Rolling Stones Single-By-Single Thread

I first heard it back when it came out via the video on Night Tracks (A Saturday night block of nothing but then-current music videos. It was like MTV without the DJs, and ran for something like three hours on the USA cable Network.) I didn't care for it, even when I realized it was a political song.

I believe it was their first for their new distribution deal with CBS Records that turned out to be less than fruitful, as the band was going through a lot of personal stuff, and they were trying to find ways to navigate the new musical landscape of the 80s.

 

No, Dirty Work was the first release under the CBS distribution deal.

 

I agree that Hang Fire would’ve made a better single

 

I can remember watching Night Tracks with my best friend at the time.

 

I have this....

 

When it was popular, I thought "Undercover of the Night" was a pretty cool single. It sounded distinctly current, yet very much still the Stones. And it was retro in at least one way: the false fade-out near the end was a throwback to such hits as "Suspicious Minds" by Elvis Presley (1969) and "Let 'Em In" by Wings (1976).

I remember the original video, complete with the "execution," in heavy rotation on MTV. But in this era, the music video channel was seen as the latest Purveyor of All Things Evil in 'Murica from the types who still took "Okie from Muskogee" unironically, thus it felt as if MTV was on double-secret probation. "Undercover of the Night" wasn't the only really popular video to be re-edited in this period; I remember the video for "Owner of a Lonely Heart" by Yes (another group that modernized its sound to great success) having a scene with meal worms crawling all over, thus grossing out some people and leading to a revised version.

Contrary to Mick Jagger's memory, 1983-84 had a fair number of political singles that were big hits, though the issue du jour tended to be nuclear war rather than the mess in Central and South America. Think "It's a Mistake" by Men at Work, "99 Luftballons" by Nena, even "Lawyers in Love" by Jackson Browne. "Two Tribes" by Frankie Goes to Hollywood was a big MTV hit though not as big on the radio. Off the top of my head, the only other big hit to somewhat address the situation in Latin America was the 1985 hit "All She Wants to Do Is Dance" by Don Henley.

I rarely hear "Undercover of the Night" any more. We've mentioned how both the 1960s and 1970s have one Rolling Stones Top 10 single that seems to be lost to time. From the 1980s, it seems as if only one Rolling Stones Top 10 single hasn't been lost to time, a situation that could make a grown man cry, so to speak.

"Undercover of the Night" fell short of the top 10 in Cash Box with a #12 peak. In Radio & Records, it peaked at #6. In addition, "Undercover..." got to #2 on the Billboard Top (Rock) Tracks chart and #9 on the Dance/Disco Top 80.

Promo 45s (7-98813) featured a 3:59 "Edited Version" on one side and the 4:31 "Album Version" on the other. Stock copies (also 7-98813) have the 4:31 version of "Undercover of the Night" with "All the Way Down" on the flip. The 45 was issued with a common picture sleeve (1 on a rarity scale of 1-10).

This was the second U.S. Stones release with a commercial 12-inch single. Side 1 of catalog number 0-96978 featured a 6:22 "Extended Version," with a 6:27 instrumental mix of "Feel On Baby" on the flip; it was issued with a cardboard cover similar to the 7-inch picture sleeve. A promo-only 12-inch (DMD 685) had the same Extended Version on one side with the Album Version on the flip.

All of these were assigned their American master numbers at the same time:

ST-RS-45605: UotN (3:59 edit)
ST-RS-45606: UotN (album 4:31)
ST-RS-45607: All the Way Down (3:40)
ST-DM-45608: UotN (extended 6:22)
ST-DM-45609: Feel On Baby (instrumental 6:27)

Finally, the UK stock 12-inch single (12 RSR 113) was unique in that it contained a Dub Version of "Undercover of the Night" that wasn't released in the U.S. Some copies of this 12" had an alternate cover stating "Extended Cheeky Mix" on it; both this cover and the cover with no such reference contain the same record.

 

Ah, so they waited for the second Still Life single for "Twenty Flight Rock"...sneaky!

