We Built This City was released in November 1985 off the album "Knee Deep In The Hoopla". It was the debut single by Starship, though Starship were hardly new to the charts, being the latest incarnation of the band Jefferson Starship and before that, Jefferson Airplane. In 1985 Grace Slick was the only original member remaining and a legal case in 1984 by Paul Kantner, the last remaining member of Jefferson Airplane, resulted in an agreement that neither the name Jefferson nor Airplane could be used in future and therefore the name "Starship" was born.
The song was written by long time Elton John songwriter, Bernie Taupin (who is actually 59 today - Happy Birthday Bernie!), Martin Page, Dennis Lambert and Peter Wolf. It was the first hit Bernie Taupin had written without Elton John. The song is reputedly about early 1970's Los Angeles, but I have also seen reports that the song is about a future corporation trying to banish Rock and Roll.
The song features an unusual DJ interlude in the song. The DJ/Announcer in this is Les Garland, who was an executive at MTV. The main vocals were provided by Mickey Thomas and Grace Slick.
In the video, night falls on the city and the ghost of Mickey Thomas appears, replaced by Grace Slick's. Peter Sears and David Freiberg appear on a hill playing bass, and Thomas appears again with Slick's head next to him.
The song reached number 1 on the billboard charts and number 12 in the UK. It has been repeatedly voted as the worst song ever. I have to say I don't agree with this - to me it is a fantastic feel-good song that I never get tired of and is so mid-80's it is untrue, from the poodle perm hair of the band members, the outfits, the sound - so 1985!! I think a lot of the resentment comes from the fact that Starship emerged from what could arguably be a much more creative band. Yet here are the facts - no previous incarnation had ever had a number one record and Starship opened up with 2 - this song and "Sara". They also hit the top again 1987 with "Nothing's gonna stop us now" (from the film Mannequin).
I think the other issue is that once a song has a reputation, people just keep voting for it (how many times has Bohemian Rhapsody been voted as the best ever song?) - it truly is not that bad a record and certainly people in 1985 loved it, given the US number 1.
I say it deserves a place as one of the BEST songs of the 80's, and all time and I bet old Bernie has a chuckle when he gets the annual royalty statement!!
Kids Incorporated. OK, this is BAD!!
