Everybody Have Fun Tonight

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"Everybody Have Fun Tonight"
Everybody Have Fun Tonight.jpg
Single by Wang Chung
from the album Mosaic
B-side"Fun Tonight: The Early Years"
ReleasedSeptember 1986[1]
Recorded1986
Genre
Length4:47
4:15 (7"/video version)
LabelGeffen
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)Peter Wolf
Wang Chung singles chronology
"Wake Up, Stop Dreaming"
(1985) 		"Everybody Have Fun Tonight"
(1986) 		"Let's Go!"
(1987)
Music video
"Everybody Have Fun Tonight" on YouTube

"Everybody Have Fun Tonight" is a song performed by the British new wave group Wang Chung, released as a single from their album Mosaic in 1986. Collaboratively written by Jack Hues, Nick Feldman, and Peter Wolf, it reached #2 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart on Christmas 1986 behind "Walk Like an Egyptian" by The Bangles. It also hit #1 on the Canada RPM Top 100 Singles chart the week of 17 January 1987. With some different lyrics, the original ballad version of the song was placed on the B-side.

After their breakup in 1991, Wang Chung reunited in 2005 to perform this song on the television show Hit Me, Baby, One More Time.

The song is featured on numerous 1980s compilation albums and still receives some radio airplay across the United States.

It has appeared in the "#2s" episode of VH1 Classic's One Hit Wonders series, even though the band had one more Top 10 single, "Let's Go!", in April 1987.

Background[]

Singer Jack Hues said,

Nick and I used to get together at his flat on Finchley Road in London and play each other ideas. Nick had this chorus idea of “Everybody Have Fun Tonight” which I loved, but I heard it as deeply ironic and heard a song a bit like “Hey Jude” – slowish, long chorus fade out, sort of whimsical. I wrote the version which Nick and I worked on together and demo’d at his house – we put out that version on one of the Greatest Hits albums – “Fun Tonight: The Early Years”. When we worked with Peter Wolf, he told us to ditch the irony and make a party record and really play up the “Everybody Have Fun/Everybody Wang Chung” line. We had decided we wanted a hit record, so we did as we were told for once!![2]

Track listing[]

7" Geffen / 7-28562 (USA)
  1. "Everybody Have Fun Tonight (edit)"
  2. "Fun Tonight: The Early Years"
7" Geffen / GEF 13F (UK)
  • Side One
  1. "Everybody Have Fun Tonight (edit)"
  2. "Fun Tonight: The Early Years"
  • Side Two
  1. "Dance Hall Days"
  2. "Don't Let Go"
7" Geffen / P-2193 (JPN)
  1. "Everybody Have Fun Tonight (edit)"
  2. "Fun Tonight: The Early Years"
12" Geffen / 0-20551 (USA) and TA 2589 (UK)
  • Side One
  1. "Everybody Have Fun Tonight (12 Inches of Fun)" - 6:45
  2. "Everybody Have Fun Tonight (edit)" - 3:59*
  • Side Two
  1. "Everybody Dub Tonight" - 6:02*
  2. "Fun Tonight: The Early Years" - 4:12

*times as indicated on record label (not actual)

12" (Promo) Geffen / PRO-A-2581 (USA)
  • Side One
  1. "Everybody Have Fun Tonight (Edit)" - 3:59
  • Side Two
  1. "Everybody Have Fun Tonight (LP Version)" - 4:47

Music video[]

A scene from the music video.

The music video, directed by Godley & Creme, features scenes of the band playing in a wood-lined room with very rapid editing between different takes of the same performance. The editing gives the video a somewhat disorienting flip book-like animation style, employing the use of visual jitter. Wang Chung, additional musicians and dancers are seen in several formations throughout the video. They are shown in close portrait and seated along a row of chairs, the seating arrangement of which was changed with each take. Each shot flips through up to four takes of the same shot, with some shots approaching up to 1/25th of a second between edits. The video was banned by the BBC from airing after its premiere due to a medical expert retained by the BBC’s screening committee claiming it could possibly trigger “epileptic fits”.[3]

Charts[]

Chart (1986–87) Peak
position
Australia (Kent Music Report)[4] 8
Canada The Record[5] 1
Canada Top Singles (RPM) 1
UK Singles (OCC)[6] 76
US Billboard Hot 100[7] 2
US Radio & Records CHR/Pop Airplay Chart[8] 1
US Dance Club Songs (Billboard)[9] 4
US Album Rock Tracks (Billboard) 25

Year-end charts[]

Chart (1987) Position
Australia (Kent Music Report)[10] 57
US Top Pop Singles (Billboard)[11] 12

References[]

  1. ^ "Wang Chung - Everybody Have Fun Tonight" – via www.45cat.com.
  2. ^ "Interview with Jack Hues of the band Wang Chung". Kickin' it Old School. 7 January 2011. Retrieved 13 August 2021.
  3. ^ "BANNED VIDEO OF THE MONTH: Wang Chung's..." Los Angeles Times. 11 January 1987.
  4. ^ Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. p. 332. ISBN 0-646-11917-6. N.B. The Kent Report chart was licensed by ARIA between mid-1983 and 12 June 1988.
  5. ^ Lwin, Nanda (2000). Top 40 Hits: The Essential Chart Guide. Mississauga, Ontario: Music Data Canada. ISBN 1-896-594-13-1.
  6. ^ "Wang Chung: Artist Chart History". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 14 April 2017.
  7. ^ "Wang Chung Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard. Retrieved 3 November 2018.
  8. ^ "Wang Chung". Wweb.uta.edu.
  9. ^ "Wang Chung Chart History (Dance Club Songs)". Billboard. Retrieved 14 April 2017.
  10. ^ "Australian Music Report No 701 – 28 December 1987 > National Top 100 Singles for 1987". Australian Music Report, via Imgur.com. Retrieved 11 December 2019.
  11. ^ "1987 The Year in Music & Video: Top Pop Singles". Billboard. 99 (52). 26 December 1987.
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