Cyndi Lauper – Girls Just Want To Have Fun (Japan 12″)

Burning The Ground Exclusive 1984

BTG BARBIE Rewind: Bubblegum Pop Inspired by BARBIE!

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NEW 2023 Transfer!
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Originally posted May 20, 2015

“Girls Just Want to Have Fun” is a song made famous by Cyndi Lauper four years after it was written by Robert Hazard. It was the first major single released by Lauper as a solo artist and the lead single from her debut studio album, She’s So Unusual (1983). Lauper’s version gained recognition as a feminist anthem and was promoted by a Grammy-winning music video. It has been covered, either as a studio recording or in a live performance, by over 30 other artists.

The single was Lauper’s breakthrough hit, reaching No. 2 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart and becoming a worldwide hit throughout late 1983 and early 1984. It is considered one of Lauper’s signature songs and was a widely popular song during the 1980s. The lists “Rolling Stone and MTV: ‘100 Greatest Pop Songs’: 1–50”, “Rolling Stone: The 100 Top Music Videos” and “VH1: 100 Greatest Videos” ranked the song at No. 22, No. 39 and No. 45, respectively. The song received Grammy Award nominations for Record of the Year and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance.

The song was written by Robert Hazard, who recorded a demo of it in 1979. Hazard wrote the song from a male point of view. Lauper’s version appeared on her 1983 debut solo record She’s So Unusual. Lauper changed some of the lyrics at the suggestion of her producer and she also had her own suggestions about how her version should sound. The track is a synthesizer-backed anthem, from a feminist perspective, conveying the point that all women really want is to have the same experiences that men can have.[9] Gillian G. Gaar, author of She’s a Rebel: The History of Women in Rock & Roll (2002), described the single and corresponding video as a “strong feminist statement”, an “anthem of female solidarity” and a “playful romp celebrating female camaraderie.”

Cash Box said that “Robert Hazard’s original male point of view is transformed into a cheerleader-like sing-along for party girls, and the Toni Basil–like beat is augmented by a hooky, ringing guitar.”

The song was released in late 1983 but much of its success on the charts came during the first half of 1984. The single reached the Top 10 in over 25 countries and reached No. 1 in ten of those countries including Australia, Brazil, Canada, Ireland, Japan, New Zealand, and Norway. It also reached No. 2 in both the United Kingdom and the United States.

In the United States, the song entered the Billboard Hot 100 at No. 80 on December 17, 1983. It ultimately peaked at No. 2 on March 10, 1984, where it stayed for two weeks, behind Van Halen’s “Jump”. In the United Kingdom, the song entered the chart at No. 50 on January 14, 1984, and peaked at No. 2 on February 4, 1984, where it stayed for one week. In Ireland, the song entered the chart on January 29, 1984. It peaked at No. 1 for two weeks and was on the chart for a total of seven weeks. In Australia, the song debuted on the Kent Music Report Top 100 on February 27, 1984. It entered the Top 10 in only its third week on the chart and reached No. 1 on March 26, 1984. It topped the chart for two weeks and then remained at No. 2 for four weeks behind Nena’s “99 Luftballons”. It stayed on the chart for 21 weeks and was the 9th biggest-selling single of the year. In Belgium, the song debut at No. 38 on February 18, 1984, and peaked at No. 4 on April 7, 1984. In the Netherlands, the song entered the chart at No. 38 on February 25, 1984, and peaked at No. 4 on March 31, 1984.

In Sweden, the song entered at No. 13 on March 6, 1984, and peaked at No. 5 on April 3, 1984, charting for six weeks. In Switzerland, the song entered the chart at No. 15 on April 1, 1984, and peaked at No. 6 on April 29, 1984. In New Zealand, the song debuted at No. 21 on April 1, 1984, and peaked at No. 1 on May 6, 1984, where it stayed for three weeks. In Austria, the single entered at No. 3 on May 1, 1984, which was its peak position. In Netherland and New Zealand “Girls Just Want To Have Fun” made the year end charts for the Top 100 of 1984. On the ARC (American Radio Chart), “Girls Just Want To Have Fun” reached #1 and made the Top 40 songs of the year for 1984.

