"Shattered Dreams" is a song by English musical group

Johnny Hates Jazz Johnny Hates Jazz are a British band, currently consisting of Clark Datchler (songwriter, vocalist, keyboards) and Mike Nocito (guitarist, bassist, producer, engineer). In April 1987, they achieved international success with their first hit s ...

from their debut studio album, '' Turn Back the Clock'' (1988). Written by the band's lead singer

Clark Datchler Clark Wynford Datchler (born 27 March 1964) is an English singer-songwriter and record producer. He first rose to fame in 1987 as the lead singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist in the pop band Johnny Hates Jazz. Early career Born in 1964 ...

, the song was released in March 1987 as the album's lead single. "Shattered Dreams" entered the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

at number 92 and gained popularity through extensive radio play and video rotation on

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

, eventually peaking at number five in May 1987 and spending three weeks at that position. It also reached the top 10 in Canada, Ireland, Norway, Switzerland, and West Germany. In the United States, the song was released with an alternative music video shot entirely in

black and white Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white in a continuous spectrum, producing a range of shades of grey. Media The history of various visual media began with black and white, and as technology improved, altered to color. ...

and directed by

David Fincher David Andrew Leo Fincher (born August 28, 1962) is an American film director. His films, mostly psychological thrillers and biographical dramas, have received 40 nominations at the Academy Awards, including three for him as Best Director. Fin ...

, which Datchler preferred. The single topped ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

''s

Adult Contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quie ...

chart for one week and peaked at number two for three non-consecutive weeks on the ''Billboard''

Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), radio play, and online streaming ...

and the group would soon part, and Datchler released an acoustic version of the song as a track on his 1990 Virgin solo single "Crown of Thorns". He later re-recorded a slower version on his 2007 album ''Tomorrow''. The song has been covered by

boyband A boy band is loosely defined as a vocal group consisting of young male singers, usually in their teenage years or in their twenties at the time of formation. Generally, boy bands perform love songs marketed towards girls and young women. Many ...

Ultra adopted by British military intelligence in June 1941 for wartime signals intelligence obtained by breaking high-level encrypted enemy radio and teleprinter communications at the Government Code and Cypher School (GC&CS) at Bletchley Park. '' ...

, on their 1999 eponymous album; by

house music House is a music genre characterized by a repetitive Four on the floor (music), four-on-the-floor beat and a typical tempo of 120 beats per minute. It was created by Disc jockey, DJs and music producers from Chicago metropolitan area, Chicago' ...

artist Jaybee in 2005; by Russian singer

Sergey Lazarev Sergey Vyacheslavovich Lazarev ( rus, Серге́й Вячесла́вович Ла́зарев, , sʲɪrˈɡʲej vʲɪtɕɪˈslavəvʲɪtɕ ˈlazərʲɪf; born 1 April 1983) is a Russian singer, dancer and actor. He is most famous for his sin ...

in 2007; and in 2009 by

Quentin Elias Quentin Elias (10 May 1974 – 25 February 2014) was a French singer, actor and model. Of Algerian heritage, he was the original lead singer of the French boy band Alliage with Steven Gunnell, Roman Lata Ares and Brian Torres from 1996 to 2000. ...

, former singer for French boy band Alliage, by ''American Idol'' season 7 winner

David Cook David Cook may refer to: Entertainment * David Cook (game designer) (active since 1980s), American game designer for TSR * David Cook (singer) (born 1982), winner of the seventh season of ''American Idol'' * David Cook (writer) (1940–2015), Briti ...

during his Declaration tour.

Background

Singer Clark Datchler wrote "Shattered Dreams" in a small studio he had set up in the front room of his parents' house. He had an upright piano, a 4-track

portastudio The TASCAM Portastudio was the first four-track recorder based on a standard compact audio cassette tape. The term ''portastudio'' is exclusive to TASCAM, though it is generally used to describe all self-contained cassette-based multitrack rec ...

, a drum machine, and a keyboard in the studio. He wrote the song quickly, but the bongo solo took a while to conceive. Datchler knew he had written something special by his dad's reaction. Usually, his dad would offer musical advice if he asked for it, but would otherwise leave Clark alone. But this time, his dad walked in and told him he had written a big hit, and believed in the song's potential when few other people in the music industry did. On the lyrics, Datchler said:

Track listings

7-inch and US cassette single :A. "Shattered Dreams" – 3:30 :B. "My Secret Garden" UK maxi-cassette single :A1. "Shattered Dreams" (12-inch extended mix) :A2. "My Secret Garden" :B1. " Me and My Foolish Heart" (new version) :B2. "Living in the Past" 12-inch single :A1. "Shattered Dreams" (12-inch extended mix) – 5:14 :B1. "Shattered Dreams" (7-inch mix) – 3:30 :B2. "My Secret Garden" Japanese mini-album # "Shattered Dreams" # "Shattered Dreams" (extended mix) # "My Secret Garden" # " I Don't Want to Be a Hero"

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Sergey Lazarev version

In 2006, Russian singer

covered the song with a new arrangement. This was his first solo outing outside the post-Soviet zone and his first international single to be formally released in the United Kingdom. It reached No. 19 on the Russian TopHit Top Radio Hits chart. Track listing # "Shattered Dreams"

adio Edit Adio may refer to: Business *Adio (company), the former skateboard footwear and apparel company Music Songs * "Adio" (song), a song by Montenegrin recording artist Knez that represented Montenegro at the Eurovision Song Contest 2015 *"Adio", a 19 ...

# "Shattered Dreams" etro Edit# "Shattered Dreams" id 79" Remix# "Shattered Dreams" etro 12 Mix# "Shattered Dreams" roove Brothers Mix# "Shattered Dreams" ardrum Mix# "Shattered Dreams"

ideo IDEO () is a design and consulting firm with offices in the U.S., England, Germany, Japan, and China. It was founded in Palo Alto, California, in 1991. The company's 700 staff uses a design thinking approach to design products, services, environ ...

References

{{Authority control 1987 songs 1987 singles 1988 singles 2006 singles Black-and-white music videos Johnny Hates Jazz songs Music videos directed by David Fincher Sergey Lazarev songs Songs about dreams Songs written by Clark Datchler Virgin Records singles