What Are We Gonna Do About It
1985 single by Mercy, Mercy
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"What Are We Gonna Do About It" is a 1985 single for Mercy, Mercy. It became a hit for them that year.
6:40 (12" release)
| "What Are We Gonna Do About It" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by Mercy, Mercy | ||||
| B-side | "What Are We Gonna Do About It? (Dub Mix)" | |||
| Released | 1985 | |||
| Length | 3:53 (7" release) 6:40 (12" release) | |||
| Label | Ensign ENY 522 (7" release) Ensign 12ENY 522 (12" release) | |||
| Songwriter | Young/Tunney | |||
| Producers | Lukey Tunney & Colin Young | |||
| Mercy, Mercy singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
Background
"What Are We Gonna Do About It" was written by Colin Young and Luke Tunny,[1] who co-founded Mercy, Mercy with Young.[2] Young was the lead vocalist in the outfit.[3] Keyboardist Tunny and vocalist Young (aka Colin Hughfield Young) teamed up when Young was working on a solo project in or around September 1984. "What Are We Gonna Do About It", released on Ensign/Island ENY 522 was the follow up to their 1984 release "It Must Be Heaven".[4]
Reception
On 27 July 1985, James Hamilton noted the building of the mesmeric long breaks on the dub side of the single. He also said it was "slightly like a hot tempo Phil Fearon."[5]
Paul Sexton of Record Mirror have a short review on the single in the magazine's 24 August issue. He said that it had a Phil Fearon / Galaxy sound and "a real creeper if you give it time".[6]
On the week of 6 October, James Hamilton said that Young and Tunney were causing quite a stir with the "98bpm reggae-soul jogger".[7]
Airplay
For the week of 31 August 1985, Music Week confirmed that the record was on ten I.L.R. station playlists, two of them A lists.[8] On the week of 7 September, the record was on ten I.L.R. station playlists, two more than the previous week. Three stations had it on their A list.[9] It was also on the Radio London A list.[10] On the week of 28 September, the single had gone up from nine regional playlists to sixteen. Four of them were A lists and a station in Stockton had it as a hit pick.[11]
Charts
The Mercy Mercy single made its debut at no. 54 on the Music Week Top 75 Disco & Dance Singles chart on the week of 17 August 1985.[12] It also debuted on the Airplay Action Bubbling chart.[13]
It debuted at no. 85 on the Music Week The Next 25 chart on the week of 24 August[14] and it had moved up from no. 28 on the Top 75 Disco & Dance Singles chart.[15]
On the week of 7 September, the single peaked at no. 9 on the Music Week Top 75 Disco & Dance Singles chart.[16][17]
On the week of 14 September, the single debuted at no. 12 in the UK Club Play Chart.[18]
By the week of 21 September, it had made its debut at no. 59 in the Music Week Top 75 Singles chart.[19] The following week (28 September), it was at no. 64. This was the song's last week in the Top 75.[20][21] It had also moved up from no. 10 to no. 9 on the UK Club Play Chart.[22]
On 12 October the single had moved down from no. 9 to no. 15 on the UK Club Play Chart.[23]
The song was still in the Music Week Top 75 Disco & Dance Singles chart at no. 69 on the week of 2 November.[24]
The song came no. 48 in the RM (New Record Mirror) Year End Disco chart.[25]