Songoftheday 5/25/18 - I'm keepin' my heart open and hopin' you won't stab me in it, 'cause I've been in love before and when I had to pay I didn't...

"The Best Things In Life Are Free" - Luther Vandross and Janet Jackson featuring Bell Biv Devoe and Ralph Tresvant
from the albums Mo' Money (Original Soundtrack) (1992) and Design Of A Decade 1986-1996 (Janet Jackson, 1995)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #10 (three weeks)
Weeks in the Top-40: 18

Today's song of the day was another production of ex-Time musicians Jimmy "Jam" Harris and Terry Lewis, who had guided the career of Janet Jackson through two massive albums. Their "boutique" label, Perspective Records, was commissioned to release the soundtrack to the Damon Wayans movie Mo' Money in 1992. For it's lead single, it was only natural that they went to Janet for her first major film contribution, pairing her up with soul/disco singer Luther Vandross for the jam "The Best Things In Life Are Free". With a new jack-inspired dance beat that sounds plucked from her Rhythm Nation 1814 album, which spun off eight top-5 pop radio hits including the #1's "Miss You Much", "Escapade", "Black Cat", and "Love Will Never Do (Without You)", it also gave a new audience for Luther, who was coming off his most success album Power Of Love which scored two top ten pop hits with "Power Of Love/Love Power" and "Don't Want To Be A Fool", but places him with the next decade sound of new jack swing acts. Adding to the mix with a rap interlude is 4/5 of the at-the-time lineup of New Edition, with Bell Biv Devoe throwing verse and Ralph Tresvant whispering a line in there. The music video, though, has none of them, but rather the cast of the movie itself...

"The Best Things In Life Are Free" became Luther's fourth and Janet's fourteenth top ten pop hit in the U.S. in June of 1992. The single topped Billboard's R&B chart for a week, The original remixes from Jam and Lewis as well as CJ Mackintosh helped it climb to #3 on their Dance Club Play tally as well. Internationally, the single spent two weeks at #2 in the UK, and reached the top ten in Australia (#2), Ireland (#6), New Zealand (#6), Canada (#8), and Germany (#8). Jackson and Vandross were nominated for a Grammy for Best R&B Duo/Group performance for the song in 1993, losing out (like yesterday's SOTD, Mariah Carey's "I'll Be There") to Boyz II Men's "End Of The Road".

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Here's the CJ Mackintosh remix that helped the song to #3 on the Dance Chart...

In 1995, for Janet's retrospective Design Of A Decade, the single was re-issued with new remixes, and returned to the charts in the UK, climbing all the way to #7...

Up tomorrow: Latin freestyle group needs some special treatment.