Songoftheday 3/26/17 - I've been walking in the rain just to get wet on purpose, I've been forcing myself not to forget just to feel worse...

"Getting Away With It" - Electronic
from the album Electronic (1991)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #38 (one week)
Weeks in the Top-40: 2

Today's song of the day comes from Electronic, a new-wave "supergroup" led by New Order lead singer Bernard Sumner and the guitarist from the Smiths, Johnny Marr. With the Pet Shop Boys' Neil Tennant also on board, as well as ABC drummer David Palmer, the band recorded a one-off single, "Getting Away With It". Written and produced by Sumner, Marr, and Tennant, and with the Art of Noise's Anne Dudley arranging the lush string section behind the dance track, this was probably the first all-star collaboration I remembered being really excited about on its initial release...

"Getting Away With It" became the collective's sole pop hit in the U.S., reaching the top-40 in May of 1990. The single also climbed to #4 on Billboard's Modern Rock radio chart, while the 12" remixes went to #7 on their Dance Club Play list. Internationally, in the members' native Britain, the single climbed to #12, while reaching the top-40 in New Zealand (#32), Canada (#33), and Australia (#40).

They followed up with a proper album the following year, and although the next single "Get The Message" missed the American pop chart, it spent two weeks at #1 on the Modern Rock list (not surprising with its more organic production), and a second dance top tenner at #8. It also was their first UK top ten at #8, and first top-40 hit in Germany at #37. That was followed in the States by "Tighten Up", which peaked at #6 on the Modern Rock chart, and then "Feel Every Beat", which made the top-40 on the American modern rock (#27) and dance (#28) charts and #39 in the UK.

In 1992 the trio contributed a track to the animated movie Cool World, and the result, "Disappointed", became their biggest British hit at #6, and returned them to the top ten in the American modern rock (#9) and dance (#10) charts. It was also my favorite of their career together. After that, the three went to work on projects from New Order, The The, and Pet Shop Boys, and in 1996 Sumner and Marr reunited for a second album, Raise The Pressure. Although the album made the U.S. charts, radio didn't bite, though in Britain they landed three more top-40 hits, with "Forbidden City" going the highest at #14. A third set, Twisted Tenderness, arrived in 1999, with their most recent British top-40 single in "Vivid" (#17).

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Here's the alternate version of the video featuring Sumner, Marr, and Tennant in a studio setting, though shots were used for the main clip...