This song is an 80s song. There’s no getting around it. Along with songs by Bonnie Tyler and Cyndi Lauper, this sort of power tune will forever evoke the spirit of a certain aspect of the 1980s.
Big hair, discos, flamboyant clothes; for all the diversity of that decade, there’s undoubtedly a distinctive sense of that culture that is filtered through the years to give us only dominant aesthetics and sounds. Or to say it another way; they play the hits on the radio and that’s the impression we get.
Tiffany (full name Tiffany Darwish) wasn’t the person who wrote this song. Nor was she the first to perform it. Those honours go to Ritchie Cordell & Tommy James and the Shondells respectively, in 1967). But her version is certainly an anthem!
She didn’t even want to record it, thinking it wasn’t cool enough.
It’s a typical “teen” song, dealing with a couple who are arousing the disapproval of the older, more socially conservative members of their community with their loose and open fraternising.
The 80s version uses a much of the same instrumentation of the original, but it’s more energetic, and to be honest, her singing is more passionate as well.
The twanging bassline is supremely cool, and the whole thing has enough pent up teenage rebellion to get a detention!
The song was released in 1987 for her album Tiffany, and became a number one hit in the U.S.A., the U.K., Canada, South Africa and New Zealand.
A tidy little tune!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85wL0_2Bi04