"Undercover Of The Night"...Stones for the 80's, here we come! I like it. Really, though, it's a Jagger/Wood collaboration, I've read Keith saying he played on it and I've read him saying he didn't play on it...which is it, Keith? Charlie's contributions are fairly negligible as well- the dominant drumming on the track is Sly Dunbar's Simmonds electronic drums, with his co-conspirator Robbie Shakespeare on bass.
"All The Way Down"...probably my least favourite song on Undercover, it seems pretty contrived. "Too Tough" would have been a better choice for the B-side IMO.

 

And it was retro in at least one way: the false fade-out near the end was a throwback to such hits as "Suspicious Minds" by Elvis Presley (1969) and "Let 'Em In" by Wings (1976).


also let me by paul revere and raiders.
this was the last stones song I remember hearing on the radio

 

Next, she was so cold but now...

She Was Hot (1984)



Released: 1/23/84
B-Side: I Think I'm Going Mad
Charts: #44 (US); #42 (UK)

"She Was Hot" is a song by The Rolling Stones from their 1983 album Undercover.

Recording on "She Was Hot" first began in late 1982. Written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, the song is a traditional rock 'n' roll number from the band. The song is notable as both original Rolling Stones pianist Ian Stewart and his replacement Chuck Leavellperform on the recording.

"She Was Hot" was released as the second single from the album in late January 1984. The B-side to the single was an Emotional Rescue outtake, "I Think I'm Going Mad." The single did not perform well, reaching only number 44 on the U.S. Charts and number 42 on the U.K. Charts. A memorable video was produced for the song, featuring actress Anita Morris who semi-comically tempts each member of the band. The video version includes an extra verse. As with its predecessor, "Undercover of the Night," "She Was Hot" was directed by Julien Temple, and was also edited for broadcast on MTV.

The Rolling Stones resurrected "She Was Hot" for the 2006 United States leg of their A Bigger Bang Tour. The song made its live debut on 11 October 2006 in Chicago, and was a regular part of the band's set list during the tour. The 1 November 2006 performance of "She Was Hot" was captured for the 2008 concert film and live album Shine a Light.

The song was also covered and reworked by Cheap Trick.

 

She Was Hot
I think they were going for a more traditional rock 'n roll vibe for this one (as seen in their '50s outfits and instruments in the music video). I've never really cared much for it. It isn't terrible or anything, it just does nothing for me. Kind of a forgettable, throwaway song and I can understand it's poor chart performance. I read an article sometime in the last year or so that posited that the "comedy music video" is usually a sign that an artist is past their commercial peak, which was an interesting theory.

I Think I'm Going Mad
In contrast, this single has what I think is a terrific non-album b-side. "I Think I'm Going Mad" is an outtake from the Emotional Rescue sessions, but it could have fit in comfortably on side two of Tattoo You as well. A really nice reggae-style ballad with great sax from Bobby Keys and a cool vocal from Mick. This is a bit of lost treasure and I don't think it has a digital release to this day.

 

In my view, Undercover starts strong but fades. "She Was Hot" is the second song and single from the record and I've always liked it a lot. I like that they did it live in 2006, years after it came out. I understand that it falls into a certain category of Stones song that many would describe as generic but what makes "She Was Hot" work for me is Mick's vocal. I also like Keith's solo a lot. This is one case where the video (Julien Temple again) really enhances my appreciation for the song. Temple became known for getting rock stars to give self-mocking performances (later he did the David Bowie video for "Blue Jean" and if you've seen the full video you get what I mean about self-mocking). Here Mick really plays it up mugging for the camera for the first verse but later cavorting with Anita Morris masterfully and I believe the video proved too hot for MTV and an edit had to be made. Also Keith joins in actually miming to a Mick Jagger vocal and the The Girl Can't Help It segment is hilarious - Woody, Wyman and Charlie are all good. And the coda with Charlie manning the phones to the soundtrack of "Off The Hook" is great. It's the best Stones video in my view.

