On this day in 1988, UB40’s Red Red Wine reached top of the U.S. charts. It was originally a Neil Diamond song, but the Brit reggae band took it to a whole new level. And the MTV video was pretty cool. Remember that? You know, some people point to greater consistency in domestic wine production, the international rise of Merlot, the desire of Yuppies to appear posh and other silly reasons as to why red wine’s popularity boomed in the U.S. starting in the late 1980s, but I’ve always held to the notion that it was this song that did it. Go ahead and play it. It’ll make you want to drink red wine.