SIDE A:
Girls Just Want To Have Fun (Extended Version) 6:05

SIDE B:
Fun With V. Knutsn (Instrumental) 7:09
Xtra Fun 5:07

VINYL GRADE:
Vinyl: Near Mint
Sleeve: Near Mint
OBI: Near Mint

U.S. CHART HISTORY:

Year	Single	Chart	Position
1984	Girls Just Want To Have Fun	U.S. Billboard Hot 100	#2
1984	Girls Just Want To Have Fun	U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Music/Club Play	#1

RELEASE INFORMATION:
Label: Portrait – 12・3P-509
Format: Vinyl, 12″, 45 RPM
Country: Japan
Released: 1984
Genre: Electronic
Style: Synth-pop

CREDITS:

Engineer – Elliot Scheiner
Engineer [Assistant] – Tom Swift
Executive-Producer – Lennie Petze
Mixed By – Arthur Baker
Producer – Rick Chertoff
Written-By – R. Hazard*

NOTES:
Special version from the LP “SHE’S SO UNUSUAL”
Manufactured in Japan.

Buy the 12″ at DISCOGS

VINYL TRANSFER & AUDIO RESTORATION:
-DjPaulT
burningtheground.net

THE GEAR:
Turntable: Technics SL-1200MK7
Cartridge/Stylus: Ortofon 2M Black PnP MkII
Turntable Isolation Platform: ISO-Tone™ Turntable Isolation Platform
Platter: Pro Spin Acrylic Mat
Stabilizer: Pro-Ject Record Puck
Phono Pre-amp: Pro-Jec Tube Box DS2
Tubes: Genalex Gold Lion 12AX7 ECC83/B759 Gold Pins Vacuum Tube – Matched Pair
DAC: Alpha Design Labs GT40a USB DAC
Record Cleaning: VPI HW 16.5 Record Cleaning Machine
Artwork Scans: Epson Workforce WF-7610 Professional Printer/Scanner

SOFTWARE:
Recording/Editing: Adobe Audition 3.0 (Recording)
Down Sampling/Dither: iZotope RX Advanced 2
Artwork Editor: Adobe Photoshop CS5
Click Removal: Manual
FLAC/MP3 Conversion: dBpoweramp
M3U Playlist: Playlist Creator

RESTORATION NOTES:
All vinyl rips are recorded @ 32bit/float
FLAC (Level Eight)
Artwork scanned at 600dpi

**24bit FLAC Only Available For Seven Days!

Password: burningtheground

You can help show your support for this blog by making a donation using PayPal. Thank you for your help.

August 2, 2023

Madonna – Hanky Panky (US 12″)

Burning The Ground Exclusive 1990

BTG BARBIE Rewind: Bubblegum Pop Inspired by BARBIE!

“Hanky Panky” is a song by American singer Madonna from her soundtrack album I’m Breathless. It was released on June 12, 1990, by Sire Records as the album’s second and final single. Written and produced by Madonna and Patrick Leonard, the song was developed from a line in the parent film, Dick Tracy, talking about a woman who enjoys being spanked by her partner. Performed in a playful, “tongue-in-cheek” style, “Hanky Panky” is a jazz and swing song, keeping with the film’s general theme of the 1920s and 1930s, with a changing bassline and minor to major key-shift in the chorus. It caused some controversy in Ireland because of its innuendo and racy lyrics, with women’s groups deeming them as harmful; Madonna later clarified that the lyrics were intended as a joke.

The song garnered positive response from music critics, many of them highlighting its lyrical content. It was a commercial success, becoming a top-ten hit in many countries including Australia, Ireland, Italy, the United Kingdom and the United States while topping the chart in Finland. Madonna has performed the song on two of her concert tours: Blond Ambition (1990) and Re-Invention (2004). The song has been covered by several tribute acts and was also performed on the television series Ally McBeal (1997).

In 1990, Madonna starred in the film Dick Tracy as Breathless Mahoney—a new role introduced for her—with Warren Beatty, her boyfriend at the time, playing the titular character. After the shooting for Dick Tracy was over, Madonna started working on the soundtrack. She had begun recording three songs written by Stephen Sondheim for the film—”Sooner or Later”, “More” and “What Can You Lose”—which would be part of the album, but also had to write and develop new songs comparable in style to her previous releases. She produced the entire album, including the Sondheim songs. “I want people to think of me as a musical comedy actress. That’s what this album is about for me. It’s a stretch. Not just pop music, but songs that have a different feel to them, a theatrical feel”, she said at the time.

