I Can't Wait (Nu Shooz song)
"I Can't Wait" is a song recorded by American group Nu Shooz from the 1986 album Poolside. The song was originally recorded in late 1984 and was featured on the band's second album Tha's Right the following year. Credits on the back of the single indicate that the Poolside LP was originally to be called The Point of No Return. The song was remixed by the Dutch DJ and producer Peter Slaghuis. This remixed version is the one that appears on Poolside.
"I Can't Wait" | ||||
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Single by Nu Shooz | ||||
from the album Poolside (original version on Tha's Right[1]) | ||||
Released | 1985 February 1986 (remix) | |||
Recorded | 1984 | |||
Genre | Freestyle[2] | |||
Length | 5:25 (album version) 3:40 (single version) | |||
Label | Atlantic | |||
Songwriter(s) | John Smith | |||
Producer(s) | John Smith, Rick Waritz | |||
Nu Shooz singles chronology | ||||
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Music video | ||||
"I Can't Wait" on YouTube |
In the United States, the song reached No. 1 on Billboard's Hot Dance Club Play chart in late March 1986, remaining atop the chart for two weeks. Soon afterwards, the song appeared on the Hot 100 chart, where it climbed to No. 3 in mid-June of that year, and remained in the top 40 for 15 weeks and it reached #2 on the R&B/Soul singles chart. In the United Kingdom, the song reached No. 2 on the UK Singles Chart. The single returned to the U.S. charts in 2015, where it peaked at number 17 on the Billboard Dance/Electronic Digital Songs chart.[3]
The song's American chart run coincided with that of a Stevie Nicks song also titled "I Can't Wait".
Critical reception
John Leland's writeup in a Spin magazine column wrote about the single, saying: "You can listen to this record as many times as you want and still not have any strong impressions that human beings actually made it. In other words, it's the perfect disco record."[4]
Music video
The music video was directed by Jim Blashfield. It contains animations and has a hint of the very surreal. The plot has Valerie Day singing the song sitting at a desk, repairing a coffeepot, while tools and other oddities pass into the frame and out again. Her dog sits nearby, wearing sunglasses.
Chart performance
Weekly charts
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Year-end charts
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In other media
- The intro can be heard in the 2007 UK film Son of Rambow.[20]
- Portions of the intro can be heard in a Powerade Zero television commercial that aired in 2010.[21]
- Used in the 2010 film The Switch, and was included on the film's soundtrack.[22]
- Used in It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia (2013; S9E10 - "The Gang Squashes Their Beef").
- Included on the Grand Theft Auto: The Ballad of Gay Tony soundtrack.
- Used in Season 1, Episode 3 of The Cleveland Show, "The One About Friends" when Cleveland goes shoe-shopping.
- Heard on one of the promos used for The Big Bang Theory reruns on TBS during the fall of 2011.
- Used in the Amazon series Comrade Detective (2017; S1E2 - "No Exit" and S1E3 - "Bread Is Bread")
- A cover of the song, sung by Icona Pop and produced by QuestLove was used in a 2015 series of Target commercials.[23]
- The song has been repeatedly employed on videos uploaded to the Japanese website Niconico, due to the similarity of the song's chorus to the voice of Tohno (遠野) from the video series Manatsu No Yo No Inmu.[24][25][26]
Cover versions and samples
- A rap cover of the song, "I Can't Wait (To Rock the Mike)" by Spyder-D was released later that year.
- In 1996, Vanessa Williams used an interpolation of "I Can't Wait" in her hit "Happiness", which is one of the words in the original song.
- The song was covered in 2002 by the British female UK garage group Ladies First. It was a UK top 20 hit, reaching number 19.
- Brian McKnight's "Jam Knock" used a sample of "I Can't Wait" on his 1997 album, Anytime.
- It was sampled by Natalie Alvarado's "I Can't Wait" off her 2005 debut album Natalie.
- In 2007, the music was replayed in a remix for Paula DeAnda's single "Easy", featuring a rap appearance by Bow Wow. This song was produced by a production team by the name of The Flyntstones.
