How Luther Vandross, cocaine & a campy music video helped make ‘You Spin Me Round’ a huge hit 40 years ago
Youthquake, which dropped the following spring. Upon its release, “You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)” became the group’s first No.
1 hit in the UK. But while it’s considered their signature song today, it had a bit of a tortured beginning…In his 2007 autobiography, Freak Unique, Burns explained the single was inspired by two other songs: “See You ‘Round Like a Record” by Little Nell (best known for playing Columbia in the film Rocky Horror Picture Show) and “I Wanted Your Love” by the late, great Luther Vandross.Subscribe to our newsletter for your front-row seat to all things entertainment with a sprinkle of everything else queer.How did I write “Spin Me”?
I listened to Luther Vandross’s ‘I Wanted Your Love’. It’s not the same chord structure, but then that’s the way I make music – I hear something and I sing another tune over it.
I didn’t sit and study the Luther Vandross album – I heard the song and it locked. […] I’m trying to structure the music and I know what I want. […] It’s like do this, do this, do this – and suddenly it hits.
