Let's Go All The Way (song)
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"Let's Go All the Way" is a song by American
dance-pop Dance-pop is a Music genre, genre of electronic dance music that originated in the late 1970s to early 1980s. It is generally uptempo music intended for nightclubs with the intention of being danceable but also suitable for contemporary hit ra ...
duo Sly Fox. Released as a single in 1985 from their debut studio album ''Let's Go All the Way'', the record became a
sleeper hit In the entertainment industry, a sleeper hit refers to a film, television series, music release, video game or other entertainment product that was initially unsuccessful on release, but eventually became a surprise success. A sleeper hit may have ...
, entering the top 10 of the singles charts in both the US and the UK the following year. Despite receiving considerable commercial and critical success, the group failed to match expectations with their later singles, and are sometimes referred to as a
one-hit wonder A one-hit wonder is any entity that achieves mainstream popularity, often for only one piece of work, and becomes known among the general public solely for that momentary success. The term is most commonly used in regard to music performers with ...
. Original MTV veejay
Martha Quinn Martha Quinn is an American actress and radio and television personality, best known as one of the original video jockeys on MTV (along with Nina Blackwood, Mark Goodman, Alan Hunter, and J. J. Jackson). Early life Quinn was born on Ma ...
has described "Let's Go All the Way" as "one of the funkiest songs ever".


Composition

The track begins with
synthesizer A synthesizer (also synthesiser or synth) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis a ...
-processed chanting, with the lines "Simonini" repeating over a recurrent buzzing until drums and a synth-led
riff A riff is a short, repeated motif or figure in the melody or accompaniment of a musical composition. Riffs are most often found in rock music, punk, heavy metal music, Latin, funk, and jazz, although classical music is also sometimes based ...
begin. The duo of Gary "Mudbone" Cooper and Michael Camacho's harmonized vocals then come in, punctuated with
deadpan Deadpan, dry humour, or dry-wit humour is the deliberate display of emotional neutrality or no emotion, commonly as a form of Comedy, comedic delivery to contrast with the ridiculousness or absurdity of the subject matter. The delivery is meant t ...
"yeah, yeah, yeah"s. The title, repeated in the chorus, is often misconstrued as being about consummating a sexual relationship. In actuality, the lyrics contain no sexual content, but rather express disillusionment with aspects of late-20th century politics ("presidential party/No one wants to dance") and a yearning to perfect the human condition ("We need heaven on earth today/We can make a better way"). Cooper said the titular line is in fact a message of encouragement: "For me, the song simply meant that whatever your goal, dream or vision, you should go all the way to get it. In other words, don’t let anything stop you from achieving, especially yourself. Those that saw the video saw it had kids destroying weapons etc. I guess some wanted to relate it to sex, and it could be whatever you want it to be, kind of like funk in general...ha ha ha!"


Critical reception

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...
noted that "the song's oddball mix of
hip-hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hi ...
,
Latin pop Latin pop () is a pop music subgenre that is a fusion of US–style music production with Latin music genres from anywhere in Latin America and Spain. It originates with List of countries where Spanish is an official language, Spanish-speaking ...
,
disco Disco is a music genre, genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the late 1960s from the United States' urban nightclub, nightlife, particularly in African Americans, African-American, Italian-Americans, Italian-American, LGBTQ ...
, and new wave, crossed radio formats, from R&B to Top-40 to 'Rock of the '80s' stations ruled by
the Smiths The Smiths were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Manchester in 1982, composed of Morrissey (vocals), Johnny Marr (guitar), Andy Rourke (bass) and Mike Joyce (musician), Mike Joyce (drums). Morrissey and Marr formed the band's songwrit ...
and
the Cure The Cure are an English Rock music, rock band formed in Crawley in 1976 by Robert Smith (musician), Robert Smith (vocals, guitar) and Lol Tolhurst (drums). The band's current line-up comprises Smith, Perry Bamonte (guitar and keyboards), Reev ...
."


Chart performance

Following its release, the song was a top-10 hit in the United States, peaking at number seven in April 1986 and at number three on the UK Singles Chart that July. It reached number one in Canada, topping both the ''
RPM Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or r⋅min−1) is a unit of rotational speed (or rotational frequency) for rotating machines. One revolution per minute is equivalent to hertz. Standards ISO 80000-3:2019 def ...
'' 100 Singles chart and ''
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'' singles chart. The song also peaked at number five in the Netherlands as well as number 14 in Belgium and number 27 in New Zealand.


