I'm too sexy

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I'm too sexy
Right Said Fred
publication July 15, 1991
length 2:47
Genre (s) Dance pop
Author (s) Fred Fairbrass, Richard Fairbrass , Rob Manzoli
Producer (s) TommyD
Label Tug Records (UK), Columbia Records (USA)
album Up

I'm Too Sexy is a 1991 pop song by the British band Right Said Fred . The piece was the group's debut single and satirized male posing behavior in gyms and on catwalks . In 1992 it topped the charts in a number of countries, including the United States and Austria .

History of origin

Right Said Fred - in front Richard, right Fred Fairbrass

The song was composed in the late summer of 1990 in London , where the Fairbrass brothers had returned after living and working as musicians in New York City for a number of years . In their own words, they wanted to use the song to ridicule hedonism and the rise of supermodels in the late 1980s.

The Fairbrass brothers are described in various sources as directors of a London gym or the dance studio Dance Attic in Fulham ; however, according to other sources, they were just regular gym goers. In a 2017 interview, Richard Fairbrass claimed that he saw "a lot of narcissism and posing" in this environment . During rehearsals in an overheated studio in September 1990, this spontaneously inspired him to tear his shirt off with the exclamation “I'm too sexy for my shirt”. The Fairbrass brothers then developed a whole song around this line.

In the demo version, I'm Too Sexy was initially arranged as an indie rock song. After they couldn't find a record label for this version of the song, the Fairbrass brothers turned the piece into a dance number at the suggestion of music promoter Guy Holmes . In this arrangement, they received a contract with the small Tug label that I'm Too Sexy brought out in the summer of 1991, first in the British Isles and then gradually around the world. The breakthrough in Great Britain came when the song was introduced to some DJs and the producer of the Simon Bates Morning Show on BBC Radio 1 . Bates then played the song repeatedly on his national radio show. The dance movements of the Fairbrass brothers, which imitate the show on the catwalk, were imitated on dance floors in clubs and discos around the world at the end of 1991.

Music and lyrics

The song consists of three stanzas of different lengths , which are interrupted twice by the chorus . According to the refrain , the lyrical self sung by Richard Fairbrass is a male model who mainly does his rounds on the catwalk . At the beginning of the song, the model fears that his girlfriend will leave it. That puts it down to being too sexy for her. In the individual stanzas, the model then strings together numerous places and things for which she also feels too sexy: (the fashion weeks in) Milan , New York City and Japan , as well as for his cat, his car, his hat and his shirt . Consequently, the song ends with the words “I'm too sexy for this song.” According to Fred Fairbrass, the objects to be compared were deliberately selected to underline the ridiculousness of the posing behavior. The lyrics are generally described as simple and rhythmic. Fred Fairbrass thinks it is simple and adaptable, so that the comparative approach also works with "all sorts of other things" ("anything"). The melody of the song was developed by Rob Manzoli based on a bass line in E major . The guitar riff took Manzoli of Jimi Hendrix ' Third Stone From The Sun .

production

I'm Too Sexy was recorded at Red Bus Recording Studios in London in the spring of 1991 . The producer was disc jockey TommyD (Tom Asher Danvers). The electronic passages of the music were programmed by Brian Pugsley and Ian Craig Marsh. Phil Spalding played the bass . Graham Bonnett was the sound engineer.

Publications

I'm Too Sexy was initially released as a single. In the UK, Tug Records released the record on July 15, 1991. In the USA the distribution took place through Charisma Records , in Germany through Edel Records through the sub-label Control . In 1992 it was re-released on Up , the first Right Said Fred album.

Music video

The music video for I'm Too Sexy was in London's partly Notting Hill rotated. The director was James LeBron . The original plan was to do all of the recordings in one studio. Because the power supply collapsed on the first day of shooting and could not be repaired in time, LeBron improvised a series of exterior shots for the second day. The video shows the well-trained Fairbrass brothers - especially singer Richard - with tight shirts or bare chests, surrounded by female models in tight bikinis and high heels who play the role of fashion photographers. In an early outside scene, Ray Manzoli tears the loose shirts off the two Fairbrass brothers as they pass by. LeBron, who also worked as a fashion photographer, added a few shots from his private portfolio to the film sequences. The cost of producing the video was around £ 5,000.

reception

Reviews

The song is said to have a happy mood. Contemporary reviewers viewed the song largely benevolently. I'm Too Sexy was "cheeky, funny and it showed the band's independence". It was the funniest hit of 1991 and a humorous but misunderstood swipe at male imposing behavior. In retrospect, however, the song is also perceived as "annoying"; some consider it one of the worst songs ever recorded.

Charts and chart placements

The song was first released in the UK in 1991. There it reached number two in the charts behind Bryan Adams ' ballad (Everything I Do) I Do It for You from the film Robin Hood - King of Thieves and stayed in second place for six weeks. I'm Too Sexy equaled a record set by Vader Abraham in 1978 with the English version of 't Smurfenlied . A total of 17 weeks in the charts, I'm Too Sexy ended up at number 4 in the British annual charts in 1991. On December 21, 1991, the song first rose to number 67 on the American Billboard Hot 100 . In 1992 I'm Too Sexy, besides the USA, also reached first positions in the national charts in Austria , Australia, Canada, Ireland and New Zealand.

Chart placements
ChartsChart placements Top ranking Weeks
Germany (GfK) Germany (GfK) 14th (14 weeks) 14th
Austria (Ö3) Austria (Ö3) 1 (25 weeks) 25th
United Kingdom (OCC) United Kingdom (OCC) 2 (17 weeks) 17th
United States (Billboard) United States (Billboard) 1 (21 weeks) 21

Awards for music sales

I'm Too Sexy has sold about three million copies worldwide and received a platinum record in the United States, among other places .

Cover versions and adaptations

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Duncan Haskell: How I wrote 'I'm Too Sexy' by Right Said Fred. www.songwirtingmagazine.com, September 9, 2017, accessed July 6, 2021 .
  2. ↑ a b c Right Said Fred: I'm Too Sexy. www.songfacts.com, accessed July 5, 2021 .
  3. ↑ Dave Simpson: How we made Right Said Fred's I'm Too Sexy. www.theguardian.com, April 4, 2017, accessed June 9, 2021 .
  4. ↑ a b Right Said Fred at www.artistsonly.com (accessed July 11, 2021).
  5. ^ A b Right Said Fred in Music & Media, January 18, 1992, p. 15.
  6. ↑ a b Maura Johnston: 'I'm Too Sexy': The Oral History of Right Said Fred's Snarky Dance-Pop Smash. www.rollingstone.com, November 13, 2017, accessed May 28, 2021 .
  7. ↑ a b I'm Too Sexy on Discogs (accessed July 4, 2021).
  8. ↑ Stephen Snow: Allmusic Review. www.allmusic.com, accessed July 7, 2021 .
  9. ↑ I'm Too Sexy on worstsongsever.com (accessed July 11, 2021).
  10. ^ The Hot 100 - Week of December 21, 1991. billboard.com, accessed July 13, 2021 .
  11. ↑ a b c d Chart sources: DE AT UK US
  12. ^ Right Said Fred on chartsurfer.de (accessed July 11, 2021).
  13. ↑ Ottfried Fischer's Sexy on hitparade.ch (accessed on July 9, 2021).
  14. ↑ Dee Lockett: How 'I'm Too Sexy' Ended Up in Taylor Swift's 'Look What You Made Me Do'. www.vulture.com, August 25, 2017, accessed July 4, 2021 .