- The song was sampled by Girl Talk in the song "No Pause" on his 2008 album Feed the Animals. The vocals to "Work It" by Missy Elliott are mixed over it.
- Belgian beauty queen Tatiana Silva covered the song in 2008.[27]
- The song was mashed up with Snoop Dogg's "Drop It Like It's Hot" by dj BC in a song called "Snoop's Nu Shooz". It was also mashed up with 50 Cent and Mobb Deep's "Have a Party" on the Statik Selektah mixtape The Empire Strikes Back; the track is titled "I Can't Wait (Have a Party Showoff Rmx)" (featuring 50 Cent & Mobb Deep).
- The song is also sampled in the 2010 single "Buzzin'" by Mann.
- The song was covered by Gavin Castleton for the PDX Pop Now compilation, Let It Rain.
References
- Nu Shooz- Tha's Right @ the band's website Archived 2011-11-08 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved 12-3-2011.
- "Nu Shooz 'Can't Wait' for Super Freestyle Explosion in Ontario". dailybulletin.com. June 20, 2014. Retrieved April 18, 2015.
- Dance/Electronic Digital Songs (October 24, 2015) from Billboard (October 14, 2015)
- John Leland (May 1986). Singles - Nu Shooz "I Can't Wait". Spin.
- "Music: Top 100 Songs - Billboard Hot 100 Chart". Billboard. Retrieved April 18, 2015.
- "Top Hip-Hop Songs / R&B Songs Chart - Billboard". Billboard. Retrieved April 18, 2015.
- "Dance Songs: Top Dance Music Chart - Billboard". Billboard. Retrieved April 18, 2015.
- Whitburn, Joel (1993). Top Adult Contemporary: 1961–1993. Record Research. p. 177.
- Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. p. 220. ISBN 0-646-11917-6. N.B. The Kent Report chart was licensed by ARIA between mid-1983 and June 12, 1988.
- Hung, Steffen. "Nu Shooz - I Can't Wait". Lescharts.com. Retrieved October 7, 2018.
- German Singles Chart at charts-surfer.de Archived 2009-01-08 at the Wayback Machine
- "The Irish Charts - All there is to know". irishcharts.ie. Archived from the original on June 3, 2009. Retrieved April 18, 2015.
- "Italian Hit Parade". Italia.it. Retrieved October 7, 2018.
- "Official Charts Company - Nu Shooz". archive.is. Retrieved April 18, 2015.
- "Kent Music Report No 650 – 29 December 1986 > National Top 100 Singles for 1986". Kent Music Report, via Imgur.com. Retrieved December 10, 2019.
- "Archived copy". Archived from the original on October 21, 2012. Retrieved October 1, 2016.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
- "The Official New Zealand Music Chart". THE OFFICIAL NZ MUSIC CHART. Retrieved October 7, 2018.
- "Top 100 Singles". Music Week. London, England: Spotlight Publications. January 24, 1987. p. 24.
- Nielsen Business Media, Inc (December 27, 1986). "1986 The Year in Music & Video: Top Pop Singles". Billboard. 98 (52): Y-21.
- "Son of Rambow (2007)". IMDb.com. Retrieved October 7, 2018.
- "YouTube". Youtube.com. Retrieved October 7, 2018.
- "The Switch (2010)". IMDb.com. Retrieved October 7, 2018.
- MLIO 9000 (October 14, 2015). "Icona Pop - I Can't Wait (Bass & Vocal Boosted)". YouTube. Retrieved October 7, 2018.
- "Nu_Shoozとは (ニューシューズとは) [単語記事] - ニコニコ大百科". Niconico Video (in Japanese). Retrieved April 28, 2019.
- "Popular 「I_Can't_Wait」 Videos 67". Niconico Video. Retrieved April 28, 2019.
- "Nu Shooz - I Can't Wait". Niconico Video (in Japanese). Retrieved April 28, 2019.
- "Tatiana Silva - I Can't Wait". YouTube. Retrieved February 23, 2012.