Songoftheday 1/30/16 - Something's coming over me I'm so dizzy I can't see, can't make out the forest for the trees...

"Rush Hour" - Jane Wiedlin
from the album Fur (1988)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #9 (one week)
Weeks in the Top-40: 10

Today's song of the day comes from Jane Wiedlin, who with Belinda Carlisle was a part of the all-female rock band the Go-Go's. While she was still with the group, she guested on the alt-band Sparks' "Cool Places", which went to #49 on the American pop chart and #13 dance. After they broke up in 1984, Wiedlin released her self-titled first solo album the year after. But while Belinda's first, "Mad About You" reached the top-3, Jane's lead single "Blue Kiss" sputtered out at #77 (though it was her sole solo dance hit at #30). Three years later, she put out her second record, Fur. The first release from the disc, "Rush Hour", was written by Wiedlin with Peter Rafelson and produced by Stephen Hague (New Order), but sounded like it was taken off a Go-Go's album, which certainly helped it with mainstream radio...

"Rush Hour" became Jane's sole top-40 pop hit so far, reaching the top-10 in July of 1988. Internationally, the song climbed to #12 in the UK, #8 in Ireland, and #31 in New Zealand.

Jane's second single from Fur, "Inside A Dream", was a minor pop hit in the US (#57) and the UK (#64). In 1990, her third solo release, Tangled came out to little notice even though the first single, "World On Fire", was among her best work in or out of the Go-Go's. Ten years later, the same time she released her most recent solo disc, Kissproof World, Wiedlin reunited with the Go-Go's where she's been touring and recording since. In 2005, she was involved with the VH1 TV show The Surreal Life, an American copy-cat of Celebrity Big Brother (without the eliminations).

(Click below to see the rest of the post)


...and here's a TV performance I'll include because the audio quality is much better...

In 2007, the song was remixed by SJB and released to the clubs yet again...

Up tomorrow: An 'airy' band has their paws to the skies.