"Yeah Yeah Yeah" by Judson Spence

Song#:  3681

Date:  10/15/1988

Debut:  86

Peak:  32

Weeks:  14

Genre:  Pop, Blue-Eyed Soul

Pop Bits:  Born in Mississippi, this singer/songwriter gave L.A. a try, but it wasn't working for him. He then moved to Nashville and ended up getting paired with Monroe Jones, a songwriter who had some success with a few Christian music artists. It took a bit for the two writers to click, but they soon had a set of pop songs ready to go. A series of showcases were setup for them in the fall of '87 with Spence taking on the lead vocal duties. Several record companies then came calling and after the dust settled, Spence signed on as a solo artist with Atlantic Records. All but one of the songs on the LP would be written by Spence and Jones and produced by the pair with David Tickle (Split Endz, Toni Childs). This first single was released and it would do fairly well nearly cracking the Pop Top 30. A second single didn't chart and that left the LP peaking at a minor #168. An unimpressed Atlantic Records would then take Spence off of their roster.

ReduxReview:  This was a fun pop track with a bluesy/gospel side that was definitely a candidate for the Pop Top 40. The chorus was catchy and was amped up by the call to say "yeah yeah yeah," which was an element that could spruce up any live performance of the tune. It was energetic and Spence certainly gave all in his nearly unhinged vocal. His follow-up single, "Love Dies in Slow Motion" was also a good song, but it really wasn't a good single candidate. He needed something more memorable and better than "Yeah Yeah Yeah" to really break through, but the LP just didn't have that special track and afterward Atlantic lost interest.

ReduxRating:  6/10

Trivia:  Although his major label career had come to an end, Spence continued to write and was able to get songs recorded by a few artists. One song that he co-wrote with Tommy Sims was titled "The Power." That tune would get picked up and recorded by two superstar artists. First, Amy Grant recorded the song for her 1994 #13 double-platinum album House of Love. Then later in 1998, Cher would put the song on her #4 quad-platinum album Believe. Neither artist would release the song as a single, but having it appear on a pair of albums that combined sold over six million copies in the US alone most likely made it Spence's most financially successful song.

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