"Girls Just Want to Have Fun" is a single made famous in 1983 by the American singer-songwriterCyndi Lauper, written byRobert Hazard in 1979, with some of the lyrics changed by Lauper.[6] It was released byPortrait Records as Lauper's debut single from her first solo album,She's So Unusual (1983). Lauper's version gained recognition as afeminist anthem[7] and was promoted by anMTV Video Music Award–winning music video directed byEdd Griles. It has been covered by more than 30 other artists.
The single was Lauper's breakthrough hit, reachingNo. 2 on the USBillboard Hot 100 chart and becoming a worldwide hit throughout late 1983 and early 1984.[8] It is considered one of Lauper'ssignature songs and was a popular song during the 1980s.
Lauper released a new version, "Hey Now (Girls Just Want to Have Fun)", as the first single from her 1994 compilation albumTwelve Deadly Cyns...and Then Some. It reached the top 10 in several countries. In 2013, "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" was remixed byYolanda Be Cool for the 30th-anniversary reissue ofShe's So Unusual.[12]
The song was written in 1979 byrock musicianRobert Hazard, who performed it with various bands in the Philadelphia area, and enjoyed some localcollege radio airplay with a demo recording he made. Hazard wrote it as a rock song coming from the male perspective. Hazard's friend, producerRick Chertoff, brought it toCyndi Lauper to record as a pop-electronic song.[13] Lauper "flipped the script" and made it carry a feminist attitude by subtly changing some of the lyrics at the suggestion of Chertoff, and she had her own suggestions about how her version should sound.[14] For the recording sessions, Chertoff brought in two longtime musician friends fromthe Hooters: keyboardistRob Hyman and guitaristEric Bazilian. Lauper later said that the Hooters were "my band before I had a band."[13] The song appeared on Lauper's 1983 debut recordShe's So Unusual.[citation needed]
The track is a synthesizer-backed anthem, from a feminist perspective, conveying the point that all women really want is to have the same experiences that men can have.[15] Gillian G. Gaar, author ofShe's a Rebel: The History of Women in Rock & Roll (2002), described the single and corresponding video as a "strong feminist statement", an "anthem of female solidarity" and a "playful romp celebrating female camaraderie." The song is in the key ofF♯ major.[7]
The song's success overshadowed Hazard's own music career. His 1984 albumWing of Fire was a sales disappointment at the same time that Lauper's version of "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" was going Gold, making him a millionaire. After Lauper claimed in interviews to have co-written the song, Hazard served her with acease and desist letter. He was able to buy a New Jersey lake house and a horse farm from the song's royalties, although he said that federal taxes took most of the money.[13]
Cash Box said that "Robert Hazard's original male point of view is transformed into a cheerleader-like sing-along for party girls, and theToni Basil–like beat is augmented by a hooky, ringing guitar."[16]
The song was released in late 1983, but much of its success on the charts came during the first half of 1984. The single reached the Top 10 in more than 25 countries and reached No. 1 in ten of those countries including Australia, Brazil, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, Norway and on theIrish Singles Chart. It also reached No. 2 on both theUK Singles Chart and the USBillboard Hot 100.
