You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)
"You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)" is a song by the English pop band Dead or Alive, featured on their second studio album, Youthquake (1985). Released as a single in November 1984, it reached No. 1 in the UK in March 1985, taking 17 weeks to get there. It was the first UK number one hit by the Stock Aitken Waterman production trio.[11] On the US Billboard Hot 100, it peaked at No. 11 on 17 August of that year, becoming their highest-charting single there.[12] The song also reached No. 1 in Ireland[13] and in Canada,[14] while in Australia it peaked at No. 3[15] and it charted highly in numerous European countries.
"You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)"
In 2003, Q ranked the song at number 981 in their list of the "1001 Best Songs Ever", Blender listed it at number 289 on its ranking of "Greatest Songs Since You Were Born" in 2005, and in 2015 it was voted by the British public as the nation's 17th-favourite 1980s number one in a poll for ITV.
Re-releases[edit]
A remix version of "You Spin Me Round" was released in 2003 at the same time Dead or Alive's greatest hits album Evolution: The Hits was released. The song reached No. 23 in the UK Singles Chart. The original 1984 recording was re-released on 30 January 2006 because of lead singer Pete Burns's controversial time as a contestant on television series Celebrity Big Brother and reached no. 5.
Earlier remixes were in 1996 and 1997 (some are included on the US, European and Australian releases of Nukleopatra). In 1999 these mixes were issued in the US as a 2-CD set. The first disc held seven mixes of "You Spin Me Round" while disc two has five mixes of "Sex Drive". In 2000, new mixes appeared on Fragile and in 2001, on Unbreakable: The Fragile Remixes.
Chart performance[edit]
The song has been re-released three times since its original release in 1984. Each time of its release, it achieved success, but failed to match the success of the original. However, after lead-singer Pete Burns's appearance on Celebrity Big Brother in 2006, the single was re-released and managed a Top 5 peak on the UK Singles Chart. According to Burns, 12-inch singles comprised over 70% of the original sales of "You Spin Me Round", and because these were regarded by the record label as promotional tools rather than sales, the band had to threaten legal action against the label before they received the royalties on them.[24]
Music video[edit]
The accompanying music video, which features a disco ball, waving gold flags and an evocation of the six-armed deity Vishnu, was directed by Vaughan Arnell and Anthea Benton.[25][26]
Impact and legacy[edit]
In 2003, British popular music magazine Q ranked "You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)" number 981 in their list of the "1001 Best Songs Ever".[27] In 2005, Blender listed it at number 289 on its ranking of "Greatest Songs Since You Were Born".[28] In 2014, Matt Dunn of WhatCulture ranked the song at number three in his "15 unforgettable Stock Aitken Waterman singles" list, stating that the song "has had an enormous presence in pop culture since its 1984 release", as it has been covered, sampled, bootlegged or remixed by many artists, and used in films, series and TV ads.[29]
In 2015, it was voted by the British public as the nation's 17th favourite 1980s number-one in a poll for ITV.[30] After the death of Burns in 2016, musician and actor Gary Kemp described the song as "one of the best white dance records of all time."[31] In 2020, The Guardian ranked the song number five in their list of "The 100 Greatest UK No 1s".[32] In 2021, Classic Pop ranked it number-one in their list of "Top 40 Stock Aitken Waterman songs".[33]
In 2023, the song was covered by Netta as part of the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 tribute to music from Liverpool.[34] In 2023, Alexis Petridis of The Guardian listed the song at number one in his "Stock Aitken Waterman's 20 greatest songs – ranked!", describing it "a breathlessly exciting single... It's commercial pop music that captures a small-hours dancefloor's hedonism and hysteria".[35]