The song, released in late 1981, initially gained west-coast popularity in January 1982; many who had the number soon abandoned it because of unwanted calls.
"When we'd first get calls at 2 or 3 in the morning, my husband would answer the phone. He can't hear too well. They'd ask for Jenny and he'd say 'Jimmy doesn't live here any more.'... Tommy Tutone was the one who had the record. I'd like to get hold of his neck and choke him."
—Mrs. Lorene Burns, random Alabama householder formerly at +1-205-867-5309, disconnected in 1982.[8]
Asking telephone companies to trace the calls was of no use, as Charles and Maurine Shambarger (then in West Akron, Ohio at +1-216-867-5309) learned when Ohio Bell explained “We don’t know what to make of this. The calls are coming from all over the place.” A little over a month later, they disconnected the number and the phone became silent.[9]
In some cases, the number was picked up by commercial businesses or acquired for use in radio promotions.
In 1982, WLS radio obtained the number from a Chicago woman, receiving 22,000 calls in four days....
much stuff covering several years
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A study on the security of numerical passwords in 2012 revealed that 8675309 is the fourth most common 7-digit password,
