"Girls Just Want to Have Fun" is a song written in 1979 by Robert Hazard and made famous in 1983 by the American singer-songwriter Cyndi Lauper, who changed some of the lyrics. It was released by Portrait Records as Lauper's debut single from her first solo album, She's So Unusual (1983), which was released four days earlier. Lauper's version gained recognition as a feminist anthem and was promoted by an MTV Video Music Award–winning music video directed by Edd Griles. It has been covered by more than 30 other artists.
The single was Lauper's breakthrough hit, reaching 2 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart and becoming a worldwide hit throughout late 1983 and early 1984. With 14 million copies sold worldwide, is considered one of Lauper's signature songs and was the second best-selling single of the 1980s by a female artist.
The lists "Rolling Stone and MTV: '100 Greatest Pop Songs': 1–50", "Rolling Stone: The 100 Top Music Videos" and "VH1: 100 Greatest Videos" ranked the song at No. 22, No. 39 and No. 45, respectively. The song received Grammy nominations for Record of the Year and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance at the 27th Annual Grammy Awards.
Lauper released a new version, "Hey Now (Girls Just Want to Have Fun)", as the first single from her 1994 compilation album Twelve Deadly Cyns...and Then Some. It reached the top 10 in several countries. In 2013, "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" was remixed by Yolanda Be Cool for the 30th-anniversary reissue of She's So Unusual.
Background
The song was written in 1979 by rock musician Robert Hazard, who performed it with various bands in the Philadelphia area, and enjoyed some local college radio airplay with a demo recording he made. Hazard wrote it as a rock song coming from the male perspective. Hazard's friend, producer Rick Chertoff, brought it to Cyndi Lauper to record as a pop-electronic song. Lauper "flipped the script" and made it carry a feminist attitude by subtly changing some of the lyrics at the suggestion of Chertoff, and she had her own suggestions about how her version should sound. For the recording sessions, Chertoff brought in two longtime musician friends from the Hooters: keyboardist Rob Hyman and guitarist Eric Bazilian. Lauper later said that the Hooters were "my band before I had a band." The song appeared on Lauper's 1983 debut record She's So Unusual.
The track is a synthesizer-backed anthem, from a feminist perspective, conveying the point that all women really want is to have the same experiences that men can have. Gillian G. Gaar, author of She's a Rebel: The History of Women in Rock & Roll (2002), described the single and corresponding video as a "strong feminist statement", an "anthem of female solidarity" and a "playful romp celebrating female camaraderie."
The song's success overshadowed Hazard's own music career. His 1984 album Wing of Fire was a sales disappointment at the same time that Lauper's version of "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" was going Gold, making him a millionaire. After Lauper claimed in interviews to have co-written the song, Hazard served her with a cease and desist letter. He was able to buy a New Jersey lake house and a horse farm from the song's royalties, although he said that federal taxes took most of the money.
Critical reception Cash Box said that "Robert Hazard's original male point of view is transformed into a cheerleader-like sing-along for party girls, and the Toni Basil–like beat is augmented by a hooky, ringing guitar." Writing for UK publication Music Week, Tony Jasper described the song as "US company's answer to Tracey Ullman or Kirsty McColl" and an "Eighties re-tread of Sixties puppy love with vocalist throat singing", but nonetheless that it had "a definite commercial appeal".
The song's 12-inch single was shipped out in the United States in February 1984, and the remixes by Arthur Baker were described by Billboard magazine as "[recontoured] heavily" and giving the song "the big beat of a rap record and generous helpings of scratch".
Chart performance The song was released in late 1983, but much of its success on the charts came during the first half of 1984. The single reached the Top 10 in more than 25 countries and reached No. 1 in ten of those countries including Australia, Brazil, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, Norway and on the Irish Singles Chart. It also reached No. 2 on both the UK singles chart and the US Billboard Hot 100.
North America In the United States, the song entered the Billboard Hot 100 at No. 80 on December 17, 1983. On the issue dated March 10, 1984, it peaked at No. 2, where it stayed for two weeks, behind Van Halen's "Jump".
"Girls Just Want to Have Fun" entered the Billboard Top Rock Tracks chart in the week dated January 21, 1984. It peaked at number 16 in the week dated February 25, 1984.
In Canada, "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" hit number 1 on the RPM charts on March 31, 1984, where it had a two-week run.
In Mexico "Girls Just Want To Have Fun" stayed in the Top 5 for five months and reached number 1 on October 1, 1984; the song remained number one for six weeks.
Europe In the United Kingdom, the song entered the chart at No. 50 on January 14, 1984, and peaked at No. 2 on February 4, 1984, where it stayed for one week. According to a market survey by Music Week, it was the sixth best performing single in the UK for the period from January to March 1984.
In Ireland, the song entered the chart on January 29, 1984. It peaked at No. 1 for two weeks and was on the chart for a total of seven weeks.
In Belgium, the song debut at No. 38 on February 18, 1984, and peaked at No. 4 on April 7, 1984. In the Netherlands, the song entered the chart at No. 38 on February 25, 1984, and peaked at No. 4 on March 31, 1984. In Sweden, the song entered at No. 13 on March 6, 1984, and peaked at No. 5 on April 3, 1984, charting for six weeks. In Switzerland, the song entered the chart at No. 15 on April 1, 1984, and peaked at No. 6 on April 29, 1984. In Austria, the single entered at No. 3 on May 1, 1984, which was its peak position.
