Songoftheday 7/22/15 - Woke up this morning closed in on all sides, nothing doing...

"Living In A Box" - Living In A Box
from the album Living In A Box (1987)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #17 (two weeks)
Weeks in the Top-40: 7

Today's SOTD comes from the British new-wave trio Living In A Box, who came together in the blue-collar city of Sheffield in the mid-80s with lead singer Richard D'arbyshire leading the group. Their debut single, named for the band itself, was a frenetic dance number that rode on its wall of synth hooks, not surprising since the song was co-written by keyboardist member Marcus Vere...

"Living In A Box" became the band's sole top-40 hit in America, landing in the top-20 in August of 1987. The 12" remix went all the way to #6 on the Dance Club Play chart in Billboard, and even crossed over to its R&B chart at #74. Internationally, besides scaling to #5 on the British chart, the single reached the top-10 in Ireland, Germany, Italy, Norway, and Switzerland, the latter stopping one notch short of the top at #2.




The band teamed up with soul veteran Bobby Womack for the followup single, "So The Story Goes", which was a minor hit in the US, while another cut from the debut album, "Love Is The Art", peaked at #12 on the Dance Club Play chart here.  They released a second album, Gatecrashing, in 1989, and went top-10 in the UK twice with "Room In Your Heart" (#5) and "Blow The House Down" (#10), only the latter nicked any American list as it went to #19 on the club chart. They wouldn't make it to their third release, with D'Arbyshire starting a short-lived solo career before concentrating on songwriting.

(Click below to see the rest of the post)


Here's a better-sounding clip of the trio miming the song on TV promoting the track...

...while this is the 12" remix that made the top-10 on the dance chart...

Bobby Womack, who worked with the band on the single version of "So The Story Goes", covered this song as well, making it to #70 on the British singles chart later in 1987...

Up tomorrow: Another new wave act wants to be mesmerized.