She Bop

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"She Bop"
Single by Cyndi Lauper
from the album She's So Unusual
B-side "Witness"
Released July 2, 1984
Format Vinyl (12")
Vinyl (7")
3" CD
Recorded 1983 at Record Plant
(New York City, New York)
Genre New wave, rock
Length 3:38
Label Epic
Writer(s) Cyndi Lauper, Stephen Broughton Lunt, Gary Corbett, Rick Chertoff
Producer(s) Rick Chertoff
Certification Gold (RIAA)
Gold (Music Canada)
Cyndi Lauper singles chronology

"Time After Time"
(1984)		 "She Bop"
(1984)		 "All Through the Night"
(1984)

12" single cover
The cover for the 12" version of She-Bop. Artwork by Mark Marek

"She Bop" is a song by American singer Cyndi Lauper, released as the third single from her album She's So Unusual. It reached number three on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart in September 1984. Worldwide, the song is her most commercially successful single after "Time After Time", and reached number 46 on the UK Singles Chart and number 6 on the ARIA Singles Chart. "She Bop" was her third consecutive Top 5 on the Hot 100.

Song information

The song was considered controversial, as it dealt with the subject matter of masturbation. It was also included on the Parents Music Resource Center's "Filthy Fifteen" list, due to its sexual lyrics; this led to the creation of the Parental Advisory sticker. (Other songs on the "Filthy Fifteen" list included tracks by Madonna, Prince, and AC/DC.) In an interview on The Howard Stern Show, Lauper stated that she recorded the vocals of the song while nude.[1]

Lauper said she wanted little kids to think the song was about dancing, and to understand the real meaning as they got older. She never directly stated in the song what the meaning of the song was, so it could receive airplay.[citation needed]

The single has been released in over 32 variations across the world, the most common being a two track 7" vinyl single (with varying covers) and a two track 12" vinyl single (also with varying covers).

Lauper recorded a slow ballad version of the song for her album The Body Acoustic.

Lauper stated at a concert during her 2013 She's So Unusual anniversary tour that she recorded the song topless in a dark room and tickled herself under her arms which is why there is her laughter on the track.[2]

Chart performance

"She Bop" was released on July 2, 1984 and became a success. The single debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 at #52 in the issue dated July 21, 1984,[3] and spent a total of twenty-five weeks on the chart,[4] reaching a peak position of #3 in the issue dated September 8, 1984.[5] It was the third single from Lauper's debut album to make the top 10 of the Hot 100.[6] The single also reached number ten on the Hot Dance/Club Play Songs chart the week of September 15, 1984[7] and placed at 34 on the Billboard year-end chart of 1984.[8] On April 17, 1989, the song was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for the shipment of a million copies across United States.[9]

Music video

An accompanying music video aired heavily on MTV and featured Lauper as a quirky sexual liberator leading the brainwashed masses to their own liberation. (This was done in metaphor showing teenagers as fast-food consuming zombies.) There were many double entendres indicating the song's true meaning, including a magazine that Lauper is staring at titled "Beefcake" and other sexual meanings such as the "self-service" sign and three gas pumps with the signs Good, Better and Nirvana in the cartoon part of the video, the vibrating motorcycle, the "masterbingo" part of the video with "Uncle Siggy" Sigmund Freud as host, and Lauper wearing blackout glasses with a white cane in several scenes of the video. In fact, the video doesn't go as far as the lyrics, as the magazine referenced in the song ("...in the pages of a Blueboy magazine") was a popular gay erotica magazine of the time, whereas the magazine Lauper holds represents the tamer — and somewhat closeted — erotica of an earlier era. Nor did the lyrical reference come out of the blue: Lauper has stated that finding a copy of Blueboy lying around in the recording studio provided the impetus for writing "She Bop."[citation needed] The music video was directed by Edd Griles.[10] Mark Marek was in charge of the animated sections of this music video,[11] and the cover of the US 12" version.[12]

Official versions

US/UK 7" Single[13][14]

