Raving I'm Raving

Album: single release only (1992)
Charted: 2
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • Shut Up And Dance was formed in 1988 in Stoke Newington, London, by two black club DJs: Philip "PJ" Johnson and Carl "Smiley" Hyman. By speeding up hip-hop and funk breaks, they practically invented jungle. This poppy, high speed rave track was their biggest hit.
  • PJ and Smiley based the song without permission on Marc Cohn's "Walking In Memphis," over which Peter Bouncer (who really was a club bouncer!) sings about going to Ibiza for a raving holiday.
  • The song is a satire of drug culture, which clubbers had assumed PJ and Smiley went along with. Smiley explained to Red Bull Music Academy: "We never really liked old school ravey hardcore. I never liked that then, I don't like it now. It's weird to be sucked into something. People used to say, 'You're king of raves, king of hardcore.' What?"
  • Shut Up And Dance were renowned for their flagrant abuse of samples, which led to this song's downfall. After it entered the UK charts at #2, a legal challenge obliged the duo to stop pressing copies and donate the profits from the single to charity. The track dropped to #15 the following week based on the copies remaining in store, after which it dropped out of the chart completely.

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Director Mark Pellington ("Jeremy," "Best Of You")

Director Mark Pellington ("Jeremy," "Best Of You")Song Writing

Director Mark Pellington on Pearl Jam's "Jeremy," and music videos he made for U2, Jon Bon Jovi and Imagine Dragons.

Gene Simmons of Kiss

Gene Simmons of KissSongwriter Interviews

The Kiss rocker covers a lot of ground in this interview, including why there are no Kiss collaborations, and why the Rock Hall has "become a sham."

Charlie Daniels

Charlie DanielsSongwriter Interviews

Charlie discusses the songs that made him a Southern Rock icon, and settles the Devil vs. Johnny argument once and for all.

Dave Pirner of Soul Asylum

Dave Pirner of Soul AsylumSongwriter Interviews

Dave explains how the video appropriated the meaning of "Runaway Train," and what he thought of getting parodied by Weird Al.

Carol Kaye

Carol KayeSongwriter Interviews

A top session musician, Carol played on hundreds of hits by The Beach Boys, The Monkees, Frank Sinatra and many others.

Kevin Godley

Kevin GodleySongwriter Interviews

Kevin Godley talks about directing classic videos for The Police, U2 and Duran Duran, and discusses song and videos he made with 10cc and Godley & Creme.