"Get Real" is the debut solo single by English singer Paul Rutherford, released on 26 September 1988 from his debut solo album, ''

Oh World ''Oh World'' is the sole solo studio album by Paul Rutherford, the former backing singer of Frankie Goes to Hollywood, released in 1989. Background Following the split of Frankie Goes to Hollywood in 1987, Rutherford teamed up with two production ...

'' (1989). A collaboration with

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...

, the song was written by Rutherford,

Martin Fry Martin David Fry (born 9 March 1958) is an English singer. He came to prominence in the early 1980s as co-founder and lead vocalist of the pop band ABC, which released six singles that entered the top 20 charts in the United Kingdom during the ...

, Mark White and David Clayton, and was produced by White and Fry. "Get Real" reached number 47 in the UK Singles Chart and remained in the top 100 for four weeks. The song received an airplay ban by the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

. A music video was filmed to promote the single, which featured Rutherford in the

Sonoran Desert The Sonoran Desert () is a hot desert and ecoregion in North America that covers the northwestern Mexican states of Sonora, Baja California, and Baja California Sur, as well as part of the Southwestern United States (in Arizona and California). It ...

Background

Speaking to Simon Witter in 1988, Rutherford said about "Get Real", "It's got quite a strong melody, it's quite vague and quite ethereal. I don't really see it as acid house, I think it's more like

Giorgio Moroder Giovanni Giorgio Moroder (, ; born 26 April 1940) is an Italian composer and music producer. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Father of Disco", Moroder is credited with pioneering Euro disco and electronic dance music. His work ...

. It reminds me more of '

I Feel Love "I Feel Love" is a song by the American singer-songwriter Donna Summer. Produced and co-written by Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellotte, it was recorded for Summer's fifth studio album, '' I Remember Yesterday'' (1977). The album concept was to ha ...

' than anything else. It's that type of thing, it's very European." He added to ''

Melody Maker ''Melody Maker'' was a British weekly music magazine, one of the world's earliest music weeklies; according to its publisher, IPC Media, the earliest. In January 2001, it was merged into "long-standing rival" (and IPC Media sister publicatio ...

'' in 1989, "'Get Real' was so off the wall, even with the whole Acid thing going on, there was something special about it. I knew no one would understand it, but Island said it was a definite Top 10 hit."

Critical reception

Upon its release, Jerry Smith of ''

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 ...

'' described "Get Real" as a "burbling House style dance track", but felt that "even its breathy atmospherics fail to make it less than pedestrian".

Wee Papa Girl Rappers Wee Papa Girl Rappers were a British female rap duo, that found chart success in the late 1980s. They were sisters Sandra (the elder of the two, aka Total S) and Samantha Lawrence (aka TY Tim). Before being signed to Jive Records, the two sist ...

guest reviewed the song for '' Number One'', with Sandra Lawrence commenting, "I'm quite into that acid music, it's good dance music but this one's a bit mellow, a bit commercial." In 1989, ''

'' described the song as a "slab of Acid for the radical dance faction, all squiggly synths and slithery bass." In 2004, FutureMusic described the song as "kind of like

meets

Kraftwerk Kraftwerk (, ) is a Germany, German Electronic music, electronic band formed in Düsseldorf in 1970 by Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider. Widely considered innovators and pioneers of electronic music, Kraftwerk was among the first successful a ...

with a

303 __NOTOC__ Year 303 ( CCCIII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar. It was known in the Roman Empire as the Year of the Consulship of Diocletian and Maximian (or, less frequently, year 1056 ''Ab urbe condita''). The deno ...

Track listing

7-inch single # "Get Real" – 3:35 # "Happy Face" – 4:24 12-inch single # "Get Real" (Happy House mix) – 7:22 # "Get Real" – 3:35 # "Happy Face" – 4:24 12-inch single (UK "Sinister" release) # "Get Real" (Sinister) – 6:31 # "Get Real" (Don't Let 'Em Dub You Down) – 6:33 # "Happy Face" – 4:24 12-inch single (UK "Hardcore" release) # "Get Real" (Hardcore) – 9:28 # "Get Real" – 3:35 # "Happy Face" – 6:50 CD single # "Get Real" (Happy House mix) – 7:24 # "Get Real" – 3:35 # "Happy Face" (full length) – 6:50

Personnel

* Paul Rutherford – lead vocals, keyboards and programming on "Get Real" * Beverley Skeete, Paul Lee, Lorenza Johnson – backing vocals on "Get Real" * Derek Green – backing vocals and backing vocal arrangement on "Get Real" * Dave Clayton – keyboards on "Get Real" * Mark White – keyboards, producer and programming on "Get Real", producer of "Happy Face" * Joe Dworniak – bass programming on "Get Real" * Danny Cummings – percussion on "Get Real" *

– producer of "Get Real" and "Happy Face" *

Mark Stent Mark may refer to: In the Bible * Mark the Evangelist (5–68), traditionally ascribed author of the Gospel of Mark * Gospel of Mark, one of the four canonical gospels and one of the three synoptic gospels Currencies * Mark (currency), a curren ...

– engineer on "Get Real" * Jack Adams – mastering on "Get Real"

Charts

References

{{authority control 1988 songs 1988 debut singles Island Records singles 4th & B'way Records singles Songs written by Martin Fry Songs written by Mark White (musician)