"Rip It Up" | ||||
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Single by Orange Juice | ||||
from the album Rip It Up | ||||
B-side | "Snake Charmer" "A Sad Lament" |
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Released | February 1983 | |||
Format |
7" 12" |
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Recorded | Berwick Street Studios, London | |||
Genre | Post-punk | |||
Label | Polydor | |||
Songwriter(s) | Edwyn Collins | |||
Producer(s) | Martin Hayles | |||
Orange Juice singles chronology | ||||
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"Rip It Up" was a 1983 single by Scottish post-punk band Orange Juice. It was the second single to be released from their 1982 album of the same name. The song became the band's only UK top 40 success, reaching no. 8 in the chart. "Rip It Up" signalled a departure from the sound of the band's earlier singles, with Chic-influenced guitars and using a synthesiser to create a more disco-oriented sound.
The song was sampled in 2009 by British soul singer Beverley Knight on her song "In Your Shoes" from the album 100%.
In 2014, NME ranked it at number 216 in its list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. It was also included by Pitchfork at number 157 in a list of The Best 200 Songs of the 1980s.
The song was recorded as part of the sessions for Orange Juice's second studio album and would go on to become the title track of said album. It marked a departure from their previous guitar-pop based material, instead utilising Chic style guitar-funk and a bubbling Roland TB-303 synthesiser bassline, becoming the first chart single to feature the instrument. The song also features a snatch of the guitar riff from "Boredom", a song by Buzzcocks that featured on their debut Spiral Scratch EP. The riff chimes briefly in, just as Collins namechecks the song in the lyrics claiming that "...and my favourite song is entitled 'Boredom'." Backing vocals on the song were provided by Paul Quinn, the lead singer of fellow Scottish band Bourgie Bourgie, with whom Collins would later record a single in 1984, a cover of the Velvet Underground song "Pale Blue Eyes."