"Good Life" is a song by American electronic music group Inner City, featuring vocals by Paris Grey, and was released in November 1988 by Virgin and 10 Records as the second single from their debut album, Paradise (1989). It is written and produced by Kevin Saunderson, and became a hit all over the world, reaching number one in Finland and number four on the UK Singles Chart. In the US, it peaked at number one on the BillboardHot Dance Club Play chart. Its music video is directed by Neil Thompson and filmed in London. "Good Life", along with "Big Fun", have been considered prototypes for Belgian act Technotronic's 1989 hit "Pump Up The Jam",[2] and is today widely considered a classic of its genre.[3][4][5]
Background and release
"'Good Life' is a song that's going to touch people forever, it's gonna inspire people, change their mood when they need it, it's definitely going to make them dance—whether the original or a remix. It's that kind of song. It wasn't the intent to make a record to be a hit, it was the intent to make a record that could be played in the clubs that had a melody, which reminded me of when I used to go to hear Larry Levan play Evelyn 'Champagne' King or Chaka Khan. There were some great dance records—disco records—and it was my interpretation at the time."
Electronic music producer Kevin Saunderson met singer Paris Grey through a good friend of his. She then traveled to Detroit to collaborate with him on their debut single, "Big Fun", which was released in 1988. After its success, Virgin asked for a follow-up single and "Good Life" was chosen right away. It was written using basic instruments including a Casio CZ-5000 synth and a Roland TR-909 drum machine. Saunderson made the instrumental part in his own apartment and rented a studio for 24 hours to record it with Grey. He was very happy with the result.[6]
He said in an interview about making the song, "The vocals were 100% Paris on 'Good Life', I just gave her some direction. I said, 'Look, I don't want it to sound like 'Big Fun' but I want it to be in the same family, I want to follow up with a feel that's similar.'"[6] The original version of the track was almost like a radio version, and Juan Atkins, Derrick May and Steve "Silk" Hurley made remixes for the single. It peaked at number four in the UK in January 1989,[7] and was certified silver by the British Phonographic Industry for sales exceeding 200,000 copies.[1] It's their highest-charting single to date and became huge at rave parties and acid house clubs.
In 1999, it was re-recorded and remixed by producer Tommy Onyx and a Spanish language version was also released. It hit number 10 on the UK Singles Chart and was released by [PIAS] Recordings (whereas the original version was issued by Virgin/AVL's 10 Records label).[8] A new music video was also produced to accompany it.
Chart performance
"Good Life" was very successful globally, peaking at number-one in Finland,[9][10] and on both the Canadian RPM Dance/Urban chart and the US BillboardHot Dance Club Play chart.[11][12] In Europe, it reached number two in West Germany, being held off the top spot by Robin Beck's "First Time".[13] It spent 17 weeks within the West German Singles Chart, with 6 weeks inside the Top 10. "Good Life" entered the top 10 also in Belgium (7), Ireland (6), the Netherlands (4), Norway (10), Sweden (9), Switzerland (5), and the United Kingdom. In the UK, it peaked at number four in its fifth week at the UK Singles Chart, on January 1, 1989.[14] It spent two weeks at that position and 12 weeks within the chart.
"Good Life" was a top-20 hit in Austria (12) and a top 30 hit in Italy (22). In Oceania, it reached numbers eight and 52 in New Zealand and Australia. On the US BillboardHot 100, it peaked at number 73.[15]
Critical reception
Upon the release, J.D. Considine from The Baltimore Sun felt that songs like "Good Life" "boast more than enough pop appeal for the average listener."[16] Bill Coleman from Billboard wrote, "Detroit's own Inner City has served up yet another stylized, hook-filled club record with "Good Life" (Virgin). Producer/chief songwriter/member Kevin Saunderson is becoming the man of the hour—with good reason. Maintaining a feel similar to the act's previous No. 1 smash, "Big Fun", this new offering manages to blend familiar textures with exciting and refreshing melodies and hooks. Positive lyric treatment and a sensitive delivery by talented, 22-year-old Paris Grey intensify the track by complementing the potent energy the instrumentation creates."[17]Robert Hilburn from Los Angeles Times said, "The emphasis in this hyperactive dance-floor is on inviting sound textures, with all sorts of turntable high jinks adding to the dizzy exuberance."[18] Another Los Angels Times editor, Chris Willman, stated, "No record this year will have a better groove (or mixture of grooves, really) than this one from Inner City". He remarked that the lyrics "yearn plaintively for something better".[19]
