Sunday Night Video Flashback Pt. 60!!!

Another week, another few videos.

Enjoy!

We Are Family – Sister Sledge

“We Are Family” is a 1979 dance hit song by Sister Sledge, composed by Bernard Edwards and Nile Rodgers. Rodgers and Edwards offered the song to Atlantic Records; although the record label initially declined, the track was released as a single from the album of the same name and quickly began to gain club and radio play. It eventually went Gold, becoming the number one R&B and number two pop song on the US charts in 1979. Along with the track, “He’s the Greatest Dancer”, “We Are Family” reached number one on the disco charts. It was also the theme song for the 1979 Pittsburgh Pirates, and was featured in both the 1996 film The Birdcage, starring Robin Williams and Nathan Lane, and the 1997 film The Full Monty.

The song was used as the 1979 theme song for the Pittsburgh Pirates, who won baseball’s World Series that year. The song was also played during the 2004 Democratic National Convention in Boston.

This song was re-released in 1993 in remix form in the UK, where the original had peaked at number seven on the singles chart. Titled the “Sure Is Pure Remix Edit”, the single surpassed the success of the original, reaching number five in the UK and remains their third biggest hit to date in that country (after “Frankie” and the 1984 remix of “Lost in Music”).

This song is also featured on DANCE! Online, a multiplayer online casual rhythm game, and the karaoke game Karaoke Revolution Volume 2.

During the 1980s and 1990s, The Disney Channel featured the song in a D-TV music video set entirely to clips from the cartoon short Casey Bats Again.

Artists who have covered the song include Jordan Pruitt, the Spice Girls, The Corrs, and Babes in Toyland. In addition, Rodgers organized a re-recording of the song in 2001 as a benefit record for the September 11, 2001 attacks. He also produced a version featuring characters from popular children’s television shows such as SpongeBob Squarepants and Sesame Street. This version aired on Disney Channel, Nickelodeon and PBS as a public service announcement. In December 2007, the song was announced as one of the 2008 inductees to the Grammy Hall of Fame. Kinshuk Nath in 2009 with his own office rendition of We Are Family.

Good Times – Chic

“Good Times” is a 1979 song composed by Bernard Edwards and Nile Rodgers. It was first recorded by their band Chic, for their 1979 album Risqué. In August of that year, it became the band’s second number one single on both the Billboard Hot 100 and soul singles chart. Along with the tracks, “My Forbidden Lover”, and “My Feet Keep Dancing”, “Good Times” reached number three on the disco charts. The song has become one of the most sampled pieces of music in history, most notably in rap and hip-hop music.

The song is ranked #224 on Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

In late 1979, Debbie Harry suggested that Nile Rodgers join her and Chris Stein at a Hip hop event in a communal space taken over by young kids and teenagers with boom box stereos, who would play various pieces of music to which performers would break dance. The main piece of music they would use was the break section of “Good Times.” A few weeks later, Blondie, The Clash and Chic were playing a gig in New York at Bonds nightclub. When Chic started playing “Good Times,” rapper Fab Five Freddy and members of the Sugarhill Gang jumped up on stage and started freestyling with the band; Rodgers allowed them to “do their improvisation thing like poets, much like I would playing guitar with Prince.”

A few weeks later Rodgers was on the dance floor of New York club LaViticus and suddenly heard the DJ play a song which opened with Edwards bass line from “Good Times”. Rogers approached the DJ who said he was playing a record he had just bought that day in Harlem. The song turned out to be an early version of “Rapper’s Delight” by The Sugarhill Gang, which Rogers noted also included a scratched version of the song’s string section. Rogers and Edwards threatened The Sugarhill Gang with legal action, which resulted in them being credited as co-writers on “Rappers Delight”

“Rapper’s Delight” did not achieve as much chart success as “Good Times” (peaking at #36 on the U.S. pop chart and #4 on the American R&B charts, compared to Chic’s #1 peak on both charts) but it helped to popularize the bassline and the song, and it became one of the most sampled tracks (and hence one of the most distinctive basslines) in the history of recorded music. Having agreed on a commercial structure for the use of their song in “Rappers Delight”, Edwards and Rodgers agreed to later uses in other songs, subject to their strict criteria.

