Released 1973 Label RAK Records | Genre Glam rock
hard rock | |
B-side "Ain't Ya Something Honey" Writer(s) Mike Chapman
Nicky Chinn
(A-side)
Suzi Quatro (B-side) Producer(s) Mike Chapman
Nicky Chinn
(A-side)
Mickie Most (B-side) | ||
"Can the Can" is the second solo single by Suzi Quatro and her first to reach number one in the UK, spending a single week at the top of the chart in June 1973. It also reached number one on the European and Australian charts in whose market Quatro achieved her most consistent success throughout her career as a recording artist. The single belatedly became a hit in the US peaking at number 56 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1976. It was re-released as a B-side single in 1984 but didn't chart. The single hit the charts again in 1987 in the UK at number 87, it also appeared on her 1995 album What Goes Around.
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This single made Quatro the first female bass guitar player to become a major rock star and so broke a barrier to women's participation in rock music.
Background
This, Quatro's second solo single, was released after she moved from the United States to Britain. In the United States she had already released two singles with all-female band The Pleasure Seekers. Her first solo single, "Rolling Stone", was recorded with session players. "Rolling Stone" only achieved popularity in Portugal, where it went to number one.
For "Can the Can" she had her own band, the band had toured the United Kingdom as the warm-up act for Slade and Thin Lizzy, and they had new songwriters/producers Mike Chapman and Nicky Chinn.
The song "Can the Can" was written and produced by Mike Chapman and Nicky Chinn. It has the refrain :
According to songwriter Nicky Chinn, the words "can the can" means "... something that is pretty impossible, you can't get one can inside another if they are the same size, so we're saying you can't put your man in the can if he is out there and not willing to commit".
The song "Ain't Ya Something Honey" was written by Quatro and produced by Mickie Most.