In the United States, the song entered theBillboard Hot 100 at No. 80 on December 17, 1983. On the issue dated March 10, 1984, it peaked at No. 2, where it stayed for two weeks, behindVan Halen's "Jump".[17][18] In the United Kingdom, the song entered the chart at No. 50 on January 14, 1984, and peaked at No. 2 on February 4, 1984, where it stayed for one week.[19] In Ireland, the song entered the chart on January 29, 1984. It peaked at No. 1 for two weeks and was on the chart for a total of seven weeks.[20] In Australia, the song debuted on theKent Music Report Top 100 on February 27, 1984. It entered the Top 10 in only its third week on the chart and reached No. 1 on March 26, 1984. It topped the chart for two weeks and then remained at No. 2 for four weeks behindNena's "99 Luftballons". It stayed on the chart for 21 weeks and was the 9th biggest-selling single of the year.[21] In Belgium, the song debut at No. 38 on February 18, 1984, and peaked at No. 4 on April 7, 1984.[22] In the Netherlands, the song entered the chart at No. 38 on February 25, 1984, and peaked at No. 4 on March 31, 1984.[23]
In Sweden, the song entered at No. 13 on March 6, 1984, and peaked at No. 5 on April 3, 1984, charting for six weeks.[24] In Switzerland, the song entered the chart at No. 15 on April 1, 1984, and peaked at No. 6 on April 29, 1984.[25] In New Zealand, the song debuted at No. 21 on April 1, 1984, and peaked at No. 1 on May 6, 1984, where it stayed for three weeks.[26] In Austria, the single entered at No. 3 on May 1, 1984, which was its peak position.[27]In Netherland and New Zealand "Girls Just Want To Have Fun" made the year end charts for the Top 100 of 1984. On the ARC (American Radio Chart), "Girls Just Want To Have Fun" reached number 1 and made the Top 40 songs of the year for 1984. In Mexico "Girls Just Want To Have Fun" stayed in the Top 5 for five months and reached number 1 on October 1, 1984; the song remained number one for six weeks.
The release of the single was accompanied by a quirky music video. It cost less than US$35,000 (equivalent to $110,000 in 2024), largely due to a volunteer cast and the free loan of the most sophisticated video equipment available at the time. The cast included Lauper's close friend, professional wrestler/manager "Captain"Lou Albano in the role of Lauper's father while her real mother, Catrine, played herself. Lauper later appeared inWorld Wrestling Federation storylines opposite Albano and guest-starred onThe Super Mario Bros. Super Show! episode "Robo Koopa/Captain Lou is Missing", in which Albano portrayedMario (Albano also played himself in the episode). This collaboration was the catalyst for the "Rock 'n' Wrestling" connection that lasted for the following two years. Lauper's attorney, Elliot Hoffman, appeared as her uptight dancing partner. Also in the cast were Lauper's manager, David Wolf, her brother, Butch Lauper, fellow musicianSteve Forbert, and a bevy of secretaries borrowed fromPortrait/CBS, Lauper's record label. A clip of the 1923 filmThe Hunchback of Notre Dame is featured as Lauper watches it on television.
Saturday Night Live creatorLorne Michaels, another of Hoffman's clients, agreed to give Lauper free run of his brand new million-dollar digital editing equipment, with which she and her producer created several first-time-ever computer-generated images of Lauper dancing with her buttoned-up lawyer Hoffman, leading the entire cast in a snake-dance through New York streets and ending up in Lauper's bedroom in her home. The bedroom scene is an homage to the famous stateroom scene in theMarx Brothers' filmA Night at the Opera (1935).
"The year 1983 makes a watershed in the history of female-address video. It is the year that certain issues and representations began to gain saliency and the textual strategies of female address began to coalesce." In the video, Lauper wanted to show in a more fun and light-hearted manner that girls want the same equality and recognition boys had in society.[28]
Before the song starts, the beginning of her version of "He's So Unusual" plays.
The music video was directed byEdd Griles.[29] The producer was Ken Walz while the cinematographer wasFrancis Kenny. The treatment for the video was co-written by Griles, Walz, and Lauper. The video was shot in theLower East Side ofManhattan in summer 1983 and premiered on television in December 1983.[30] The choreography was by a New York dance and music troupe called XXY featuring Mary Ellen Strom, Cyndi Lee and Pierce Turner.
The music video crossed one billion views onYouTube in January 2022.[31]
In 2007, a limited edition which included interactive computer material and a code to download a freeringle of the title track was released. It also contained "Right Track, Wrong Train", the B-side of the original single release.[36]
* Sales figures based on certification alone. ^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. ‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.
On September 5, 1994, Lauper released a new version, "Hey Now (Girls Just Want to Have Fun)" byEpic Records, as the first single of her first compilation album,Twelve Deadly Cyns...and Then Some (1994). It incorporates areggae feel and an interpolation of "Come and Get Your Love" byRedbone from 1974. The arrangement evolved as she experimented with the song's style over the course of the 1993–1994 Hat Full of Stars Tour.
