Everybody Have Fun Tonight – Wang Chung | Top 40 Chart Performance, Story and Song Meaning
Chart Performance: Pop (#2) and Mainstream Rock (#25); 1986
Story Behind The Song By Ed Osborne
After recording several tracks that appeared on indie compilations, London trio Huang Chung released its first single, Isn’t It About Time We Were On Television. The answer was “apparently not.” The single and the 1982 debut album sank like rocks.
1984’s Points On The Curve fared better; giving Wang Chung – as they were now billed – two U.S. charters: Don’t Let Go (#38) and Dance Hall Days (#16). Filmmaker William Friedkin was duly impressed by WC and commissioned them to compose music for To Live And Die In L.A., the title tune to which reached #41 in 1985.
Reduced to a duo, Wang Chung returned with Mosaic and the dance-pop songs Everybody Have Fun Tonight and Let’s Go!. The former included the classic line, “Everybody wang chung tonight,” a lyric as meaningless as the name and designed with the same end in mind: to have fun. After Let’s Go reached #9, the Wang Chung fun was over, and the band faded from sight.
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:
- Peter Wolf
Lyrics Written by:
- Nick Feldman
- Jack Hues
- Peter Wolf
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).