Steve 'Silk' Hurley - "Jack Your Body"

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I've been listening to it LOTS this month. One of those records that are timeless and absolutely of-their-moment all at once. It was a revolutionary record for me when I first heard it in 86 or 87 - it changed the way I listened to music more than any other single track, maybe. Now I come back to it I'm picking up things I never realised - that rhythm's really Latin, isn't it? Isn't that true of a lot of early House? When did it get so 4/4?

Also please school me on other versions of the thing. Or tell me why it's rubbish and irrelevant to proper House music or whatever. Cos I am ignorant dilettante blinded by love.

― More Tongue Feldman (noodle vague), Friday, 14 July 2006 09:51 (nineteen years ago)

Steve 'Silk' Hurley and Cockney Rebel - Make Me Smile (Come up and Jack Me) - now that's a mashup I'd like to hear.

― ledge (ledge), Friday, 14 July 2006 10:30 (nineteen years ago)

i have always wondered, how exactly do you jack your body, in an authentic chicago house fashion?

― ferzaffe (flezaffe), Friday, 14 July 2006 10:47 (nineteen years ago)

Were there any other tracks from around the same time that may have been deemed as 'accessible' in the same way 'Jack Your Body' was?

Was it so unique or could there have been another track like it crossing over so enormously?

― Konal Doddz (blueski), Friday, 14 July 2006 11:03 (nineteen years ago)

House Nation, Let's Get Brutal, Pump Up The Volume, Break 4 Love randomly spring to mind.

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Friday, 14 July 2006 11:13 (nineteen years ago)

none of them quite as big tho were they (except Pump Up The Volume, but i think that's a pretty different track/style to the others)? plus they all came a bit later.

― Konal Doddz (blueski), Friday, 14 July 2006 11:15 (nineteen years ago)

Yeah, on the UK chart those all came after "Jack Your Body".

It maybe sounds a little "cleaner", production-wise, than other contemporary House records. But I've always assumed its success over here was more to do with licensing issues, i.e. first House record to get an official UK release?

― More Tongue Feldman (noodle vague), Friday, 14 July 2006 11:20 (nineteen years ago)

That was "Love Can't Turn Around" about six months previously.

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Friday, 14 July 2006 11:22 (nineteen years ago)

Yeah, my mangled memory hasn't got much clue on the chronology back then. I remember loving "Love Can't Turn Around" just as much, but the vocal on that song kept it within a familiar-ish context. It was the relative stripped-downness of "Jack Your Body" that really blew my mind.

― More Tongue Feldman (noodle vague), Friday, 14 July 2006 11:29 (nineteen years ago)

'Jack Your Body' is quite different again to 'Love Can't Turn Around' tho what with it not featuring live vocals/lyrics beyond the title repeating. I don't know if 'Love Can't Turn Around' was more readily accepted as a 'song' on that basis and got more airplay and stuff. Or whether 'Jack Your Body' was a well timed reaction to that directly.

― Konal Doddz (blueski), Friday, 14 July 2006 11:29 (nineteen years ago)

"Jack Your Body" benefited from the immediate post-Christmas sales lull in January '87.

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Friday, 14 July 2006 12:41 (nineteen years ago)

Absolute classic. This song is one of a batch that made me a House Music convert upon its release.

Others of the era I heard upong their release that blew me away:

(1985) J.M. Silk - Music Is The Key
(1986) Farley Jackmaster Funk - Love Can't Turn Around
(1986) House People - Godfather of House
(1986) JM Silk - Shadows of Your Love
(1986) Marshall Jefferson - Move Your Body (DUH!)
(1986) Nitro Deluxe - This Brutal House
(1987) LNR - Work It To The Bone

After these, I spent the next 20 years filling in the gaps.

― Rev. PappaWheelie (PappaWheelie 2), Friday, 14 July 2006 13:07 (nineteen years ago)

Steve Silk Hurley is a great DJ to this day, btw and still spins in Chicago from time to time.

― deej.. (deej..), Friday, 14 July 2006 13:09 (nineteen years ago)

what about Man2man meets man parrish - male stripper?

also, when was 2 men, a drum machine and a trumpet?

