"Skeletons" is a number-one R&B single performed by American recording artist

Stevie Wonder Stevland Hardaway Morris ( Judkins; May 13, 1950), known professionally as Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, who is credited as a pioneer and influence by musicians across a range of genres that include rhythm and blues, pop, s ...

from his 1987 ''

Characters Character or Characters may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''Character'' (novel), a 1936 Dutch novel by Ferdinand Bordewijk * ''Characters'' (Theophrastus), a classical Greek set of character sketches attributed to The ...

'' album.

Song background

The song is an R&B record about lies and deceptions being uncovered. The 12" extended version features short sound bites from prominent figures such as Col.

Oliver North Oliver Laurence North (born October 7, 1943) is an American political commentator, television host, military historian, author, and retired United States Marine Corps lieutenant colonel. A veteran of the Vietnam War, North was a National Secu ...

("I am not ashamed of anything in my professional and personal conduct") and President

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...

("The United States has not made concessions to those who hold our people captive in

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus lie ...

") among others. This has remained a popular R&B uptempo song for Stevie Wonder, as well receiving airplay from

urban Urban means "related to a city". In that sense, the term may refer to: * Urban area, geographical area distinct from rural areas * Urban culture, the culture of towns and cities Urban may also refer to: General * Urban (name), a list of people ...

radio stations Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radio sta ...

Music video

The song's

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing devic ...

shows Stevie Wonder sitting on the front porch of his home, in a typical white-picket-fence American neighborhood. As the video progresses, he greets his archetypical neighbors, and we are shown who they are; then we are shown their "skeletons", or secrets. Karen Black is featured as the "perfect" mother and housewife who is secretly an

alcoholic Alcoholism is, broadly, any drinking of alcohol that results in significant mental or physical health problems. Because there is disagreement on the definition of the word ''alcoholism'', it is not a recognized diagnostic entity. Predomina ...

. Next is the businessman, a "pillar of the community" who cross-dresses in private. Then, the "all-American

girl next door The girl next door is a young female stock character who is often used in romantic stories. She is so named because she often lives next door to the protagonist or is a childhood friend. They start out with a mutual friendship that later often ...

" is shown to be secretly being molested by her father. Lastly, we are shown the athletic "all-American boy next door" who is actually a cocaine addict.

Accolades

The song earned Stevie Wonder two 1988 Grammy Award nominations for

Best R&B Song The Grammy Award for Best R&B Song (sometimes known as the R&B Songwriter's Award) has been awarded since 1969. From 1969 to 2000, it was known as the Grammy Award for Best Rhythm and Blues Song. Beyoncé has won it a record four times, while Bab ...

and

Best Male R&B Vocal Performance The Grammy Award for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance was awarded between 1968 and 2011. The award has had several minor name changes: *In 1968 it was awarded as Best R&B Solo Vocal Performance, Male *From 1969 to 1994 it was awarded as Best R&B ...

, while the album ''

'' would be nominated the following year for Best R&B Male Vocal Performance.

Personnel

– lead vocals, synthesizers, drums, percussion * Ben Bridges - electric guitar * Robert Arbittier – synthesizer programming *

Dorian Holley Dorian Jose Holley is an American musician, backing singer and a vocal coach. He began his professional career as an on-stage backing vocalist for American entertainer Michael Jackson during his Bad World Tour in 1987. He staged a series of live c ...

, Alexis England, Kevin Dorsey, Darryl Phinnessee, Melody McCully, Keith John, Lynne Fiddmont-Lindsey, Shirley Brewer – backing vocals

Chart performance

"Skeletons" went to number one on the Black Singles Chart, and peaked on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 at number 19, and was the final top 40 hit for Wonder to date. The single also peaked at number 20 on the US dance chart.

Popular culture

*The song was featured in the

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Bicenten ...

action film '' Die Hard'', played when the character Argyle speaks on the phone. *The song was also featured in the 2nd trailer and soundtrack of the video game ''

Grand Theft Auto V ''Grand Theft Auto V'' is a 2013 action-adventure game developed by Rockstar North and published by Rockstar Games. It is the seventh main entry in the ''Grand Theft Auto'' series, following 2008's ''Grand Theft Auto IV'', and the fifteenth in ...

'', appearing on the fictional in-game radio station Space 103.2 FM. *The song was featured in the television show ''

A Different World ''A Different World'' is an American sitcom (and a spin-off of '' The Cosby Show'') television series that aired for six seasons on NBC from September 24, 1987 to July 9, 1993. The series originally centered on Denise Huxtable (Lisa Bonet) a ...

'', season 1, episode 4, "Those Who Can't...Tutor" (1987).

References

{{Stevie Wonder 1987 songs 1987 singles Stevie Wonder songs Songs written by Stevie Wonder Song recordings produced by Stevie Wonder Songs about cross-dressing