High Energy | |
Cover: | High Energy (Evelyn Thomas song) cover.jpg |
Type: | single |
Artist: | Evelyn Thomas |
Album: | High Energy |
B-Side: | Instrumental dub |
Released: | April 1984 |
Recorded: | 1984 |
Studio: | Trident Studios, London[1] |
Genre: | Hi-NRG[2] |
Length: | 3:48 |
Prev Title: | Doomsday |
Prev Year: | 1976 |
Next Title: | Masquerade |
Next Year: | 1984 |
"High Energy" is a song co-written and co-produced by Ian Levine and Fiachra Trench, and performed by American dance singer Evelyn Thomas. The song was very popular in dance clubs around the world and topped the American dance chart in September 1984. It also spent four weeks atop the singles chart in West Germany[3] and peaked at number 5 in the UK.[4] It became one of the earliest successful songs within the genre of music that has come to be known as hi-NRG. On the SoBe Music compilation album Gay Classics, Volume 1: Ridin' the Rainbow, the liner notes describe the song as "...engagingly captur[ing] the spirit of the genre through uplifting lyrics tightly fused with dazzling synth work".
There are two different videos versions of the song. The original featured Thomas standing on a platform performing the song while everyone around her is dancing. The second, which was done for the American syndicated series New York Hot Tracks, featured Thomas with a different set of dancers that was filmed at a New York City nightclub, with two dancers acting out the song’s lyrics.
In 2022, American magazine Rolling Stone ranked "High Energy" number 177 in their list of the "200 Greatest Dance Songs of All Time".[5]
To 2015, the song has been extensively reinterpreted through extended mixes and re-recordings.[6]
Chart (1984) | Peak position |
---|---|
Australia (Kent Music Report)[7] | 98 |
Denmark (Hitlisten)[8] | 3 |
Europe (European Hot 100 Singles)[9] | 3 |
Spain (AFYVE)[10] | 1 |
US Billboard Hot 100[11] | 85 |
US Dance/Disco Top 80 (Billboard)[12] | 1 |
Chart (1984) | Position | |
---|---|---|
Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders)[13] | 11 | |
Netherlands (Dutch Top 40)[14] | 38 | |
Netherlands (Single Top 100)[15] | 87 | |
West Germany (Official German Charts)[16] | 9 |