I remember tracking down the picture disc of this single for a friend of mine and listening to the B-side which I had probably already heard because some of the Emotional Rescue outtakes had already started to circulate. It's ok and I agree with @Parachute Woman that it would have fit on side two of Tattoo You but the most likely song it would replace would be "Ain't No Use In Crying" and I prefer the latter. However, I would add that I'd probably think more of this song if it had been on side two of Tattoo You as one of the parts of a greater whole.

 

What a great thread! I'm having to catch-up with reading it so by the time I've done that the next single has already been discussed. Otherwise I would have posted more.

Really good to read what others think of all these singles as I don't know many other Stones fans to talk in depth about them.

 

The sax breaks are courtesy of Mel Collins again, not Bobby this time. This very pretty B-side was released digitally, but only on the massive 45-disc The Singles 1971–2006 box set, where unfortunately there was a mastering error that caused this track to skip in the first few seconds (this is still the version you can hear streaming on Apple Music). Universal issued a replacement disc to those who wrote in and complained but I don't believe they re-issued the whole box with the corrected disc

I really like "She Was Hot", it's funky and the guitar/piano interplay is excellent. Fun and loose, which most of Undercover is not

 

Undercover of the Night, She was Hot - seems like they were trying to fit in with the MTV generation and it just wasn't working. i give em a B for effort and a C- for execution.

 

I Think I'm Going Mad-- One of the reasons I came to this thread, to discover some stuff (b-sides) that slipped through the cracks during my 50+ years of collecting Rolling Stones music. I bought the track on iTunes and think it's enjoyable. For me it's sort of a Fool To Cry vibe (which I like quite a lot.) It's certainly as good as many of the lp tracks to come subsequently.

 

She Was Hot - A midtempo rocker that features both Chuck Leavell and Ian Stewart on keyboards. The single was not as successful as Undercover of the Night. There is a promo video that was edited for broadcast on MTV Even though it was a single, it has not appeared on many compilation albums. I believe the 50 track version of GRRR! was it's first compilation appearance. It was not played live until 2006. There are some alternate versions of the track. One is extended and another is has a bit more of a country influence. There are also some shorter edits as well.

I Think I'm Going Mad- This ballad was an outtake from the Emotional Rescue sessions and it has that vibe and keyboard sound. It is rumored that it was slated to be included on the Rarities disc but the master could not be located so it was omitted. There are some alternate takes of the song which are longer. One long take has Keith on the vocals. This one is just ok for me and it has not been played live to my knowledge. It was released on the massive singles box but there was a glitch in the track and people had to request replacements.

 

As noted above, there is a 7 minute extended version of "She Was Hot", featuring additional minutes of keyboard playing. Broadcast by a Philly radio station when mistakenly released, and now posted on YouTube. My favorite Stones rarity.

 

I was just in the process of posting that one.

 

Even in this very rough, unedited state, I really dig the Keith version of "Think I'm Going Mad." I like Mick's lead vocal on the released version but it would have been neat for this to be a Keith-sung song. I never much liked "Wanna Hold You" on Undercover (it was kind of fun on the Bridges to Babylon tour though). An alternate universe in which "Going Mad" with Keith on lead vocals makes the album would instantly make this album better for me.

I'm not a fan of Undercover. I like "Undercover of the Night" and "Too Much Blood" and that's pretty much it.



This song is so bizarre. Released as a 12" single, but I like the album version more than the remix. Mick does the monologues about serial killers in a much creepier way on the album version. The 12" is more like a comedy.

 

I'm a huge fan of Think I'm Going Mad. I heard it first on a vinyl boot of ER outs called "Accidents Will Happen" (a line from Claudine) that also included something called Rotten Roll, another fantastic 10-minute instrumental groove . When it later morphed into something called Munich Hilton, it somehow lost its charm with the addition of vocals and a change in tempo.

To make it onto Undercover, Goin' Mad would have had to depose either Pretty Beat Up or Feel on Baby, both groove songs as well. (I would have been fine with losing either of those two.) It would have brought some chill to ER, a fairly frantic album. It could have used it!

 

I was going to say that "Too Much Blood" would be tomorrow's single and not to get too far ahead of ourselves -- and then I saw it was the thread starter.