Everybody Wants You – Billy Squier | Top 40 Chart Performance, Story and Song Meaning
Chart Performance: Pop (#32) & Mainstream Rock (#1); 1982
Story Behind The Song By Ed Osborne
After making the Boston area bar band circuit, Billy Squier attended Berklee College of Music for a year, and played in Kicks, The Sidewinders, and Piper. The latter unit recorded two albums before Squier disbanded it and signed a solo deal with Capitol Records.
His debut effort, Tale Of The Tape, showed off Squier’s songwriting and guitar playing skills, and helped secure Squier a spot on tour with Alice Cooper and Whitesnake. His sophomore release, 1981’s Don’t Say No – with its smash mainstream rock tracks In The Dark and The Stroke – shot Squier’s sales into the triple platinum stratosphere.
Emotions In Motion duplicated Don’t Say No‘s #5 peak position and yielded Billy’s biggest-ever rock radio hit, Everybody Wants You. Between strong support from MTV and a supporting U.S. stadium tour, Everybody Wants You stayed on top for six weeks.
It reappeared for the 21st century rendition in a mash upped rendtion with Fischerspooner’s Emerge for TV’s Queer Eye For The Straight Guy.
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:
- Reinhold Mack
- Billy Squier
Lyrics Written by:
- Billy Squier
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).