Brick House – Commodores | Top 40 Chart Performance, Story and Song Meaning
Chart Performance: Pop (#5) & R&B (#4); 1977
Story Behind The Song By Ed Osborne
The Commodores’ two highest charting singles of 1977 were drawn from the same album, and represented the two contrasting sounds of the group. Easy looked forward to hits dominated by the smooth crooning of Lionel Richie while Brick House captured the fiery rhythms of their early records and live shows.
Brick House was the last song recorded for the Commodores album, and released after Easy. Yet, it was Easy – along with the success of Sweet Love and Just To Be Close To You in 1976 – that showed where the group was heading.
Easy pretty much marked the end of funk as they’d played it, as the group worked the Three Times A Lady “Quiet Storm” vein for subsequent hits. Brick House rose from the dead one mo’ time in 2003 when Richie recorded a new version with Rob Zombie for (are you ready for this?) the soundtrack to Zombie’s horror flick, House Of 1000 Corpses.
This content and all Song Meaning articles were created and written by Top 40 Contributing Editor Ed Osborne. © 2024 Ed Osborne. All Rights Reserved. In addition to these song meaning articles, Ed has written our “Year in Music 1960s-1990s” articles.
Produced by:
- James Anthony Carmichael
- The Commodores
Lyrics Written by:
- Lionel Richie
- Milan Williams
- Walter Orange
- Ronald LaPread
- Thomas McClary
- William King
Ed Osborne
Hi. I got my first record at age two and never looked back, spending a decades-long career in radio and the music business. Even after years of reading about and listening to all types of music, I am still fascinated by it. Apart from that, I’m endlessly intrigued by art, nature, and the inner lives of people (and dogs).