Length 4:14 | ||
A-side "Simply Irresistible (Extended Version)" (12" and CD)
"Simply Irresistible (7" version) B-side "Simply Irresistible (Instrumental Version)" (12" and CD)
"Nova" Released June 22, 1988 (UK); 1989 (US) Format Vinyl 7" and 12"
Compact Disc Recorded Lugano, Switzerland, 1987 | ||
"Simply Irresistible" is the first single released by English rock singer Robert Palmer from the 1988 studio album Heavy Nova and is presented in one of the most distinctive and memorable music videos of the 1980s.
In 1988, the song reached #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart (behind "Sweet Child o' Mine" by Guns N' Roses) and was #1 on the Billboard Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks chart for three weeks. It also earned Palmer his second Grammy Award the following year, and the song was nominated for the Brit Award for Best British Single.
Along with "Addicted to Love" and "I Didn't Mean to Turn You On", "Simply Irresistible" is among Palmer's most recognized songs, in part because of the iconic music video by renowned British fashion photographer Terence Donovan, famously parodied in a Pepsi commercial in 1989, which in turn was parodied again in another Pepsi commercial during Super Bowl XXXVI featuring Britney Spears, and in 2014 it was parodied in Ingrid Michaelson's single "Girls Chase Boys". The video was also parodied in an episode of the television show Northern Exposure.
The videos show Palmer surrounded by enigmatic women, styled in the manner of the artist Patrick Nagel. The video featured the leading supermodels and leading dancers that he met while visiting the Kentucky Derby (Karen Aubrey McElfresh, Kim Jones and Cheryl Day); Donovan's lighting and direction set the style for that era of music videos.
"Simply Irresistible" later appeared in the 1999 Tony Award-winning musical Contact. It later featured in the 2000 cult drama picture American Psycho. The song was recently used in the 2013 animated special Madly Madagascar and in the video game Saints Row IV, as well as the show Happy Endings.