"Steppin' Out" is a song by English musician Joe Jackson, originally included on his 1982 album '' Night and Day''. The song, inspired by Jackson's time in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, was his highest-charting single in America, where it peaked at number 6 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. It reached the same position in Jackson's native UK.

Background

The song is about the anticipation and excitement of a drive out around the town. Released as a single in early August 1982, it became Jackson's biggest

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in the United States, peaking at No. 5 in '' Cashbox'' magazine and No. 6 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart. It also reached No. 4 on ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large adverti ...

''s Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks chart and No. 7 on ''Billboard''s

Album Rock Tracks Mainstream Rock is a music chart in ''Billboard'' magazine that ranks the most-played songs on mainstream rock radio stations in the United States, a category that combines the formats of active rock and heritage rock. The chart was launched in M ...

. The infectious tune was Jackson's second biggest hit on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

, where it reached No. 6. Only " It's Different for Girls", which reached No. 5 in the UK in 1980, did better. During his 2019 tour for the album '' Fool'', Jackson stated he played all the instruments on "Steppin' Out", with the exception of a drummer, who did nothing but mimic the snare drum. The rest of the drumming was done by a

Korg , founded as Keio Electronic Laboratories, is a Japanese multinational corporation that manufactures electronic musical instruments, audio processors and guitar pedals, recording equipment, and electronic tuners. Under the Vox brand name, th ...

KR 55 drum machine, the original of which Jackson used on the 2019 tour to play the song.

Music video

The music video for the song, directed by

Steve Barron Steven Barron (born 4 May 1956) is an Irish-British filmmaker. He is best known for directing the music videos for the songs "Billie Jean" by Michael Jackson, "Summer of '69" and " Run to You" by Bryan Adams, " Money for Nothing" by Dire Stra ...

, featured a blonde, attractive housekeeper pretending that she was a

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figure. It was filmed over one night in the

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during the summer of 1982. The video used the shorter single version instead of the full album version.

Accolades

"Steppin' Out" earned

Grammy The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pres ...

nominations for

Record of the Year The Grammy Award for Record of the Year is presented by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to "honor artistic achievement, technical proficiency and overall excellence in the recording industry, without reg ...

and

Best Pop Vocal Performance, Male The Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance was a Grammy Award recognizing superior vocal performance by a male in the pop category, the first of which was presented in 1959. It was discontinued after the 2011 Grammy season. The award wen ...

Reception

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Music ...

journalist Chris True praised the song as a "mélange of simple piano hooks, rudimentary electronic treatment and classic vocal pop, with a rhythm track that is quaint in its simplicity and driving enough to invoke images of the big city at night." In 2015, ''

Pitchfork Media ''Pitchfork'' (formerly ''Pitchfork Media'') is an American online music publication (currently owned by Condé Nast) that was launched in 1995 by writer Ryan Schreiber as an independent music blog. Schreiber started Pitchfork while working ...

'' placed "Steppin' Out" at 153 on its list of "The 200 Greatest Songs of the 1980s." ''Glide Magazine'' ranked it as Jackson's 2nd best song.

Chart history

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

{{Joe Jackson 1982 songs 1982 singles A&M Records singles Joe Jackson (musician) songs Music videos directed by Steve Barron Song recordings produced by David Kershenbaum Songs about New York City Songs written by Joe Jackson (musician)