Let's Groove

"Let's Groove" is a song by the American band Earth, Wind & Fire from their eleventh studio album Raise! (1981). Written by Maurice White and Wayne Vaughn, and produced by White, the song was chosen as the lead single from the album.

For the song by Archie Bell & the Drells, see Dance Your Troubles Away.
"Let's Groove"
Single by Earth, Wind & Fire
from the album Raise!
B-side"Let's Groove" (Instrumental)
Released1981
Genre
Length5:39 (album version)
4:02 (single version)
3:56 (video version)
LabelColumbia
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)Maurice White
Earth, Wind & Fire singles chronology
"And Love Goes On"
(1981)		 "Let's Groove"
(1981)		 "Wanna Be with You"
(1981)
Audio sample
"Let's Groove"
  • file
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In the very late 1970s and early 1980s, disco music was undergoing a severe backlash. In spite of this, the band decided to revive the disco sound that was later included on their previous works and records. Musically, "Let's Groove" is a post-disco, pop and funk song which includes instrumentation of synthesizers and keyboards along with live electric guitars.

The song was a commercial success, and was the band's highest-charting single in various territories. The song peaked inside the top 20 in countries including the United States, New Zealand, United Kingdom, Canada and other component charts in America.

Overview

"Let's Groove" was produced by Maurice White for Kalimba Productions. With a duration of five minutes and thirty nine seconds the song has a tempo of 126 beats per minute.[2][3]

Critical reception

Ken Tucker of Rolling Stone described Let's Groove as "city music" where "the horn section screams like a car running a red light."[4] Ed Hogan from AllMusic noted that White "brought in guitarist Roland Bautista and began co-writing, with Emotions member Wanda Vaughn and her husband Wayne Vaughn, a song that reflected the then-emerging electronic sound of the '80s. Not to be confused with the same-named hit by Archie Bell & the Drells, "Let's Groove" certainly was a change. Starting off with a robotic-sounding vocoder riff, it served up a more gritty-sounding EWF for the 1980s, laced with Brecker Brothers-supplied horn blasts that rival those of EWF's 1976 gold single 'Getaway'."[5] People though said that the album's "biggest disappointment is Let's Groove, yet another gotta-boogie tune."[6] Jordan Bartel of The Baltimore Sun noted that the song was "quite possibly the funkiest thing to come out of the early 1980s".[7] Richard Williams of The Times wrote "Let's Groove, the bass-heavy new single, is a reliable pointer".[8] Whitney Pastorek of Entertainment Weekly declared that "I actually love this song, especially the little computer voice in the background, like Pac-Man has come to life to boogie just for me!"[9]

NME placed Let's Groove at number 16 on their Singles of the Year list of 1981.[10] "Let's Groove" was also Grammy nominated in the category of Best R&B Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group.[11]

Commercial performance

The song peaked at number three in the US and in the UK.[12] It also spent eight weeks at number one on the Hot Soul Singles chart in late 1981 and early 1982 and was the second R&B song of 1982 on the year-end charts.[13]

The single sold over a million copies in the US and has been certified gold by the RIAA as until the RIAA lowered the sales levels for certified singles in 1989, a Gold single equaled 1 million units sold. "Let's Groove" was also certified silver in the UK by the British Phonographic Industry.[14][15]

Music video

The music video of "Let's Groove" was the first video ever to be played on Video Soul on BET.[16][17] The video, heavy with vintage electronic effects, was created by Ron Hays using the Scanimate analog computer system at Image West, Ltd.[18]

The whole style of the music video later went on to influence Bruno Mars' "Treasure".[19]

Accolades
Year Publication Country Accolade Rank
1981 NME UK[10] Singles of the Year 16

Charts

Certifications
Region CertificationCertified units/sales
Denmark (IFPI Denmark)[45] Gold 45,000
United Kingdom (BPI)[46] Silver 250,000^
United States (RIAA)[47] Gold 1,000,000^

^shipments figures based on certification alone
sales+streaming figures based on certification alone

CDB version
"Let's Groove"
Single by CDB
from the album Glide with Me
Released1995
Length4:17
LabelSony Music
Songwriter(s)
CDB singles chronology
"Hey Girl (This Is Our Time)"
(1994)		 "Let's Groove"
(1995)		 "Don't Stop"
(1996)

The song was covered in 1995 by the Australian R&B/pop boy band CDB. In Australia, the song reached number two and was certified platinum for shipments of over 70,000 units.[48][49] In New Zealand it peaked at number one for three weeks and also received a platinum certification, indicating sales exceeding 10,000 copies.[50][51] At the ARIA Music Awards of 1996 "Let's Groove" won the Highest Selling Single category.[52]

Track listing

CD single (662147 2)[53]

  1. "Let's Groove" – 4:17
  2. "You Will Be Mine" – 4:07
  3. "Let's Groove" (Summer Groove) – 5:05
  4. "Let's Groove" (Instrumental) – 4:19

Charts

Weekly charts
Chart (1995–1996) Peak
position
Australia (ARIA)[48] 2
New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ)[50] 1

