I Can't Wait (Nu Shooz song)

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"I Can't Wait"
I Can't Wait NS.jpg
Single by Nu Shooz
from the album Poolside
(original version on Tha's Right[1])
Released1985
Recorded1984
GenreFreestyle[2]
Length5:25 (album version)
3:40 (single version)
LabelAtlantic
Songwriter(s)John Smith
Producer(s)John Smith, Rick Waritz
Nu Shooz singles chronology
"I Can't Wait"
(1985) 		"Point of No Return"
(1986)
Music video
"I Can't Wait" on YouTube

"I Can't Wait" is a song by American group Nu Shooz, originally recorded in late 1984 and featured on the band's second album Tha's Right the following year. The song was remixed by Dutch DJ and producer Peter Slaghuis: this remixed version is the one that appears on the 1986 album Poolside.

In the United States, the remixed version of the song reached No. 1 on Billboard's Hot Dance Club Play chart in late March 1986, remaining atop the chart for two weeks. Soon afterwards, the song appeared on the Hot 100 chart, where it climbed to No. 3 in mid-June of that year, and remained in the top 40 for 15 weeks and it reached #2 on the R&B/Soul singles chart. In the United Kingdom, the song reached No. 2 on the UK Singles Chart. The single returned to the U.S. charts in 2015, where it peaked at number 17 on the Billboard Dance/Electronic Digital Songs chart.[3]

The song's American chart run coincided with that of a Stevie Nicks song also titled "I Can't Wait".

Background[]

Instrumentalist John Smith would try to write songs in batches of ten, and have two a week ready for rehearsals back in the early 1980s in Portland, Oregon. He bought a new Teac-3440 4-track recorder in 1983, and "I Can't Wait" was one of the first songs he recorded on it. He scribbled out the lyrics in fifteen minutes as the band was loading up gear to go to rehearse it, and his wife, singer Valerie Day, approved.[4]

Critical reception[]

John Leland's writeup in a Spin magazine column wrote about the single, saying: "You can listen to this record as many times as you want and still not have any strong impressions that human beings actually made it. In other words, it's the perfect disco record."[5]

Music video[]

The music video was directed by Jim Blashfield. It contains animations and has a hint of the very surreal. The plot has Valerie Day singing the song sitting at a desk, repairing a coffeepot, while tools and other oddities pass into the frame and out again. Her dog sits nearby, wearing sunglasses.

Chart performance[]

Cover versions and samples[]

  • A rap cover of the song, "I Can't Wait (To Rock the Mike)" by Spyder-D was released later that year.
  • In 1996, Vanessa Williams used an interpolation of "I Can't Wait" in her hit "Happiness", which is one of the words in the original song.
  • The song was covered in 2002 by the UK garage group Ladies First. It was a UK top 20 hit, reaching number 19.
  • It was sampled by Natalie Alvarado's "I Can't Wait" off her 2005 debut album Natalie.
  • The song is sampled in the 2010 single "Buzzin'" by Mann.

See also[]

  • List of number-one dance hits (United States)

References[]

  1. ^ Nu Shooz- Tha's Right @ the band's website Archived 2011-11-08 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved 12-3-2011.
  2. ^ "Nu Shooz 'Can't Wait' for Super Freestyle Explosion in Ontario". dailybulletin.com. June 20, 2014. Retrieved April 18, 2015.
  3. ^ Dance/Electronic Digital Songs (October 24, 2015) from Billboard (October 14, 2015)
  4. ^ "Interview with Valerie Day and John Smith of Nu Shooz". Kickin' it Old School. June 22, 2011. Retrieved August 16, 2021.
  5. ^ John Leland (May 1986). Singles - Nu Shooz "I Can't Wait". Spin.
  6. ^ "Music: Top 100 Songs - Billboard Hot 100 Chart". Billboard. Retrieved April 18, 2015.
  7. ^ "Top Hip-Hop Songs / R&B Songs Chart - Billboard". Billboard. Retrieved April 18, 2015.
  8. ^ "Dance Songs: Top Dance Music Chart - Billboard". Billboard. Retrieved April 18, 2015.
  9. ^ Whitburn, Joel (1993). Top Adult Contemporary: 1961–1993. Record Research. p. 177.
  10. ^ Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. p. 220. ISBN 0-646-11917-6. N.B. The Kent Report chart was licensed by ARIA between mid-1983 and June 12, 1988.
  11. ^ Jump up to: a b c d Hung, Steffen. "Nu Shooz - I Can't Wait". Lescharts.com. Retrieved October 7, 2018.
  12. ^ Jump up to: a b "German Singles Chart at charts-surfer.de". Archived from the original on January 8, 2009.
  13. ^ "The Irish Charts - All there is to know". irishcharts.ie. Archived from the original on June 3, 2009. Retrieved April 18, 2015.
  14. ^ "Italian Hit Parade". Italia.it. Retrieved October 7, 2018.[permanent dead link]
  15. ^ "Official Charts Company - Nu Shooz". archive.is. Retrieved April 18, 2015.
  16. ^ "Kent Music Report No 650 – 29 December 1986 > National Top 100 Singles for 1986". Kent Music Report, via Imgur.com. Retrieved December 10, 2019.
  17. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on October 21, 2012. Retrieved October 1, 2016.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  18. ^ "The Official New Zealand Music Chart". THE OFFICIAL NZ MUSIC CHART. Retrieved October 7, 2018.
  19. ^ "Top 100 Singles". Music Week. London, England: Spotlight Publications. January 24, 1987. p. 24.
  20. ^ Nielsen Business Media, Inc (December 27, 1986). "1986 The Year in Music & Video: Top Pop Singles". Billboard. 98 (52): Y-21.
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