This month marks 42 years since the Judds, the mother-daughter country duo of Naomi and Wynonna Judd, scored their first US number one single with "Mama He's Crazy" in early August 1984. The song went on to win the pair their first Grammy Award and kicked off a remarkable run of eight consecutive chart-toppers, cementing their status as one of country music's most successful acts of the 1980s.

The track was written by Hall of Fame songwriter Kenny O'Dell, who was inspired to develop the Judds after seeing them perform live. He drew the song's title line from dialogue on a short-lived soap opera called Texas, a Dallas spin-off he watched with his wife over lunch each afternoon. The duo's breakthrough followed a chance encounter: Naomi Judd, then working at a hospital in Franklin, Tennessee, treated producer Brent Maher's daughter after a car accident and used the opportunity to pass him their demo, leading to an RCA record deal and Maher producing all their studio albums.