She's So Unusual

She's So Unusual
Studio album by Cyndi Lauper
Released	October 14, 1983
Recorded	Summer 1983 Record Plant (New York City, New York)[1]
Genre	New wave, pop rock
Length	38:42
Label	Portrait
Producer	Rick Chertoff, William Wittman, Cyndi Lauper
Cyndi Lauper chronology
She's So Unusual (1983) True Colors (1986)
Singles from She's So Unusual
"Girls Just Want to Have Fun" Released: September 6, 1983 "Time After Time" Released: January 27, 1984 "She Bop" Released: July 2, 1984 "All Through the Night" Released: September 1984 "Money Changes Everything" Released: July 20, 1984 "I'll Kiss You" Released: August 11, 1984 (U.S. promo-only) "When You Were Mine" Released: January 31, 1985

She's So Unusual is the debut album by American recording artist Cyndi Lauper, released in 1983 by Portrait Records. The album catapulted Lauper to stardom with such hits as "Girls Just Want to Have Fun", "Time After Time", "She Bop", "All Through the Night", and "Money Changes Everything". All five singles reached the top thirty of the Billboard Hot 100, with the first four becoming Top 5 hits. Lauper thus became the first female singer to have four top five singles on the Hot 100 from one album.^[2]

Upon its release, the album received generally positive reviews from music critics. The album earned Lauper several awards and accolades, including two Grammy Awards at the 27th Grammy Awards, one of which was for Best New Artist. She's So Unusual peaked at number four on the Billboard 200 chart and stayed in the chart's top forty for sixty-five weeks. It has sold over 6 million copies in the United States and 22 million copies worldwide. This makes it Lauper's best-selling album to date and one of the best-selling albums of the 1980s decade.^[3][4][5] The album was the second best-selling album in Canada by a female artist in 1980s, behind, Whitney Houston's self titled debut album, selling more than 900,000 copies.^[6]

The album ranked at #487 on Rolling Stone's list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time in 2003. The album ranked at #41 on Rolling Stone's list of Women Who Rock: The 50 Greatest Albums of All Time in 2012.^[7]

Background

When Lauper was a member of the group Blue Angel, many entrepreneurs in the music industry and many critics noted her musical talent. Invitations poured in to record a solo album, and this invitation was accepted in 1982 after Blue Angel failed to achieve commercial success.

The whole album was recorded at Record Plant in New York in the summer of 1983. The album was produced by Rick Chertoff and William Wittman.

Artwork

The front cover of She's So Unusual was photographed on Henderson Walk (a little alley one block east of Stillwell Avenue between Surf Avenue and Bowery Street) in Coney Island, New York in the summer of 1983. Lauper is depicted wearing a vintage red prom-style dress that she claimed to have purchased at the vintage clothing shop where she used to work, Screaming Mimi's. She is also seen holding a bouquet of flowers which were purchased from a vendor on the boardwalk at the time of the shoot. Lauper is also wearing fishnet stockings and heavy costume jewelry on her ears, arms, neck and her right ankle. She is barefoot, with the exception of the fishnet stockings, and her red high-heels appear to have been taken off in front of her as they lay on their sides at the bottom of the photo. The beach umbrella was used for other shots taken on the beach as well as the boardwalk. It is just featured laying open behind Lauper on the cover photo but can be seen being held by Lauper in the additional shots. The cover-shot was captured in front of the wax museum, The World In Wax Musee. It can be seen behind Lauper that the museum had been closed for some time and at the time of closure was featuring a wax statue of Puerto Rican baseball great Roberto Clemente. The wooden awning above the doorway with the two blue panels read the name of the museum. The first panel read "The World" and second panel read "In Wax". This was airbrushed out of the photograph for unknown reasons. The cover won cover designer Janet Perr the Grammy Award for Best Recording Package in 1985.

The back cover is a photograph of the bottoms of a pair of white dress shoes with yellow socks. The bottoms of both shoes have been painted to depict a loose version of Van Gogh's painting Starry Night. In the background you can see the famous Parachute Jump located at Coney Island.

Singles

The lead single from the album was "Girls Just Want to Have Fun", released on September 6, 1983. This single achieved great success in the United States with its music video in heavy rotation on several stations, and it eventually peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100. It remained on the chart for 50 weeks and received Platinum certification from the RIAA for 2,000,000 copies sold. The single was a success internationally as well, reaching the top ten in 19 countries and number one in 10 countries, including; Australia, Canada, Ireland, Japan, New Zealand, Brazil and Norway.

The second single from the album was "Time After Time", released on January 27, 1984. It repeated the success of the previous single and spent two consecutive weeks at number one on the Hot 100, eventually spending a total of 20 weeks on the chart and receiving Gold certification from the RIAA for 1,000,000 copies sold. Like the previous single, "Time After Time" was an international success and reached the top ten in 15 countries.

The third single from the album was "She Bop", released on July 2, 1984. This single reached number three on the Hot 100, becoming her third consecutive top five hit, and spent a total of 18 weeks on the chart. The single received Gold certification from the RIAA for sales of over 1,000,000 copies. The song was another international success for Lauper, reaching the top ten in 8 countries.

The fourth single from the album was "All Through the Night", released in September 1984. Like Lauper's previous three singles, "All Through The Night" reached the top five of the Hot 100 with a peak of number five. This marked the first time any female artist had earned four top five singles from one album. The song was a moderate international success, reaching the top ten in 2 countries.

