Many moons ago, we asked our audience, 'What would you like to see on our blog posts?' The unanimous response was, 'More stories about the 80's and what it was like in Nu Shooz world.'
So, we've got a good one for you. This is part of an interview we did for "The Old School Rewind" podcast on January 19th, 2018. The host is Randy 'Bubba' Black. It's a great conversation. RBB did deep research on our band, which made it a real pleasure.
Randy 'Bubba' Black: Your next album, (Told U So) you did at Paisley Park.
Valerie: Yeah we did.
John: Yeah, we were there for a couple of months.
VJD: In Minneapolis, not all of the time at Paisley Park, but...you know, some of the time.
JRS: We spent the whole summer in Minneapolis. We finished our work there just as winter was coming on.
Fall in Minneapolis lasts about a week. The leaves all turned, the weather changed, and at the end of the week we no longer had warm enough clothes to stay there.
RBB: Oh my goodness!
JRS: So we left, and ended up finishing that record with Jeff Lorber in L.A.
VJD: Warmer there!
RBB: Tell me about 'Should I Say Yes.'
VJD: It's actually one of my favorite things that we recorded.
JRS: Yeah, me too.
RBB: Me three.
VJD: Thank you.
JRS: And by the way, 'Should I Say Yes' is still huge in Uganda and Zimbabwe!
RBB: To this day...
JRS: They still bang it in the clubs there, yeah.
VJD: Sadly, it only made it to number 41 on the chart.
RBB: But you got played on Rhythm Radio though, and Rhythm Radio wasn't about the charts like that. They were daring enough to jump out past the 50's and put those out at that time, if I remember correctly.
JRS: Yeah, that was also remixed by a guy named MANTRONIX.
RBB: Love MANTRONIX.
JRS: I thought he did a stellar job. He really made it thump harder. Yeah, that was a good song...kind of based on an LL Cool J thing.
RBB: Really?
JRS: Yeah.
RBB: Which one?
JRS: I'm not gonna say.
VJD: [Laughs]
RBB: I love it!
JRS: Oh, and another good story about 'Should I Say Yes,' was...The studio we were in in Minneapolis- not Paisley Park- this place called Metro...they exiled me to the basement for smoking. I was in this place called the Dungeon, which was very dungeon-like...you know, that old 19th Century stone. While I was down in the Dungeon working on 'Should I Say Yes,' there was a tornado! And four people were KILLED!
RBB: Wow!
JRS: I came out of the studio at three in the morning, it was like the calm after the storm.
RBB: Oh my God!
JRS: I had totally missed this tornado that raged through Minneapolis and killed people. When I came outside it was like tweet-tweet-chirp-chirp. It was the calm after the storm because we were in the flatlands, and the weather just blows through there.
So, yeah...that was 'Should I Say Yes.'
If you're interested in the music of the 80's and the artists who made it happen, check out "The Old School Rewind." You can listen to stories of artists like Trenier, The Jets, Animotion, Wang Chung, and many many more.
That's all for now.
Take Care...See you soon!
You can listen to the whole interview here.