Company B "Fascinated"

[xtasy]

A great lost gem from 1987, a time when synthesizers were all the rage and this song is no exception. It was the first big hit for Company B who had 2 subsequent minor hits before fading into obscurity forever.

[mst3k]

I love it! I have this one and "Full Circle" on 12" vinyl. :)

[stevie nice]

No doubt! that is one repetitive keyboard riff that i can't get sick of!

good call x...

[reception]

JAM! I have it on cassette.

[Whi$tlin' Pete]

A number 27 hit in 1987. I didn't hear this one too often.

[tico]

Definitely a good one. How it only peaked at 27 is a mystery to me.

[Ezekiel 23:20–21]

This is a JAM!

I loved this track. Now dance music singer Suzanne Palmer has covered it. She did an awesome job too.

[hidizzyguy]

OH MY GOD, FREESTYLE IS ONE OF MY FAVORITE MUSIC GENRES!!!! This has to be one of the top jams of this little group of music here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

sigh..................... the memories..........................

[Moonshadow]

It's corny, but it's oh-so-catchy. I like it a lot.

Listening to this and generally knowing freestyle thanks to KTU's unrelenting hold on the genre, it's WAY easy to tell this came out of Miami rather than New York. Very Expose'; not very Cover Girls, though in a way they still both sound exactly the same.

What I like more, though, is the guy in the video really passionately jammin to the 9 beats in the riff, and the I-can't-believe-my-eyes-that-is-how-stupid-that-dance-is the members of Company B are doing.

youtube.com/watch?v=B8UEihO4QnM

Some chart info:

The Billboard Hot 100: 21
CHR/Pop: 27
Hot Dance Music/Club Play: 1
Z100 Top 100 of 1987: 82 (a HUGE product of the dance revival on Z100 after Hot103 was stealing the NYC pop audience a few months after its sign on the previous August)

[Hervard]

moonshadow said:

Some chart info:

The Billboard Hot 100: 21
CHR/Pop: 27
Hot Dance Music/Club Play: 1
Z100 Top 100 of 1987: 82

I have one to add to that:
Rockin' America Top 30 Countdown: #30.

The song only spent a single week on the RA chart, during a time when the chart was a combination of BB and R&R, although its lean was more towards R&R - in fact, by August, the chart was going solely by R&R, only two weeks behind.

As for the song - I liked it a lot. It should have charted higher, IMO.

[mst3k]

moonshadow said:

What I like more, though, is the guy in the video really passionately jammin to the 9 beats in the riff, and the I-can't-believe-my-eyes-that-is-how-stupid-that-dance-is the members of Company B are doing.

Woo! That chicken dance is HOT! And how 'bout those sexy platinum fright wigs!

[620 Soul Train]

ulij20 said:

moonshadow said:

Some chart info:

The Billboard Hot 100: 21
CHR/Pop: 27
Hot Dance Music/Club Play: 1
Z100 Top 100 of 1987: 82

I have one to add to that:
Rockin' America Top 30 Countdown: #30.

The song only spent a single week on the RA chart, during a time when the chart was a combination of BB and R&R, although its lean was more towards R&R - in fact, by August, the chart was going solely by R&R, only two weeks behind.

As for the song - I liked it a lot.  It should have charted higher, IMO.

It did?! I used to listen to that show religiously in 1987, I thought that it missedthe chart. I must have fallen asleep when it made the countdown.


I have the album on ZYX Records because I bought on German import while I was in living in England. "Full Circle" sounds a heck of lot different than "Fascinated". i did not care for "Perfect Lover" and "Jam On Me' was tolerable. I should have listen to my friend back then. He said to never buy "dance" albums. Why? There are always remixes and boom there goes your money!

[imbondz]

ich. hated this song

[Hervard]

joshjoel said:

ulij20 said:

I have one to add to that:
Rockin' America Top 30 Countdown: #30.

The song only spent a single week on the RA chart, during a time when the chart was a combination of BB and R&R, although its lean was more towards R&R - in fact, by August, the chart was going solely by R&R, only two weeks behind.

As for the song - I liked it a lot.  It should have charted higher, IMO.

It did?! I used to listen to that show religiously in 1987, I thought that it missedthe chart. I must have fallen asleep when it made the countdown.

Well, not necessarily. it would be very easy to miss, as it spent only a single week on the chart. Maybe you missed the very beginning of the show. I believe that it was the June 27, 1987 show.
That chart was sort of weird. Around that same time, I remember being surprised that "Never Say Goodbye" was still charting way up in the Top 20 while it was long gone from the R&R chart. The producers must have really liked that song.

Other 1987 oddities:

* "I Want Your Sex" by George Michael debuted at #30 on the weekend of June 6, dropped out the following week and did not return until mid-July.

* "Day-In, Day-Out" by David Bowie debuted at #24 on May 30 and dropped to #28 the next week.

* "That Ain't Love" by REO Speedwagon debuted on April 4 (or so) at #22 and didn't go any higher.

* Many songs that got way up in the Top 30 of the R&R chart ("Soul City" by the Partland Brothers comes to mind") did not make the "Rockin' America" chart.

* "Sweet Sixteen" by Billy Idol debuted at #25 on the chart on June 27, moved up to #22 the next week, and fell out the next week.

* "Since U Been Gone" by the Outfield debuted at #26 on August 22 and dropped to #29 the following week (as it did on the corresponding R&R chart the week before, but its Top 30 movement on that chart was 27-26-29. As I said before, Rockin' America was getting closer and closer to the R&R chart through the summer of 1987 (except for those oddities mentioned above), but I think that August 29 was the week that they decided to make the chart identical to the R&R (only a week behind) no matter what.

[areyoureadytojump]

The video:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=lad1TtOK5Vk

[shocker]

"Fascinated" sounded like a combination of '70s disco and '80s techno-pop.

The group took their name from the old "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy" song from the WWII era -
the line "he's the boogie-woogie bugle boy of Company B"

[newpower]

This is a jam. Love it.

[Agent Yoncé]

Love the synths!

[Ezekiel 23:20–21]

Sept 15, 2007 6:43:02 GMT -5 shocker said:

"Fascinated" sounded like a combination of '70s disco and '80s techno-pop.

The main riff of the track is very Euro Disco whereas the composition of it is distinctly Hi Nrg/Italo Dance. The main drum loop throughout it is inspired by what Stock Aitken Waterman were doing. It's totally possible that the loops were sampled from an existing production.

There is a hot mashup of this with Lil Louis' "French Kiss" by the Ultimix remix service.

[🇯🇲 lucy88 🇯🇲]

This song totally gives me Madonna feels.

[Nick]

Charlotte McKinnon is the lead vocalist on this song, not one of those white girls lip syncing in the video. lol

[♛ The Manticore ☯]

I liked this back in the day.

[HolidayGuy]

lucy- yes, especially when she sings "the way you make me feeeelll..."

[disman00911]

 I'm too young to remember when it was brand new and was getting airplay on B96, defunct Z95, WGCI, and defunct 102.7 WBMX.  However, I often heard this as an 80s flashback or during old school mixes on B96 when I was younger.  One of my all-time favorite freestyle/80s dance songs.

[Dammn Baby]

This track always brings a smile to my face.

[disman00911]

Already commented but here's the music video:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=-b-6ksMdkrU

12 inch version
www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_UgSXVDx5U

album version
www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8RC5V0YHIc

[HolidayGuy]

So, looks like Charlotte left the group before the debut album was released. Hence, her non-appearance in the video. Did she sing lead on other Company B tracks? "Fascinated" apparently was first released in 1986 on another label, and then took off the following year on Atlantic.