"Hot Child in the City" | ||||
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Single by Nick Gilder | ||||
from the album City Nights | ||||
B-side | "Backstreet Noise" | |||
Released | June 12, 1978 | |||
Recorded | October 1977 | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 3:09 (Single Version) 3:35 (Album Version) | |||
Label | Chrysalis | |||
Songwriter(s) | Nick Gilder, James McCulloch | |||
Producer(s) | Mike Chapman | |||
Nick Gilder singles chronology | ||||
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"Hot Child in the City" is a song by English-Canadian musician Nick Gilder. It was released in June 1978 as a single from the album City Nights . It went to No. 1 both in Canada (October 14, 1978) and in the United States (October 28, 1978). It was not his first No. 1 single: as the lead singer of Sweeney Todd, he had hit No. 1 in Canada on June 26, 1976 (in the RPM listing) with the single "Roxy Roller", which remained at the top for three weeks. [2] [3] [4] He won 2 Juno Awards in Canada and a People's Choice Award in the US. According to The Billboard Book of Number 1 Hits, it held the record for taking the longest amount of weeks to reach No. 1 at the time, taking 21 weeks to reach the summit. The song became a platinum record.
Despite the song's innocent and catchy pop stylings, the tune is based on Gilder's experiences witnessing child prostitution in Los Angeles. "I've seen a lot of young girls, 15 and 16, walking down Hollywood Boulevard with their pimps. Their home environment drove them to distraction so they ran away, only to be trapped by something even worse. It hurts to see that so I tried writing from the perspective of a lecher – in the guise of an innocent pop song." [5]
Weekly charts
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All-time charts
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Nicholas George Gilder is a British-Canadian musician who first came to prominence as the frontman for the glam rock band Sweeney Todd. He later had a successful solo career as a singer/songwriter.
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...his panting power-popper "Hot Child In The City"...[is] a tight, well-constructed rocker...