Oceania In Australia, the song debuted on the Kent Music Report Top 100 on February 27, 1984. It entered the Top 10 in only its third week on the chart and reached No. 1 on March 26, 1984. It topped the chart for two weeks and then remained at No. 2 for four weeks behind Nena's "99 Luftballons". It stayed on the chart for 21 weeks and was the 9th biggest-selling single of the year. In New Zealand, the song debuted at No. 21 on April 1, 1984, and peaked at No. 1 on May 6, 1984, where it stayed for three weeks.
In the Netherlands and New Zealand "Girls Just Want To Have Fun" made the year end charts for the Top 100 of 1984. On the ARC (American Radio Chart), "Girls Just Want To Have Fun" reached number 1 and made the Top 40 songs of the year for 1984.
Music video
The release of the single was accompanied by a music video. It cost less than US$35,000 (), largely due to a volunteer cast and the free lending of sophisticated video equipment. The cast included Lauper's close friend, professional wrestler/manager "Captain" Lou Albano in the role of Lauper's father while her real mother, Catrine, played herself. Lauper later appeared in World Wrestling Federation storylines opposite Albano and guest-starred on The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! episode "Robo Koopa/Captain Lou is Missing", in which Albano portrayed Mario (Albano also played himself in the episode). This collaboration was the catalyst for the "Rock 'n' Wrestling" connection that lasted for the following two years. Lauper's attorney, Elliot Hoffman, appeared as her uptight dancing partner. Also in the cast were Lauper's manager, David Wolf, her brother, Butch Lauper, fellow musician Steve Forbert, and a bevy of secretaries borrowed from Portrait/CBS, Lauper's record label. A clip of the 1923 film The Hunchback of Notre Dame is featured as Lauper watches it on television.
Billboard reported that the music video used a "state-of-the-art computer system", a Quantel Mirage computer at Broadway Video, to create special effects. Peter Rudoy, then general manager of Broadway Video, explained that this was the first time the system had been used for a music video and noted that the instrumental section of the video had a "bubbly feeling". Director Edd Griles and producer Ken Walz wanted to create a visual representation of this "bubbly feeling", and took an image from the video and then "wrapped it into the shape of a bubble".
Saturday Night Live creator Lorne Michaels, another of Hoffman's clients, agreed to give Lauper free run of his brand new million-dollar digital editing equipment, with which she and her producer created several first-time-ever computer-generated images of Lauper dancing with her buttoned-up lawyer Hoffman, leading the entire cast in a snake-dance through New York streets and ending up in Lauper's bedroom in her home. The bedroom scene is an homage to the famous stateroom scene in the Marx Brothers' film A Night at the Opera (1935).
The music video began receiving airplay on MTV in October 1983. Also at the same year, the channel's I Want My MTV campaign promo briefly played the song in the background when Lauper said the catchphrase.I Want My MTV Promo (1983), duration at 0:38
"The year 1983 marks a watershed in the history of female-address video. It is the year that certain issues and representations began to gain saliency and the textual strategies of female address began to coalesce." In the video, Lauper wanted to show in a more fun and light-hearted manner that girls want the same equality and recognition boys had in society.
Before the song starts, the beginning of her version of "He's So Unusual" plays.
The music video was directed by Edd Griles. The producer was Ken Walz while the cinematographer was Francis Kenny. The treatment for the video was co-written by Griles, Walz, and Lauper. The video was shot on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in summer 1983 and premiered on television in December 1983. The choreography was by a New York dance and music troupe called XXY featuring Mary Ellen Strom, Cyndi Lee and Pierce Turner.
The music video crossed one billion views on YouTube in January 2022.
Awards and nominations Accolades YearByListWorkRanked1985The Village VoicePazz & Jop critics' poll of 1984"Girls Just Want to Have Fun"101993Rolling StoneThe 100 Top Music Videos221999MTV100 Greatest Videos Ever Made582001VH1100 Greatest Videos452006100 Greatest Songs of the 80's23
Awards and nominations
|rowspan="1"|1983 |rowspan="9"|"Girls Just Want to Have Fun" |American Video Awards for Best Female Performance
|rowspan="6"|1984 |MTV Video Music Award for Video of the Year
|MTV Video Music Award for Best New Artist
|MTV Video Music Award for Best Female Video
|MTV Video Music Award for Best Concept Video
|MTV Video Music Award – Viewer's Choice
|MTV Video Music Award for Best Overall Performance
|rowspan="2"| 1985 || Grammy Award for Record of the Year || |- | Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance ||
Track listings 7-inch single A. "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" – 3:55 (Robert Hazard) B. "Right Track Wrong Train" – 4:40 (Cyndi Lauper, Ellie Greenwich, Jeff Kent) 12-inch single A. "Girls Just Want to Have Fun (Extended Version)" – 6:08 B1. "Fun With V. Knutsn (Instrumental)" – 7:10 B2. "Xtra Fun" – 5:05 CD-Rom-Ringle In 2007, a limited edition which included interactive computer material and a code to download a free ringle of the title track was released. It also contained "Right Track, Wrong Train", the B-side of the original single release. "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" "Right Track Wrong Train" Computer media
Credits and personnel
Lyrics: Robert Hazard. Production: Rick Chertoff. Lyrics: Cyndi Lauper, Ellie Greenwich, Jeffrey B. Kent. Production: Rick Chertoff. Cyndi Lauper – lead vocals, background vocals Jules Shear – backing vocals