Madonna recruited producer Patrick Leonard and engineer Bill Bottrell to help her with the project. She and Leonard toiled to create music that would fit the style and production of the film, set in the days of the Untouchables law enforcement. “Hanky Panky” was written and produced by Madonna and Leonard and was released as the second and final single from I’m Breathless on June 12, 1990. The cassette and the 7-inch versions had “More”, another song from the album as its B-side, while the 12-inch releases had two remixes of the song by Kevin Gilbert. Cover photograph for the single was done by Patrick Demarchelier with Jeri Heiden designing the sleeves.

As a BONUS TRACK, I have included the Razormaid Remix Service …Maid! How Slow Can You Go? #2 Digital Mix of “Now I’m Following You” a song that was also part of the I’m Breathless Soundtrack album. The song was not released as a single but an acetate promo 12″ single does exist.

SIDE A:
Hanky Panky (Bare Bottom 12″ Mix) 6:27

SIDE B:
Hanky Panky (Bare Bones Single Mix) 3:50

More (Album Version) 4:57
Producer – Bill Bottrell, Madonna
Written-By – Stephen Sondheim

BONUS TRACK:
Now I’m Following You (Digital Mix) 6:58
Remix –Joseph Watt

VINYL GRADE:
Vinyl: Near Mint
Sleeve: Near Mint

U.S. CHART HISTORY:

Year	Single	Chart	Position
1990	Hanky Panky	U.S. Billboard Hot 100	#10

RELEASE INFORMATION:
Label: Sire – 9 21577-0, Warner Bros. Records – 0-21577
Format: Vinyl, 12″, 33 ⅓ RPM, Maxi-Single
Country: US
Released: 1990
Genre: Electronic, Jazz, Pop
Style: Swing, Big Band, Jazzdance

CREDITS:

Design – Jeri Heiden
Photography By – Patrick Demarchelier
Remix, Producer [Additional Production] – Kevin M. Gilbert*
Written-By, Producer – Madonna (tracks: A, B1), Patrick Leonard (tracks: A, B1)

NOTES:
Original versions available on the Sire/Warner Bros. album I’M BREATHLESS.
“More” from the film Dick Tracy

Made in U.S.A.

Buy the 12″ at DISCOGS

VINYL TRANSFER & AUDIO RESTORATION:
-DjPaulT
burningtheground.net

RESTORATION NOTES:
All vinyl rips are recorded @ 32bit/float
FLAC (Level Eight)
Artwork scanned at 600dpi

**24bit FLAC Only Available For Seven Days!

Password: burningtheground

You can help show your support for this blog by making a donation using PayPal. Thank you for your help.

August 1, 2023

Aqua – Barbie Girl (US 12″ Promo)

Burning The Ground Exclusive 1997

BTG BARBIE Rewind: Bubblegum Pop Inspired by BARBIE!

“Barbie Girl” is a song by Danish dance-pop group Aqua. It was released in April 1997 as the third single from the group’s debut studio album, Aquarium (1997). The song was written by band members Søren Rasted, Claus Norreen, René Dif, and Lene Nystrøm, and was produced by the former two alongside Johnny Jam and Delgado. It was written after Rasted saw an exhibit on kitsch culture in Denmark that featured Barbie dolls.

The song topped the charts worldwide, particularly in European countries such as the United Kingdom, where it was a number-one hit for four weeks and remains one of the best-selling singles of all time. It also reached number two in the group’s homeland and peaked at number seven on the US Billboard Hot 100, where it became Aqua’s only top-ten hit until “Barbie World” (2023). It is Aqua’s most popular work and was also performed as the interval act in the Eurovision Song Contest 2001. It also became the subject of the controversial lawsuit Mattel, Inc. v. MCA Records, Inc.

The lyrics of the song are about Barbie and Ken, the dolls made by Mattel. Both the song and its music video feature Lene Nystrøm as Barbie and René Dif as Ken. As such, the lyrics drew the ire of Barbie’s corporate owners, and a lawsuit was filed by Mattel.

