"Ladies' Night" is a song by American band Kool & the Gang, released as the first single from their eleventh album of the same name (1979). It is a play on the popular use of "Ladies Nights" at bars and clubs that were meant to draw in more female patrons in order to draw in even more male clientele.
The song as a single was a success and became a radio staple. It was also a chart success, reaching #4 on the Cash Box Top 100 and #8 on the Billboard Hot 100 in early 1980. It spent three weeks atop the Billboard R&B charts and quickly sold over a million 45s.[2] It also gave them their first hit in the United Kingdom in August 1979, peaking at number nine in the UK Singles Chart.
Record World called it a "startling shot of funky motion music."[3]
In 2003, Kool & the Gang asked English girl groupAtomic Kitten to re-record "Ladies Night" for their The Hits: Reloaded tribute album.[16] The band subsequently asked them if they could include it on their then-untitled third album which they eventually named after the song in honour of the collaboration following Kool's approval.[16] The re-recording was produced by Khalis Bayyana and Leigh Guest; Andy Whitmore is credited as a co-producer, while Ash Howes and Martin Harrington served as additional producers.[17] "Ladies Night" was released as the lead single from The Hits: Reloaded and served as the second single from Atomic Kitten's Ladies Night album.[16] The song peaked at number three in Spain, and reached number eight on the UK Singles Chart, outperforming the original version of the track.[18]
Chart performance
The song debuted at its peak at number 8 on the UK Singles Chart, becoming Atomic Kitten's first single to not reach the top 5 in over two years.[18] It stayed in the top 40 for eight weeks, three of which were in the top ten.[18] In 2021, the Official Charts Company ranked the song as the band's eight seventh-selling single in the United Kingdom – ahead of previous single "If You Come to Me," making it the biggest-selling single from Ladies Night.[19]
In Spain, "Ladies Night" was Atomic Kitten's only top ten hit peaking at number three; it lasted three weeks in the top ten of the Spanish Singles Chart.[20] The song reached the top twenty in the Republic of Ireland, the Netherlands, Flanders and Denmark, and became a top-40 hit in German-speaking Europe, peaking at number 33 in Germany, number 32 in Austria and number 38 in Switzerland.[21] In Oceania, the song did not do as well as their previous singles. "Ladies Night" was not released in New Zealand, where their previous single "If You Come to Me" had reached the top 10, and it managed to peak at only number 39 in Australia, becoming their last single to reach the top 50 there.[22]
Music video
A music video for "Ladies Night" was directed by Cameron Casey.[23] The video begins with many people anxiously crowded around the entrance of a club, trying to get in. Suddenly a pink plasma waves sweeps through the middle of the crowd, from the door, pushing them off to either side. The group head into the Kitten Club, and the crowd follows them in, until only the bouncer is left standing outside. In the well-lit club, the group groove about and sing, a great deal of which is on a pure white discothèque dance floor. They primarily dance in a row, with two rows of men behind them, though occasionally they are straddling the fellows, or performing other dance moves with them.
Drag queens are spotted in the video, and appear repeatedly, including in the women's washroom, near the video's conclusion. A bartender, bearing resemblance to Boy George, appears throughout the video. Jenny Frost starts to flirt with him, as if going in for a kiss; in actuality, she is stealing his drink from behind him. While a man hits on Liz McClarnon, he is in turn hit on by another man. The group repeatedly flip their hands in the air, creating pink plasma as appeared earlier in the video. This transports them to the opposite side of the club, where they appear on rollerskates, in different outfits. They use their magic again, instantly stripping three men down to pink lycra underwear. The men, in their skivvies, visit the girls at their booth. Natasha Hamilton is so amused at the provided crotch view that she brings out American money which she waves around; money is never actually transferred. At the very start of the video, when Frost blows a kiss, lip marks appear on the screen as a graphic.
^ abLadies Night (UK CD album liner notes). Atomic Kitten. Innocent Records, Virgin Records. 2003. 0724359562223.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
^Ladies Night (UK CD2 liner notes). Atomic Kitten. Innocent Records, Virgin Records. 2003. SINDX53, 0724354777301.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
^Ladies Night (UK 12-inch picture disc). Atomic Kitten. Innocent Records, Virgin Records. 2003. SINT53, 0724354777363.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
^Ladies Night (Australian CD single liner notes). Atomic Kitten. Innocent Records, Virgin Records. 2003. 5478072.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
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