Songoftheday 4/30/16 - Don't get me wrong I'm really not zooped, ego trips is not my thing...

"My Prerogative" - Bobby Brown
from the album Don't Be Cruel (1988)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #1 (one week)
Weeks in the Top-40: 15

Today's song of the day comes from Bobby Brown, who left the R&B "boy-band" New Edition in the mid-80s to start a solo career. While his first album didn't get as much notice as probably as hope in the pop radio market, his second, Don't Be Cruel, had gotten off to a much better start, with the title track racing to the top-10 in America. The follow-up single, however, would end up being his best-known and biggest single to date.

"My Prerogative", written by Brown with producer Gene Griffin, was a late addition to the album, and answered the attacks on the singer for his wild ways and for leaving/getting kicked out of his former act. With a slinky beat helped along by new jack swing master Teddy Riley of Guy, the synth-pop gem was the first non-carryover #1 of 1989...

"My Prerogative" went to #1 on the American pop chart in January of 1989, while leading for two weeks on Billboard's R&B chart the previous October. The extended remix single was his first solo club hit, climbing to #7 on their Dance Club Play chart. Internationally, the record made the top ten in the UK (#6), Ireland (#9), the Netherlands (#7), New Zealand (#3), peaked at #15 in Germany, and stopped at #40 in Australia. He would be nominated for a Grammy for Urban Contemporary (read: "new" R&B) single.

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Here's Bobby performing the song live on the Arsenio Hall show...

In 2004, Britney Spears also addressed a rather tumultuous era in her life by covering the song for her greatest hits album. The result made it to #22 on the American Mainstream top-40 radio chart, while reaching the top-10 all over the world, including #1 in Ireland and #3 in the UK and Germany...

...and lastly, a ten-minute throwdown of "My Prerogative" from his tour with New Edition in 1989...

Up tomorrow: Rock chicks come indoors.