Hot Child in the City conversation (continuted...) - Freeze-Frame Radio

Lady Strange · 80's Rock Chick

Hot Child in the City conversation (continuted...)

Tennessee Girl · Senior Member

No. Is this going down a Gary Glitter path?

PS: I've requested the Paul Anka song this morning.

Sparky · Phat Cat EL Presidente

I don't know if it's still on, but it would explain what was really behind the song. Here is a link. Now that I said something, do you think I can find it on here anywhere!

http://www.vh1.com/shows/dyn/true_spin/series_about.jhtml

They're the songs we know and love. They were playing when we slow danced at the prom, shook ass at the club and made our first baby … but what the hell are they really about? In True Spin, the men and women who wrote the songs that made the whole world sing reveal the surprising stories behind each one. From ‘70s arena rock classics to New Wave faves, hip-hop standards to contemporary classics, we'll find the truth between the lines and get the dirt on who or what inspired forty unforgettable anthems.

Each 30 minute episode of True Spin will showcase five know-by-heart pop gems, with the artists themselves shedding brand new light on the lyrics, stories and characters you thought you understood: REO Speedwagon's “Keep On Loving You” seems like such a touching slice of eternal love, but in truth it's the story of a cheating wife and a bitter divorce. You down with OPP? So is Naughty by Nature who finally reveal what that final ‘P’ stands for. And did you know Def Leppard's metal anthem “Rock of Ages” was torn from a page in the Bible. LITERALLY?

What else is in store? The Counting Crows introduce us to the real “Mr. Jones,” Train reveal the previously unknown inspiration behind “Drops of Jupiter,” the Violent Femmes explode the masturbation myth behind “Blister in the Sun,” and Stevie Nicks tells us why she was almost buried by a “Landslide.” How could anyone possibly discover these surprising song stories before True Spin? THEY COULDN'T!

From love letters to suicides, makeups, breakups and hookups with the rich and famous, True Spin digs deep with the icons of pop for tales that will be told and retold at the water cooler. Did you know why Berlin's manager had to shave his head when “Take My Breath Away” went to #1? Did you know how Sir Mix-A-Lot found the memorable butts for the “Baby Got Back” video? And did you know about the near death experience that really inspired the sunny song “The Remedy”? If not, you'll soon find out.

Witty, irreverent and above all packed with the secret stories behind your favorite songs, True Spin will change the way you hear the songs you already know by heart.

Sparky · Phat Cat EL Presidente

It is about a 15 or 16 year old girl prostitute.

"Hot Child In The City"
Nick Gilder
Chrysalis 2226
October 1978 • Billboard: #1

'm intrigued by sex," Nick Gilder confessed to Rolling Stone. "It's so much a part of everything we do, and we don't completely understand why we're doing it. It's our prime directive, almost, on this planet. Seek out and multiply, you know. Seek out and multiply, you know. I write stories around it because it intrigues people so much."

Nick Gilder fashioned one of his stories around the wasted life of a street-wise Lolita ("Drinking champagne is her pastime/Making love is her mainline") in "Hot Child in the City." His platinum-selling single debuted on Billboard's Hot 100 at number 88 on June 10, 1978, and took 20 more weeks to reach the top, longer than any other single that had come before.

"'Hot Child in the City' could well have been entitled "Don't Bite the Apple,'" Gilder said in Rolling Stone. "I've seen a lot of young girls, 15 and 16, walking down Hollywood Boulevard with their pimps. Their home environment drove them to distraction so they ran away, only to be trapped by something even worse. It hurts to see that so I tried writing from the perspective of a lecher -- in the guise of an innocent pop song."

"Hot Child in the City" was a number one smash from Nick Gilder's Sept. 1978 album City Lights, which peaked at #33 on the Billboard Hot 200 and remained on the charts for 20 weeks. In March 2001, BMG/Razor & Tie released the 12-track compilation The Best of Nick Gilder - Hot Child in the City (above), a collection of songs composed solely by Gilder.
The man Rolling Stone dubbed "the Nabokov of the jukebox" was born November 7, 1951, in London, England. When he was 10, his family moved to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. After attending technical college, he teamed up with guitarist Jimmy McCulloch in 1971 to form a rock band called Sweeney Todd. They struggled in semi-obscurity until 1976 when London Records released "Roxy Roller," a sardonic tune about a groupie.

Gilder and McCulloch bowed out of Sweeney Todd due to internal squabbling, and travelled south to test their power-pop sound in the more lucrative waters of Los Angeles. They signed with Chrysalis Records, while their former label released a semi-new version of "Roxy Roller" in the United States, featuring a different lead singer and the original Sweeney Todd backing track.

When Chrysalis got wind of it, they obtained an immediate injunction that banned the record from further airplay and issued a new recording of the song by Gilder. To further complicate matters, a revamped Sweeney Todd went back in to the studio and recorded an entirely new version. As a result of this muddle, all three singles bombed.

After an aborted attempt to record with Beatles producer George Martin, Gilder teamed up with Stuart Alan Love in 1977 to produce his debut LP, You Know Who You Are. For his next effort, 1978's City Lights, Gilder was paired with glitter pop producer Mike Chapman to record three tracks in three days. One of them was "Hot Child in the City."

"I didn't think that track was strong enough to be the single," Chapman told Jim McCullaugh in a Billboard interview. "There was another track called 'All Because of Love' which I thought should be the single but Chrysalis president Terry Ellis felt 'Hot Child in the City' was stronger. He was right on that one."

Ellis' decision gave Chapman two consecutive number one singles as Gilder succeeded the Chapman-produced "Kiss You All Over" by Exile. "It's like a dream come true," Chapman told McCullaugh. "I've wanted that kind of success in the U.S. for a long time and it's finally starting to happen."

The following July, Gilder released a followup to his moderately successful City Lights album entitled Frequency, but it stalled at number 127 on the Billboard Hot 200 album chart and remained on the charts for only eight weeks.

- Fred Bronson, The Billboard Book of Number One Hits, Billboard, 1988.

Lady Strange · 80's Rock Chick

Thanks for the info, Sparky. That VH-1 show sounds like fun.

Lady Strange · 80's Rock Chick

Here's a trivia question for Riggs (or anyone else who may want to guess...)

Our girl, Patty has recorded 2 songs written by Nick Gilder that I can think of right now. What ones are they?

Sparky · Phat Cat EL Presidente

I know them, plus I saw them while looking up the info. I'll let someone else take a stab at it.

Lady Strange · 80's Rock Chick

Cool.

Riggs - Are you up for the challenge?

Jeremy Riggs · 2011 Super Bowl Champions!

Without looking it up I couldn't even venture a guess LS

Lady Strange · 80's Rock Chick

Jeremy Riggs wrote:

Without looking it up I couldn't even venture a guess LS

Oh, bummer.

OK - I will request them for my next go-around.