Cameo

It was released on July 1st, 1994, and top-tend at number eight on the UK singles chart.

It's a cover of a 1986 song by the American funk band Cameo, which itself is a cover of had gotten to number six on the US Billboard Hot 100 and charted even higher at number three on the UK Top 40.

Gunn are not the only band to cover this classic song.

Other artists who've had a crack include Mel B, Korn, a German fella called Jan Deley, and hip young kids' pop favourites Little Mix, but none of those received, as Gunn did, the distinct honour of soundtracking a Pamela Anderson striptease in the opening scene of 1996's $3.8 million grossing.

I am, yes.

You are.

And in the video for Word Up by Cameo, the original...

LeVar Burton plays a starring role.

And I love the title of this song, uh, "A Product You Designed" off their 2014 self-titled album, and we're gonna have something else off it later on, too, near the end of the show.

We've also got, um, Cameo's forty-year-old album coming up.

I'm gonna go with three of the jams off that, my favorites.

It's a huge album for me.

Hey, hey.

40 years old on this one.

Congratulations to Cameo and Larry Blackmon.

[singing] Say it like that.

Baby tell me what's the word, the word of Everybody say When you hear the call you've got to get it underway

From the album of the same name, that is Word Up by Cameo, released 9th of September 1986.

I even remember that song in primary school.

Mad.

Myself and Dylan's eyes singing that at age eight.

They were originally a 14-piece group known as the New York City Players and whittling things down to a solid six.

They had Larry Blackmon on vocals there, changing the name to Cameo after seeing a brand of cigarettes in Canada.

Word Up, probably their best known track, followed, of course, by Black Mon's codpiece over his jocks and his trademark, ow.

My man Darren sent me this, DB.

40 years ago, apparently on this day, Cameo rel- released this one, that...

It has to be their biggest hit.

'Cause let me tell you, this thing was a monster hit.

Yes.

We've played Korn doing Cameo, Word Up.

Disturbed doing Tears for Fears, Shout.

It continues.

And still to come, things are going to get kinky.

First, though, 1986 and US funk band Cameo had a hit with Word Up.

I'm not playing it.

Before they found that fame, they actually put in an album called She's Strange in 1984.

Yeah.

So the other nominees were Promised by Sade, Raising Hell by Run DMC, Real Love by Ashford and Simpson, and Word Up by Cameo.

But they all lost to Prince and the Revolution with Kiss.

There you go.