THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

312-Cameo-Word Up!

1986-Number 3 single.

Best Bit-At 1.14. When Larry Blackmon sang about ‘Sucker DJ’s’ he was actually referring to the ‘Old School Rappers’ of the early 1980’s, who would Rap about the negative rather than the positive, thankfully he wasn’t singing about you (if you’re a DJ) or me.

Cameo were formed in New York City, United States, in 1974, by Larry Blackmon, the original line up consisted of 14 members. Initially they were called ‘The New York City Players,’ but in order to avoid any confusion, and also because of a threat of legal action, with the ‘Ohio Players,’ (see also best songs 506) record label ‘Mercury,’ they changed the bands name to Cameo. The name Cameo was derived from a brand of cigarettes sold in Canada, that the band had seen during a visit to that country. They were active until 2001, but reformed as a four piece in 2016, and remain active at the time of writing, in total there have been 38 different members come and go. Cameo started out as a ‘Funk’ band, taking some of their influence from their contemporaries ‘Parliament-Funkadelic,’ (see also best songs 612-340-143 and 26) but by the 1980’s they had expanded their sound, with influences from Pop, Hip-Hop, Rock and Reggae, and placed more emphasis on keyboards and drum machines.

The discography of Cameo includes 17 studio Albums released between 1977-2000, and 44 singles released between 1975-2019, there are also 15 official compilation Albums, and six live Albums available. In America on Billboard, four of their studio Albums have reached the ‘Billboard 200’ Album chart, with their 12th studio Album ‘Word Up!’ from 1986 peaking the highest at Number 8. Cameo have had four of their singles reach the Billboard Hot 100 top 40, with ‘Loverboy,’ by Mariah Carey (see also best songs 822) featuring Cameo, peaking the highest at Number 2 in 2001, while ‘Word Up!,’ made Number 6. ‘Loverboy’ samples the Cameo track ‘Candy,’ (1986-Billboard Number 21 & UK Number 27.) In the UK, Cameo have had eight top 40 singles, with ‘Word Up!’ peaking the highest at Number 3.

Larry Blackmon was born Larry Ernest Blackmon, on May 29th, 1956, in New York City, United States. He started his music career as a session drummer, playing on some of the tracks recorded by the American R&B group ‘Black Ivory,’ whose songs have been extensively sampled by the Hip-Hop community. Prior to forming Cameo, Larry Blackmon was a member of a band called ‘East Coast’ which included six future members of Cameo, as well as the singer Gwen Guthrie (1950-1999) who would go on to have four UK top 40 singles in the 1980’s, including the 1986 Number 5 single ‘Ain’t Nothin’ Goin’ on But the Rent,’ as ‘East Coast’ the septet released one self titled Album in 1973. Larry Blackmon is known for his unique vocal style, including his signature ‘Ow!’ which has been used in many Cameo songs. He is also known for his elaborate ‘Hi-top fade’ haircut, and a daring ‘Codpiece’ over his trousers, which was made famous in this songs official video.

‘Word Up!’ was the first of four singles released from Cameo’s 12th studio Album of the same name, from September 1986, the song was co-written by the groups members Larry Blackmon, and Tomi Jenkins, with the production being by Blackmon. The release of ‘Word Up!’ represented the group’s most successful period, as the Album also contained the bands other best known song ‘Candy.’ ‘Word Up’ was a slang term used in 1980’s New York, and other U.S. areas, it was a cooler way of saying ‘I agree,’ or ‘You bet.’ Larry Blackmon developed a character around the saying, and wrote lyrics about what he would say. Blackmon called the character ‘Vicious,’ and had him tell all the ‘negative’ Rappers that they should be creating music you can dance to. Larry Blackmon has said, ‘It just sounded good, and it was before its time. You can play ‘Word Up’ anyplace anywhere, and someone is going to be grooving and bobbing their head. Our sound was unique, as well. I haven’t heard another one like it, and we probably won’t hear another one like it in the future. It was that significant for us.’

‘Word Up’ has charted as a cover version on three occasions in the UK. In 1994 the Scottish Rock group ‘Gun’ took their recording to Number 8, while in 1999 ex Spice Girl Mel B, using the name ‘Melanie G,’ took her recording, which was produced by Timbaland, and featured on the Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me: Music from the Motion Picture’ soundtrack, to Number 13, and in 2014 the girl group ‘Little Mix’ recorded the song for ‘Sport Relief,’ and their version made Number 6. Other significant cover versions are by the American ‘Nu Metal’ band ‘Korn’ in 2004, whose musical arrangements are similar to that of the cover version by Gun, and the 2007 ‘mashup’ by ‘Jan Delay’ of the music from ‘Word Up!’ with the lyrics of ‘Das Bo’s “Türlich, Türlich (Sicher, Dicker.’) The new song was titled ‘Türlich Türlich (Word Up’) and was a hit in German speaking countries, peaking at Number 31 in Germany on the ‘GfK Entertainment’ charts.

‘Now all you sucker DJ’s who think you’re fly, there’s got to be a reason and we know the reason why, and act real cool, but you got to realise that your acting like fools.’