"5,6,7,8" is a song by British group Steps from their debut

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records c ...

, '' Step One'' (1998). It is a

techno-pop Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a subgenre of new wave music that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s ...

and

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song written by Barry Upton and Steve Crosby, and produced by Karl Twigg, Mark Topham and

Pete Waterman Peter Alan Waterman, (born 15 January 1947) is an English record producer, songwriter, radio and club DJ, television presenter, president of Coventry Bears rugby league club and a keen railway enthusiast. As a member of the Stock Aitken Water ...

. It was released as their debut single in November 1997 following their being put together after each group member responded to a magazine advert looking for people to audition to be in a pop band. "5,6,7,8" peaked at number 14 on 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 ...

—one of Steps' lowest chart positions—but has become the third-best-selling single of their career in the United Kingdom, selling 365,000 copies and receiving 3,440,000 streams as of March 2017. "5,6,7,8" peaked at number-one in Australia and reached the top five in Belgium and New Zealand. Its accompanying music video was shot on a beach and features the group driving quad bikes and dancing in a bar. "5,6,7,8" was performed on The Ultimate Tour in 2012, Party on the Dancefloor Tour in 2017 and What the Future Holds Tour in 2021.

Background and release

Steps were put together in 1997 following an advert in a magazine, The Stage, asking for applicants to audition for a place in a pop band. Out of the thousands who applied, Lee Latchford-Evans, Lisa Scott-Lee,

Faye Tozer Faye Louise Tozer (born 14 November 1975) is an English singer, dancer, and actress, best known as a member of British pop group Steps. Career Music Steps are a pop group that have had a series of charted singles between 1997 and 2020. Their ...

Claire Richards Claire Anne Richards (born 17 August 1977) is an English singer who is best known for being in the pop group Steps. Richards was a contestant on the second series of '' Popstar to Operastar'' before being voted off in the semi finals. She po ...

and Ian "H" Watkins were successful in securing a place in the band. "5,6,7,8" is a

and

song which was written by Barry Upton and Steve Crosby, produced by Karl Twigg, Mark Topham and

, and lasts for a duration of three minutes, 22 seconds. Latchford-Evans performs the majority of the song, while Scott-Lee sings the

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, or bridge. It was recorded at PWL Studios in Manchester, England, and mixed by Lee Sharma at the same venue. Upton also

arranged In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orchest ...

the track and played the guitar, while the banjo, violin, drums and keyboards were played by Sean Lyon, Chris Haigh, Chris McDonnell and Twigg, respectively. Al Unsworth and Bradlee Spreadborough served as the assistant engineers and it was mastered at Transfermation Studios in London, England. "5,6,7,8" features all of the band members on lead vocals except for Ian "H" Watkins, who only performs background vocals. Various versions of the song were included on the

CD single A CD single (sometimes abbreviated to CDS) is a music single in the form of a compact disc. The standard in the Red Book for the term ''CD single'' is an 8 cm (3-inch) CD (or Mini CD). It now refers to any single recorded onto a CD of any s ...

in the United Kingdom, Europe and Japan, including an extended version, an instrumental and a remix by W.I.P.; the CD single in the United Kingdom and Europe also included the B-side, "Words of Wisdom", which was also written by Upton and Crosby. It was released in the United Kingdom in November 1997, and it was later included on their first greatest hits album, '' Gold: Greatest Hits'' (2001), the W.I.P. remix on their first compilation album '' The Last Dance'' (2002) and their second greatest hits album, '' The Ultimate Collection'' (2011).

Reception

Critical reception

Lucas Villa from AXS said that "5,6,7,8" "was the beginning of Steps' campy, feel good sounds." Andy Coleman from ''

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'' described it as a "line dancing ditty". Gary James from Entertainment Focus noted that the song "stands out from the rest of their catalogue for being somewhat a novelty single." He added, "It’s blend of

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, whi ...

techno Techno is a Music genre, genre of electronic dance music (EDM) which is generally music production, produced for use in a continuous DJ set, with tempo often varying between 120 and 150 beats per minute (bpm). The central Drum beat, rhythm is typ ...

and

pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop!, a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Albums * ''Pop'' ( ...

had us reaching for our lassos and thinking perhaps

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had returned with a '

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' for 1997." Sophie McCoid from ''

Liverpool Echo The ''Liverpool Echo'' is a newspaper published by Trinity Mirror North West & North Wales – a subsidiary company of Reach plc and is based in St Paul's Square, Liverpool, Merseyside, England. It is published Monday to Sunday, and is Liverp ...

