Everybody Have Fun Tonight

"Everybody Have Fun Tonight" is a song performed by the new wave group Wang Chung, released as a single from their album Mosaic in 1986. Collaboratively written by Jack Hues, Nick Feldman, and Peter Wolf, it reached #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, behind "Walk Like an Egyptian" by The Bangles. It also hit #1 on the Canada RPM Top 100 Singles chart the week of January 17, 1987.

After their breakup in 1991, Wang Chung reunited in 2005 to perform this song on the television show Hit Me Baby One More Time.

The song is featured on numerous 1980s compilation albums and still receives some radio airplay across the United States.

It has appeared in the "#2s" episode of VH1 Classic's One Hit Wonders series, even though the band had one more top 10 single, "Let's Go", in April 1987.

Track listing

7": Geffen / 7-28562 (USA)

"Everybody Have Fun Tonight (edit)"
"Fun Tonight: The Early Years"

7": Geffen / GEF 13F (UK)

Side One

"Everybody Have Fun Tonight (edit)"
"Fun Tonight: The Early Years"

Side Two

"Dance Hall Days"
"Don't Let Go"

7": Geffen / P-2193 (JPN)

"Everybody Have Fun Tonight (edit)"
"Fun Tonight: The Early Years"

12": Geffen / 0-20551 (USA) and TA 2589 (UK)

Side One

"Everybody Have Fun Tonight (12 Inches of Fun)" - 6:45
"Everybody Have Fun Tonight (edit)" - 3:59*

Side Two

"Everybody Dub Tonight" - 6:02*
"Fun Tonight: The Early Years" - 4:12

*times as indicated on record label (not actual)

12" (Promo): Geffen / PRO-A-2581 (USA)

Side One

"Everybody Have Fun Tonight (Edit)" - 3:59

Side Two

"Everybody Have Fun Tonight (LP Version)" - 4:47

Music video

Wang Chung in the original music video for "Everybody Have Fun Tonight".

The song's iconic music video, directed by Godley & Creme, featured scenes of the band playing in a wood-lined room with very rapid editing between different takes of the same performance, giving an appearance similar to flip book-style animation. Wang Chung, additional musicians and dancers are seen in several formations throughout the video, including in close portrait and seated along a row of chairs, the seating arrangement of which was changed with each take. The video was reportedly banned from some TV stations out of fear that the stop-motion filming style would cause epileptic seizures.

A second version of the video was made featuring hundreds of seemingly random photographs flashed in very fast succession. It was the original video that was reworked after reports of seizures surfaced.

Charts

Chart (1986/87)	Peak position
UK Singles Chart	76
Canada RPM Top 100 Singles	1
US Billboard Hot 100	2
US Billboard Hot Dance Club Songs	4
US Billboard Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks	25

Year-end charts

Chart (1987)	Position
US Billboard Hot 100	12

Cover versions

In one episode of Kids Incorporated, the song was sung by the gang at the "Rock in the New Year" special in December 1986. This was during the same time that the song peaked at #2 on the U.S. Hot 100.
In the Alvin and the Chipmunks episode "Big Dreams", The Chipmunks sing a version of this song.
A cover of the song was used in a Papa John's commercial to celebrate the restaurant's 25th anniversary, which first aired during the 2008 PapaJohns.com Bowl.
A cover of the song was used in the opening number of Miss USA 1987 pageant in New Mexico in 1987.

