GTO (Sinitta Song)
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"GTO" is a song by American-born singer
Sinitta Sinitta Malone known mononymously as Sinitta, is a British-American singer. She initially found commercial success in the mid-1980s with the single " So Macho" and had several other hits during the decade. In the 2000s, she became known for te ...
. Produced by
Stock Aitken Waterman Stock Aitken Waterman (abbreviated as SAW and also known as the Hit Factory) are an English songwriting and record production trio consisting of Mike Stock, Matt Aitken and Pete Waterman. The trio had great success from the mid-1980s throug ...
, it was released in 1987 as the fifth single from her self-titled debut album. The song is about a girl whose boyfriend cares more about his car, in the music video a
Ferrari 250 GTO The Ferrari 250 GTO is a grand tourer produced by Ferrari from 1962 to 1964 for Homologation (motorsport), homologation into the FIA's Group 3 (racing), Group 3 Grand Touring Car category. It was powered by Ferrari's Ferrari Colombo engine#250, ...
, than her. The song was a top-20 hit in the UK, peaking at number 15, and reached the top ten in several European countries.


Background and writing

According to
James Masterton James Masterton (born 2 September 1973) is a British music critic and columnist, his work focusing on the UK Singles Chart having been an online fixture on various sites since the 1990s. Masterton is also a producer for talkSPORT, and has worke ...
, "GTO" is one of "sparky pop records with tabloid-friendly subjects", its subject being a man's love for his car GTO, while the singer, with whom he is in love, is "bemoaning her chances of ever replacing it in his affections". Sinitta expressed her extreme dissatisfaction with the subject matter of the song when first presented with the idea by record label boss,
Simon Cowell Simon Phillip Cowell (; born 7 October 1959) is an English television personality and businessman. He has judged on the British television talent competition shows ''Pop Idol'' (2001–2003), ''The X Factor (British TV series), The X Factor UK ...
. Fearing that the title would mean nothing to her core audience of
gay men Gay men are male homosexuals. Some bisexual men, bisexual and homoromantic men may dually identify as ''gay'' and a number of gay men also identify as ''queer''. Historic terminology for gay men has included ''Sexual inversion (sexology), in ...
and younger record buyers, Sinitta unsuccessfully begged producers
Stock Aitken Waterman Stock Aitken Waterman (abbreviated as SAW and also known as the Hit Factory) are an English songwriting and record production trio consisting of Mike Stock, Matt Aitken and Pete Waterman. The trio had great success from the mid-1980s throug ...
to retitle the track before recording. By contrast, she expressed greater satisfaction with the song's video, which had a substantially bigger budget than her prior efforts, boasting that the clip's solo ballet sequence was one of her most enjoyable pop star memories. Her opinion of the song greatly improved due to its positive reception by fans.


Critical reception


Initial response

Jerry Smith of British magazine ''
Music Week ''Music Week'' is a trade publication for the UK record industry distributed via a website and a monthly print magazine. It is published by Future. History Founded in 1959 as ''Record Retailer'', it relaunched on 18 March 1972 as ''Music We ...
'' awarded "GTO" the "mindless dance single of the week", but predicted its success on the dance chart. When reviewing the ''Sinitta!'' album, Richard Lowe of ''
Smash Hits ''Smash Hits'' was a British music magazine aimed at young adults, originally published by EMAP. It ran from 1978 to 2006, and, after initially appearing monthly, was issued fortnightly during most of that time. The name survived as a brand ...
'' called "GTO", along with "Toy Boy", "splendidly trashy classics".


Impact and legacy

In 2014, Matt Dunn of
WhatCulture WhatCulture Ltd. is a British online entertainment news website and magazine which was launched in 2010. The site offers news in the field of professional wrestling, television, films, music, video games, and board games. History Originally star ...
ranked the song at number 9 in his "15 unforgettable Stock Aitken Waterman singles" list, describing it as a "cracker" and a "gem", but lamented about Sinitta's clothing he found horrible, stating that "thankfully her songs were more often than not a great deal better than her wardrobe". In a 2015 review of the parent album, the Pop Rescue website considered "GTO" "a fun track" due to its lyrics and car revving sounds. In 2021, British magazine ''
Classic Pop Traditional pop (also known as vocal pop or pre-rock and roll pop) is Western pop music that generally pre-dates the advent of rock and roll in the mid-1950s. The most popular and enduring songs from this era of music are known as pop standards ...
'' ranked the song number 37 in their list of "Top 40 Stock Aitken Waterman songs", calling it a "SAW classic", praised the single for "the
YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organisation based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It has nearly 90,000 staff, some 920,000 volunteers and 12,000 branches w ...
-esque male choir booming out in full chant mode, SAW's slick pop production and Sinitta's bubbly charm", and concluded that it is "nothing if not a whole lot of fun".


Chart performance

In the UK, "GTO" debuted at number 48 on 12 December 1987, reached number 15 five weeks later and counted a total of ten weeks on the chart. It also reached number 13 on the Irish Singles Chart and charted for four weeks. In Continental Europe, the song peaked at number three in Spain, which was its highest position on any chart, and was also a top ten hit in Finland and Norway, attaining numbers eight and nine, respectively; in the latter country, "GTO" was Sinitta's only charting single. In addition, it missed the top ten by one place in Switzerland, was a moderate hit in West Germany where it culminated at number 31 and was present on the chart for eight weeks, and peaked at number 42 in the Netherlands. On the overall
Eurochart Hot 100 The European Hot 100 Singles was compiled by ''Billboard'' and ''Music & Media'' magazine from March 1984 until December 2010. The chart was based on national singles sales charts in 17 European countries: Austria, Belgium (two charts separately f ...
compiled by the ''
Music & Media ''Music & Media'' was a pan-European magazine for radio, music and entertainment. It was published for the first time in 1984 as ''Eurotipsheet'', but in 1986 it changed name to ''Music & Media''. It was originally based in Amsterdam, but later m ...
'' magazine, it debuted at number 92 on 26 December 1987, culminated at number 25 in its third week and totaled nine weeks on the chart. Outside Europe, "GTO" met with a limited success in New Zealand and Australia, peaking at numbers 37 et 62, respectively.


Formats and track listings

* 7" single #"GTO" - 3:30 #"GTO" (Instrumental) - 3:30 * 12" singlediscogs.com
/ref> #"GTO" (Modina's Red Roaring Mix) - 7:30 #"GTO" - 3:30 #"GTO" (Instrumental) - 3:30


Charts


References

{{authority control 1987 singles 1987 songs Fanfare Records singles Sinitta songs Song recordings produced by Stock Aitken Waterman Songs written by Matt Aitken Songs written by Mike Stock (musician) Songs written by Pete Waterman Songs about cars