Songoftheday 6/24/17 - It's hard to tell you how I feel without hurting you, so try to think about yourself the way that I see you...
from the album Goddess (1990)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #14 (one week)
Weeks in the Top-40: 9
Today's song of the day comes from the British alternative-dance act Soho, who came together in the late 1980s with songwriter/musician Tim Brinkhurst (aka Timothy London) and sisters Jacqui and Pauline Cuff. In 1988, their debut single "Piece Of You", a slice of techno/HI-NRG that was a minor hit in the UK at #80. A year later, the trio re-emerged with their sophomore effort, Goddess, which featured a single that would sport one of the most left-field of samples. "Hippychick", written by Brinkhurst, had as its foundation the instrumental break from the classic "How Soon Is Now?" emo-rock titans the Smiths. That original was that band's best-known song, with a trippy beat that enraptured the youth of Britain and America in 1985, with lyrics about a politically active girl telling her cop boyfriend that she's more that a peace-sign-giving stoner...
"Hippychick" added a trip-hop beat to the mix, and lyrics actually eschewing the notion that the girls are such "hippies"...
"Hippychick" became Soho's first and only top-40 pop hit in America in November of 1990. The single also climbed to #11 on Bilboard's Modern Rock radio chart, while the remixes on the 12"/CD single helped the record up to #2 for two weeks on their Dance Club Play list. Internationally, the record was a top-40 hit in New Zealand (#7) and Australia (#21); in their native Britain, it was a minor hit at first at #67, but in 1991 after its American success, "Hippycheck" re-entered the UK charts and ended up spending a couple weeks at #8.
The trio's next single in America from Goddess, the tribal funk of "Freaky", got to #32 on the Billboard dance chart, while overseas, the more mod rock "Love Generation" peaked at #85 in Britain. In 1991, they appeared on a spaced-out cover of the disco nugget "Born To Be Alive!" by DJ/dance artist Adamski, which climbed to #51. They would go on to record a handful more albums, but nothing since had taken ahold of the mainstream.
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Here's Soho appearing on Joan Rivers' late night show to promote the single...
And next up, one of the mixes that got the record to #2 on the Dance chart, the "Never Trust A Hippy Mix"...
Finally, Soho live on stage with a full band...
Up tomorrow: Seattle sisters are stood up.
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