  1. "She Bop" – 3:38
  2. "Witness" – 3:38

US 12" Single[15]

  1. "She Bop" (Special Dance Mix) – 6:16
  2. "She Bop" (Instrumental) – 5:20

UK 12" Single[16]

  1. "She Bop" (Special Dance Mix) – 6:18
  2. "She Bop" (Instrumental) – 5:20
  3. "Witness" – 3:38

Cover versions

  • Indie band Francine recorded a cover of the song.
  • Greek band Matisse covered the song for their 2007 album Toys Up.
  • In July 2008 J-pop singer Nana Kitade covered "She Bop" for the album We Love Cyndi - Tribute to Cyndi Lauper.
  • Korean pop singer Wax (singer) sampled the song. Song is called Oppa.
  • Uzbek singer Vicki Vaka recorded her own rendition of the song in 1993.
  • American recording artist Unwoman recorded her own rendition of the song in 2011 for her album Uncovered Volume 1.

Charts and certifications

Charts

Chart (1984) Peak
position
Australian ARIA Singles Chart 6
Ö3 Austria Top 40 5
Canadian Singles Chart 5
Cash Box Top 100 Singles 3
French Singles Chart 34
German Singles Chart 19
German Airplay 10
Netherlands Singles Chart 34
Oricon Japan Hot 100 3
New Zealand RIANZ Singles Chart 6
Swedish Singles Chart 9
Swiss Singles Chart 10
UK Singles Chart 46
U.S. Billboard Hot 100[5] 3
U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Club Play[7] 10
U.S. Billboard Year-End[8] 34
Canada RPM Year-End 25

Certifications

Region Certification Sales/shipments
United States (RIAA)[9] Gold 1,000,000^
Canada (Music Canada)[17] Gold 50,000^

^shipments figures based on certification alone

Awards and nominations

Won
  • 1985 - BMI Awards for Pop Award
Nominations

References

  1. ↑ "Cyndi Lauper Biography". Monsters and Critics. 
  2. ↑ "Cyndi Lauper Speaks In 2013 Concert". 
  3. ↑ "The Billboard Hot 100 - Week of July 21, 1984". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media Inc. Retrieved 2011-05-02. 
  4. ↑ "She Bop - Cyndi Lauper". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media Inc. Retrieved 2011-05-02. 
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 "The Billboard Hot 100 - Week of September 08, 1984". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media Inc. Retrieved 2011-05-02. 
  6. ↑ Trust, Gary (2011-05-02). "Ke$ha 'Takes Off' with Fourth Top 10 from Debut Album". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. Retrieved 2011-05-02. 
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 "Hot Dance/Club Play Songs - Week of September 15, 1984". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media Inc. Retrieved 2011-05-02. 
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 "Billboard Hot 100 1984". Billboard (Nielsen Business Media, Inc) 96 (51). 1984-12-22. ISSN 0006-2510. 
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 "American single certifications – Cyndi Lauper – She Bop". Recording Industry Association of America.  If necessary, click Advanced, then click Format, then select Single, then click SEARCH
  10. ↑ http://www.mvdbase.com/video.php?id=16169
  11. ↑ http://www.toonzone.net/news/articles/35000/toonzone-goes-mad-interviewing-kevin-shinick-and-mark-marek
  12. ↑ http://www.discogs.com/Cyndi-Lauper-She-Bop/release/531814
  13. ↑ (US 7-inch Single liner notes). "She Bop". Cyndi Lauper. 37-04516.
  14. ↑ (UK 7-inch Single liner notes). "She Bop". Cyndi Lauper. A 4620.
  15. ↑ (US 12-inch Single liner notes). "She Bop". Cyndi Lauper. 4R9 05011.
  16. ↑ (UK 12-inch Single liner notes). "She Bop". Cyndi Lauper. TA 4620.
  17. ↑ "Canadian single certifications – Cyndi Lauper – She Bop". Music Canada. 

External links

Cyndi Lauper
Studio albums
Compilations
Tours
Films
Related articles
  • Book
  • Category
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