Girls Just Want To Have Fun – Cyndi Lauper | Top 40 Chart Performance, Story and Song Meaning

Chart Performance: Pop (#2); 1984

Story Behind The Song By Ed Osborne

If you were asked to pick the girl from New York City out of line-up of female artists of the 1980’s, odds are you’d point right to Cyndi Lauper. Indeed, it was Queens-born Cyndi’s East Coast brashness and quirky attire that made her stand out among MTV’s bevy of video cuties.

Beneath the flashy exterior, however, lurked a talented artist, one who’d honed her craft through years of working in cover bands, the group Blue Angel, and singing solo.

Her first album called, appropriately enough, She’s So Unusual got playing and singing assistance from Hooters Eric Bazilian and Rob Hyman (Day By Day, And We Danced).

Ironically, the women’s rights anthem, Girls Just Want To Have Fun, was written by a guy, one Robert Hazard. She’s So Unusual generated five hits for Cyndi, sold six million copies, and was nominated for a 1984 Record of the Year Grammy, losing to Tina Turner. Cyndi, however, walked away with the one for Best New Artist.

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:

• Rick Chertoff
• William Wittman

Lyrics Written by:

• Robert Hazard

Awards:

• American Video Awards (1983) Won Best Female Performance for “Girls Just Want to Have Fun”
• MTV Video Music Awards (1984) Won Best Female Video for “Girls Just Want to Have Fun”
• MTV Video Music Awards (1984) Nominated Video of the Year, Best New Artist, Best Concept Video, Viewer’s Choice and Best Overall Performance
• Grammy Awards (1985) Nominated Record of the Year, and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance