Another week…managed to get this one done at a reasonable time. hehe
Bang a Gong (Get It On) – T. Rex
“Get It On” (retitled “Bang a Gong (Get It On)” in the U.S.) was the second UK number one song for the British rock group T.Rex. It was released in 1971 from their best-known album, Electric Warrior. The retitling of the song in the U.S. was to avoid confusion with a song by the same name by the group Chase. It is arguably the group’s best-known song, and one of the songs most closely associated with the era.
Bolan claims to have written the song out of his desire to record Chuck Berry’s “Little Queenie”, and says that the riff is taken from the Berry song. In fact, a line (And meanwhile, I’m still thinking) of “Little Queenie” is said at the fade of “Get It On”.
At concerts (notably at the famous Empire Pool gig in 1972) singer Marc Bolan would rub a tambourine up and down the fretboard of his white Fender Stratocaster during the song’s climax.
In March 2005, Q magazine placed “Get It On” at number 36 in its list of the 100 Greatest Guitar Tracks.
While it only spent four weeks at the top in the UK, starting 24 July 1971 (“Hot Love” was number one for six weeks from March to May), it was the group’s biggest hit overall, selling nearly a million copies in the UK. It peaked on the U.S. Billboard Pop Singles chart at number ten in January 1972, becoming the band’s only major U.S. hit. The song reached #12 in Canada in March 1972.
“Get It On” was covered by the Power Station in 1985. Their version was released as their second single from their debut album. The track was a hit in both the UK, reaching number 22 on the UK Singles Chart, and the U.S., where the song peaked at number nine (one place higher than the original) on the Billboard Hot 100. When Robert Palmer heard that the other Power Station members had recorded demos for “Bang a Gong”, he asked to try out vocals for it. Before long, the band had decided to record the entire album with Palmer. This single, along with “Some Like It Hot”, became the Power Stations’ signature songs.
The song was performed live on the Miami Vice episode “Whatever Works”, with Michael Des Barres on vocals, where all of the then-touring group had cameos.
Smokin’ In the Boys Room – Brownsville Station
“Smokin’ In the Boys Room” is a song originally recorded by Brownsville Station in 1973 on their album Yeah!, reaching #3 on the U.S. charts, and later covered in 1985 by Mötley Crüe, with the Crüe’s version accompanied by a conceptual music video featuring Michael Berryman as the school principal. The song was also translated to Hebrew and covered by the T-Slam.
The song was featured in the 1979 movie Rock ‘n’ Roll High School.
Released as a single in 1985, “Smokin’ In the Boys Room” reached #16 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, and became Mötley Crüe’s first Top 40 hit.
Kung Fu Fighting – Carl Douglas
“Kung Fu Fighting” is a song written and performed by Carl Douglas and Vivian Hawke. It was released as a single in 1974, at the cusp of a chopsocky film craze, and quickly rose to the top of British and American charts. “Kung Fu Fighting” was also number one on the soul singles chart for one week. The song also is famous for its use of the quintessential Oriental Riff, a short musical phrase that is used to signify Chinese culture.
It originally was meant to be a B-side to I Want to Give You My Everything by Brooklyn songwriter Larry Weiss, and was recorded in the last ten minutes of his studio time. This song has been featured prominently in pop culture including Mott’s Clamato advertisements.
Douglas states that his inspiration to write the song was affected by three factors: he had seen a kung fu movie, later visited a jazz concert by Oscar Peterson, and was suffering from side-effects of pain killers (Douglas had injured his foot playing football).[4] Another account gives his inspiration simply as seeing two kids in London doing kung fu moves.
Kung Fu Fighting was rated #100 in VH1’s “100 Greatest one-hit wonders, and number 1 in the UK Channel 4’s Top 10 One Hit Wonders list in 2000, the same channel’s 50 Greatest One Hit Wonders poll in 2006 and Bring Back … the one-hit Wonders, for which Carl Douglas performed the song in a live concert.
Patti Rothberg covered the song for the Beverly Hills Ninja soundtrack in 1997.
British dance act Bus Stop reached #8 on the U.K. charts with their 1998 remix single of “Kung Fu Fighting”, which sampled the original vocals by Carl Douglas and added rap verses. Iconic DJ Fatboy Slim is sometimes mistakenly credited for this remix.
The song was very popular in Jamaica, and there were several cover versions by reggae artists including Lloyd Parks, The Maroons, The Cimarons, and Pluto Shervington.
Jerry Lo (DJ Jerry, Taiwan) also produced a remake of the song .
There’s also a finnish version of this song. It’s sung by Frederik (Ilkka Sysimetsä). And its finnish name is Kung Fu Taistelee.
The song was used as the title song in the german version of the TV series Kung Fu. It has been used in several movies since 1990 where there is a light-hearted spirit to the martial arts, including Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie, Shaolin Soccer, Little Manhattan, Epic Movie, City of God, Beverly Hills Ninja, Sin noticias de Dios, Scrubs, Bowfinger, Kung Fu Panda, Rush Hour 3. It also has been used in trailers for the films Kung Fu Panda, Disney’s Wendy Wu: Homecoming Warrior, & Kung Fu Hustle, and a cover by Cee-Lo Green and Jack Black is used over the end credits of Kung Fu Panda. This version has partially rewritten lyrics more in keeping with the film’s themes. This song has also been confirmed for use in the upcoming game Lego Rock Band.
The Bus Stop version has appeared in the video game Dance Dance Revolution, and the original version appeared in Dancing Stage MAX.
I’ve Been Thinking About You – London Beat
“I’ve Been Thinking about You” is a song recorded by Londonbeat. It was released as a single in the last months of 1990 in many countries.
It hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100 on April 13, 1991, having hit number two in the United Kingdom the previous year. The song also topped the singles charts in Spain, Sweden, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, The Netherlands and Australia.
Part of the song was sampled and prominently featured in the song “Physical” recorded by Alcazar.
A very cool flashback. Thanks again.