1987 No. 1, Inspired By Two Motown Hits, Topped The Charts 39 Years Ago Today
In 1987, dance pop group Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam scored two No. 1 hits, the second of which, "Lost in Emotion," was atop the Hot 100 on October 14, 1987. The tune was influenced by the 1960s Motown Records sound, and was an attempt at an '80s-style song by the R&B powerhouse label. Previous No. 1 "Head to Toe" consciously imitated the style of the Supremes (before Diana Ross left), while "Lost in Emotion" cribbed from the musical playbook of Motown star and tragic figure Mary Wells, best known for the 1964 No. 1 "My Guy." Songwriting and production team Full Force put together Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam's 1987 hits, and one of its members thought "Head to Toe" needed a Motown-inspired companion piece.
As joyful, bouncy, and upbeat as the best Motown hits that still get boomers in their dancing shoes, "Lost in Emotion" was the biggest song in the United States for one week in the fall of 1987.
There's a lot of Mary Wells in Lost in Emotion
The six guys of Full Force are collectively credited as the writers of "Lost in Emotion," a smash hit for the associated trio Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam, but it was member Bowlegged Lou (real name Lou George) who was responsible for getting the giddy, low-key, hypnotic synthetic R&B jam off the ground.
While hanging out with the rest of the group, George was listening to a Mary Wells greatest hits album. In succession, the full Full Force crew heard the 1962 Top 10 hit "Two Lovers," followed by "You Beat Me to the Punch," another Wells smash from 1962. That led to a songwriting session which generated the basics of "Lost in Emotion." "We didn't steal the riffs; all we did was get the flavoring of it," George said in Fred Bronson's "The Billboard Book of No. 1 Hits."
While the prominent xylophone and percussive bells in "Lost in Emotion" are standard Motown instrumentation, the end product doesn't sound as organic or raw as a '60s pop song because of '80s production techniques. Full Force digitized and computerized the whole track to make it sound more modern. Listeners agreed, and the No. 1 hit was so popular it earned Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam a gold record.