Commodores -- Turn Off The Lights

 

In the name of transparency, this particular article had meant to be the ROY article of the week but when I saw the news about it being Stevie Wonder's birthday today, I just had to get "Sir Duke" up there. But I will still get this ROY up here today as well, because it is also an old radio favourite of mine.

Now I realize that the Commodores have released their fair share of hits such as "Three Times A Lady", "Nightshift" and "Lady (You Bring Me Up)", but there is something about "Turn Off The Lights" from their 10th studio album "Commodores 13" which was released in September 1983 that still gets me shimmying away in the chair (yes, I know...I really should get some active exercise). 

Strangely enough, just like with Microchip League's "New York, New York" that I covered as a ROY a couple of weeks ago, I had been wondering about which band performed this song. Of course, with Commodores singing out the title in the refrain, that was easy enough to figure out but for whatever reason, it took some years to find out who did sing it, despite knowing all about the group hitting the top of the charts, especially with "Nightshift". However, I finally did resolve the identity puzzle and whenever I need a mood uplifter, "Turn Off The Lights" is one of my go-to songs. Considering the year of release, I don't know whether this would still be a disco song or a post-disco song (maybe Marcos V. can enlighten me here), but the main point is that "Turn Off The Lights" takes me to my happy place. All thanks to Commodores member William King and his wife, Shirley Hanna-King for coming up with this one.

So, what were the Oricon Top 3 for September 1983?

1. Anri -- Cat's Eye

2. Irene Cara -- Flashdance...What A Feeling

3. Yuki Katsuragi -- Bohemian （ボヘミアン）