Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. p. 266. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
^ "Top RPM Singles: Issue 0189a." RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved February 17, 2025.
^ Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles 1955-1990 - ISBN 0-89820-089-X
^ "CASH BOX Top 100 Singles, May 24, 1980". Tropicalglen.com. Archived from the original on December 24, 2016. Retrieved February 7, 2017.
^ "Chart". Collectionscanada.gc.ca. Archived from the original on 2016-04-25. Retrieved 2017-02-07.
^ "Pop Singles" Billboard December 20, 1980: TIA-10
^ "The CASH BOX Year-End Charts: 1980 Top 100 Pop Singles, December 27, 1980". Tropicalglen.com. Archived from the original on September 28, 2018. Retrieved February 7, 2017.

External links

Listen to "Breakdown Dead Ahead" on YouTube

This 1980s rock song–related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

[autogenerated1-1] "CASH BOX Top 100 Singles". Tropicalglen.com. May 31, 1980. Archived from the original on December 24, 2016. Retrieved February 7, 2017.

[2] "Image : RPM Weekly". Collectionscanada.gc.ca. 17 July 2013. Retrieved 12 August 2018.

[aus-3] Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. p. 266. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.

[sc_Canadatopsingles_-4] "Top RPM Singles: Issue 0189a." RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved February 17, 2025.

[5] Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles 1955-1990 - ISBN 0-89820-089-X

[6] "CASH BOX Top 100 Singles, May 24, 1980". Tropicalglen.com. Archived from the original on December 24, 2016. Retrieved February 7, 2017.

[7] "Chart". Collectionscanada.gc.ca. Archived from the original on 2016-04-25. Retrieved 2017-02-07.

[8] "Pop Singles" Billboard December 20, 1980: TIA-10

[9] "The CASH BOX Year-End Charts: 1980 Top 100 Pop Singles, December 27, 1980". Tropicalglen.com. Archived from the original on September 28, 2018. Retrieved February 7, 2017.

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v t e Boz Scaggs
Studio albums	Boz (1965) Boz Scaggs (1969) Moments (1971) Boz Scaggs & Band (1971) My Time (1972) Slow Dancer (1974) Silk Degrees (1976) Down Two Then Left (1977) Middle Man (1980) Other Roads (1988) Some Change (1994) Fade into Light (1996) Come On Home (1997) Dig (2001) But Beautiful (2003) Memphis (2013) A Fool to Care (2015) Out of the Blues (2018)
Live albums	Greatest Hits Live (2004)
Compilations	Hits! (1980) My Time: A Boz Scaggs Anthology (1997) The Essential Boz Scaggs (2013)
Singles	"Lowdown" "Lido Shuffle" "Breakdown Dead Ahead" "Jojo" "Look What You've Done to Me" "Miss Sun"
See also	Steve Miller Band The Dukes of September

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