“American Dream” was the first single taken from the second studio LP “Never Never Land” by British musician Simon Fellowes (Simon F) on Reprise Records in 1987. “American Dream” made a short two-week run on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 peaking at #91 before disappearing. The single was co-produced by Phil Thornalley (Johnny Hates Jazz, The Cure), and Tom Lord-Alge.
The “Extended Version” was only released on 12″ single in Australia.
The video for “American Dream” was directed by Peter Care and was banned by MTV for its portrayal of an interracial romance.
SIDE A: American Dream (Extended Version) 8:47
Producer, Engineer – Philip Thornalley*
SIDE B:
Love Bomb 4:03
American Dream (7″ Version) 4:53
Producer – Simon F.*
Producer, Engineer, Mixed By – Tom Lord-Alge
VINYL GRADE:
Vinyl: Near Mint
Sleeve: Near Mint
U.S. CHART HISTORY:
Year
Single
Chart
Position
1987
American Dream
U.S. Billboard Hot 100
#91
RELEASE INFORMATION:
Label: Reprise Records – 0-20800
Format: Vinyl, 12″, Single, 45 RPM
Country: Australia
Released: 1987
Genre: Electronic
Style: Synth-pop
“Good Intentions” is a 1987 single by American singer and model Ava Cherry. She collaborated with English musician David Bowie between 1972 and 1975; the two met in New York City when she was a nightclub waitress and Bowie was touring for The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. Afterwards, they began a period of personal and artistic collaboration that heavily influenced the Young Americans “blue-eyed soul” era. Following this, she struck out as a solo singer and backing artist for musicians such as Luther Vandross and Chaka Khan.
“Good Intentions” was the first single taken from her third and most successful studio LP “Picture This” (1987). “Good Intentions” debuted on the Billboard Dance Chart on August 8, 1987, peaking at #16 after spending eight weeks on the survey.
“I Want Your Sex” is a song by the English singer and songwriter George Michael. Released as a single on 18 May 1987 (US) and 1 June 1987 (UK), it was the third hit from the soundtrack to Beverly Hills Cop II and the first single from Michael’s debut solo album Faith. It peaked at number two in the U.S. and number three in the UK, and was a top-five single in many other countries.
The single was certified platinum by the RIAA for sales in excess of two million in the United States. It was also the recipient for the Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Original Song. The song’s radio airplay on the BBC was restricted to post-watershed hours due to concerns that it might promote promiscuity and could be counterproductive to contemporary campaigns about AIDS awareness.
Although it was one of Michael’s biggest hits, the singer ignored the song following its release; he never performed it after the Faith Tour and although the Rhythm Two version appears on Ladies & Gentlemen: The Best of George Michael, it does not appear on the 2006 retrospective Twenty Five; furthermore, the “Monogamy Mix” does not appear on the 2011 remastered release of Faith. In an interview with Mark Goodier, included in the large-format book released with the 2011 remaster, Michael said that he still likes the second “Rhythm” but not the first, and that he distanced himself from the song because its production sounded too much like Prince; indeed, “Rhythm 1”, as well as a few other tracks on the Faith album (such as “Hard Day”), features Michael simulating female vocals by artificially pitching up and altering his own voice, much the same way as Prince was doing at the time with his pseudo-female alter ego Camille. In the interview, Michael admits that he was “deeply enamoured” with Prince, and adds that he thought it was very bad for him to be infatuated with a colleague of his. Rolling Stone editor David Fricke described this song as ‘a new bump-and-grind original that sounds more like Prince’s stark, sexy “Kiss” than anything in the Wham! catalog’. In 2016, after Michael’s death, Andrew Unterberger of Billboard ranked the song number eight on his list of Michael’s 15 greatest songs.
The music video, directed by Andy Morahan, featured Michael and his then-girlfriend Kathy Jeung to emphasize that he was in a monogamous relationship; at one point, he is shown using lipstick to write the words “explore” and “monogamy” on her back, which is photographed and retouched at the end of the video to reveal the phrase “explore monogamy”. A Spanish model was also used for naked scenes in a way that allowed the audience to assume they were the same woman; these shots are interspersed with intentionally blurred footage of George Michael dancing and singing the song.
In a 2004 interview with Adam Mattera for UK magazine Attitude, Michael reflected: “It was totally real. Kathy was in love with me but she knew that I was in love with a guy at that point in time. I was still saying I was bisexual…She was the only female that I ever brought into my professional life. I put her in a video. Of course she looked like a beard. It was all such a mess, really. My own confusion and then on top of that what I was prepared to let the public think.”
The video generated controversy over its sexual themes. In 2002, MTV2’s countdown of MTV’s Most Controversial Videos Ever to Air on MTV included the video for “I Want Your Sex” at number 3. The original video cut appears on the Twenty Five compilation 2-DVD set.
SIDE A: I Want Your Sex (Monogamy Mix) 13:13
-Rhythm 1 Lust
-Rhythm 2 Brass In Love
-Rhythm 3 A Last Request
SIDE B: Hard Day 4:53
VINYL GRADE:
Vinyl: Near Mint
Sleeve: Near Mint
U.S. CHART HISTORY:
Year
Single
Chart
Position
1987
I want Your Sex
U.S. Billboard Hot 100
#2
1987
I want Your Sex
U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Music/Club Play
#2
1987
I want Your Sex
U.S. Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop
#43
RELEASE INFORMATION:
Label: Columbia – 44 06814, Columbia – 44-06814, Columbia – Lust T 1
Format: Vinyl, 12″, 33 ⅓ RPM, Stereo
Country: US
Released: 1987
Genre: Electronic, Funk / Soul
Style: Downtempo, Synth-pop
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Originally posted May 10, 2011
Artist spotlight PSEUDO ECHO!
“Funkytown” is a song originally recorded by American disco-funk group Lipps Inc., released in 1980.
In 1986, “Funkytown” was covered by Australian new wave band Pseudo Echo in rock form, including a guitar solo in the middle. It reached number six on the US Billboard Hot 100 and spent seven weeks at number one in Australia. Like Lipps Inc., it is Pseudo Echo’s only US Top 40 hit single.
For the U.S. market, four exclusive promo-only remixes were commissioned by RCA Records and mixed by Chicago DJ/Producer Steve “Silk” Hurley, and New York City DJ/Producer Freddy Bastone, helping to push the single to #4 on the Billboard Dance Chart.
