#1 on the U.K. Chart: March 9, 1985 through March 16, 1985.
You Spin Me Round is a morass of contradictions. It is simultaneously the most quintessentially 1980s era song insofar as one simply could not conceive of it being released any time other than the middle of that decade, and also somehow a timeless tune that is still as listenable as it was when it first hit the airwaves. The sound, style, and presentation of the band Dead or Alive and its lead singer Paul Burns is somehow both uniquely idiosyncratic to them, and also archtypically emblematic of the 1980s.
While the song itself is a peppy, catchy dance tune, what really sells it is the music video. Yes, it is kind of goofy, and it is definitely campy, but that is why it endures. There is no mistaking Paul Burns' personal aesthetic and finger-wagging moves for anyone else. When Paul Rudd and Jimmy Fallon "parodied" the video by remaking it shot for shot, all they really did was highlight why, forty years later, it remains an iconic cultutal milestone.
Only tangentially related to the song, one element that shows how different the world is now from the way it was in 1985 is the central metaphor used: You spin me round, like a record baby - how many people under the age of 40 remember records? They still exist, and have had a modest renaissance, but they have mostly been relegated to being a niche interest that populates collections put together by those nostalgic for the sound of a needle on vinyl.
Previous Musical Monday: I Know Him So Well by Elaine Paige and Barbara Dickson
Subsequent Musical Monday: I Can't Fight This Feeling by REO Speedwagon
Previous Musical Monday: I Know Him So Well by Elaine Paige and Barbara Dickson
Subsequent #1 on the U.K. Chart: Easy Lover by Philip Bailey and Phil Collins
List of #1 Singles from the Billboard Hot 100 for 1980-1989
List of #1 Singles from the Cash Box Top 100 for 1980-1989
List of #1 Singles on the U.K. Chart for 1980-1989
Dead or Alive 1980s Project Musical Monday Home
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