The lyrics are largely based on Milton Ager’s “Happy Days Are Here Again.” It also contains lines based on lyrics featured in “About a Quarter to Nine” made famous by Al Jolson. Nile Rodgers has stated that these depression-era lyrics were used as a hidden way to comment on the then-current economic depression in the United States.

The Boys Are Back In Town – Thin Lizzy

“The Boys Are Back in Town” is a single from Irish hard rock band Thin Lizzy. The song came out in 1976 on their album Jailbreak. It was honoured with the 499th position among Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. Rolling Stone praised lead singer Phil Lynott’s “Gaelic soul” and called the “twin-guitar lead by Scott Gorham and Brian Robertson” used “crucial to the song’s success”. The song is played at most Irish Rugby matches. In March 2005, Q magazine placed “The Boys Are Back in Town” at number 38 in its list of the 100 Greatest Guitar Tracks.

The original 1976 UK single release featured album track “Emerald” as a B-side, although in some territories “Jailbreak” was chosen. The single was remixed and re-released in several formats in March 1991, after the success of the “Dedication” single, but failed to chart. The 12″ EP featured the extra tracks “Johnny the Fox Meets Jimmy the Weed”, “Black Boys on the Corner” and a live version of “Me and the Boys”.

This Charming Man – The Smiths

“This Charming Man” is a song by the British alternative rock band The Smiths, written by guitarist Johnny Marr and singer/lyricist Morrissey. It was released as the group’s second single in October 1983 on the independent record label Rough Trade. The song is defined by Marr’s jangle pop guitar riff and Morrissey’s characteristically morose lyrics, which revolve around the recurrent Smiths themes of sexual ambiguity and lust.

Feeling detached from and unable to relate to the early 1980s mainstream gay culture, Morrissey wrote “This Charming Man” to evoke an older, more coded and self-aware underground scene. The singer explained of the song’s lyrics, “I really like the idea of the male voice being quite vulnerable, of it being taken and slightly manipulated, rather than there being always this heavy machismo thing that just bores everybody.”

Although only moderately successful on first release—the single peaked at number 25 on the British singles chart—”This Charming Man” has been widely praised in both the music and mainstream press. The single was re-issued in 1992, reaching number 8 on the UK singles chart (also making it The Smiths biggest UK hit by chart position). In 2004, BBC Radio 2 listeners voted it number 97 on the station’s “Sold On Song Top 100″ poll. Mojo magazine journalists placed the track at number one on their 2008 “50 Greatest UK Indie Records of All Time” feature.

By early 1983, The Smiths had gained a large following on the UK live circuit and had signed a record deal with the indie label Rough Trade. The deal, along with positive concert reviews in the weekly music press and an upcoming session on BBC Radio 1 DJ John Peel’s radio show, generated a large media buzz for the band. In a music scene dominated by corporate and video-driven acts, the Smiths’ camp and bookish image stood out, and many expected the band to be the breakthrough act of the UK post-punk movement. The previous October Frankie Goes to Hollywood released their iconic track “Relax”, which was seen as an anthem to an out alpha male self-assertiveness, and alien to many UK homosexuals. However, The Smiths’ May 1983 debut single “Hand in Glove” failed to live up to critical and commercial expectations, mostly due to its perceived low production values. When Rough Trade label mates Aztec Camera began to receive day-time national radio-play with their track “Walk out to Winter”, Marr admitted to “feeling a little jealous, my competitive urges kicked in”. The guitarist believed The Smiths needed an up-beat song, “in a major key”, in order to gain a chart positioning that would live up to expectations.