― CharlieNo4 (Charlie), Friday, 14 July 2006 13:31 (nineteen years ago)

I think both of them were earlier, but nothing like as big a success. Jack Your Body was a massive hit, wasn't it? I seem to remember it being at no.1 for a while. The near-total lack of lyrics was seen as pretty unusual at the time. Pump Up The Volume was much later in 1987 - I'm guessing September or October, and was a very different style of music. I don't remember any other big hits in 87 that sounded similar to Jack Your Body, but in the first half of 88 a lot more stuff like that started to get into the top ten.

― Teh littlest HoBBo (the pirate king), Friday, 14 July 2006 13:41 (nineteen years ago)

'Male Stripper' was a year or so later. and 2 Fine Young Cannibals, A Drum Machine etc. was a year after that.

― Konal Doddz (blueski), Friday, 14 July 2006 13:44 (nineteen years ago)

Really? I got a single by Man Parrish in 1985 (called Boogie Down Bronx, I think) and never really heard of him again so I assumed Male Stripper must have been around the same time.

― Teh littlest HoBBo (the pirate king), Friday, 14 July 2006 13:48 (nineteen years ago)

Steve Silk Hurley is a great DJ to this day, btw and still spins in Chicago from time to time.

including next weekend's House Music Festival on the lakefront (also David Morales, Frankie Knuckles, Derek Carter, etc., etc.)

http://www.chicagohousemusicfestival.org/

― my name is john. i reside in chicago. (frankE), Friday, 14 July 2006 13:49 (nineteen years ago)

Yeah I'm thinking about going to that, tho tix are a little steep for me right now.

― deej.. (deej..), Friday, 14 July 2006 13:51 (nineteen years ago)

Man Parrish's early stuff was NYC Electro (sans Shox Lumana)

Steve Hurley is Chicago House.

― Rev. PappaWheelie (PappaWheelie 2), Friday, 14 July 2006 13:51 (nineteen years ago)

Hurley was my best summerdance experience.

― deej.. (deej..), Friday, 14 July 2006 13:58 (nineteen years ago)

Too bad about this:

Nomadic No More
The city of Chicago's wildly popular free outdoor SummerDance DJ series, which took on a "nomadic" character this year when it outgrew its traditional home in Grant Park, has suddenly been forced to find a home. Indoors. Growing crowds, coupled with a troubling incident at Daley Plaza when a fight broke out nearby a recent event, forced the city to abandon plans to stage shows in the plaza and on the promenade at Millennium Park. The music venue Metro has signed on to host the next two events, scheduled for July 17 and July 24, while venues are still being finalized for later events. The season finale at Butler Field in Grant Park will go on as scheduled. "We will even be moving out a section of chairs to create a dancefloor for the last one," city spokesperson Kennon Brown says.

― deej.. (deej..), Friday, 14 July 2006 14:03 (nineteen years ago)

Doing it indoors is stupid.

― deej.. (deej..), Friday, 14 July 2006 14:05 (nineteen years ago)

Yeah I'm thinking about going to that, tho tix are a little steep for me right now.

same here. does anyone know if you can hear anything from across the water at mccormick place?

forced the city to abandon plans to stage shows in the plaza and on the promenade at Millennium Park

farg!! i was really looking forward to herbert in august outside... metro?! booooooooooo.

― my name is john. i reside in chicago. (frankE), Friday, 14 July 2006 14:43 (nineteen years ago)

Do you know which performances are on which day re: the house music festival? I can't get the festival website to work for some reason. I'm supposed to go to a sox game on the 22nd so i'm thinking of going the 23rd.

― deej.. (deej..), Friday, 14 July 2006 14:44 (nineteen years ago)

it's a crappy flash site, so i can't copy/paste. here's the 23rd sched:

Steve Silk Hurley
Terry Hunter
Jaime Principle
Andre Hatchett

Glen Lewis
Frankie Knuckles
Jocelyn Brown
David Morales

― my name is john. i reside in chicago. (frankE), Friday, 14 July 2006 14:53 (nineteen years ago)

Boom. Good enough for me.

― deej.. (deej..), Friday, 14 July 2006 14:55 (nineteen years ago)

Andre Hatchett was v. good when I saw him too. Plus he was name dropped by Common on Resurrection.

― deej.. (deej..), Friday, 14 July 2006 14:56 (nineteen years ago)

This is such a great DJ record. It is minimal and tracky and way more in line with the acid/jack sound. Love Can't Turn Around is a cover of Issac Hayes with a house beat and male diva vocals.

