The Look

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“The Look”
Single by Roxette from the album Look Sharp!
Released	November 13, 1988
Format	7" single 12" maxi CD maxi
Recorded	1988
Genre	Pop
Length	3:56
Label	EMI
Writer(s)	Per Gessle
Producer	Clarence Öfwerman
Certification	Gold (USA), Gold (NZ), Gold (Canada)
Roxette singles chronology
"Chances" (1988) "The Look" (1988) "Dressed for Success" (1989)

This article is about the Roxette song. For the band, see The Look (band).

"The Look", written by Per Gessle and released as a single in late 1988 and early 1989 from the album Look Sharp!, is considered to be Roxette's international breakthrough, finally exposing the duo to music consumers outside of its native Sweden and Europe after more than one attempt. It topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1989 and reached #7 on the UK singles chart.

Contents 1 Background 2 Track listings 3 Remix: "The Look '95" 3.1 Background 3.2 Track listings 4 Cover versions 5 Charts 6 References

[edit] Background

Roxette released their second album, Look Sharp! and toured Sweden again. The album was a triumph in Sweden, but a flop everywhere else. An American exchange student returned from Sweden and urged radio station KDWB in Minneapolis to play "The Look". From there, "The Look" spread on cassette copies to other radio stations. Suddenly, Roxette had a hit single in the United States, and the record wasn't even released. When it finally was released, it was able to debut on the Billboard Hot 100 at No. 50 - an unusual feat at the time for a newcomer artist - and went on to top the chart.

The song samples/extrapolates, albeit with modifications, the well-known "na na na na na..." sequence from Wilson Pickett's song "Land of a Thousand Dances". This section also bears direct comparison with the end of the Beatles "Hey Jude", which also features the "na na na" pattern. The repeated chord structure in both songs starts on the tonic (I), then goes to the flat VII, IV, and back to the I. [[1]]

According to Gessle the first two verses lyrics were guide lyrics but were kept anyway :-

"Walking like a man, hitting like a hammer"... the first two verses are guide lyrics, words just scribbled down to have something to sing. Couldn't come up with anything better, so we kept them. Everybody gets lucky sometimes...

Per Gessle, Don't Bore Us, Get to the Chorus! liner notes.[2]

[edit] Track listings

All formats were released on January 12, 1989 (by EMI/Parlophone; 1363337). Also released on many formats, including 3" CDS, 5" CDS and 12" vinyl. Included on most of those was The Look (Head-Drum Mix). The first edition of the vinyls was in red vinyl. A precious few exist in clear vinyl.

7" single "The Look" (3:56) "Silver Blue" (demo) (4:05) 12" maxi "The Look" (headdrum mix) (7:16) "The Look" (7" version) (3:56) "Silver Blue" (demo) (4:05)

CD maxi "The Look" (head-drum-mix) (7:22) "The Look" (7" version) (3:58) "Silver Blue" (demo) (4:06) "Sleeping Single" (demo) (3:46)

[edit] Remix: "The Look '95"

“The Look '95”
Single by Roxette from the album Don't Bore Us, Get to the Chorus! - Roxette's Greatest Hits
Released	1995
Genre	Pop
Length	5:08
Writer(s)	Per Gessle
Roxette singles chronology
"You Don't Understand Me" (1995) "The Look '95" (1995) "June Afternoon" (1996)

[edit] Background

"The Look '95" is a remixed version of Roxette's hit song and it was only released commercially in the UK in connection with the release of their greatest hits album "Don't Bore Us, Get to the Chorus! - Roxette's Greatest Hits".

This version of the song does not appear on the album, but two of the versions from this album were eventually included on the European release of the single "She Doesn't Live Here Anymore".

[edit] Track listings

CD maxi 1

1. "The Look" (chaps 1995 remix) (5:08)
2. "The Look" (chaps donna bass mix) (6:53)
3. "The Look" (rapino club mix) (5:22)
4. "The Look" (rapino dub mix) (5:14)

CD maxi 2

1. "The Look" (chaps 1995 remix) (5:10)
2. "The Look" (original version) (3:59)
3. "Crazy About You" (3:59)
4. "Dressed for Success" (U.S. mix) (4:53)

[edit] Cover versions

An cover of the song in English-language was recorded by the Spanish band, The Stunned Parrots.

[edit] Charts

Chart (1989)[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]	Peak position
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	1
U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Club Play	47
U.S. ARC Weekly Top 40	1
Australian ARIA Singles Chart	1
Austrian Singles Chart	2
Dutch Singles Chart	2
French Singles Chart	12
German Singles Chart	1
Irish Singles Chart	10
Italian Singles Chart	1
New Zealand Singles Chart	1
Norwegian Singles Chart	1
Swedish Singles Chart	6
Swiss Singles Chart	1
UK Singles Chart	7
Chart (1995)[7]	Peak position
UK Singles Chart	28

Preceded by "Eternal Flame" by The Bangles	Billboard Hot 100 number one single ARC Weekly Top 40 number one single April 8, 1989	Succeeded by "She Drives Me Crazy" by Fine Young Cannibals
Preceded by "Like a Prayer" by Madonna	Norwegian number one single 17/1989 - 24/1989	Succeeded by "Eternal Flame" by The Bangles
Preceded by "Wild Thing" by Tone Loc "Fire Woman" by The Cult	New Zealand (RIANZ) number one single May 5, 1989 - May 12, 1989 May 26, 1989	Succeeded by "Fire Woman" by The Cult "If You Don't Know Me By Now" by Simply Red
Preceded by "Looking for Freedom" by David Hasselhoff	German number one single May 26, 1989 - June 23, 1989	Succeeded by "Das Omen (Teil I)" by Mysterious Art
	Swiss number one single May 28, 1989 - July 16, 1989	Succeeded by "Express Yourself" by Madonna
Preceded by "Eternal Flame" by The Bangles	Australian (ARIA) number one single July 2, 1989 - August 6, 1989	Succeeded by "You Got It (The Right Stuff)" by New Kids on the Block

[edit] References