15 Unforgettable Stock Aitken Waterman Singles

By Matt Dunn /

10. I Want You Back - Bananarama

Released: April 1988. UK Chart Peak: #5. Oz Chart Peak: #3. 1988 was a big year for Bananarama. Their fourth studio album Wow! went to #1 in Australia, despite mediocre performance almost everywhere else. Original group member Siobhan Faye had just left and was replaced by Jacqui O'Sullivan, a long-time friend of Sarah Dallin and Keren Woodward. I Want You Back was Wow!'s third single in Australia and the fourth in the UK. The single version had a punchy new intro and a new vocal recording featuring O'Sullivan, though the difference in vocals is virtually undetectable from the original. Oddly, the middle eight of the extended version retained the line "don't take away the love", which had also featured in the original album mix of the song but which was, in fact, a line from the completely different chorus of the very first iteration of the song when it was called Reason For Living. The fast-paced and colourful video featured trademark Bananarama moves, including some groovy choreography, dancing with sexy boys, lots of dress-ups (even resorting to 'blackface' for The Supremes sequence), plus the obligatory pushing each other out of the way and bloopers for good measure.