Music video

A music video received heavy airplay on MTV and is credited with greatly adding to the "infectious" song's success. The video juxtaposes three distinct modes. First straightforward and color negative studio performance of the duo dancing, emoting, and performing along with the song in a bright pop-art style. This is interspersed with shots of an interracial pair of young boys engaged in various activities, predominantly picking toy weapons of war out of a shopping cart and smashing them with hammers on an anvil as news footage is projected on a white backdrop. In other shots they march and stagger about dressed in combat fatigues and cavorting in sunglasses and surfer jams. The third thread consists of depression-era black & white clips from slapstick comedies and footage of factory workers. An atomic bomb blast is seen in reverse. The video ends with the two children in normal garb walking up to a large globe, picking the world up and carrying it. While the song isn't overtly
anti-war An anti-war movement is a social movement in opposition to one or more nations' decision to start or carry on an armed conflict. The term ''anti-war'' can also refer to pacifism, which is the opposition to all use of military force during conf ...
, recurring themes from the video suggest it has such a theme. The destruction of weapons of war and the reverse-motion nuclear explosion can be viewed in the historical context of the time, the penultimate years of the
Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...
; in 1986 the
Reagan administration Ronald Reagan's tenure as the 40th president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 1981, and ended on January 20, 1989. Reagan, a Republican from California, took office following his landslide victory over ...
increased spending on the so-called Star Wars SDI missile defense system as it officially abandoned the mutually signed but never-ratified SALT II arms-reduction treaty with the
Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
.


Charts


Weekly charts


Year-end charts


Remixes

A remix by Les "Mix Doctor" Adams of DMC contains samples of "
We Will Rock You "We Will Rock You" is a song by the British rock band Queen from their 1977 album '' News of the World'', written by guitarist Brian May. ''Rolling Stone'' ranked it number 330 of " The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time" in 2004, and the RIAA it p ...
" by
Queen Queen most commonly refers to: * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a kingdom * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen (band), a British rock band Queen or QUEEN may also refer to: Monarchy * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Q ...
and "A Fly Girl" by Boogie Boys.


"One-hit wonder"

The duo released two follow-up singles from the album, both of which charted. The freestyle track "Como Tu Te Llama" was a Dance Music/Club Play hit, spending 9 weeks on that chart and reaching number 13. "Stay True" managed to dent the Hot 100, peaking at number 94, but "Let's Go All The Way" proved to be their only lasting international mainstream success, branding them as
one-hit wonder A one-hit wonder is any entity that achieves mainstream popularity, often for only one piece of work, and becomes known among the general public solely for that momentary success. The term is most commonly used in regard to music performers with ...
s. The song and its video retain their popularity in retro flashback programs and 1980s nights at dance clubs.


Cover versions


Insane Clown Posse version

Insane Clown Posse Insane Clown Posse, often abbreviated as ICP, is an American hip hop duo. Formed in Detroit in 1989, ICP's best-known lineup consists of rappers Violent J (Joseph Bruce) and Shaggy 2 Dope (originally 2 Dope; Joseph Utsler). Insan ...
member Joseph Bruce, who performs as ' Violent J', was driving home to Detroit from Cleveland in a car he'd just purchased that had a cassette player. At a gas station, he purchased an ''’80s Hits'' tape that contained the Sly Fox song. Bruce liked it and decided to reinterpret it. Allmusic described Insane Clown Posse's version as "their most blatant attempt at radio play". MTV aired the band's video for the song, but only once in the late evening. The group decided to bombard MTV's ''
Total Request Live ''Total Request Live'' (commonly abbreviated as ''TRL'') is an American television program that premiered on MTV on September 14, 1998. The early version of ''TRL'' featured popular music videos played during its countdown and was also used as ...
(TRL)'' with requests for the video while on their Bizaar Bizzar Tour, posting on its website that December 8, 2000, was the day for fans to call. On that day, the band and assorted Psychopathic Records employees and friends drove down to New York City. They were met by nearly 400 Insane Clown Posse fans standing outside in front of the ''TRL'' studios with signs supporting the duo. Thirty minutes before the show began, Viacom security guards and New York City police officers were dispatched to remove them from the sidewalk. When some refused to move on the grounds that it was a public street and no other individuals were asked to move, they allege they were assaulted. All phone requests for the video were ignored, and the band never was mentioned during the show. MTV later informed
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that the network chose which bands and videos were eligible to be featured on ''TRL''.


Other versions

The song was covered in 1999 by supergroup
the Wondergirls The Wondergirls was a short-lived American rock supergroup and side project formed in 1999. In its initial, short lived incarnation, the band featured Stone Temple Pilots frontman Scott Weiland, Mark McGrath of Sugar Ray, Ian Astbury of Th ...
in a more rock style, and in 2013, it was re-recorded with actor and singer-songerwriter Ashley Hamilton and British singer
Robbie Williams Robert Peter Williams (born 13 February 1974) is an English singer and songwriter. He found fame as a member of the pop group Take That from 1990 to 1995, launching a solo career in 1996. His debut studio album, ''Life thru a Lens'', was re ...
for the soundtrack of '' Iron Man 3: Heroes Fall''. In 2003, Sugababes sampled the music from this song for "Whatever Makes You Happy" on their third album '' Three''. In 2004, English-Irish boy-band Phixx recorded a version of the song on their album '' Electrophonic Revolution''. Liverpool singer-songwriter
Ian McNabb Robert Ian McNabb (born 3 November 1960) is an English singer-songwriter and musician. Previously the frontman of the Icicle Works, McNabb has since embarked on a solo career and performed with Ringo Starr, Neil Young/Crazy Horse (band), Crazy ...
(formerly of the Icicle Works) covered the song on his 2015 album ''Krugerrands''.


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Let's Go All The Way (Song) 1985 songs 1985 debut singles Capitol Records singles Insane Clown Posse songs RPM Top Singles number-one singles Sly Fox (band) songs