The fifth single from the album was "Money Changes Everything", released on July 20, 1984. It was a moderate success and reached number #27 on the Hot 100, Lauper's first single to not reach the top ten. The song reached the top ten in two countries.

The sixth single from the album was "I'll Kiss You", released on August 11, 1984. It was released as a promotional single only (i.e. no physical single was issued), and as such, was ineligible to enter the Hot 100.

The seventh and final single from the album was "When You Were Mine", released on January 31, 1985 in Canada and Japan and as a promotional single in the United States. It achieved little success, reaching number #62 on the Canadian Singles Chart.

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[8]
Robert Christgau	A[9]
Rolling Stone	[10]
Slant Magazine	[11]

She's So Unusual debuted at number four on the Billboard 200 chart, due to the success of the album's first single on U.S. radio and intense display of its music video on MTV. In the weeks following, the album's sales remained stable thanks to the following four singles and Lauper's world tour and appearances on popular television and radio programs. Overall the album stayed 77 weeks on the Billboard 200. The album became one of the bestselling albums of 1984. It has since sold over 6 million copies in the United States, where it was certified six times platinum by the RIAA, which lists it as one of the Best Selling Albums of All Time. She's So Unusual has sold over 16 million copies worldwide.^{[citation needed]}

She's So Unusual was voted the eleventh best album of the year in The Village Voice's annual Pazz & Jop critics poll for 1984.^[12] In a retrospective review for Allmusic, music critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine called the album a "giddy mix of self-confidence, effervescent popcraft, unabashed sentimentality, subversiveness, and clever humor".^[8] Sal Cinquemani of Slant Magazine called it "a pop classic".^[11] Alternative Press said that, with "some fine tunes" and the CD reissue's three bonus tracks, the album "certainly bears another listen."^[13]

Accolades

She's So Unusual earned Lauper two Grammy awards out of six nominations at the 27th Grammy Awards.

She's So Unusual and its singles earned Lauper six Grammy Award nominations, including Album of the Year and ultimately winning the awards for Best Recording Package and Best New Artist. "Girls Just Want To Have Fun" was nominated for Record of the Year and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance, and "Time After Time" was nominated for Song of the Year. Lauper earned ten MTV Video Music Award nominations. "Girls Just Want To Have Fun" received six nominations including Video of the Year, and won for Best Female Video. "Time After Time" received three nominations and "She Bop" received one nomination. In 2002, the album was ranked number 41 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of 50 Essential "Women In Rock" Albums.^[14] In 2003, the album was ranked number 494 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.^[15] In 2012, Slant Magazine listed the album at #22 on its list of "Best Albums of the 1980s" saying "An absolutely peerless collection of profound pop jewels".^[16]

30th anniversary tour

2013 marks the 30th Anniversary of this record. To honor it and to thank her fans for the success they've brought on this record up until today, Lauper is embarking on a World Tour called the "She's So Unusual: 30th Anniversary Tour"

As part of the show, Lauper sings the entire track listing of the record in the order it appears on the CD whilst telling stories about the production of the record and her life at the time she recorded it.

Track listings

• "Right Track, Wrong Train" (Lauper, Ellie Greenwich, Jeff Kent) was recorded for the album but only appeared on the B-side of "Girls Just Want to Have Fun".^[17]
• "Irvine Meadows" live tracks recorded on the Fun Tour at Irvine Meadows Amphitheater, Laguna Hills, California, USA (22 September 1984).^[18]
• "Summer Sonic 07" live track recorded at Japan Summer Sonic Festival, either Osaka (11 August 2007) or Tokyo (12 August 2007).^[19]
• Tracks 11 to 13 are bonus tracks on the 2000 remastered version (and after)
• Tracks 11 to 14 are bonus tracks on the 2008 Japan remastered Mini-LP version^[20] (& 2013 re-issue of same).
• In 2013, the 2008 Japan remaster was reissued on BSCD2 format with the same 2008 tracklisting.^[21]

Personnel

• Cyndi Lauper – arranger, vocals, background vocals, reissue producer, cover art concept
• Jules Shear – backing vocals
• Ellie Greenwich – backing vocals
• John Agnello – engineer, assistant engineer
• Eric Bazilian – bass, guitar, arranger, saxophone, backing vocals, hooter
• Rick Chertoff – percussion, arranger, producer
• Krystal Davis – backing vocals
• Rick DiFonzo – guitar
• Anton Fig – percussion, drums
• Rob Hyman – arranger, keyboards, synthesizers, backing vocals, hooter (Melodica)
• John Jansen – engineer
• Neil Jason – bass, guitar
• George Marino – re-issue mastering
• Rod O'Brien – engineer
• Lennie Petze – producer, executive producer, reissue producer
• Maretha Stewart – backing vocals
• Richard Termini – synthesizer
• Diane Wilson – backing vocals
• William Wittman – guitar, producer, engineer, associate producer
• Peter Wood – synthesizer
• Dan Beck – product manager
• Amy Linden – liner notes
• Janet Perr – art direction, design, concept, cover art concept (Winner of 1985's Grammy Award for Best Recording Packaging that awards the visual look of an album)
• Justin Ware – hair stylist
• Annie Leibovitz – photography

Charts

Certifications

References

External links

• She's So Unusual (Adobe Flash) at Radio3Net (streamed copy where licensed)
• "She's So Unusual" at discogs.
• "Cyndi Lauper - She's So Unusual". CDUniverse.com. Product Detail.