Wang Chung -- Let's Go!

 

It was January 2022 when I posted Wang Chung's "Everybody Have Fun Tonight" as the first (and certainly not last) entry of the band on KKP's Reminiscings of Youth series. From the date and at least one sentence in my comments, I got the impression that we were still cautiously exiting the pandemic tunnel at the time. We did need that great 80s party song to bring back some cheer and action into our lives again.

Well, more than two years later, it was nice to see lead vocalist Jack Hues appear on the local news channel here for an interview the other day because he and his partner Nick Feldman were to do a gig at the legendary El Mocambo in downtown Toronto. Absolutely amiable and classy guy. I'm sure everybody had fun that night.😛

So I figured that it was time for another Wang Chung song on ROY this week, and to keep the good times rolling, I'm going with their January 1987 single "Let's Go". I used to hear this all the time on the radio and I even ended up getting the 12" remix version but never got to see the entire music video. Man, is it the most 1980s video I've seen in recent memory! It's silly as all get out but fun as well. And I get to see Hues and Feldman really pour out the emotion unlike the stone faces they showed in the seizure-inducing video for "Everybody Have Fun Tonight". In fact, I think Hues had a major case of the giggles in the early part of the video here, much like Daryl Hall was having difficulty keeping it together in the video for "Method of Modern Love" (I'll have to cover that one soon enough).

But 80s imagery and goofiness aside, "Let's Go" is another fun-filled song. It may not have the nighttime party vibe of "Everybody Have Fun Tonight" but it's still as catchy with plenty of times to shout out during the song, thanks to that easy-to-yell title and it's a great thing that the expression "Let's Go" is still supremely popular at movies and sports events. The song reached No. 9 in both America and Canada and is also available as a track on Wang Chung's "Mosaic" album from October 1986.

So, what were taking up the three top positions on Oricon's list for January 1987?

1. Marina Watanabe -- White Rabbit kara no Message（ホワイトラビットからのメッセージ）

2. Yoko Minamino -- Rakuen no Door （楽園のDoor）

3. Masahiko Kondo -- Orokamono （愚か者）

Wang Chung -- Everybody Have Fun Tonight

 

"Can you tell me what a Wang Chung is?" 

Can't help you there, guy. 😕 I don't think that I was ever cool enough to know a Wang Chung (although it's supposed to mean "yellow bell"). Still, the theme song was fun.

During the annual major cleaning of the home before the end of 2021, we managed to unearth a big stack of dance remixes in a cardboard box, and lo and behold, one of those LPs happened to be British New Wave band Wang Chung's "Everybody Have Fun Tonight". Man, was that a party anthem for the 1980s! I first heard it on radio and heard it over and over again, thanks to those supremely catchy synth-horns and the repeated mantra of "Everybody have fun tonight, everybody Wang Chung tonight!". I mean, I knew about Jack Hues and Nick Feldman beforehand because of their "Dancehall Days" which was also a long stayer on the music video shows, but it was "Everybody Have Fun Tonight" that really got Wang Chung on the map.

Released as a single in September 1986, I used to listen to CHUM-AM's weekly singles countdown on Thursday nights, and I remember hoping that "Everybody Have Fun Tonight" would eventually hit the top spot, which it did, and it even reached No. 1 on Canada's RPM chart while it got to No. 2 on US Billboard's singles chart. But what also added to the song's fame was the music video which has probably ended up as one of the trippiest creations ever made with that jitter effect. Loved the video with all of the musicians cavorting about but I didn't dare watch it in a dark room.

Such was the popular party hearty nature of the song and those lyrics that it's become a long-standing pop culture gag on various shows and movies.

Just judging from some of the relatively few live performances that I've seen and their straight-faced expressions in the music video for "Everybody Have Fun Tonight", I'd long had an impression of Hues and Feldman being rather serious and unapproachable. Well, seeing this interview from a few years ago, I'm glad to see that they are actually quite nice and regular fellows.

And it was around 2019, some 33 years after "Everybody Have Fun Tonight" was first released that Wang Chung decided to have fun with the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra and make a new recording of the song...complete with jittery video again. I can only hope that someday that everybody will have fun every night again.

So, what were at No. 1, No. 3 and No. 5 on Oricon in September 1986?

No. 1 Akemi Ishii -- Cha-Cha-Cha

No. 3 Miho Nakayama -- Tsuiteru ne, Notteru ne（ツイてるねノッてるね）

No. 5 Momoko Kikuchi -- Say Yes!