Jack Your Body is one of those cannon Chi records that just bangs to this day. I just got a copy of the original Chicago pressing on Underground on Monday. Life isn't too bad.

― Disco Nihilist (mjt), Friday, 14 July 2006 18:40 (nineteen years ago)

Is there any difference between the J.M. Silk version and the Steve Hurley other than the length and the vocal samples? Where they both Hurley releases under different pseudonyms?

― More Tongue Feldman (noodle vague), Friday, 14 July 2006 18:46 (nineteen years ago)

Yes, JM Silk is a Hurley psuedonym.

Discogs.com says that there was a 7" on RCA and the cover has both J.M. Silk and Steve "Silk" Hurley on it. This is the only released version with both names on it. I don't know if there is a sonic difference, I do not own a copy.

― Disco Nihilist (mjt), Friday, 14 July 2006 22:19 (nineteen years ago)

I've got empee3s of both, but I used to have the 12 inch of JYB and seem to remeyber that the Steve "Silk" version was the official release. That verzh seems to play the "Jack Yer Body" vocal more, and features more stereo panning, whereas the JM Silk version is more instrumental. But my memory of the time is that they were both available at the time and carried different levels of hipster cache.

― More Tongue Feldman (noodle vague), Friday, 14 July 2006 22:28 (nineteen years ago)

I imagine the name differences was contractual. Like Boom I Got Your Girlfried was by Danny D & DJ Wiz on Heatwave, but Boyz form the Bottom on Hot.

― Rev. PappaWheelie (PappaWheelie 2), Friday, 14 July 2006 22:30 (nineteen years ago)

I remember when this came out. He asked his fans not to buy it, as he'd fallen out with his label. A resounding success, that was...

Anyhow, TUNE!

what about Man2man meets man parrish - male stripper?

Heh! My dad disapproved of the 9 year old me having this 'silly song' on a top 40 mixtape.

― Ben Dot (1977), Saturday, 15 July 2006 00:05 (nineteen years ago)

Oh yeah.

I was happy to hear Michael Mayer was apparently been playing this out recently.

Were there any other tracks from around the same time that may have been deemed as 'accessible' in the same way 'Jack Your Body' was?

Krush - House Arrest * must have been a pretty big hit 'cos it was the second (7") single I ever bought IIRC. Shame about the dated samples.

youtube is failing to retrieve the equally spartan video for "Jack Your Body" sadly.

― fandango (fandango), Saturday, 15 July 2006 01:06 (nineteen years ago)

That was about a year later, though. By the start of 88 there were quite a few 'accessible' tracks (I don't know that I'd call them house) without much in the way of vocals apart from samples that were doing well in the charts. Bomb The Bass - Beat Dis, and S-Express - Theme From S-Express were both number 1s, weren't they? If not, they must have come close. And there was the Colcut/Yazz - Plastic Man thing which was probably top ten.

― Teh littlest HoBBo (the pirate king), Saturday, 15 July 2006 08:20 (nineteen years ago)

All British those. 'Jack You Body' stands out as the ONLY (I think) UK #1 single of the 80s by a Chicagoan producer/DJ - distinctly ahead of it's contemporaries in this respect, which is some decent indication of it's crossover success even tho it came during post-festive New Year sales skump. Lil Louis would come close to matching this in '89 with 'French Kiss' tho which would've been a far more minimal and 'extreme' #1 single for reasons that should be obvious, and that was late Summer so possibly the competition was much fiercer (actually thwarted by corny samling fuxors Jive Bunny and Italo-house of Black Box).

― Konal Doddz (blueski), Saturday, 15 July 2006 10:41 (nineteen years ago)

How can everyone forget "Jack the Groove" by Raze? In the Top 20 at the SAME TIME "Jack Your Body" was at No.1. An undeservedly forgotten jackin' classic..... :)

― JTS (JTS), Sunday, 16 July 2006 02:00 (nineteen years ago)

eight years pass...

Then Play Long embraces the future ("Jack Your Body") while surrounded by the past: http://nobilliards.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/various-artists-now-thats-what-i-call_16.html

― agincourtgirl, Thursday, 16 October 2014 13:00 (eleven years ago)

thank you

― TracerHandVEVO (Tracer Hand), Thursday, 16 October 2014 22:47 (eleven years ago)

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