A footnote on the back of the Aquarium CD case precisely stated that “The song ‘Barbie Girl’ is a social comment and was not created or approved by the makers of the doll.”

“Barbie Girl” has sold more than eight million copies worldwide. It went on becoming a huge hit on several continents, remaining the most successful song by the band. It reached number one in more than 10 countries. In Europe, the single peaked at the top position in Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Scotland, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom, as well as on the Eurochart Hot 100. In the band’s native Denmark, the song debuted and peaked at number two. In the United Kingdom, it debuted on the UK Singles Chart at number two and reached number one the next week, on 26 October 1997. It stayed at that position for four weeks and has sold 1.84 million copies in the United Kingdom as of April 2017, making it the thirteenth best-selling single in the UK. Outside Europe, “Barbie Girl” peaked at number-one in Australia and New Zealand, number four in Canada and number seven on the US Billboard Hot 100. On the latter, it debuted at that position. It sold 82,000 copies in its first week and debuted at number five on the Billboard Hot Singles Sales chart.

In September 1997, six months after the release of the song by Aqua, Mattel, the manufacturer of the Barbie doll, sued MCA Records, Aqua’s North American record label. Mattel claimed that “Barbie Girl” violated their trademark and turned her into a sex object, referring to her as a “blonde bimbo”. It alleged that the song infringed its copyrights and trademarks on the Barbie doll and that the song’s lyrics had ruined the longtime popularity and reputation of their trademark and impinged on their marketing plan. Aqua and MCA Records claimed that Mattel injected their own meanings into the song’s lyrics. They contested Mattel’s claims and countersued for defamation after Mattel had likened MCA to a bank robber. The lawsuit filed by Mattel was dismissed by the lower courts, and this dismissal was upheld, though Mattel took their case up to the Supreme Court of the United States, but that appeal was later rejected.

In 2009, Mattel released a series of advertisements and a promotional music video of the song, with modified lyrics, as part of a new marketing strategy brought in to revive sales. Despite this, the Mattel-produced film Barbie released in 2023 does not feature the original song, as stated by Ulrich Møller-Jørgensen, who manages lead singer Lene Nystrøm. “Barbie World”, a remake of the song by Nicki Minaj, Ice Spice and Aqua, was later announced to be featured in the film and on the film’s soundtrack.

SIDE A:
Barbie Girl (Spike’s Plastic Mix) 8:45
Remix – Spike (33)

Barbie Girl (Radio Edit) 3:15

SIDE B:
Barbie Girl (Spike’s Anatomically Correct Dub) 7:57
Remix – Spike (33)

Barbie Girl (Extended Version) 5:14

VINYL GRADE:
Vinyl: Near Mint
Sleeve: Near Mint

U.S. CHART HISTORY:

Year	Single	Chart	Position
1997	Barbie Girl	U.S. Billboard Hot 100	#7
1997	BBarbie Girl	U.S. Billboard Music Club/Play	#21

RELEASE INFORMATION:
Label: MCA Records – MCA8P-4040
Format: Vinyl, 12″, 33 ⅓ RPM, Promo
Country: US
Released: 1997
Genre: Electronic
Style: Euro House

CREDITS:

Mastered By – BAJ*

NOTES:
PROMOTIONAL ONLY – NOT FOR SALE
The song “Barbie Girl” is a social comment and was not created nor approved by the makers of the doll.

“LIFE IN PLASTIC, IT’S FANTASTIC!

Buy the 12″ at DISCOGS

VINYL TRANSFER & AUDIO RESTORATION:
-DjPaulT
burningtheground.net

RESTORATION NOTES:
All vinyl rips are recorded @ 32bit/float
FLAC (Level Eight)
Artwork scanned at 600dpi

**24bit FLAC Only Available For Seven Days!

Password: burningtheground

You can help show your support for this blog by making a donation using PayPal. Thank you for your help.

July 26, 2023

Sinéad O’Connor 1966 – 2023

Sinéad O’Connor, the Irish singer known for her intense and beautiful voice, her political convictions and the personal tumult that overtook her later years, has died. She was 56 years old.

