Released 1981 Recorded 1981 | Format 7" Length 3:14 | |
B-side "I'm Gonna Take You to the Top" Genre New wave, pop rock, blue-eyed soul | ||
"Little Suzi's on the Up" is a song by British New wave group Ph.D.. The song was released as the band's first single, appearing on their self-titled debut. The video for the song was notable for being the fifth music video shown during MTV's launch on August 1, 1981. It is sometimes misspelled by music video stations as Susie or Suzy. Suzi is the correct spelling.
Contents
Music video
The music video for the song is quite comical and features fast motion at times. It starts out with keyboardist Tony Hymas arriving and taking out a "roll out" keyboard from his case applying it onto the piano to play. It then moves onto lead singer Jim Diamond who is a butcher chopping meat and dancing with a pig that has a number on it as he would be with "Suzi" when they go ballroom dancing which then features a judge who appears constantly with two scorecards. It moves onto Suzi who is at a salon getting her hair done and decides to dance with a hairdryer surprising the salonist. It then shows Diamond with his tux on, ironing his trousers with steam arising. When he looks into the mirror, a picture of the guy he imagines he would be at the dance appears, this is also the same with Suzi. It then features the stylist (who is presumably Ruby in the song) eating a pickled egg with a cold cuts fork (this is used as a running gag throughout the video). Suzi then picks up her dress from drummer Mark Craney in the closet, with the judge appearing from the hamper. Diamond arrives to pick up Suzi who comes running to his motorcycle with the trailer somehow gotten unhitched. Suzi then is seen riding behind Diamond on the motorcycle as they arrive at Hammersmith Palais featuring other ballroom dancers. Ruby, who is the saxophonist quickly arrives at the hall trying to blow into the sax which is clogged by a pickled egg which amuses her and eats it and continues her solo. The re occurring judge gives them a 10 as they have won. As Suzi approaches the stage in a dignified manner, the prize is a jar of pickled eggs with the other dancers leaving in dismay. And the video ends with Hymas rolling out his keyboard from the piano back to his case and leaving the stage.
Tesla version
Hard rock band Tesla covered the song in 1986 under the name "Little Suzi". Tesla released the cover as the first single from their debut album, Mechanical Resonance. The single broke Tesla into the mainstream and was the most successful single from their debut, reaching #94 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Music video
The video for Tesla's version simply shows the band performing the song on a stage.