Marr wrote the music to “This Charming Man” especially for the Peel session on the same night that he wrote “Still Ill” and “Pretty Girls Make Graves”. Based on the Peel performance, Rough Trade label head Geoff Travis suggested that the band release the song as a single instead of the slated release “Reel Around the Fountain”, which had gathered notoriety in the press due to what were seen as lyrical references to paedophilia. The Smiths entered Matrix Studios in London on September 1983 to record a second studio version of the song for release as a single. However, the result—known as the ‘London version’—was unsatisfactory and soon after, the band travelled to Strawberry Studios in Stockport to try again. Here, they recorded the more widely heard A-side.

Sunday Night Video Flashback Pt. 59!!!

What a difference a week makes!  Last week I asked where the cold weather was…well it’s here.  It’s 20-30 degrees cooler this Sunday.

Oh, and the Saints knocked off the Giants.  Woo Hoo!!!

Here we go…

Eye of the Tiger – Survivor

“Eye of the Tiger” is a song performed by the American rock band Survivor from the album Eye of the Tiger, released in 1982. It was used at the request of Sylvester Stallone for the film Rocky III. The mix of the song heard in the film features tiger growls, though these are omitted on the album and single versions.

“Eye of the Tiger” topped the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart for six weeks beginning July 24, 1982. The single was number two on the Billboard Top Pop Singles of 1982 year-end chart and number one on the Cash Box Top 100 Pop Singles year-end chart. “Eye of the Tiger” also reached number one in the UK, Irish and Australian charts. The single was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America in 1982, representing two million records sold in the U.S. Survivor won the Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal for “Eye of the Tiger”. The song received an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song and was voted “Favorite Song” by the People’s Choice Awards (in a tie with “Truly” by Lionel Richie).

In an interview with Songfacts, co-writer Jim Peterik explained the song’s title.

“At first, we wondered if calling it ‘Eye Of The Tiger’ was too obvious. The initial draft of the song, we started with ‘It’s the eye of the tiger, it’s the thrill of the fight, rising up to the spirit of our rival, and the last known survivor stalks his prey in the night, and it all comes down to survival.’ We were going to call the song ‘Survival.’ In the rhyme scheme, you can tell we had set up ‘rival’ to rhyme with ’survival.’ At the end of the day, we said, ‘Are we nuts?’ That hook is so strong, and ‘rival’ doesn’t have to be a perfect rhyme with the word ‘tiger.’ We made the right choice and went with ‘Eye Of The Tiger.’”

The song was listed at #21 on Billboard’s All Time Top 100 and was named the 63rd best hard rock song of all time by VH1.

You Spin Me Round (Like a Record) – Dead Or Alive

“You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)” is a song by Dead or Alive on their 1985 album Youthquake. The original cut was over four minutes long and was edited for the album. The unedited version was released on an ’80s CD called Monster ’80s Volume Two.

This song was the first UK number-one hit for the Stock Aitken Waterman production trio. Released in November 1984, the record reached number one in March 1985, taking seventeen weeks to get there. In the US, it peaked at #11 in September of that year.

The video was directed by Vaughan Arnell and Anthea Benton.

The strings were based on Richard Wagner’s classical piece Ride of the Valkyries.

“You Spin Me Round” was re-released in 2003 at the same time as the Dead or Alive greatest hits album Evolution was released. The song reached #23 in the UK singles chart. It was re-released again on January 30, 2006 because of lead singer Pete Burns’ controversial time as a contestant on television series Celebrity Big Brother and reached #5.

Earlier remixes were in 1996 and 1997 (some are included on the US, European and Australian releases of Nukleopatra). In 1999 these mixes were issued in the US as a 2CD set. The first disc held seven mixes of “You Spin Me Round” while disc two has five mixes of “Sex Drive”. In 2000, new mixes appeared on Fragile and in 2001, on Unbreakable: The Fragile Remixes. No videos were made for these.

The song has been re-released three times since its original release in 1984. Each time of its release, it achieved success, but failed to match the success of the original. However, after lead-singer Pete Burns’ run on UK Celebrity Big Brother, the single was re-released and managed a Top 5 peak on the UK Singles Chart in 2006.

