Robbed Hit of the Week 7/13/15 - Jody Watley's "Still A Thrill"...

"Still A Thrill" - Jody Watley
from the album Jody Watley (1987)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #56

This week's "robbed hit" comes from dance/pop singer Jody Watley, who broke free from the disco trio Shalamar to land a huge hit with "Looking For A New Love", eventually landing the Grammy for Best New Artist. The second single from the album, "Still A Thrill", built upon the groove of "Looking...", and was in my humble opinion the best track on the entire record. Co-written with future husband Andre Cymone, it looked like it would repeat the success, especially with a music video that had the best dancing she's ever done...

While "Still A Thrill" climbed all the way into the top-10 on both the R&B (#3) and Dance Club Play (#8) charts in Billboard, the song failed to even make the top half of the pop chart, peaking at #56 and spending only seven weeks on the chart. I don't know if it was the low register that mainstream pop radio programmers were afraid of, or the prominent Prince-like funk guitar and bass that dominated the track, but records like this are truly what I came up with this "robbed hit" series for. But luckily, there was a horde of awesome material on the album, and she'd have another pair of top-10 pop hits in no time.

(Click below to see the rest of the post)

Here's the extended version with more "vogueing" (yes, before Madonna did it) from dancer Tyrone Procter...