Abracadabra (song)

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Abracadabra
Steve Miller Band
publication May 1982
Genre (s) Pop rock
Author (s) Steve Miller
Label Capitol Records
album Abracadabra
Chart positions
Explanation of the data
Singles
Abracadabra
  DE 2 08/02/1982 (23 weeks)
  AT 1Template: Infobox chart placements / maintenance / NR1 link 08/01/1982 (12 weeks)
  CH 1Template: Infobox chart placements / maintenance / NR1 link 08/01/1982 (11 weeks)
  UK 2 06/19/1982 (11 weeks)
  US 1Template: Infobox chart placements / maintenance / NR1 link 05/29/1982 (19 weeks)

Abracadabra is a pop-rock - song , that of Steve Miller was written. The single , released in May 1982, was a number one hit on the American Billboard Hot 100 , Austria and Switzerland and reached number two in the UK singles charts and in Germany. The piece appeared in the same year on the Steve Miller Band album of the same name.

background

After a commercially very successful phase, Steve Miller paused for four years from 1977 before he returned in 1981 with the commercially less successful album Circle of Love . It was only with the 1982 album Abracadabra that Miller found his way back to the melodic rock music that made him a star in the 1970s. The trigger for this was his record company Columbia Records , which expected from him short pieces, no more than four minutes long.

Miller began working with synthesizers , vocoders, and drum computers , inspired by Diana Ross 's song Upside Down . Miller described the result as a "creative explosion", to which drummer Gary Mallaber and the two new guitarists of the Steve Miller Band, Kenny Lewis and John Massaro, contributed significantly.

After the single was released, it reached number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and the single charts in Austria and Switzerland. In the German single charts it reached number 2. In 1999, the song was Sugar Ray on the album 14:59 gecovert , 2013, belonged to the soundtrack of the film The Incredible Burt Wonderstone .

Music video

The music channel MTV had been on the air for about a year when it was decided to make a music video for the song. Directed by Peter Conn. The video shows various animations and circus motifs in front of a blue screen . In addition to an "aerobic bee", Steve Miller can be seen wearing X-ray glasses.

reception

The song is characterized as a "great pop-rock song to sing along to." The distinctive keyboard theme and the text that doesn't make any sense formed the prototype of a perfect pop song: simple, catchy and so repetitive that you can't get it out of your head. Lothar Berndorff and Tobias Friedrich attest the song a "brilliant stupidity", it is the "most impressive result of the sessions for the album of the same name".

literature

  • Lothar Berndorff, Tobias Friedrich: 1000 ultimate chart hits. The most successful songs and their history . Moewig, Edel Entertainment, Hamburg 2008, ISBN 978-3-86803-272-7 , pp. 82 .
  • Fred Bronson: The Billboard Book of Number One Hits . Updated and Expanded 5th Edition. Billboard Books, New York 2008, ISBN 978-0-8230-7677-2 , pp. 558 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Sources for chart placements: DE / AT / CH / UK / US , accessed on February 21, 2014.
  2. ↑ a b c Fred Bronson: The Billboard Book of Number One Hits. P. 558.
  3. ↑ a b c d Lothar Berndorff, Tobias Friedrich: 1000 Ultimate Charthits. P. 82.
  4. ^ Billboard. Hot 100 55th Anniversary: ​​The All-Time Top 100 Songs. Billboard , accessed February 21, 2014 .
  5. ^ A b David Witter: Chicago Magic: A History of Stagecraft & Spectacle . The History Press, 2013, ISBN 978-1-62619-127-3 , pp. 116 .
  6. ↑ Keith Tuber: The B Side . In: Orange Coast Magazine . September 1982, p. 101 .