Monday morning it too early to be Wang Chunging tonight…
It’s so close to Spring, you can almost hear the robins chirping and the possums returning to Capistrano. Well, we’re gonna temporarily add a little more sweet music to the soundtrack of the season because it’s Monday! That’s the day we tiptoe through the tulips to awaken another hibernating song from its extended winter coma deep inside the Dusty Vinyl Archive! DJ Scratchy’s ready to sow some seeds of retro awesomeness, while the Sponkies try balancing a record on its edge for the equinox. You early birds are going to love this worm…
In 1982, an unsuccessful UK band by the weird name of Huang Chung decided to uproot itself and seek out the greener pastures across the Atlantic in the US. The first thing their new American label made the group do was change that stupid ass name to something that dumbass Americans would be able to pronounce correctly. So they changed their name without really changing their name… opting to become hooked on phonics and becoming the similarly pronounced Wang Chung.
The lesser known brother of Connie Chung.
The newly spelled group got right to work making a new and improved name for themselves by scoring their first big US hit in 1984, “Dance Hall Days.” A couple years later in late 1986, Wang Chung became a phenomenon and practically pioneered the rapper art of self-serving lyrics in their smash #2 hit “Everybody Have Fun Tonight.” It marked the pinnacle of Wang Chung’s success, and by the end of the 80’s the group was just as anonymous as another Wang in Chinatown…
I should be typing this post up on a Wang…
Sadly, those two hits are about the only classic Huang you’ll ever hear on the radio these days. As often happens, when an artist has a HUGE hit song… the follow up single tends to be forgotten about even if it also managed to become a success. That song that had the unenviable task of following “Fun” on stage was a nifty little slice of 80’s pop called “Let’s Go,” which hit #9 in early 1987 and was never heard from again…
Along with their goofy name, Wang Chung was also known for its equally nutty music videos. “Dance Hall Days” with its dancing disco ball and creepy gold-toothed conductor. “Everybody Have Fun Tonight” with its jump frame antics that made it look like the musicians were all having debilitating seizures. “Let’s Go” was just as random and bizarre in its visual content… most notably, whoever created it obviously had an origami fetish…
I hope she didn’t have to fold her own wardrobe.
Although I’ll admit “Let’s Go” isn’t quite as good as “Everybody Have Fun Tonight,” it certainly didn’t deserve to lose its status as Wang Chung’s other hit to the inferior “Dance Hall Days.”
Come back next Monday for another song you can Huang Chung to tonight…
Evil Squirrel's Nest 
I liked dance hall days very much and I liked the Yellow Bells … although I think all songs what came later had no power it was as if they did what they have to do but without being in the thing…
This was fun. Thank you.
Wang Chung = fun
I remember this one and I enjoyed hearing it again! The video was very strange but at least it didn’t have a dusty wang in it!
I don’t think that would have been allowed on MTV…. except maybe in a George Michael video…
Dammit, right up until your penultimate paragraph, I was so sure you were going to agree with me that Dancehall Days was great and Everybody Have Fun Tonight sucked…..
I didn’t remember this one until, as per much of the non-hair 80s, they got to the chorus.
Dance Hall Days is one of the ultimate meh songs of the 80’s. And it’s played on Mecca Radio entirely too damned much…
I remember all of these…..but especially “Fun”……also loved the videos they did – hilariously NUTSO.
Pam
They definitely included FUN as a part of their videos, and I think they did it by drawing random ideas out of a hat…
Who else sang this?? I remember it but not these guys singing it… I love the video it’s so creative!
You’re probably thinking of The Cars song, which is a completely different “Let’s Go.” As a non-fan of the early Cars, I won’t be playing that one!
ody N biskit; we canna rememburr thiz toon…
“everybody”…yes…..
will have ta give thiz a listen !! 🙂 ♥♥
Too many people were Wang Chunging tonight to remember they did this song too…
What a snooze fest – snorts with piggy laughter. XOXO – Bacon
Well, that was pretty dire 🙂 I’m not a big fan of this 80s poppy stuff. I’ve never heard of this pair, either in their UK or USA days.
Well, you didn’t like the DVA, but you also didn’t like the song I hate. That means you have to like BOTH next week…
Hmm, that’s a tall order…