| "Rock Me Tonite" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Single by Billy Squier | ||||
| from the album Signs of Life | ||||
| B-side | "Can't Get Next to You" | |||
| Released | June 19, 1984 | |||
| Genre | Pop rock, synth-pop, hard rock | |||
| Length | 4:57 4:09 (7") | |||
| Label | Capitol | |||
| Songwriter(s) | Billy Squier | |||
| Producer(s) |
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| Billy Squier singles chronology | ||||
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| Audio | ||||
| "Rock Me Tonite" on YouTube | ||||
"Rock Me Tonite" is a hit song written and recorded by American rock artist Billy Squier. It was released in June 1984 as the lead single from his platinum-plus album Signs of Life. The song is Squier's highest charting U.S. single (as well as his last single to crack the top 40), peaking at No. 15 on the Billboard Hot 100 and hitting No. 10 on the Cash Box singles chart. It also returned him to No. 1 on the Top Rock Tracks chart in August 1984.[1]
Despite its major success, the song is sometimes associated with the end of his career as a singles musician due to the music video, which was described as one of the worst ever in the 2011 books I Want My MTV: The Uncensored Story of the Music Video Revolution[2] and MTV Ruled the World: The Early Years of Music Video.[3] Directed by Kenny Ortega, it shows Squier dancing around a bed with pastel-colored satin sheets and wearing a pink tank top. Squier's concert ticket sales immediately declined and he later fired his managers. He has accused Ortega of deceiving him and altering his original concept, which Ortega denies. While Squier remains steadfast that the video was solely responsible for the initial decline in his popularity, other commentators are less certain.
- ^ Whitburn, Joel (2004). The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits, 8th Edition (Billboard Publications), page 594.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
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