Songoftheday 1/17/15 - All I want's a friend and you want mine and you've been around for a long long time...

"Point Of No Return" - Nu Shooz
from the album Poolside (1986)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #28 (one week)
Weeks in the Top-40: 8

Today's song of the day comes from the dance-pop duo from Portland, Nu Shooz, whose club classic "I Can't Wait" landed them a top-3 pop hit in the summer of 1986. Their second single was a similar synth-driven mid-tempo number called "Point Of No Return", which also conquered the dancefloor before it took over radio. Written by members John Smith and Valerie Day, the single was mixed by local hero Shep Pettibone...

"Point Of No Return" became Nu Shooz's second top-40 pop hit in October of 1986, while climbing all the way to #1 on Billboard's Dance Club Play chart a month earlier. The single also crossed over to #36 on the R&B chart as well. Internationally the record made the top-40 in Canada, Germany, Switzerland, and New Zealand, while skirting around the halfway mark at #48 on the British singles chart. They also were nominated for a Grammy for Best New Artist in 1987 (Bruce Hornsby won that year).

It would be the pair's final time in the pop top-40, as their sophomore album's first single, "Should I Say Yes", stopped one rung short of that level in 1988. A second single, "Are You Looking For Something Nu?", made it to #2 on the dance chart, but that would be their most recent hit.

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Here's the chart-topping "Vocal Special Mix" from the 12" record (which I still own)..

and an actual live TV performance (yes, really) in 1986 on the Rock And Roll Evening News...

Up tomorrow: my 1000th Song of the Day. Can you believe it? I can't.