Coincidentally, both songs also were created by husband-and-wife teams: Tom Tom Club being Tina Weymouth and Chris Frantz, and Nu Shooz being Portland, OR-based musicians Valerie Day (vocals/percussion) and John Smith (guitars/keyboards/vocals).
Long story short, Day and Smith recorded and released an early version of “I Can’t Wait” in 1984 that became a hit in the Portland area only. It wasn’t until a Dutch DJ, Pieder “Hithouse” Slaghuis, remixed the song—pushing the bass and percussion way up in the mix and adding those 80s Freestyle vocal effects—that it became a worldwide hit in 1986.
Anyway, the lyrics are pretty mundane—lots of “eye”/“goodbye” kind of end rhymes and not a lot of substance, despite Day’s sincere delivery.
But with a groove this deep, who cares if the sentiment isn’t?
I wonder if nowadays there can be a similar situation of a song being a hit in such a confined area like a city.
ReplyDeleteGood question. I'd say it's rare these days. The Internet has made it so much easier to distribute and promote music globally.
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