We Built This City
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| "We Built This City" | ||
|---|---|---|
 |
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| Single by Starship | ||
| from the album Knee Deep in the Hoopla | ||
| Released | 1985 | |
| Format | 7" | |
| Genre | Pop | |
| Length | 4:38 | |
| Writer(s) | Bernie Taupin, Martin Page, Dennis Lambert, Peter Wolf | |
| Producer(s) | Peter Wolf, Jeremy Smith | |
| Chart positions | ||
"We Built This City" is a song written by Bernie Taupin, Martin Page, Dennis Lambert, and Peter Wolf and recorded by the group Starship. The lyrics were written by Bernie Taupin, best known for his longtime collaboration with Elton John. The single version reached number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 on November 16, 1985. The city that the band is singing about in the album version of this song has been generally thought to be San Francisco, California, and in Japan it has been sold with Japanese title "Sisuko wa Rokku Sitii (SF is a rock city)". But according to Starship singer Grace Slick, it was actually written about early-1970s Los Angeles.[1]
In April 2004, the song was awarded "the #1 Most Awesomely Bad Song Ever" by Blender magazine,[1] in conjunction with a VH1 Special of The 50 Most Awesomely Bad Songs...Ever. In order to qualify for the distinction, the songs on the list had to be a popular hit at some point, thus disqualifying many songs that would by general consensus be considered much worse. Blender editor Craig Marks said of the song, "It purports to be anti-commercial but reeks of '80s corporate-rock commercialism. It's a real reflection of what practically killed rock music in the '80s."[2]
[edit] Trivia
- The song was also released without the traffic report and DJ interaction during the song's bridge (the B-side of the promotional 45-rpm record). Local stations were encouraged to make local versions. New York City, for example, included a traffic report describing conditions on the George Washington Bridge.
- MTV executive and former DJ Les Garland provided the DJ voiceover during the song's bridge.[3]
- Janice Cruz from Brooklyn-based indie rock trio Dark Room NYC is featured in the first verse of the video when she was very young.
- Blender magazine contributor Russ Heller set a record for listening to We Built This City 324 times in 24 hours. He was encased in a Plexiglas booth — without earplugs — beginning Friday, October 13, 2006 at 8:00 a.m. at a Best Buy store in New York City.[4]
- The title of the song is used as a slogan by Australia's construction union.
- The lyrics were used to the tune of "Jimmy Crack Corn" in an episode of The Simpsons (Kill the Alligator and Run). Homer also sings the original song multiple times during the episode.
- The song appears in a second season episode of Comedy Central's Drawn Together.
- The British band Half Man Half Biscuit made a play of words on the title for their song 'We Built this Village on a Trad. Arr. Tune'. It appears on their album Achtung Bono.
- A short-lived TLC series named after the song used it in the title sequence. It documented the cultural and architectural history of major cities such as Paris.
[edit] References
- ^ a b Run for Your Life! It’s the 50 Worst Songs Ever!. Blender.com.
- ^ "10 Really, Really Bad Songs, CBSNews.com
- ^ "We Built This S**tty", Radio & Records, May 14, 2004 (PDF)
- ^ Heller, Russ (October 2006). "We Built This City" 24-Hour Marathon on Blender.com. Blender.com.
| Preceded by "Miami Vice Theme" by Jan Hammer |
Billboard Hot 100 number one single November 16, 1985- November 23, 1985 |
Succeeded by "Separate Lives" by Phil Collins and Marilyn Martin |
