What About Me

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“What About Me”
“What About Me” cover
Single by Moving Pictures
from the album Days of Innocence
Released 1982
Format CD single
Genre Rock
Length 3:32
Label Nettwerk
Writer(s) Garry Frost, Frances Frost
“What About Me”
“What About Me” cover
Single by Shannon Noll
from the album That's What I'm Talking About
Released 26 January 2004
Recorded 2003/2004
Genre Rock, Pop
Length 3:21
Label Sony BMG
Producer Bryon Jones, Craig Porells, Adam Reilly, Frances Swan, Gary Frost
Certification 4x platinum (ARIA)
Shannon Noll singles chronology
"What About Me"
(2004)		 "Drive"
(2004)

"What About Me" is a song written by Garry Frost and Frances Frost, first recorded by Australian rock band Moving Pictures from their album Days of Innocence. It was the band's first number-one single in Australia spending six consecutive weeks on the top; there, it was the second-highest selling single of 1982. The success of the song led them to America where it became a hit, reaching number twenty-nine on the U.S. Billboard Pop Singles. The song stayed in the U.S. charts for a long time, that it managed to make the Billboard 's top one hundred Pop Singles of 1983, at number eighty-eight[1], a rare feat for a single with such a low peak position.

Contents

[edit] Shannon Noll version

Australian Idol series one runner-up Shannon Noll covered the song for his the debut album That's What I'm Talking About. He first performed the song on Australian Idol with the genre of #1 Hits, where he received positive comments by the judges and was also seen as one of the highlights of the debut season of Idol. The song was released as a CD single on January 29, 2004 where it debuted at number-one and stayed their for four weeks. It eventually sold in excess of 280,000 copies (certified 4x platinum) in Australia alone and became the highest selling single in Australia for 2004 - two decades after the original version was the second-highest seller of its year.

When released in Australia, demand for the single was unprecedented and the single debuted at the peak position on the ARIA charts the week of 2 February 2004, achieving 2x platinum accreditation (140,000 copies shipped) in its debut week, and knocking long term #1 "Hey Ya!" by Outkast from the top position on the singles chart.

Following several plays on Irish radio by a former Australian DJ, requests for "What About Me" in Ireland skyrocketed, and due to public demand, the Australian pressing of the single was shipped to Ireland and the initial shipment sold out within the first week of sale, prompting a further larger shipment to be made soon after. "What About Me" spent almost 6-months on the Ireland Top fifty singles chart and peaked at number-two for two weeks.

[edit] Music video

A shot from the music video for "What About Me"
A shot from the music video for "What About Me"

The video, directed by Australian director Anthony Rose, was the second music video from Shannon Noll. Set and filmed over two 38+ degree days in Shannon's home town of Condobolin, NSW, the video is essentially a snapshot of outback Australia and depicts Shannon's life in the small country town. The extras in the video for "What About Me" are all local Condobolin residents, including Shannon's two brothers. The music video was later popularly parodied by comedian Rove McManus on his television show "Rove Live".

[edit] Track listing

  1. "What About Me"
  2. "What About Me" (sterling remix)
  3. "The Way That I Feel"

[edit] Charts

[edit] Moving Pictures version

Chart (1982) Peak
Position
Australian ARIA Singles Chart 1
U.S. Billboard Pop Singles[2] 29
Chart (1989) Peak
Position
U.S. Billboard Hot 100[2] 46

[edit] Shannon Noll version

Chart (2004) Peak
Position
Australian ARIA Singles Chart 1
Ireland Singles Chart 2
New Zealand Singles Chart 10

[edit] References

  1. ^ "The Top 100 Pop Singles of 1983". 80sxchange.com. Retrieved April 7, 2007.
  2. ^ a b "Moving Pictures - Artist Chart History". All Music Guide. Retrieved April 7, 2007.


Preceded by
"Centerfold" by J. Geils Band		 Australian Kent Music Report number one single
(Moving Pictures version)
March 22, 1982 - April 26, 1982		 Succeeded by
"I Love Rock 'n' Roll" by Joan Jett and the Blackhearts
Preceded by
"Hey Ya!" by Outkast		 Australian ARIA Singles Chart number-one single
(Shannon Noll version)
February 1, 2004 - February 22, 2004		 Succeeded by
"All I Need Is You" by Guy Sebastian


v • d • e
Shannon Noll
Albums
Singles
"What About Me" • "Drive" • "Learn to Fly" • "C'mon Aussie C'mon" • "Shine" • "Lift" • "Now I Run" • "Lonely" • "Don't Give Up" • "Loud" • "In Pieces" "Everybody Needs a Little Help"
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