'' called it an "epic tune". Mark Beaumont from '' NME'' described it as a "more traditional hoedown". Peter Robinson of '' NME'' gave the song a negative review in 2001. In his review of ''Gold: Greatest Hits'', he wrote "Steps were only signed for one single – with good reason, for '5,6,7,8' was shit of the very highest order." Similarly,

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writer Robert Copsey wrote that retrospectively, the track was a "bizarre" choice of lead single in his review of ''The Ultimate Collection'' in 2011. In a review of Steps best-selling songs for the

Official Charts Company The Official Charts (legal name: The Official UK Charts Company Limited) is a British inter-professional organization that compiles various "official" record charts in the United Kingdom, Ireland and France. In the United Kingdom, its charts inc ...

in March 2017, Copsey noted how "5,6,7,8" is distinctly different from the rest of their discography in terms of its

genre,

line dancing A line dance is a choreographed dance in which a group of people dance along to a repeating sequence of steps while arranged in one or more lines or rows. These lines usually face all in the same direction, or less commonly face each other.Knight, ...

lyrics and lack of lead vocals solely from

Commercial reception

Commercially, "5,6,7,8" debuted at number 18 on the

on 16 November 1997, and peaked at number 14 in its eighth week on 10 January 1998. It spent a further nine weeks on the chart from January through to March, and re-entered the chart for one week at number 100 on 18 April 1998. Altogether, "5,6,7,8" spent 18 non-consecutive weeks on the UK Singles Chart, 10 of which were in the top 20. Their first top 40 hit, "5,6,7,8" was the only song of their following fourteen singles (prior to their split in 2001) not to chart within the top 10. By July 2012, it had become it their fourth-best selling single in their career in the United Kingdom; but by March 2017 it had switched positions with one of their subsequent singles "

Better Best Forgotten "Better Best Forgotten" is a song by British pop group Steps, released on 8 March 1999. It was the final single to be taken from their debut album, '' Step One''. The song became the group's fourth top-10 hit in the UK, peaking at number two on ...

" to become their third-highest selling song, with sales of 365,000 copies, and is their most streamed track with 37,952,032 plays as of March 2021. It was certified platinum on 11 December 2020 for sales and streams exceeding 600,000. Copsey added that it is very rare for a pop band to be given a second opportunity to release more music following a top 20 debut.

Promotion

Set primarily on a beach, the accompanying music video for "5,6,7,8" opens with Latchford-Evans and Watkins riding

quad bike An all-terrain vehicle (ATV), also known as a light utility vehicle (LUV), a quad bike, or simply a quad, as defined by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI); is a vehicle that travels on low-pressure tires, with a seat that is strad ...

s along the beach while Scott-Lee, Tozer and Richards drive a car on the road next to them, with close-ups of each of the female singers performing the chorus. It is followed by a repetition of the chorus whereby all of the members perform a line dancing routine, which was very popular at the time of its release, to the music outside a bar on the beach. Latchford, with Watkins walking slightly behind him from the beach to the bar, performs the first verse where the chorus and dance routine is once again repeated. The second verse features clips of Latchford singing while playing a game of snooker while Watkins plays on the

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. For the final chorus, the group perform the dance routine for a final time, however the setting has changed to night time and inside a different bar. The official music video has achieved 14.8 million views on

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as of August 2017. "5,6,7,8" was included on Steps sixth concert tour, The Ultimate Tour, in 2012. Latchford-Evans stated in March 2017 that the band does not like performing the song, but they find new ways of performing it live as they know that it is a fan-favourite. It is also included on the set list of their eighth concert tour, the Party on the Dancefloor Tour.

Formats and track listings

Album version – ''Step One''

"5,6,7,8" – 3:22

CD single – UK/Europe/Australia #"5,6,7,8" (Radio edit) – 3:22 #"5,6,7,8" (Extended version) – 4:03 #"Words of Wisdom" – 3:52 #"5,6,7,8" (Instrumental) – 2:52 CD single – Japan #"5,6,7,8" (Radio edit) – 3:22 #"5,6,7,8" (W.I.P. remix) – 3:15 #"5,6,7,8" (Extended version) – 4:03 #"5,6,7,8" (Instrumental) – 2:52

Credits and personnel

A-side: "5,6,7,8"

Recording *Recorded at PWL Studios, Manchester in 1997 *Mixed at PWL Studios, Manchester *Mastered at Transfermation Studios, London Vocals *Lead vocals – Lee Latchford-Evans *Background vocals – Ian "H" Watkins, Faye Tozer, Lisa Scott-Lee, Claire Richards Personnel *Songwriting – Barry Upton, Steve Crosby *Production – Karl Twigg, Mark Topham, Pete Waterman *Arrangement – Barry Upton *Mixing – Lee Sharma *Engineer – Chris McDonnell *Assistant engineer – Al Unsworth, Bradlee Spreadborough *Banjo – Sean Lyon *Violin – Chris Haigh *Drums – Chris McDonnell *Guitar – Barry Upton *Keyboards – Karl Twigg Credits adapted from the liner notes of ''Step One''.

B-side: "Words of Wisdom"

Recording *Recorded at PWL Studios, Manchester in 1997 *Mixed at PWL Studios, Manchester *Mastered at Transfermation Studios, London Vocals *Lead vocals – Faye Tozer, Lisa Scott-Lee, Claire Richards *Background vocals – Lee Latchford-Evans, Ian "H" Watkins Personnel *Songwriting – Barry Upton, Steve Crosby *Production – Karl Twigg, Mark Topham *Arrangement – Barry Upton Credits adapted from the liner notes of "5,6,7,8".

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

{{Authority control 1997 songs 1997 debut singles British synth-pop songs Jive Records singles Number-one singles in Australia Songs written by Barry Upton Steps (group) songs UK Independent Singles Chart number-one singles Country pop songs