"Cheers Then" is a song recorded by English

girl group A girl group is a music act featuring two or more women in music, female singers who generally vocal harmony, harmonize together. The term "girl group" is also used in a narrower sense in the United States to denote the wave of American female p ...

Bananarama Bananarama is an English pop group formed in London in 1980. The group, originally a trio, consisted of friends Sara Dallin, Siobhan Fahey, and Keren Woodward. Fahey left the group in 1988 and was replaced by Jacquie O'Sullivan until 1991, when ...

. It appears on their 1983 debut album ''

Deep Sea Skiving ''Deep Sea Skiving'' is the debut studio album by the English pop group Bananarama, released on 7 March 1983 by London Records. The album peaked at number seven on the UK Albums Chart and was certified Silver by the British Phonographic Industry ...

'' and was released as its third single in November 1982, a few months before the album. The song was the first Bananarama single to be written by group members

Sara Dallin Sara Elizabeth Dallin (born 17 December 1961) is an English singer/songwriter and a founding member of the pop group Bananarama. The group has achieved 28 UK top-50 and 11 US top-100 singles, including a US number one with "Venus" (1986). Other ...

Siobhan Fahey Siobhan Maire Deirdre Fahey (; born 10 September 1958) is an Irish singer whose vocal range is a light contralto. She was a founding member of the British girl group Bananarama, who have had ten top-10 hits including the List of Billboard Hot ...

and

Keren Woodward Keren Jane Woodward (born 2 April 1961) is an English singer/songwriter and, with Sara Dallin and Siobhan Fahey, a founding member of the girl group Bananarama. In 1986, the trio reached number one on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 with their ve ...

and also their first

ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and song of Great Britain and Ireland from the Late Middle Ages until the 19th century. They were widely used across Eur ...

release. Coming off three consecutive top-ten hits, "Cheers Then" peaked at a disappointing number forty-five in the UK singles chart. Fahey said in a 1986 interview about this song, "We started taking our careers seriously after 'Cheers Then' bombed. Before then we thought all groups just brought out records and had them go to the top of the charts. It brought us down to reality a bit." Even with its relatively low sales, the song is regarded by critics as one of Bananarama's best recordings. allmusic/ref> The group's fortunes would rebound, however, with their UK follow-up single, a

cover version In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song release ...

Steam Steam is water vapor, often mixed with air or an aerosol of liquid water droplets. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization. Saturated or superheated steam is inv ...

's "

Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye "Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye" is a 1969 song written and recorded by Paul Leka, Gary DeCarlo and Dale Frashuer, attributed to a then-fictitious band Steam. It was released under the Mercury subsidiary label Fontana and became a number-one ...

". The B-side, "Girl About Town," has been issued on CD for the first time on the 2007 UK reissue of ''

'' as one of five bonus tracks. However the version used is a slightly longer version (3:31) with an additional 4 bars just before the instrumental break (roughly 1:45 - 1:59).

Cover

The single's cover shows cartoons of Dallin, Fahey and Woodward perched atop a graffiti-covered wall.

Adrian Gurvitz Adrian Israel Gurvitz (; born 26 June 1949) is an English singer, songwriter, musician and record producer. His prolific songwriting ability has gained him hits with Eddie Money's No. 1 ''Billboard'' Mainstream Rock hit " The Love in Your Eyes" a ...

's name is visible on the top left corner of the wall.

Music video

The

music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

directed by Keith McMillan was a recreation of the musical film ''

The Sound of Music ''The Sound of Music'' is a musical with music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, and a book by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. It is based on the 1949 memoir of Maria von Trapp, '' The Story of the Trapp Family Singers''. ...

''. Filmed in

Salzburg Salzburg is the List of cities and towns in Austria, fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020 its population was 156,852. The city lies on the Salzach, Salzach River, near the border with Germany and at the foot of the Austrian Alps, Alps moun ...

, the girls re-enact many of the scenes from the film, including the step-jumping scene for "Do-Re-Mi" and running in the hills, and the gazebo scene.

Versions

; 7" vinyl single ''London Records NANA 3'' #"Cheers Then" 3:29 #"Girl About Town" 3:10 ; 12" vinyl single ''London Records NANX 3'' #"Cheers Then" (Extended Version) 5:19 #"Girl About Town" (Extended Version) 5:31 #:S. Dallin/S. Fahey/K. Woodward

Charts

References

1982 singles Bananarama songs London Records singles Songs written by Sara Dallin Songs written by Siobhan Fahey Songs written by Keren Woodward 1982 songs {{1980s-pop-song-stub