#1 Alert!
Gold Record Alert!
Song#: 3990
Date: 08/05/1989
Debut: 53
Peak: 1 (2 weeks)
Weeks: 21
Genre: Pop
Pop Bits: The duo were able to reach the top of the Pop chart for a week with their second US single "Baby Don't Forget My Number." Taken from their debut album Girl You Know It's True, the song would be a gold seller. Next up for single release was this track. It would do slightly better on the Pop chart spending two weeks at #1 while also going gold. Additionally, the tune would get to #20 R&B and #21 AC. Just a week or so after this song debuted on the chart, the album would pass the double-platinum mark but it had yet to reach #1. This single would finally help the LP reach #1 for two weeks at the end of September. A fourth single would drive the album back to the top in late November.
ReduxReview: At this point, the Milli Vanilli train was still rollin' along en route to its inevitable crash. Before that, the duo would score a second #1 with this ballad. I had lost interest in them at the time with the second single and this one did zero (or less if possible) in bringing me back on board. The sung/spoken/kinda rap verse over tinkling synths was pretty bad. The bridge with a female vocal soured things further. The chorus was better, but it had enough cheeze to load a few spray cans. In other words, I ran screaming from this song. How this snoozy concoction, co-written and produced by the creator and ruse mastermind of Milli Vanilli Frank Farian, made it to #1 is beyond me. The piddly tune still sounds as awful today as it did then.
ReduxRating: 1/10
Trivia: The last single released from Milli Vanilli's debut album was "All or Nothing," which was co-written and produced by Frank Farian. The song would be the fifth Top 5 (#4) from the LP and the duo's last before the lip sync scandal later in 1990. As that implosion was in the works, Farian would also get into trouble with this song. It seems like a chunk of the song resembled a former hit just a little bit too much. David Clayton-Thomas, lead singer and songwriter for Blood, Sweat & Tears, was tipped off by a friend's kid that a song by Milli Vanilli sounded like "Spinning Wheel," the 1969 #2 hit by Blood, Sweat & Tears written by Clayton-Thomas. Not knowing the Milli Vanilli song, Clayton-Thomas went out and bought the record. After hearing the tune, he called his publisher and informed them of an infringement. In early December of 1990, a lawsuit was filed for copyright infringement. In the end, a settlement would be reached with Clayton-Thomas walking away with an undisclosed amount.
_________________________________________________________________________________
No comments:
Post a Comment