Songoftheday 1/17/14 - I don't know when to start or when to stop, my luck's like a button I can't stop pushing it...

General Public - "Tenderness"
from the album All The Rage (1984)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #27 (one week)
Weeks in the Top-40: 5

Today's Song of the Day is by the British ska/pop band General Public, who came together under two former members of the (English) Beat, a legendary ska and "2 Tone" music group that had three top ten albums and five top-ten singles in the UK in the early 80s. While members David Steele and Andy Cox would go on to form Fine Young Cannibals, "Ranking" Roger (Charlery) and Dave Wakeling put together General Public with a bunch of musicians from other bands, including Mick Jones from the Clash for a brief time. They released their first album, All The Rage, in 1984, and the song named for the band, "General Public", was a minor hit at #60 in the UK. But there infectious hook-filled follow-up, "Tenderness", broke them well in the States, especially after being featured in movies like Sixteen Candles and Weird Science. This is pure pop perfection, written by the entire band...

"Tenderness" became General Public's first American top-40 hit in February of 1985, while also reaching #39 on the rock radio chart in Billboard. Meanwhile in their native England the song surprisingly stiffed, stalling at #95, though almost making the top-10 in Canada at #11...

They would continue to have a few more dance hits in the 80s (like the classic "Never You Done That"), but wouldn't show back on the pop chart for a decade...

(Click below to see the rest of the post)


The original video clip for "Tenderness" showed a scantily-clad Wakeling and Roger chilling poolside...

Up tomorrow: Zep swings again to ring in the new day.