You Got It – Roy Orbison

“You Got It” is a song from Roy Orbison’s album, Mystery Girl (1989). The song reached number nine on the Billboard Hot 100 and number one on the adult contemporary chart, returning Orbison to the Top 40 for the first time in 24 years. It also hit number three on the UK Singles Chart in the spring of 1989. This was a few months after Orbison’s death of a heart attack on December 6, 1988, at the age of 52. While “You Got It” was Orbison’s last hit single in the United States, the single, “I Drove All Night”, made the UK Top 5 later in 1992. In addition, it was his only solo top ten hit on the Hot Country Songs charts, peaking at #7.

In the U.S., the song became a hit again in 1995 for Bonnie Raitt, who recorded a version for the soundtrack of the film Boys on the Side. It peaked at number 34 on the Hot 100.

Orbison gave his only public rendition of the hit, to the applause of a huge crowd, at the Diamond Awards Festival in Antwerp, Belgium, a few days before his death. This footage was incorporated into the song’s music video.

Perfect – Fairground Attraction

“Perfect” is the title to Fairground Attraction’s first single, released in Apirl 1988.

The single reached number one on the 9 May 1988 in the UK Singles Chart, where it stayed for one week, and stayed in the chart for thirteen weeks. It also reached number one in Australia for three weeks in August and September 1988. In the UK, it was released as a 7″ single, 12″ single, cassette single, and CD single). The song was included on the band’s first album, The First of a Million Kisses, later the same year. It was used in television advertising for Asda in the late 1980s. It was re-released as a single in 1993 after it had reappeared on the compilation album Celtic Heart.

“Perfect” won the award for Best Single at the 1989 BRIT Awards.

The song was used for advertising for UK supermarket chain Waitrose in the late 1990s and is currently[when?] used for advertising Dulux paints in Australia.

It has been covered by Katie Melua, Katherine Crowe and Japanese singer Bonnie Pink.

Happy Canadian Thanksgiving!!!

To all my Canadian friends, Happy Crappy Canadian Thanksgiving!!!

Sunday Night Video Flashback Pt. 58!!!

Alright, it’s the middle of October and in the 70s/80s.  When was fall supposed to “kick in?”

Physical – Olivia Newton-John

“Physical” is a 1981 song written by Steve Kipner and Terry Shaddick and performed by Olivia Newton-John.

Recorded in early 1981, it first rose to number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in America in November 1981 and stayed there for 10 weeks, until near the end of January 1982. In terms of chart placement, it was the most popular single of her career, as well as her final number-one (to date). Billboard ranked it as the number one pop single of 1982 (since the chart year for 1982 actually began in November 1981), and it was also the most successful song on the Hot 100 during the entire decade of the 1980s. The famous guitar solo is performed by Toto’s guitarist Steve Lukather.

Interestingly, “Physical” was preceded and followed in the #1 position by recordings of the duo Hall and Oates. “Private Eyes” yielded its top spot to “Physical” in November 1981, and “Physical” yielded to “I Can’t Go for That (No Can Do)” the following January.

The single, slightly edgier than she had been known for in the past (such as her songs from Grease and her country-pop ballad “I Honestly Love You”), proved to be immensely popular both in America and in the United Kingdom, despite the fact that the song was censored and even banned by some radio stations, particularly Adult Contemporary stations; in spite of Newton-John’s status as the reigning queen of soft-rock music at the time, “Physical” peaked at only number twenty-nine on the AC chart (its follow-up, the slightly softer-edged “Make a Move on Me,” found more acceptance at AC radio and went to number six AC as well as number five pop.) The song was a big dance hit and spawned a music video. The revamped acoustic version of the song was released on the 2002 Olivia duet album (2) as a bonus track.

The song ranks at #6 on Billboard’s All Time Top 100.

