Today’s classic mid-80s song of the day is “I Can’t Wait” by Nu Shooz. This dance floor classic debuted in February 1986 (sort of; we’ll get into details in a moment) and peaked at #3 on the Billboard Hot 100, #2 on the Hot Black Singles chart (even though nobody in the group was black), and #1 on the Hot Dance Club Play chart.
“I Can’t Wait” was initially released on Nu Shooz’s second album, Tha’s Right, in 1985. It didn’t do much but it was picked up and remixed by Dutch DJ and producer Peter Slaghuis. That remixed version was included on the group’s 1986 album, Poolside, then released as a single. DJs loved it, as did radio listeners everywhere, and the accompanying music video got a ton of play on MTV.
Speaking of that video, it sure is a good one. It was directed by Jim Blashfield, who also directed music videos for Talking Heads, Paul Simon, Peter Gabriel, Tears for Fears, Marc Cohn, and some guy named Michael Jackson. The “I Can’t Wait” video featured lead singer Valerie Day sitting at a desk pretending to fix a coffeepot, while all sorts of tools and things float around her. There’s also a dog named Buster wearing a pair of sunglasses. It was kind of cool.
Blashfield talks about how he approached the video shoot:
“I explained that I wanted to improvise it. I didn’t want to plan it at all. I wanted the experience of just making it up from what was around when we got to the studio. The morning of the shoot, I loaded my kitchen table and chair, and lamp into my car, along with some biology slides and a coffee maker, and some kind of cigar box, and headed over to the stage…
“After the shoot, the next step was a trip to Seattle to get the footage transferred and do strange things to some of it, and then, for post-production, a trip to the thrift store and the corner grocery, returning with every other little gadget and doo-dah you see on the screen.”
The result was memorable, a video that has stayed with me for almost forty years.
Nu Shooz was and is the husband-and-wife team of John Smith (yes, that’s his real name) and Valerie Day. They were and currently are based in Portland, Oregon. “I Can’t Wait” was their big hit, although the follow-up, “Point of No Return,” also performed respectfully, hitting #28 on the Hot 100 and topping Billboard’s Dance chart. They also had dance hits with “Should I Say Yes?” and “Are You Lookin’ for Somebody Nu.” The group was nominated for a Best New Artist Grammy in 1987, but lost to Bruce Hornsby & the Range.
John and Valerie continued to record and perform throughout the next several decades; their latest album, Bagtown, was released in 2016. Valerie also made a name for herself, at least around Portland, as a big band singer and recorded Side by Side, an album of standards, with pianist Tom Grant in 2005. (It’s really good; Valerie has a great voice.) John and Valerie are still married and still making music together today.
And for a special treat, here’s something I just discovered today. It’s a super jazzy unplugged version of “I Can’t Wait” that John and Valerie cut back in 2006. She has some legitimate sultry jazz vocal chops, and this is a really cool version of a song that goes well beyond its synth-flavored dance roots. Dig that trumpet!
