B-side "The Flame of Love" Recorded 1986 | Format 7", 12" Genre Rock | |
Released May 26, 1987 (1987-05-26) Length 4:38 (album version)3:59 (7")6:15 (extended rock mix) | ||
"Don't Mean Nothing" is the debut single by singer/songwriter/producer Richard Marx from his Triple Platinum 1987 eponymous album. It hit #1 on Billboard's Album Rock Tracks chart and #3 on the Hot 100. With the chart success of "Don't Mean Nothing" and subsequent singles from his debut album, Marx became the first male artist to reach the top three of the Billboard Hot 100 pop chart with four singles from a debut album.
Contents
The song was aided by a hugely popular MTV music video and in 1988, Marx was nominated for a Grammy Award for "Best Rock Vocal Performance - Solo" for "Don't Mean Nothing". He competed against Bruce Springsteen, Tina Turner, Bob Seger, and Joe Cocker.
Background and writing
According to Richard Marx's personal commentary about the song's origin, his manager at the time asked Joe Walsh to play slide guitar on the song and he agreed. As a fan of the Eagles, Marx felt that musically the song could have belonged on the The Long Run album. Two other Eagles members, Randy Meisner and Timothy B. Schmit sang background vocals on the song. Richard reportedly wrote the lyrics himself and co-wrote the music for this song with Bruce Gaitsch at his first apartment on Lowry Road in the Los Feliz district of Los Angeles, where Marx resided during the early 1980s.
Versions
There are at least four recorded versions of this song:
Personnel
Charts
As the lead single from Richard Marx, the song saw success on both the Billboard Hot 100 singles and Album Rock Tracks charts. The single entered the Hot 100 chart upon release at number 78 and, 12 weeks later, reached its peak of number 3. The song also became a number-one hit on the Album Rock Tracks chart. In the UK, the song reached a high of number 78.