Year-end charts
Chart (1995) Position
Australia (ARIA)[49] 8
Chart (1996) Position
Australia (ARIA)[54] 80
New Zealand (RIANZ)[55] 14

Certifications
Region CertificationCertified units/sales
Australia (ARIA)[49] Platinum 70,000^
New Zealand (RMNZ)[51] Platinum 10,000*

*sales figures based on certification alone
^shipments figures based on certification alone

Asia's Got Talent judges version
"Let's Groove"
Single by Asia's Got Talent judges
Released14 May 2015
Length3:32
LabelUniversal
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)David Foster

"Let's Groove" was covered by the Asia's Got Talent judges—David Foster, Anggun, Melanie C and Vanness Wu—and released as a promotional single on 14 May 2015 by Universal.[56] It was released as a charity single for the May 2015 Nepal earthquake and all money raised was donated to the victims.[57] The version was produced by David Foster.[58]

Promotion

On May 14, 2015, the four artists performed the song in the final of first season of Asia's Got Talent.[59] On June 4, the Asia's Got Talent released the behind the scenes video of the recording.[60]

Track listing
  • Digital download[56]
  1. "Let's Groove" – 3:32

Release history
Country Date Format Label
Hong Kong[56] 14 May 2015 Digital download Universal
Indonesia[61]
Malaysia[62]
Singapore[63]
Vietnam[64]
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See also

References
  1. Smith, Ben (August 20, 2014). "Meghan Trainor Helps Count Down 10 Songs That Are All About That Bass". VH1. Retrieved October 27, 2014. This post-disco pop funk epic is centered on a relentless, repeating bassline that really does make you want to, uh, groove.
  2. Earth, Wind & Fire: Let's Groove. Columbia Records. September 1981.
  3. "Earth, Wind & Fire: Let's Groove". GetSongBPM. Retrieved April 14, 2019.
  4. Tucker, Ken (February 4, 1982). "Raise!". Rolling Stone. Retrieved March 23, 2019.
  5. Hogan, Ed. "Earth, Wind & Fire – Let's Groove". AllMusic. Retrieved April 24, 2014.
  6. "Picks and Pans Review: Raise!". People. Vol. 17 no. 2. January 18, 1982. Retrieved August 1, 2020.
  7. Bartel, Jordan (January 29, 2015). "Throwback Thursday: The top 10 songs this week in 1982". The Baltimore Sun. Retrieved April 14, 2019.
  8. Williams, Richard (November 6, 1981). "Jazz/Rock". The Times. p. 40.
  9. Pastorek, Whitney (January 4, 2007). "A Journey back to this week in '81..." Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved May 1, 2020.
  10. "Albums and Tracks of the Year: 1981". NME. October 10, 2016.
  11. "Earth, Wind & Fire". Grammy.com. Retrieved March 23, 2019.
  12. Dean, Maury (2003). Rock N' Roll Gold Rush. Algora. p. 289. ISBN 0-87586-207-1.
  13. "Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs – 1982". Archived from the original on October 11, 2007.. Billboard.
  14. "RIAA – Gold and Platinum – Let's Groove". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved August 31, 2013.
  15. "Certified Awards". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved August 31, 2013.
  16. Bailey, Philip; Zimmerman, Keith; Zimmerman, Kent (2014). Shining Star: Braving the Elements of Earth, Wind & Fire. Penguin Group. ISBN 978-1-101-60793-0.
  17. Prato, Greg (2011). MTV Ruled the World: The Early Years of Music Video. p. 184. ISBN 978-0-578-07197-8.
  18. Ron Hays Music – Image 1982 demo reel. YouTube. Retrieved April 11, 2010.
  19. Ron. "Bruno Mars Represents Earth, Wind & Fire In "Treasure" Video". Archived from the original on October 19, 2013.. iAmBoiGenius.
  20. "Forum – ARIA Charts: Special Occasion Charts – CHART POSITIONS PRE 1989". Australian-charts.com. Hung Medien. Archived from the original on October 20, 2013. Retrieved August 31, 2013.
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  30. Salaverri, Fernando (September 2005). Sólo éxitos: año a año, 1959–2002 (in Spanish) (1st ed.). Spain: Fundación Autor-SGAE. ISBN 84-8048-639-2.
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  41. "Top 100 Singles of 82". RPM. Vol. 37 no. 19. Library and Archives Canada. December 25, 1982. Retrieved March 7, 2020.
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  57. Ho, Jovi (15 May 2015). "Asia's Got Talent Judges Release Charity Single for Nepal". Yahoo! News Singapore. Retrieved 13 June 2015.
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  60. "Let's Groove". Asia's Got Talent. May 15, 2015. Retrieved June 13, 2015.
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  63. "Let's Groove – Single: David Foster, Anggun, Mel C & Vanness Wu". iTunes SG. May 15, 2015. Retrieved June 13, 2015.
  64. "Let's Groove – Single: David Foster, Anggun, Mel C & Vanness Wu". iTunes VN. May 15, 2015. Retrieved June 13, 2015.
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