Burning The Ground Exclusive 1985
“We Built This City” is a 1985 song by American rock band Starship, the debut single from the album Knee Deep in the Hoopla. It was written by English musicians Martin Page and Bernie Taupin, who were both living in Los Angeles at the time and was originally intended as a lament against the closure of many of that city’s live music clubs.
The song peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot 100. Outside the United States, “We Built This City” topped the charts in Australia and Canada, peaked inside the top 10 of the charts in Germany, the Republic of Ireland, Sweden, and Switzerland, the top 20 on the charts in Belgium, New Zealand and the United Kingdom and the top 30 of the charts in Austria and the Netherlands.
The song has gained significant scorn, both for the inscrutability of its lyrics (notably the line “Marconi plays the mamba”), and for the contrast between the song’s anti-corporate message and its polished, “corporate rock” sound. It topped a 2011 Rolling Stone poll of worst songs of the 1980s by a wide margin, and the magazine’s Blender and GQ both called it the worst song of all time.
Billboard said that this “unusual rock ‘n’ roll anthem is as wise as it is rebellious.” Cash Box called it “an ear-catching tune” and described it as “dance rock with sharp hooks.”
“We Built This City” received a Grammy Award nomination for Best Rock Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group in 1986.
The song was engineered by producer Bill Bottrell, written by Bernie Taupin, Martin Page, Dennis Lambert, and Peter Wolf, and arranged by Bottrell and Jasun Martz. The song was based on a demo by Page and Taupin with a darker feel and based on how clubs were dying in Los Angeles, leaving live performers without work. Wolf reworked the song’s arrangement with a more upbeat tone.
The song features Mickey Thomas and Grace Slick sharing lead vocals. MTV executive and former DJ Les Garland provided the DJ voiceover during the song’s bridge. Additionally, some radio stations, with the help of jingle company JAM Creative Productions, inserted their own opening lines to promote their stations.
SIDE A:
We Built This City (Special Club Mix) 7:00
Remix – Victor Flores
Written-By – Bernie Taupin, Dennis Lambert, Martin Page, Peter Wolf (3)
SIDE B:
We Built This City 4:51
Remix – Bill Bottrell
Private Room (Instrumental) 4:55
Written-By – Craig Chaquico, Mickey Thomas
VINYL GRADE:
Vinyl: Near Mint
Sleeve: Near Mint
U.S. CHART HISTORY:
| Year | Single | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1985 | We Built This City | U.S. Billboard Hot 100 | #1 |
| 1985 | We Built This City | U.S. Billboard Adult Contemporary | #37 |
RELEASE INFORMATION:
Label: RCA – FT 49930
Format: Vinyl, 12″, 45 RPM, Single
Country: UK
Released: 1985
Genre: Electronic, Rock
Style: Pop Rock, Synth-pop
CREDITS:
- Executive-Producer – Dennis Lambert
- Producer – Jeremy Smith (2), Peter Wolf (3)
NOTES:
From the New Starship Album
Manufactured in England.
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
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Expired transfer all reupload it
Thank you Paul!
I can’t fathom anyone would think this is a bad song! Perfect Pop/Rock Anthem by any standard! I think it’s probably fans of the band’s prior incarnations (esp. Jefferson Airplane) that hated the new polished sound, which is kind of understandable (the same way, YES fans hated what Trevor Horn did to Yes despite producing their biggest hit, Owner Of A Lonely Heart). For me, this is an all-time banger. I actually saw them live a few time … and they still play WHITE RABBIT … but everyone goes nuts when they start playing this song! Either way, GREAT SHARE… Read more »
Thank you Paul!! A bit late to this party as I’m traveling internationally, but let me just state for the record this song has it all: unbelievably catchy melody & chorus, great production, duet between the two lead singers and intelligent lyrics by Bernie Taupin. There’s a reason it was No. 1 for two weeks. For those who like to include it in one of their “Worst Songs…” list, I suggest they first put on anything by Justin Bieber and then get back to me. Thank you Paul for this amazing transfer!!
Love this song – thank you. I recently bought the promo 45, which removed the DJ voiceover on the b-side, so that local stations could do their own announcement.
1985 is my favorite year of radio music, just barely beating 1983 and 1984. Between this and Mr. Mister, Simple Minds, Big Audio Dynamite, Howard Jones, Simply Red, OMD and Janet jackson, 1985 was just stellar.
I agree with you DavidLG971, 1985 was tough to beat for radio music. It just had all the stellar hits, plus hits that were continuing to chart from blockbuster albums from the previous year 1984. I also own the promo 45.
The amount of whining this song produces is nuts. It’s a catchy tune, and it’s still better than some of the dreck that came out in the 90’s not long after this. And even my friend, born in 91, who otherwise hates 80’s music, loves this song.
I’m still not sure though which version has the DJ bridge and which doesn’t. Was it single vs album? I haven’t downloaded this one yet (I’ll be doing that when I get home from work, ASAP!)
