"Girls Are More Fun" by Ray Parker, Jr.

Song#:  2487
Date:  10/05/1985
Debut:  72
Peak:  34
Weeks:  15
Genre:  R&B



Pop Bits:  Following the success of "Ghostbusters" and a hits compilation, Parker, Jr. got back to the studio to work up his third studio solo album. He did all the writing, arranging, and production of the new project titled Sex and the Single Man. This track was selected to be released as the first single, but it didn't make much of an impression. The song stopped short of the R&B Top 20 at #21 while only making a brief appearance in the Pop Top 40. A second single, "One Sided Love Affair," failed to reach any chart. With those results, the album sold poorly and was a low charter at both Pop and R&B. The failure of the album prompted Parker, Jr. to make a change and he left his home label Arista, where he'd been since 1978, for Geffen.

ReduxReview:  This track isn't all that bad, but it just seemed like a mashup of other songs. It was like Parker, Jr. was trying to rewrite "Ghostbusters" via Lionel Richie's "All Night Long (All Night)" and Cyndi Lauper's "Girls Just Want to Have Fun." Even the video started out with a snippet of "Ghostbusters," so he was still trying to ride the wave of that hit. It sorta worked, but I'm guessing that some listeners had a been-there-done-that feeling about it and ignored the track. Plus with Parker, Jr. leaving Arista soon after, perhaps there might have been an issue regarding promotion of the single and album. MTV probably wasn't that supporting of the video either, which at one point had Parker, Jr. in drag. It was a kooky video for a quirky song that wasn't all that bad.

ReduxRating:  5/10

Trivia:  Before Parker, Jr. headed up his band Raydio in the late 70s, he was more known for his guitar work. Beginning in his mid teens, Parker, Jr. was doing well enough to be working in a house band at a Detroit hot spot club. That led to touring work for artists like The Spinners, Stevie Wonder, and Barry White, and studio work for the legendary Holland-Dozier-Holland writing/production team. He developed his songwriting along the way and got his first hit as a songwriter with one he co-wrote with Chaka Khan titled "You Got the Love." Recorded by Rufus for their second album Rags to Rufus, it reached #1 R&B/#11 Pop in 1974.

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