The video featured a lusty Olivia, dressed in a tight leotard, working out in a gym with several overweight men, who eventually transform into attractive muscular young men. The gym setting may have been partly an attempt to divert attention from the overt sexual connotations of the term “physical”. This was further emphasized by the twist comedy ending of the video, when the transformed men who are now oblivious to Newton-John’s advances are ultimately revealed to be gay (this was also a source of controversy; MTV frequently cut the ending when it aired the video, and the sometimes sensuous nature of the video also led to it being banned outright by some broadcasters in Canada and the United Kingdom). The video won a Grammy Award for Video Of The Year in 1983. The song was banned in South Africa for its suggestive lyrics.

Like her first number-one single, “Physical” sold over two million copies, being certified platinum.

The video was featured on Pop-Up Video on VH1.

I Can’t Go for That (No Can Do) – Hall & Oates

“I Can’t Go for That (No Can Do)” is a 1981 song recorded by Daryl Hall and John Oates.

It was the fourth number-one hit single of their career on the Billboard Hot 100 and the second hit single from their album Private Eyes. It features Charles DeChant on saxello.

On January 30, 1982, “I Can’t Go for That” ended a 10-week run at the top of the Hot 100 by Olivia Newton-John’s song, “Physical”. “Physical” had knocked out “Private Eyes” from the top spot.

Thanks to heavy airplay on urban contemporary stations, “I Can’t Go for That” also topped the U.S. R&B chart, a rare feat for a non-African American act. The song also went to number one on the Hot Dance Club Play chart for one week in January 1982.

According to the Hall and Oates biography, Hall upon learning that “I Can’t Go For That” had gone to number one on the R&B chart, wrote in his diary, “I’m the head soul brother in the U.S. Where to now?”

“I Can’t for That (No Can Do)” is one of the 14 Hall and Oates songs that have been played on the radio over one million times, according to BMI.

The single 45 version is actually not just an edit of the song but an edit of the dance mix rather than the version from “Private Eyes”.

Daryl Hall sketched out the basic song one evening at a music studio in New York City in 1981 after a recording session for the Private Eyes album. Hall began to play a bass line on a Korg organ, and sound engineer Neil Kernon recorded the result. Hall then came up with a guitar riff, which he and Oates worked on together. The next day, Hall and longtime collaborator Sara Allen completed the lyrics.

“I Can’t Go for That” was voted number six on VH1’s list of “The 100 Greatest Songs of the ’80s”.

The song has been covered by a number of recording artists including Brian McKnight, The Nylons, Les Go (with Alfredo Alias), Donny Osmond, East End, Kansascali, and Orson.

According to Hall, Michael Jackson admitted to Hall that Jackson’s song “Billie Jean” copied elements of “I Can’t Go For That”.

Turn Your Love Around – George Benson

“Turn Your Love Around” is one of many major R&B, Jazz and Pop hit singles for George Benson. The song was written to help fill out Benson’s 1981 greatest hits album, “The George Benson Collection”. It reached the Top Ten on the Jazz and Soul charts in the USA, Turn Your Love Around”, went to number one on the soul singles charts, as well as number five on the Billboard Hot 100 singles charts in early 1982.

The song is notable for being one of the very first pop hits to feature a Linn LM-1 drum machine, programmed by noted session drummer Jeff Porcaro.

This song was sampled on the album version of Lil’ Kim’s “Not Tonight” and on the Japanese 1 million hit song “Da.Yo.Ne.” by East End X Yuri in 1994.

Call Me – Skyy

“Call Me” is a 1981 single by Brooklyn based funk group Skyy.

The crossover single was very successful in both the R&B and Dance charts. Despite the crossover success, where the single peaked at number twenty-six on the Hot 100.  It was only one of two Skyy singles to place on the chart.

Sunday Night Video Flashback Pt. 57!!!

Another Week!!! Let’s get this started!

Wish my New Orleans Saints luck today!!!

Also, for all my Hockey Fan Readers, I’ve included the 2010 Vancouver Canucks OFFICIAL Team Anthem as the LAST video. ENJOY!!!

