"Dr. Heckyll & Mr. Jive" by Men at Work

Song#:  1616
Date:  09/17/1983
Debut:  67
Peak:  28
Weeks:  11
Genre:  Pop, New Wave



Pop Bits:  Men at Work's second LP, Cargo, was another hit for them reaching #3 in the US and eventually selling triple-platinum. Getting two Top 10 hits certainly helped it along with "Overkill" going to #3 and "It's a Mistake" reaching #6. They tried for a third, but this single didn't have the same attraction as the others and it faltered just inside the Top 30 while going to #12 at Rock. It broke the band's streak of four consecutive Pop Top 10's. It also unfortunately became their final Top 40 entry on the chart.

ReduxReview:  At the time I really did not like the Cargo album. It took me a long while to realize the loveliness of "Overkill," but most of the rest still didn't entice me and I have to say that this is my least favorite of all. I'm assuming they were going for some kind of quirkiness a la "Down Under," but it just did not work. The video was equally goofy and seemed to take queues from Thomas Dolby's "She Blinded Me with Science." The whole thing didn't make sense to me then and it still doesn't. Their song "It's a Mistake" wasn't a mistake, but this one sure was.

ReduxRating:  4/10

Trivia:  This song was actually the first single from Cargo that was released in their home country of Australia. As their first album, Business as Usual, was breaking worldwide, the fans in Australia were ready for new material as that album had already been out for nearly two years. The band had already completed their second album, so to keep Aussie fans happy, they went ahead and issued this song as a single while the rest of the world caught up. It became their fourth Top 10 there reaching #6.

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