| "Wouldn't It Be Good" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by Nik Kershaw | ||||
| from the album Human Racing | ||||
| B-side | "Monkey Business" | |||
| Released | 21 January 1984 | |||
| Format | 7", 12" | |||
| Genre | Synthpop, Rock, New Wave | |||
| Length | 4:32 | |||
| Label | MCA | |||
| Writer(s) | Nik Kershaw | |||
| Producer | Peter Collins | |||
| Nik Kershaw singles chronology | ||||
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"Wouldn't It Be Good" is a song written and recorded by singer Nik Kershaw for his 1984 studio album Human Racing. The song has been covered by numerous artists since, including Placebo, Danny Hutton Hitters, Cascada, and Soulwax.
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The second single from Kershaw's debut solo album Human Racing, it was among his more popular singles spending three weeks at #4 in the UK charts and becoming a hit throughout Europe. It is also the song with which he is most closely associated in the U.S., where it narrowly missed going Top 40. Kershaw performed this song at Live Aid in London's Wembley Stadium, in July 1985. The lyrics are apparently inspired by the "the grass is always greener on the other side" saying.
Kershaw's prior single, his debut, had failed to be a major hit, and it was on the strength of this record's success that the earlier single, "I Won't Let the Sun Go Down on Me", was promoted for a re-release. This time the single went all the way to #2 in the UK, becoming his highest-charting single there to date.
"Wouldn't It Be Good" was released in a single version and an extended 12" version. The main synth tune was produced using a combination of PPG Wave 2.2 and a Yamaha DX7.[1] A remix by Simon Boswell, clocking in at 7:20, appears on the album Retro:Active 4: Rare & Remixed.
Nik Kershaw's "Wouldn't It Be Good" plays in the background of a scene from Gotcha!, an action film released in 1985. It also features in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories on the radio station "Flash FM" set in 1984 in a metropolitan area patterned after Miami, Florida. The song was also featured in two Ricky Gervais projects, Episode 6 Season 2 of the British TV comedy "Extras" and the "Living With Ricky" special feature on his DVD Politics.
In 2009, VH1 listed the song as #88 among their 100 Greatest One-Hit Wonders of the '80s. It also appeared on the "Pretty in Pink" soundtrack.
| Country | Certification | Date | Sales certified |
|---|---|---|---|
| UK[2] | Silver | March 1, 1984 | 200,000 |
| Chart (1984–1985) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Austrian Singles Chart[3] | 12 |
| Canadian RPM Singles Chart[4] | 9 |
| Dutch Mega Top 100[3] | 32 |
| French SNEP Singles Chart[3] | 35 |
| German Singles Chart[5] | 2 |
| Irish Singles Chart[6] | 2 |
| Norwegian Singles Chart[3] | 6 |
| Swiss Singles Chart[3] | 3 |
| UK Singles Chart[7] | 4 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100[8] | 46 |
This song was first covered by Danny Hutton's Hitters for the 1986 John Hughes film Pretty in Pink, starring Molly Ringwald. This song was also covered by American girl group She Moves on their 1997 debut album Breaking All The Rules. A Eurotrance group called Pure Pressure also covered the song in a 2002 release by the Zeitgeist label. In 2002, the song was covered by the second season finalists of the French Star Academy program on the album Star Academy fait sa boum, sung by Nolwenn Leroy and Georges-Alain Jones. In 2008, a version by Tina Arena was released on the album Songs of Love & Loss 2. Alternative rock band Placebo features a cover as the B-side to their June 2009 single "For What It's Worth".
Soulwax covered "Wouldn't It Be Good" on their album Much Against Everyone's Advice in 1997.
German singer Juliane Werding covered the song with a German text in 1984.[9]
German gothic rock act ASP released a cover of the song as a bonus track on the deluxe edition of their 2011 album Fremd.
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