It's Raining Men

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“It's Raining Men”
“It's Raining Men” cover
Single by Weather Girls
from the album Success
B-side "It's Raining Men" (long version)
Released 10 September 1982
Format 7-inch single, 12-inch single
Recorded 1982
Genre Disco, dance
Length 3:31 (7" Single) 4:06 (Album Version); 5:24 (12" Single)
Label Columbia Records

"It's Raining Men" is a song written by Paul Jabara and Paul Shaffer in 1979, and originally recorded by The Weather Girls in 1982. The song had been offered to a who's-who of female singing legends including Donna Summer, Grace Jones, Diana Ross, Cher, Chaka Khan, Aretha Franklin, Teena Marie, Gloria Gaynor, and even Barbra Streisand before being accepted by Martha Wash and Izora Armstead of The Weather Girls, with their version becoming an international hit, selling over 6 million copies worldwide.

It was covered by Martha Wash (of The Weather Girls) as a duet with RuPaul in 1997, Geri Halliwell in 2001 and by Young Divas in 2006. The song is hailed as a camp classic and more recently as a dance anthem, and as a classic female anthem.

Contents

[edit] Original and RuPaul versions

The Weather Girls' version went number one on the U.S. Disco Chart, debuting in October 1982. It made number 34 on the U.S. U.S. R&B chart and number 46 on the Billboard Hot 100. It was released from their album Success. This version also made it to number two in the UK Singles Chart, #2 in Australia, and #1 on the Euro Hot 100.

RuPaul and Martha Wash duetted on "It's Raining Men... The Sequel", which was included on the 1998 Rhino Records compilation CD RuPaul's Go-Go Box Classics.

Chart (1982) Peak
position
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 46
U.S. Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs 34
U.S. Hot Dance Club Play 1
UK Singles Chart 2
Chart (1998) Peak
position
U.S. Hot Dance Club Play 1 22
  • 1 "It's Raining Men... The Sequel" by Martha Wash featuring RuPaul

[edit] Geri Halliwell version

“It's Raining Men”
“It's Raining Men” cover
Single by Geri Halliwell
from the album Scream If You Wanna Go Faster
B-side "Brave New World"
"I Was Made That Way"
Released April 30, 2001
Format CD Single, Vinyl, Cassette, Airplay
Recorded 2001
Genre Pop, dance
Length 4:18
Label EMI
Certification Gold (BPI)
Geri Halliwell singles chronology
"Bag It Up"
(2000)		 "It's Raining Men"
(2001)		 "Scream If You Wanna Go Faster"
(2001)
Alternate cover
UK CD2 cover
UK CD2 cover
Audio sample
Info "It's Raining Men" (help·info)

"It's Raining Men" was the first single of Geri Halliwell's second solo album and was also on the soundtrack to the film Bridget Jones's Diary. It was released on April, 2001.

It debuted at number-one in UK Singles Chart staying there for two weeks, it became Geri's fourth consecutive number-one single in United Kingdom selling 155,000 in its first week and 80,000 on its second week, overall the single went on to sell 421,670 copies in Britain alone, becoming the 13th best seller of 2001 and the most successful single of Geri Halliwell so far in the United Kingdom and worldwide.[1]

The song became a huge hit, selling over 4 million copies worldwide,[2] in the United World Chart it hit number-two (oddly enough, behind another cover of a 70's song - "Lady Marmalade" by Christina Aguilera, Lil' Kim, Mya & Pink) based on Sales, Airplay and Votes,[3] it became the second best selling single of 2001.[4][5] The song had been added to the album at the last minute; another song, "Feels Like Sex", had already been slated as the lead single. This song instead remained an album-only track. So far, of all the solo single releases of the Spice Girls members, this is still the most successful and best-selling. With this song, Geri Halliwell won the International Song of the Year award at the 2002 NRJ Music Awards in France. A Remix of the song, The Almighty Mix from the Toshiba-EMI series "Dance Mania", volume 20 was also featured in the 2002 Japanese video game, DDRMAX2: Dance Dance Revolution 7th MIX and the 2002 Dance Dance Revolution EXTREME. This version of the song was used as the theme song in the advertisements for New Talent Singing Awards Vancouver Audition 2003. In July 2006 the song entered at seventy-nine on the Mexican Digital Sales Chart, spending two weeks inside the Top 100.