The single reached the top 10 in several countries. It reached number 4 in the UK, becoming Lauper's first top-10 hit there since 1989 with "I Drove All Night". It reached number 4 in New Zealand. In the US, it reached number 87 on theBillboard Hot 100 following its August 8, 1995, release tocontemporary hit radio;[92] it is Lauper's last single to chart in the United States. She directed a new music video for the song by herself.
Steve Baltin fromCash Box noted that the "reggae-flavoreddance oriented remake" is being given a big boost from the filmTo Wong Foo, Thanks For Everything, Julie Newmar. He added, "Lauper still sounds in fine form on the very easy going kick-back track. Particularly fun is the jammin' guitar solo bridge in the middle of the single."[93] In his weekly UK chart commentary,James Masterton said, "The new version slows the track down to turn it into a far slinkier dance groove to quite inspired effect".[94] Alan Jones fromMusic Week wrote, "Turning a familiar old favourite into a dance groove unusually required a drop in tempo here, reducing it to a slinky shuffle. The melody and Cyndi's excellent vocals are still its selling points, and the success of Cyndi'sTwelve Deadly Cyns album suggests the timing could be right to make this a hit again."[95] Tommy Udo ofNME considered it a "totally unnecessary reworking" and commented, "It just sounds like somebody's hamfisted and amateurish remix that would normally be hidden away as track 18 – you know, the Will This Do? Mix by DJ Krap – although oddly enough, Cyndi herself had a hand in it all." He concluded, "She could still be bigger thanMadonna!"[96]
A music video was produced to promote the new version, directed by Cyndi Lauper herself[97] and later made available on YouTube in 2010.[98] It had generated more than 4.7 million views as of April 2025.
The single was released on April 26, 2010. The physical edition was exclusively distributed to over 800 stores run byTesco, an official partner of the event series.[123][124] The digital edition was released oniTunes.[124] The sales were to be used for cancer research.[123] This version debuted at No. 1 and stayed on the UK charts for 21 more weeks.[125]
Hip house duo Happy Nation's "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" samples the vocals from the 1990 song "Jammed in the USA" by Girls with Attitudes which itself interpolates vocals from "Girls Just Want to Have Fun". The single reached No. 77 on the UK Singles Chart in 1998.[126]
English singerLolly released her version as a single in 2000 from her second albumPick 'n' Mix which reached No. 14 on the UK Singles Chart.[127]
Shaggy's 2012 song "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" featuring rapperEve from his albumRise interpolates "Girls Just Want to Have Fun". It charted in five countries in Europe.
Trinidadian-American rapperNicki Minaj's "Pink Friday Girls" from her 2023 albumPink Friday 2 contains interpolated vocals from "Girls Just Want to Have Fun". Despite not being released as an official single, the song still charted in both the US and UK, reaching No. 82 on theBillboard Hot 100 and No. 30 on the UK Singles Chart in 2023.[128][129]
^abBillboard Staff (October 19, 2023)."The 500 Best Pop Songs: Staff List".Billboard. RetrievedFebruary 24, 2024....take a minute to recall just how groundbreaking Cyndi Lauper's new wave-pop singalong was in late 1983.
^Smay, David (2001). "Bubblegum & New Wave". In Cooper, Kim; Smay, David (eds.).Bubblegum Music is the Naked Truth. Los Angeles:Feral House. pp. 248–250.
^abVH1 (1997–2012)."VH1: 100 Greatest Videos".Rock On The Net.com. Rock On The Net. RetrievedMay 31, 2012.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
^Cyndi Lauper – Girls Just Want To Have Fun (Extended Version) (Vinyl). Portrait. 1983. PRTA 12-3943.
^Cyndi Lauper –Girls Just Want To Have Fun (Ringle). Epic. 2007. 88697 18012 2.
^Kent, David (1993).Australian Chart Book 1970–1992: 23 years of hit singles & albums from the top 100 charts. St Ives, N.S.W, Australia: Australian Chart Book. p. 173.ISBN0-646-11917-6.
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