Appearances/references in other media

On VH1's 100 Greatest Songs of the 80's, the song ranked #99.
On season 7, episode 9 of the U.S. TV series Whose Line Is It Anyway, Ryan uses the line "Everybody Wang Chung tonight!" in a game of "Whose Line".
In the Beavis and Butthead episode "Customers Suck", the song's music video is played and mocked.
"Everybody Wang Chung Tonight" was featured as the subject of "The Evolution of the Hip, Ironic Catchphrase" in a Tom the Dancing Bug cartoon in 1998.
In the infamous 1988 B-movie Hobgoblins, Daphne sings the song's chorus with the words "Everybody have sex tonight". In the MST3K episode, Tom Servo replies with "Everybody throw up tonight" and Crow remarks that "Ironically no one in the band Wang Chung had sex that night".
In the Cheers episode "To All the Girls I've Loved Before", when Frasier Crane enters the bar for his bachelor party and says he just heard a great song on the radio which said "Everybody have fun tonight, everybody Wang Chung tonight."
The song was played in the 1987 comedy film Like Father Like Son, starring Kirk Cameron and Dudley Moore.
Anheuser-Busch used the song in a 1988 television commercial for Michelob, using the slogan "The night belongs to Michelob".
In the late 1980s, the Winnipeg Jets used this song (with the lyrics changed to "Everybody wear white tonight") as part of their Winnipeg White Out tradition during NHL home playoff games.
In the 2001 comedy Out Cold, Zach Galifianakis's character Luke says, "That's my motto: 'No regrets.' That, and 'everybody Wang Chung tonight'." The song is also featured in the film.
In the fourth season's opener of That 70s Show, Eric Foreman finds himself in a possible future without Donna ("It's a Wonderful Life") where Fez is performing "Everybody Have Fun Tonight" while playing on an electronic keyboard.
In the Angel episode "Dear Boy", the character Angel sings the song in a demon karaoke bar.
In the film 13 Going on 30, Jennifer Garner's character Jenna says, "Everybody Wang Chung tonight!" during a party.
In the pilot episode of What I Like About You, Val attempts to dance to this song while Holly and Jeff watch, unamused.
In the Disney Channel movie Wendy Wu: Homecoming Warrior, when Wendy's mother laments about not fully understanding Chinese history and culture, Wendy's father mentions that "Everybody Wang Chung Tonight was about as cultural as we got."
In the Veronica Mars episode "Ruskie Business", Logan Echolls says: "Come on, everyone, let's Wang Chung tonight! What? Everybody Wang Chung tonight! Wang Chung or I'll kick your ass!" while drunk at an 80's themed party.
In the Futurama episode "A Tale of Two Santas", Leela uses the phrase "This wangs chung!" as a statement of irritation.
The song plays in the background during the dance scene in the episode "Shock and Aww" of Arrested Development.
In the How I Met Your Mother episode "Purple Giraffe", Marshall Eriksen says "Everybody had fun. Everybody wanged, everybody chunged" when discussing a party.
Last song played every night before blink-182 took the stage on their Summer 2009 reunion tour.
In 2011 movie Take Me Home Tonight, Tori Frederking (Teresa Palmer) remarks "I love this song!" to try to get Matt Franklin (Topher Grace) to dance as it comes on at a party.
In the 2011 movie Fred 2: Night of the Living Fred, Fred's archenemy, Kevin, plays the song on the piano while singing.
In 2012 it was used in a Poptarts commercial.
In 2012 it was used in a Progressive Insurance commercial featuring Flo.
The song is one of the songs played at the reunion in Romy and Michele's High School Reunion.
In the 2013 video game Ratchet & Clank: Into the Nexus, the song is played when a henchman of villain Neftin Prog attempts to fire their ship's weapons but pushes the wrong button by mistake.
In the 2013 video game trailer for the Game of the Year edition of Borderlands 2, the song is played during almost all the video.
ABC Sports used a modified version to promote their ABC Sports lineup in 1987.^[1] as "ABC Sports; Reaching New Heights".

References

↑ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X46Rnpb9l6s

External links

[ Chart Trajectory Information]
[ Page for Everybody Have Fun Tonight Singles]

Wang Chung

Jack Hues Nick Feldman Darren Costin David Burnand

Studio albums	Huang Chung Points on the Curve To Live and Die in L.A. Mosaic The Warmer Side of Cool Abducted by the 80s Tazer Up!

Compilations	Everybody Wang Chung Tonight: Wang Chung's Greatest Hits 20th Century Masters - The Millennium Collection: The Best of Wang Chung

Singles	"Hold Back the Tears" "Ti Na Na" "China" "Dance Hall Days" "Don't Let Go" "Don't Be My Enemy" "Wait" "To Live and Die in L.A." "Everybody Have Fun Tonight" "Let's Go!" "Hypnotize Me" "Praying to a New God"

Related articles	Discography Of Hands and Hearts: Music for the Tsunami Disaster Fund