Two of Hearts – Stacey Q

“Two of Hearts” is a song by artist Stacey Q, from her debut album Better Than Heaven.

The song was one of the highest-selling singles of 1986 (at over a million copies), reaching #3 on the Billboard Hot 100. The single also did well in the Hot Dance Music / Club Play list, landing at #4, and was a top 10 hit in Australia where it reached #7 on the ARIA chart. It also made the top 60 for the Hot R&B / Hip Hop Play list. Stacey Q performed the song on the television show The Facts of Life, in character as “Cinnamon,” a rival of Tootie’s.

“Two of Hearts” was rated #27 in VH1’s 100 Greatest One Hit Wonders of the 80’s.

The song was covered by Norwegian singer Annie. The cover version was produced by Richard X, it was released as a promotional single on October 27, 2008. “Two of Hearts” was also released as a free digital download through Annie’s official website.

All Right Now – Free

“All Right Now” is a rock single by the English band Free. The song, released in the summer of 1970, hit #2 on the UK singles chart and #4 on the U.S. charts. “All Right Now” originally appeared on the album Fire And Water, which Free recorded on the Island Records label, formed by Chris Blackwell. In 1991, the song was remixed and re-released, reaching #8 on the UK singles chart.

“All Right Now” was a #1 hit in over 20 territories and was recognised by ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers) in 1990 for garnering 1,000,000 plus radio plays in the U.S. by late 1989, and in 2000 an Award was given to Paul Rodgers by the British Music Industry when “All Right Now” passed 2,000,000 plus radio plays in the UK.

The song has recently found a home as part of the encore set for Queen + Paul Rodgers. Before “We Will Rock You” and “We Are the Champions”, it offers the fans one more chance to sing along. Curiously, one of the engineers during the recordings of “All Right Now” was Roy Thomas Baker, who would later become Queen’s producer (he mixed “Killer Queen”, “Bohemian Rhapsody” and “Don’t Stop Me Now” among others).

According to drummer Simon Kirke, “All Right Now” was written by bassist Andy Fraser in the Durham Students’ Union building, Dunelm House. However, Paul Rodgers has stated unintentionally whilst performing with Queen that he wrote the lyrics to “All Right Now”. This remark can be heard on the Queen + Paul Rodgers CD, Return of the Champions, when “All Right Now” starts.

There are (at least) two mixes of Free’s “All Right Now”. The most popular version heard on album rock stations is 5:29 and a shorter mix is 4:13. The shorter one has a more complex guitar riff at the lead-in. The difference appears in the first seven seconds of the two tracks before Rodgers’ “Whoa, whoa, whoa”. The jazzier riff is apparent throughout the entire recording; there are also several slight variants to the bassline.

Furthermore, there are two mixes of the common 4:13 version. The first is the original ‘1970s’ version; this was later remixed using exactly the same vocal track, but replacing the guitars and drums with heavier, rockier sounding ones.

There is an outtake version on their box-set, and a version on Free Live!

“All Right Now” has been covered by many bands and artists; the most popular are by The Runaways in 1978, (Rick) Santers in 1984, Rod Stewart in 1985, ex-Wham! backing singers Pepsi & Shirlie in 1987, and by Scottish girl band Lemonescent in 2003. It has also been sampled in Tone-Loc’s song “Funky Cold Medina” in 1989. The Who covered it at a concert in Passaic, New Jersey on September 11, 1979. Sawyer Brown covers “All Right Now” as a part of their 2008 tour.

“All Right Now”, recorded by Mike Oldfield (produced by Tom Newman), with vocals by Wendy Roberts and Pierre Moerrlen, was issued as a one-sided promotional blue flexi-disc 7″ single in 1979. The single was given only to Virgin Records executives and was never issued to the public, making it one of the most elusive collectors’ items in the Oldfield catalogue. Its catalogue number is “Virgin TT-362″[1].

Since 1976, “All Right Now” has been the de facto fight song of the Leland Stanford Junior University Marching Band (LSJUMB).

