This might be the best Poptastic song I’ll ever pick AND it’s by a legendary artist. I almost feel bad that I’m putting him in between 2Unlimited and Cleopatra. Yes, Poptastic Day is supposed to be about all things cheesy, but this was a huge pop hit twice. I know this Jackie Wilson song from the Claymation video in the early eighties, but it had already been a hit in 1957. I was six and I thought the video was one of the most amazing things I had ever seen. I had no idea who Jackie Wilson was, but I loved that little clay man belting out “She’s soooooooo fine”.
“Reet Petite” was used in a jeans add in 1986, which generated new interest in it. People who remembered the single from the first time around bought it out of nostalgia and the rest just couldn’t ignore something so fun and swinging. Combine the clever video with the mindblowing song and it’s easy to see why it was number one in the UK, Ireland and The Netherlands thirty years after the original release and two years after Jackie Wilson passed away. It’s pretty amazing that without touching it, it took over all those popular eighties groups in a heartbeat.
Filed under: Music, Poptastic Day
