Top 10 Grace Jones Songs

While the images on her album covers are already impressive, the music inside is even more electrifying. Whether looking back at her disco beginnings or reinventing herself as a dance artist, Jones commanded every stage she stepped on with these songs, turning any stadium she played into a sweaty club every time she opened her mouth.

Even when she performed songs by other artists, she displayed her diverse range in a way that few could match at the time and that no one has been able to touch since. While Jones may not be as prolific a songwriter as the Bob Dylans of the world, every song she’s recorded or self-released was hers in the first thirty seconds of it.

Top 10 Grace Jones Songs

10. “Blood of Williams” – Hurricane

For Jones, a comeback album was always meant to be ground-breaking, and after nearly two decades away from the scene, Hurricane proved that no amount of time out of the spotlight could ever hurt Jones’ monumental impact and ability to create a sense of grandeur. and electrifying as a spectacle. With Hurricane, Jones not only regained her footing in the music industry, but also demonstrated her ability to reinvent herself without compromising on all the reasons she became successful in the first place.

“Williams’ Blood” is undoubtedly the highlight of the album and of Jones’ wider comeback. It focuses on her personal upbringing and experience of feeling trapped by family expectations in the spotlight. In many ways, the song feels like a symbol of the end of Jones’ career and how, even as one of the biggest and most famous stars of all time, she can channel negative aspects into works of art.

9. “Do or die” – Glory

It’s about time more people gave disco a proper apology for the way it was treated in its golden age. Although many people claimed that it was the death of good musicmany of the top names in the genre could take that four-on-the-floor beat and make it feel like something far more important than filling the dance floor. And when Jones walked out on stage with “Do or Die,” the track’s hypnotic sound was enough to make any musician fall in love with it.

While many dance songs rely on a single riff to drive them through the entire song, this one feels like a mini-journey for six minutes, with some wild left turns in the chord progressions that make it sound like a classic producer decided to become a disco icon in one go. a song As opposed to sacrificing one genre for another, “Do or Die” is the kind of tune that most people can listen to passively and then get a lot more out of when listening outside of the club.

8. “Private life” – Warm leather substitute

Although Jones was originally produced by The Pretenders, her version of “Private Life” proved that she could take an existing song and make it completely her own better than anyone else. Jones’ trademark smoothness also expressed the song’s themes of frustration, making it a fitting complement to her constant control of the spotlight.

While the original version also had a broader sense of raw aggression, thanks mainly to Chrissy Hynde’s tenacious delivery, Jones came across as icier, showing that her sweet exterior was never a cover and that suspicions were justified – she was the most authentic musician in the world. time.

7. “She lost control” – Warm leather substitute

Around the same time as Jones’ star was waning, post-punk sounds began to enter the mainstream. While bands like the Sex Pistols brought destruction wherever they went, the New York scene was just as interested in disco as revolutionary acts like Television, who were making their way through CBGB’s. Despite Joy Division being a much more insightful band than anyone else on the scene,She lost control‘ is almost perfect for her look.

What Ian Curtis did with the song could never be topped, but when Jones got her hands on it, she really made something upbeat out of the tune. While the Joy Division song sounded like it was taking place when Curtis was on the edge of sanity, Jones practically lives the story of this woman who lost control, only this time throwing it at someone who let loose on the dance floor instead of on the edge. mental breakdown.

6. “I’ve Seen This Face Before” (Libertango) – Nightclub

Of course there is a reason why Nightclub became one of Jones’ best-known albums, as I’ve Seen That Face Before (Libertango) also proved her ability to combine raw sensuality with reggae and tango melodies, redefining what it meant to mix diverse sensibilities with the quintessential 1980s. darkness. Written about the haze of Parisian nightlife, this classic pays tribute to someone who lives in times of fear but still succumbs to instant gratification.

Despite the chaos the track exuded, the music video felt special thanks to an image that best defined who Jones was as an artist. In it, the musician played the accordion against a background of minimalism and her own shadow, showing that no matter what she was singing about, she would always do it with a lot of “cool”.

5. “La Vie En Rose” – Portfolio

Most people tend to have a lot of work to do when they make their first album. It’s one thing to not have someone breathing down your neck about what they expect from you, but not knowing where to take a song without any recording experience is a difficult task for anyone. If it worked in the clubs, it had the potential to work in the studio, and Jones actually showed a lot more depth than anyone thought possible when he took on one of the most beloved lighthearted songs of all time.

Compared to other artists who would add a straight beat to this tune, to hear Jones perform bits of “La Vie En Rose“and chopping them up to fit your own style is exactly what any artist should do when approaching such a beloved song. Everyone has heard the original a hundred times, but adding rhythm and blues pieces to the mix is ​​something that no one even thought about. And judging by the way Lady GaGa flirted with the recording standards, there’s a good chance she listened to this deep piece before changing her look.

4. “Pull yourself up to the bumper” – Nightclub

For many, Nightclub was the greatest musical sign of the changing times. Aside from the obvious social commentary, the whole endeavor was infused with a sensual note that only a confident Jones could pull off. Additionally, “Pull Up To The Bumper” captures everything great about the album while also becoming one of her most controversial songs.

With sexually suggestive lyrics like “Pull up to my bumper baby / In your long black limousine / Pull up to my bumper baby / And drive it in between,” the song embodied the low-key sensuality that Jones exuded during her years in the nightclubs , paying homage to 1980s nightlife and all of its accompanying techniques and tropes.

3. “Demolition” – Nightclub

For any great song, you have to have a solid foundation. Many artists have tried to rock their groove every now and then, but if all they have to do is make some weak attempt at what they think is disco music, it all falls apart (just ask) The Rolling Stones). While Sting had a good attempt at using a reggae-tinged melody on “Demolition Man,” Jones’ version made the song shine much brighter than The Police ever imagined.

Given her image as one of the most eye-catching figures at any disco, hearing her gender-bending this song about someone who’s about to blow up in an instant felt like it was tailor-made for her voice, especially when played on signature. bass line in verse. And no matter how much Sting was trying to have a good time, Jones had the whole audience in the palm of her hand as she played this tune the way a drill sergeant grills his soldiers.

2. “Night club” – Nightclub

There are many reasons why “Nightclubbing” became one of Jones’ most popular songs, one of which is the serendipitous history that once brought together three of the biggest names in the business – Jones, David Bowie and Iggy Pop. “Feeling like a woman, look like a man,” Jones sings on the first track, pointing to the power of androgyny, showing every reason to ever hit a raucous nightclub.

“Nightclubs” was a force – not only challenging racial stereotypes, breaking the limitations often placed on black artists, but also mixing different genres and transcending prejudices, conveying a sense of resistance and resilience. The song embodied the message at the album’s epicenter, changing the face of both culture and contemporary pop music, while paving the way for other groundbreaking musicians to fill.

1. “Rhythm slave” – Slave of the rhythm

Every now and then a song comes along that is completely formed without a proper voice. While many artists can try their hand at cutting their tunes on their own, there’s no telling what it’ll sound like with the proper power behind them. And while Frankie Goes to Hollywood might do a decent job on “Slave to the Rhythm,” hearing Jones wrap her voice around the tune is the definition of a perfect marriage.

In contrast to the simplistic groove that Trevor Horne and company came up with, Jones really breathed life into the song, especially given the mentality of her music. The whole point of its disco beginnings is to serve the beat of a song, and given what it would bring to the rest of the world in the 1980s, it was a tune that reminded everyone that if a song wasn’t spinning, it wasn’t worth fleshing out.

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