Steve Miller acknowledged that the intro to his 1976 #1 single “Rock ‘n Me” was a tip of the hat to All Right Now. “Yeah, it’s a tack on the wall for Paul. I did one concert in the two years that I was off the road. I went to London and played with Pink Floyd…it was a big, huge outdoor show so we needed a big rock and roll number that was really going to excite everybody. I just put it together and didn’t think much about it.”

The Sign – Ace Of Base

“The Sign” is a 1993 dance-pop song by the band Ace of Base. The song was an international smash hit, spending six non-consecutive weeks as number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, also reaching Number two in the United Kingdom. It was on an album called Happy Nation in most of the world, but The Sign in North America.

The song was the #1 song of 1994 according to Billboard magazine’s year-end charts. The song was ranked at #51 on The Billboard Hot 100 All-Time Top Songs for the first 50 years of the Hot 100 chart.

The song has been covered by The Mountain Goats, Atomic Raygun Attack, Teen Hearts, and an episode of Full House.

The music video of the song features the pop group singing amidst romantic and frolic images; “The Sign” was depicted as an ankh and a djed. The music video is Directed By: Mathias Julin.

Amid the images is a little story of a man and woman sitting side by side until the man leaves, seemingly abandoning the woman. However, he comes back with a rose and offers it to the woman. The woman graciously accepts and takes his hand. However, a bright light shines in the woman’s face, drawing her away, abandoning the man and dropping the rose on the chair.

It’s Raining Men – The Weather Girls

“It’s Raining Men” is a song written by Paul Jabara and Paul Shaffer in 1979, and originally recorded by The Weather Girls in 1982. The song had been offered to Diana Ross, Donna Summer, Cher, and Barbra Streisand before being accepted by Martha Wash and Izora Armstead of The Weather Girls, with their version becoming an international hit, selling over 6 million copies worldwide.

It was covered by Martha Wash (of The Weather Girls) as a duet with RuPaul in 1997, Geri Halliwell in 2001 and by Young Divas in 2006. The song is hailed as a camp classic and more recently as a dance anthem, and as a classic female anthem, as well as a gay anthem.

The Weather Girls’ version went number one on the US Disco Chart, debuting in October 1982. It made number 34 on the US R&B chart and number 46 on the Billboard Hot 100. It was released from their album Success. This version also made it to number two in the UK Singles Chart, #2 in Australia, and #1 on the Euro Hot 100.

RuPaul and Martha Wash duetted on “It’s Raining Men… The Sequel”, which was included on the 1998 Rhino Records compilation CD RuPaul’s Go-Go Box Classics.

“It’s Raining Men” was the first single of Geri Halliwell’s second solo album and was also on the soundtrack to the film Bridget Jones’s Diary. It was released in April, 2001.

It debuted at number-one in UK Singles Chart and stayed there for two weeks. It became Geri’s fourth consecutive number-one single in United Kingdom, selling 155,000 units in its first week and 80,000 in its second week. Overall the single went on to sell 421,670 copies in Britain alone, becoming the 12th best seller of 2001 and Geri Halliwell’s most successful single worldwide.

The song became the second best selling single of 2001 with over 3 million copies sold. The song had been added to the album at the last minute; another song, “Feels Like Sex”, had already been slated as the lead single. So far, of all the solo single releases of the Spice Girls members, this is still the most successful and best-selling. With this song, Geri Halliwell won the International Song of the Year award at the 2002 NRJ Music Awards in France. A remix of the song, The Almighty Mix from the Toshiba-EMI series “Dance Mania”, volume 20 was also featured in the 2002 Japanese video game, DDRMAX2: Dance Dance Revolution 7th MIX and the 2002 Dance Dance Revolution EXTREME. This version of the song was used as the theme song in the advertisements for New Talent Singing Awards Vancouver Audition 2003. In July 2006 the song entered at seventy-nine on the Mexican Digital Sales Chart, spending two weeks inside the Top 100.