[edit] Charts

Chart (2001) Peak
position[6]
Belgian Singles Chart (Flanders) 1
Brazilian Hot 100 Singles Chart 1
French Singles Chart 1
Hungarian Singles Chart 1
Irish IRMA Singles Chart 1
Italian Singles Chart 1
Malaysian Singles Chart 1
Spanish Los 40 12
Spanish PROMUSICAE 5
UK Singles Chart 1
Eurochart Hot 100 Singles 2
Belgian Singles Chart (Wallony) 2
México Top 100 Singles Chart 2
Portuguese Singles Chart 2
United World Chart 2
Dutch Singles Chart 3
Dutch Singles Chart 3
Argentine Singles Chart 2
Australian ARIA Singles Chart 4
Swiss Singles Chart 4
Austrian Singles Chart 5
German Singles Chart 5
Greek Singles Chart 5
Danish Singles Chart 2
Finnish Singles Chart 7
Canadian Singles Chart 8
Swedish Singles Chart 14
Norwegian Singles Chart 4
New Zealand RIANZ Singles Chart 7
Year-End Charts (2001)[7]
UK Top 100 Singles of the Year 12
Chart (2006)[8]
Mexican Digital Sales Chart 79

[edit] Formats and track listings

These are the formats and track listings of major single releases of "It's Raining Men" by Geri Halliwell.

UK & Europe CD1/International CD Maxi
(Released April 30, 2001)

  1. "It's Raining Men" - 4:18
  2. "I Was Made That Way" - 4:45
  3. "Brave New World" - 4:10
  4. "It's Raining Men" Enhanced Video

UK & Europe CD2/Australian CD Maxi
(Released April 30, 2001)

  1. "It's Raining Men" - 4:18
  2. "It's Raining Men" [Bold And Beautiful Glamour Mix Edit] - 4:46
  3. "It's Raining Men" [Almighty Mix Edit] - 3:46
  4. "It's Raining Men" [D-Bop Tall And Blonde Mix Edit] - 6:55

European 2-Track CD Single
(Released April 30, 2001)

  1. "It's Raining Men" - 4:18
  2. "Brave New World" - 4:10

Italian 12" Single
(Released July 18, 2001)

Side A

  1. "It's Raining Men" - 4:18
  2. "It's Raining Men" [Bold And Beautiful Glamour Mix Edit] - 4:46

Side B

  1. "It's Raining Men" [Almighty Mix Edit] - 3:46
  2. "It's Raining Men" [D-Bop Tall And Blonde Mix Edit] - 6:55

[edit] Cases of unlicensed use

In 2001 a Bollywood movie, Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham used the song without acknowledgment or permission. The producers were taken to court and were ordered to pay compensation. [2]

[edit] Cultural references

  • Featured in the bonus round of the slot machine "Money Storm", produced by IGT.
  • A sketch from the BBC comedy series The Smell of Reeves and Mortimer includes a performance of the song, supposedly included on the album Pancake Day by folk singers Mulligan and O'Hare.
  • "It's Rain Men" is the used as the theme song for the Steve Czaban sports segment on the Bob and Brian morning show in Wisconsin.
  • The popular Canadian teen drama Degrassi: The Next Generation, which is known for named each episode after an '80s hit song, named an episode after this song. The episode faced the issue of gay dating.
  • This song is played during the fight scene between Mark Darcy and Daniel Cleaver in the film Bridget Jones' Diary.
  • This song was performed by Bill Kaulitz on the German version of Star Search.
  • This song is "Gay Steve's" theme song on WVKS in Toledo, Ohio. [10]
  • In 2008, The McCain Girls produced a parody song "It's Raining McCain," and posted an accompanying video on YouTube, which became popular after being reported on in The Huffington Post.[11]
Preceded by
"The Look of Love" by ABC		 Hot Dance Club Play number one single
(The Weather Girls version)
December 25, 1982		 Succeeded by
"Lies" / "Beach Culture" by Thompson Twins
Preceded by
"Don't Stop Movin'" by S Club 7		 UK number one single
(Geri Halliwell version)
May 6, 2001 - May 20, 2001		 Succeeded by
"Do You Really Like It" by DJ Pied Piper and the Masters of Ceremonies
v • d • e
Geri Halliwell
Albums
Singles
Related Articles

[edit] References

  1. ^ "It's Raining Men" UK Sales
  2. ^ "It's Raining Men" Sales and Certifications
  3. ^ United World Chart, "It's Raining Men" at number-two on July 7th, 2001
  4. ^ Spice Discography
  5. ^ Mediabase
  6. ^ "It's Raining Men" Chart positions
  7. ^ UK Year End Chart
  8. ^ Mexican Digital Sales Chart
  9. ^ 2F08 Fear of Flying. The Simpsons Archive. Retrieved on 2008-02-25.
  10. ^ [1]Andrew Z In the Morning, Retrieved on 2008-04-28.
  11. ^ McCain Girls Are Your New Jalopy. The Washington Post. March 24, 2008.
  12. ^ CBS | Late Show with David Letterman :