| Jack Your Body | |
| Cover: | Jackyourbody.jpg |
| Type: | single |
| Artist: | Steve "Silk" Hurley |
| Album: | Hold on to Your Dream |
| Released: | 1986 |
| Genre: | Chicago house |
| Length: | 3:13 |
| Label: | Underground |
| Producer: | Steve "Silk" Hurley |
| Chronology: | Steve "Silk" Hurley |
| Prev Title: | I Can't Turn Around |
| Prev Year: | 1986 |
| Next Title: | Let the Music Take Control |
| Next Year: | 1987 |
"Jack Your Body" is a song by American music producer Steve "Silk" Hurley, originally released as a single in 1986. It was included on the album Hold on to Your Dream (1987) under the alias J.M. Silk. The song topped the UK Singles Chart for two weeks in January 1987.
One of the landmark records in the history of house music,[1] "Jack Your Body" was composed and produced by Hurley. The title refers to jacking, an ecstatic dance style that emerged within the Chicago house scene since the early to mid 1980s. The song climbed to number 25 on the US Billboard Hot Dance/Disco Club Play chart and number 37 on the 12-inch Singles Sales chart. The song became a hit in the United Kingdom, reaching number one for two weeks in January 1987.
"Jack Your Body" was the first UK number one single to achieve the majority of its sales on the 12-inch format. Under the chart rules in place at the time, the 12-inch sales should not have counted toward the song's chart position, as its running time exceeded the then-current 25-minute limit.[2] However, the 25-minute rule was not enforced, since the running time was not brought to the chart compilers' attention until the record was already at number one.
Hurley never promoted the track, as he was "under pressure" to complete the Hold on to Your Dream album.[3] He did not know that the track had reached number one on the UK Singles Chart—when his manager mentioned, in passing, that the track had hit number one in the UK, he assumed this meant on the UK Dance Chart.[3] In spite of the song's success, Hurley has had no further solo singles whatsoever (under his own name) on the UK Singles Chart. "Jack Your Body" was re-released, each time with new remixes, in 1987, 1992, 2000, and 2009.
In 1996, Oliver Bondzio of German electronic music duo Hardfloor chose "Jack Your Body" as one of the tunes that changed his life, saying, "This was one of the first tracks I heard being played in Checkers, a club in Düsseldorf I went to for three years. It had the best sound system and DJs. It was the first to play house and acid house tunes. I like the way they sampled the 'jack' in the old skool way. You can't forget this one."[4]
In 2014, Rolling Stone featured it in their "20 Best Chicago House Records" list, adding, "Arriving a few years into house's existence, Hurley's "Jack Your Body" came out swinging with unapologetic experimentation — its Roland-centered electronic spine helping to touch off the acid house revolution in the U.K. Here was something far removed from disco's orchestral feel and entirely new. It was ultimately the first house song to hit Number One in the U.K."[5]
In 2020, The Guardian ranked the song number 50 in their list of "The 100 greatest UK No 1s".[6] They wrote, "It’s hard to imagine now how strange and alien Jack Your Body sounded in 1987. Other early house hits had at least come with a song or a hook attached, but this had neither: it may be the most minimal No 1 of all time. It isn't by any stretch of the imagination the best Chicago had to offer in 1987: as a signal of a vast shift in the way pop music sounded, it's unbeatable."
1986 7-inch single
1986 12-inch single
1987 12-inch single
"Back to Jack Your Body '92" (12-inch and CD single)
"Jack Your Body 2000" (12-inch single 1)
"Jack Your Body 2000" (12-inch single 2)
"Jack Your Body" (2009 digital release)
| Chart (1986–1987) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Europe (European Hot 100 Singles)[8] | 9 |
| US 12-inch Singles Sales (Billboard)[9] | 37 |
| US Dance/Disco Club Play (Billboard)[10] | 25 |