"Monkey" is a US number-one hit song by English singer and songwriter

George Michael George Michael (born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou; 25 June 1963 – 25 December 2016) was an English singer-songwriter and record producer. Regarded as a pop culture icon, he is one of the List of best-selling music artists, best-selling rec ...

. It was released as a single in 1988 and reached number-one on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and number 13 on the UK Singles Chart. "Monkey" debuted at number 42 on 9 July 1988, reaching number-one for two weeks, beginning on 27 August 1988. "Monkey" became Michael's sixth solo single reaching number-one in the US, and the fourth single to do so from the ''

Faith Faith is confidence or trust in a person, thing, or concept. In the context of religion, faith is " belief in God or in the doctrines or teachings of religion". According to the Merriam-Webster's Dictionary, faith has multiple definitions, inc ...

'' album. George Michael joined

Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Michael Jackson, one of the most culturally significan ...

and

Whitney Houston Whitney Elizabeth Houston (August 9, 1963 – February 11, 2012) was an American singer, actress, film producer, model, and philanthropist. Commonly referred to as "Honorific nicknames in popular music, the Voice", she is List of awards and no ...

as three artists who all had four or more consecutive number one singles during the 1987–88 era, from one album (

scored five number-one hits from a single album (''

Bad Bad or BAD may refer to: Common meanings *Evil, the opposite of moral good * Erroneous, inaccurate or incorrect * Unhealthy, or counter to well-being *Antagonist, the threat or obstacle of moral good Acronyms * BAD-2, a Soviet armored trolley ...

'') while

scored seven consecutive number-one hits from two albums). "Monkey" also reached number-one in the US

Hot Dance Club Play The Dance Club Songs (also known as National Disco Action, Hot Dance/Disco Club Play, and Hot Dance Club Play) was a chart published weekly between 1976 and 2020 by ''Billboard'' magazine. It used club disc jockeys set lists to determine the mos ...

chart for two weeks and became his first dance number-one. When the song was released as a single, the single version was remixed by

Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis James Samuel "Jimmy Jam" Harris III (born June 6, 1959) and Terry Steven Lewis (born November 24, 1956) are an American R&B/ pop songwriting and record production team. Their productions have received commercial success since the 1980s with var ...

Background

In a retrospective interview about the album in 2010, Michael noted that the song was inspired by a friend of his dealing with drug and alcohol addiction but he did not know how to help her. He used the term "monkey" to refer to her addiction. He asked his friend: "Do you love the monkey or do you love me?"

Critical reception

Pan-European magazine ''

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 ...

'' wrote, "One of the most overtly funky,

disco Disco is a music genre, genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the late 1960s from the United States' urban nightclub, nightlife, particularly in African Americans, African-American, Italian-Americans, Italian-American, LGBTQ ...

-oriented tracks on the LP ''Faith''. A hard hitting dance number."

Music video

The official

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 ...

for the song was directed by Andy Morahan and choreographed by Paula Abdul. It comprises footage from the Faith Tour (including scenes of Michael performing intense choreography) and him performing the song in a simple white T-shirt and black hat against a white background. Some of the scenes are shown in grey scale, with the tour footage being shown with tinted blue lights all over.

Track listing

* 7" # "Monkey" (7-inch edit) – 4:47 # "Monkey" (a'cappella) – 3:40 * US 12" – Columbia 44 07849 # "Monkey" (extended version) – 8:06 # "Monkey" (a'cappella) – 3:40 # "Monkey" (extra beats) – 3:30 * CD # "Monkey" (extended version) – 8:06 # "Monkey" (a'cappella) – 3:40 # "Monkey" (extra beats) – 3:30 # "Monkey" (7-inch edit) – 4:47

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

{{authority control 1987 songs 1988 singles Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles Cashbox number-one singles Epic Records singles George Michael songs Music videos directed by Andy Morahan RPM Top Singles number-one singles Song recordings produced by Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis Song recordings produced by George Michael Songs written by George Michael Songs about drugs