O’Connor’s recording of “Nothing Compares 2 U” was one of the biggest hits of the early 1990s. Her death was announced by her family. The cause and date of her death were not made public. The statement said: “It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of our beloved Sinéad. Her family and friends are devastated and have requested privacy at this very difficult time.”

Alternative radio in the late 1980s rang with the voices of female singers who defied commercial expectations of what women should look like and how they should sound. But even in a crowd that included Tracy Chapman, Laurie Anderson and the Indigo Girls, O’Connor stood out.

The cover to her first album, released in 1987, was so striking — not just because of her beautiful face. It was her head, bald as an eaglet, and her wrists locked defensively across her heart. The album’s title, The Lion and the Cobra, refers to a verse from Psalm 91 about believers, and the power and resilience of their faith. And throughout her early life, Sinéad O’Connor was resilient.

“I grew up in a severely abusive situation, my mother being the perpetrator,” O’Connor told NPR in 2014. “So much of child abuse is about being voiceless, and it’s a wonderfully healing thing to just make sounds.”

O’Connor started making sounds in a home for juvenile delinquents, after a childhood spent getting booted out of Catholic schools and busted, repeatedly, for shoplifting. But a nun gave her a guitar and she began to sing, on the streets of Dublin and then with a popular Irish band called In Tua Nua.

O’Connor came to the attention of U2’s guitarist The Edge, and she got herself signed to the Ensign/Chrysalis label. Her second studio album, I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got, went double platinum in 1990, partly because of a hit love song written by Prince: “Nothing Compares 2 U.”

I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got was a distillation of O’Connor’s prayerful sense of music and her fury over social injustice. She rejected its four Grammy nominations as being too commercial — and, in her words, “for destroying the human race.” She was banned from a New Jersey arena when she refused to sing “The Star-Spangled Banner,” for its lyrics glorifying bombs bursting in air.

Rock critic Bill Wyman says O’Connor belonged to a proud Irish tradition of speaking up against the established order. “You know she’s always on the side of the victims, and the vulnerable, and the weak,” he observes.

In 1992, at the height of her fame, Sinéad O’Connor appeared on Saturday Night Live. In her performance, she raised her voice against racism and child abuse. There was dead silence when she ended the song, a version of Bob Marley’s “War,” by ripping up a picture of then-Pope John Paul II.

What followed in the media was a collective howl of outrage. It drowned out a prescient protest against abuse in the Catholic church. Years later, in 2010, O’Connor told NPR she’d known exactly what to expect.

“It was grand, to be honest,” she said. “I mean, I knew how people would react. I knew there would be trouble. I was quite prepared to accept that. To me, it was more important that I recognized what I will call the Holy Spirit.”

Rock music’s Joan of Arc, as she began to be called, became increasingly erratic in her convictions. O’Connor was a feminist; then she wasn’t. She supported the Irish Republican Army, until she didn’t. She got ordained as a Catholic priest by a rogue sect. She converted to Islam. She went from celibacy to oversharing about her tastes in sex. She changed her name several times, calling herself Shuhada’ Sadaqat after her conversion, though she continued to release music under her birth name. And her music veered unpredictably, from New Age to opera to reggae.

Even though O’Connor never produced another notable hit, tabloids kept covering her: Her four marriages, four divorces and four children; her feuds with celebrities, ranging over the years from Frank Sinatra to Miley Cyrus.

“I think people lost respect for her credibility,” says Bill Wyman. “And her later records just aren’t as much fun. They’re poorly produced, and they’re odd. They’re just not as enjoyable.”

In later years, O’Connor took to Facebook and Twitter to write about her struggle with mental illness. She brought up suicide — and she attempted it more than once.

If you came of age in the 1980s, one song you heard over and over from Sinéad O’Connor’s first album was “Never Gets Old.” If only — somehow — she could have gotten old as powerfully as her strongest songs.

After her death, the prime minister of Ireland, Leo Varadkar, issued a statement on social media, saying: “Really sorry to hear of the passing of Sinéad O’Connor. Her music was loved around the world and her talent was unmatched and beyond compare. Condolences to her family, her friends and all who loved her music. Ar dheis Dé go Raibh a hAnam [may her soul rest at the right hand of God].”