Steppin' Out (Joe Jackson song)

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"Steppin' Out"
Single by Joe Jackson
from the album Night and Day
B-side "Another World" (UK 7")
"Chinatown" (U.S. 7")
Released August, 1982 (U.S.)
October 1982 (UK)
Format 7", 12"
Length 4:23 (album version)
3:43 (single version)
Label A&M
Writer(s) Joe Jackson
Producer(s) David Kershenbaum, Joe Jackson
Joe Jackson singles chronology
"Real Men"
(1982)		 "Steppin' Out"
(1982)		 "Breaking Us in Two"
(1983)
Music sample
"Steppin' Out"
noicon

"Steppin' Out" is a song written by Joe Jackson, originally included on his 1982 album Night and Day.[1] The song, inspired by Jackson's time in New York City, was his highest charting single in America.

Background

The song is about the anticipation and excitement of a drive out around the town.[2] Released as a single in early August 1982, it became Jackson's biggest hit in the United States, peaking at #4 in Cash Box and #6 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.[1] It also reached #4 on Billboard's Adult Contemporary chart.[3] The infectious tune was Jackson's second biggest hit on the UK Singles Chart, also reaching number six.[1] Only "It's Different for Girls", which reached #5 in the UK in 1980, did better.[4] The music video for the song, directed by Steve Barron, featured a housekeeper pretending she was a Cinderella figure. It was filmed over one night in the St. Regis Hotel in New York City during the summer of 1982.[2]

"Steppin' Out" eventually earned Grammy nominations for Record of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Performance, Male.[5]

Other appearances

In 2002, "Steppin' Out" appeared in the video game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, playing on pop radio station Flash FM.

A loop of the instrumental portion of this song is used as the theme music for the WYES-TV (New Orleans, Louisiana) weekly arts and entertainment program Steppin' Out. CBC Radio Vancouver uses the same loop to introduce entertainment reporter Fred Lee.[6]

The song was used frequently as commercial outro/intro music on WGN America's The Bozo Show.

The song is heard as background music in the 2009 film L'affaire Farewell. It is used in a scene set in 1981, which predated the actual release of the song.

The song is also heard in the Nip/Tuck episode, 'Ricky Wells', playing loudly as a Christian has sex with a woman.

A snippet from the song appears at the end of a 2011 Target television commercial for Pedigree dog food.

In a 1987 episode of the sitcom Who's the Boss?, the characters Tony and Angela dance to the song.

Reception

In a retrospective review of the single, Allmusic journalist Chris True praised the song as a "mélange of simple piano hooks, rudimentary electronic treatment and classic vocal pop, with a rhythm track that is quaint in its simplicity and driving enough to invoke images of the big city at night."[7]

In 2015, Pitchfork Media placed "Steppin' Out" at 153 on its list of "The 200 Greatest Songs of the 1980s." [8]

Covers

The song was most recently covered by AM & Shawn Lee on their 2013 album La Musique Numérique. It was also covered by Stanley Jordan on his 2008 album State of Nature,[9] Kurt Elling on his 2011 album The Gate,[10] and Fantastic Plastic Machine on his 1998 self-titled album.

Charts

Chart (1982/83) Peak
position
Australia (Kent Music Report)[11] 30
Canada Singles Chart 5
German Singles Chart 28
Irish Singles Chart[12] 5
New Zealand Singles Chart 21
UK Singles Chart[13] 6
US Billboard Hot 100 6
US Mainstream Rock Chart 7

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Steppin' Out" by Joe Jackson at Songfacts.com
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ State of Nature, Album review, 17 Nov. 2008.
  10. ↑ Kurt Elling: The Gate - review, Album review, 10 Mar. 2011.
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

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