Remember a few years ago the hippest of the hippest music magazines, websites declared, designated, decry that ‘We Built This City’ was the WORST rock n roll song ever???
Not one bit, it’s a fantastic song! I blast it whenever I’m riding about! In my book, it’s one of THE greatest modern rock songs ever! And it sings the truth – we built this city ON ROCK AND ROLL!
Hope to see ‘SARAH’ next if there ever was a 12 inch released, big thank you Paul!
I love this song, and it just screams Summertime for me. Cranking it out on the boombox at the beach or the pool! Sure it was shocking that this was “Jefferson Airplane” in a previous incarnation, but it was darn fun. I read that Grace Slick’s voice was shot so she needed to sing tandem with another vocalist that had a similar singing voice. I still can’t believe this was voted “worst song” as it has top production and a melody that just won’t quit!! I studied Marconi in college, so I understood the line. Just a fantastic tune!! Give… Read more »
Whoa, whoa, whoa. Are you saying you don’t like today’s Hip Hop and Rap? Or even the last 25 year’s worth?! How can you possibly dislike songs that typically have censored lyrics like “I smack my ____ and kill my _____ and smoke the ____ as we _____ the ____ and _____ the ____ until yo _____ comes home wit me on my _____ ’cause this ____ ain’t right you _____ punk ____ ____ sissy! <enter chorus>Everybody say yeah! yeah! yeah! yeah!…” 🙂
Fred!!
I just love you!!😂😂😂
Jeff
Amazing Fred!!
Fred! This a perfect example of what I call the typical “Swiss cheese” record they play on hip-pop Power 106 and 92.3 here in L.A. because the clean radio edits leave so many holes in the lyrics. Thanks for diagramming the phenomenon.
Completely agree Jeff!! Old School Hip Hop was so “fresh”! Talk about true pioneers in the genre… Run DMC, Rick Rubin, Russell Simmons, etc. Then you get to what we have today, which is not even music in my opinion. Complete trash, and like I mentioned with MTV, it’s insulting to what came before it.
I didn’t know I didn’t have these versions in my collection.
Thanks Paul!
Definitely a guilty pleasure. I listened to an interview with Grace Slick awhile back where she pretty much maligned the Starship/80’s era as “just did what I was told” while hating what she was singing. It definitely is a sharp contrast to her earlier career but it is the epitome of 80’s radio stateside. It’s one of those songs I kinda hated at the time but don’t anymore. It is probably due to its place in the “overplayed in the ‘80’s” canon of songs!
To be rated as one of the worst songs of the 80s radio still plays it all of the time. Yet I never hear “Physical” by ONJ which is the biggest single of the decade very strange. “We Built This City” is a great song in my opinion and captures the 80s sound.
Now I can listen to Physical all day long. Overplayed in the ‘80’s? Yes. But ONJ transcends time to me.
I can’t honestly say I listen the radio anymore unless I’m somewhere that has it on, but I definitely run across We Built This City coming from a speaker somewhere pretty regularly! It is well produced and has some excellent songwriters involved. Captures the essence of 80’s radio. But again, so does Physical!
Yeah bit strange as i have always liked this. It was Nothings Gonna Stop Us Now that should have made that list as i can’t stand that.
I just played “Physical” yesterday Paul because I hadn’t heard it in so long. I bought all of her recent SDE 2-disc CDs that you were involved in, and they sound amazing on headphones. No brick wall limiting at all! I must have mixed my two 45s of that song back-n-forth a thousand times when it was such a phenomenon on the radio. That really screamed for a proper club / commercial 12” release.
wow, yes, they certainly took a lot of criticism for this song, but it was another huge hit for one of the only early CA bands besides the Doors that had multiple charting hits. I remember reading an interview with Marty Balin, talking about “Miracles” – it was remixed post studio sessions into a huge hit, but he said he “didn’t even recognize the song” when he heard it on the radio. Oh well….
When’s the last time you heard their beautiful song “Miracles”? That awesome #3 pop hit has transcended time, yet rarely gets airplay; I detest the awful 7” edit that jumps into the chorus and leaves out a whole verse. I did my own AC edit of that to remove the repeated lines and include the cold ending as all the AORs had played it for six months before it was issued as a single and it crossed to pop radio.
Thanks for this AWESOME track, Paul! I have always loved the original and the remix. For decades I’ve wondered why it was rated the “worst song of all time” as well as topping charts of worst songs of the 80s. Heck, I can list dozens of other songs. Maybe their chart should be “worst #1 HIT of all time” to be better focused. Anyway, whether people like me think it’s a guilty pleasure or simply a fun song, I really like it. Thanks!
I feel the same way, Fred I don’t understand all of the negative “Hoopla” surrounding this song. A guilty pleasure for me as well. 🙂
…and not a sausage roll in sight. Excellent! Thanks Paul.
You’re welcome 🙂