1983 Rock Power Ballad Suddenly Climbed the Charts to No. 1 Years Later
A popular song originally released in 1983 finally found its audience six years later. Unfortunately, the band that sang the song, Sheriff, was already long gone by then, having disbanded in 1985.
The rock song in question, "When I'm With You," was first released at the start of 1983 as a single on Sheriff's self-titled debut album. The other official single for the record was "You Remind Me." During the first release of "When I'm With You," it did reasonably well, especially considering how new the band was at the time.
"When I'm With You" reached the Top 10 in Canada, the band's home country. Meanwhile, in the U.S., it debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, peaking at 61 around a month later. But due to their lack of international success and other reasons, the band ended up breaking up a few years after their debut album came out.
Unbeknownst to Sheriff, their second single would find new life only years later, starting in 1988 and peaking the next year. According to Stereogum, the identity of the person and radio station that first started playing the song again that year is debated. But no matter who it was, they succeeded in bringing it back into the public eye, and soon enough, radio stations everywhere were playing "When I'm With You" again.
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After seeing the new appreciation for the track, Capitol Records re-released it as a single, even though Sheriff was no longer together. It ended up being a good decision, as "When I'm With You" ended up reaching No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in February 1989.
Capitol Records' vice president of promotion at the time, John Fagot, who helped get Sheriff's song its delayed popularity, voiced frustration about the rising trend of bringing old songs back. He told the Los Angeles Times, "We should be looking forwards rather than backwards. There are so many great artists out there who deserve exposure that it's kind of a waste of time to expose these old records. You don't have anything to build. There's no future in it."
In this case, he was right. Sheriff was finished, and despite encouragement to reunite, it never happened.
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This story was originally published June 10, 2026 at 5:00 AM.