Pan-European magazine Music & Media said, "If you thought "Big Fun" was good, then check this out. Same basic formula but more melody. Funky and smouldering."[20] Upon the 1998 remix, Music Week wrote, "Guaranteed to cut through the winter cold, this uplifting update of the 1988 house classic adds acoustic guitar flourishes, warm synth washes and Spanish vocals to the original."[21] Alf Billingham from The Observer deemed it "another unequivocal slab of techno hi-tech".[22] Matthew Cole from the Record Mirror Dance Update named it Inner City's "finest moment".[23] Barry Walters for The San Francisco Examiner concluded that as evident in club hits like "Good Life", "Grey has a voice to be reckoned with. Exuberant, exultant and yet relaxed, it can lovingly rap itself around notes and emotions other singers strain to reach. And it won't let go."[24] Alex Kadis from Smash Hits praised it as a "smashing dance single", stating that "singing girlie person, Paris Grey, has the perfect voice for house-type records."[25]
Music video
The music video for "Good Life", which sees Kevin Saunderson and Paris Grey prancing around in London, was directed by Neil Thompson.[26] Several famous landmarks can be seen in the video, like Trafalgar Square, St Paul's Cathedral and Piccadilly Circus. Bystanders on the street were stopped and asked to film them. At one point they saw a Rolls-Royce parked on the kerb with a uniformed chauffeur standing by it. The director asked the driver if they could use the car for a minute. The chauffeur drove Grey down the street and then parked it back exactly where it had been, all before the owner returned.[27] "Good Life" was later made available on YouTube in October 2012, and by late 2024, the video had generated more than ten million views.[28]
Impact and legacy
Alex Henderson from AllMusic complimented the song as a "house gem".[29] Another AllMusic editor, John Bush, praised it as a "uplifting" gem from the "uncommonly moody Detroit club scene of the '80s."[30] American DJ, record producer, remixer and songwriter Armand van Helden picked "Good Life" as one of his "classic cuts" in 1995, adding, "One of my first vocal house records, before that I was into the Todd Terry, Royal House stuff. When Inner City came out with "Good Life" it struck me – it's a happy song but very powerful. It moves the dancefloor but it's sassy, it wasn't weak. It had house and techno elements years ahead of its time."[31]Mixmag ranked the song number 20 in its "100 Greatest Dance Singles Of All Time" list in 1996, adding, "As the Summer of Love drew to a close, a tune emerged which distilled the spirit of club hedonism, pressed it onto vinyl and slapped it on the decks of every discerning DJ. "Let me take you to a place I know you wanna go", cooed Paris Grey over a chunky effortlessly uplifting backdrop, "it's the good life". And thousands of kids turned on to this bizarre new way of spending your Saturday night knew exactly what she meant. Remove it from its cultural context, play it eight years after it first came out and you're still left with a beautiful, remarkable house record."
Slant Magazine ranked it 55th in its "100 Greatest Dance Songs" list in 2006, writing, "1988's "Good Life" clanked like techno, pumped like house and featured disco diva vocals from his partner in Inner City, Paris Grey. "Let me take you to a place you know you wanna go/It's a good life", she belts, creating the clearest picture of dance floor halcyon since Chic sang about 54 and its roller skates, roller skates."[4] In Time Out's 2015 list of "The 20 Best House Tracks Ever", "Good Life" was included at #11, adding, "One of Detroit techno don Kevin Saunderson's housier, poppier moments - under his Inner City project with singer Paris Grey - also became his most well-known. With its unashamedly upbeat vocals and colourful '80s synths all over the place, 'Good Life' showed that dance music wasn't all about heads-down raving in a dark basement club - it could also be (whisper it) happy, for no damn reason at all."[5] In a 2017 retrospective review, Pop Rescue stated that the song is "absolutely flawless in production, strength of vocals and beats", noting that "those up-beat lyrics, over a catchy synth and bassline, mixed with Paris Grey's fantastically dreamy vocals really does make this track feel like a slice of sunshine in the winter".[32]Mixmag included it in their ranking of "The Best 20 House Classics From Before 1990" in October 2017.[3]
In 2015 "Techno Disco" by Kerrier District and "Wanna Go" by Dos Padres used a sample.
In 2021 Ferry Corsten sampled parts of the vocals for his song "Lemme Take You".[59]
In popular culture
In November 1996, the song was featured prominently in the opening scene of "Smack is Back", a third-season episode of the FOXpolice drama television series New York Undercover.[60]
It was featured in the opening credits of House of Stylewhen it premiered on MTV in January 1989.
German DJ/remixer Gardeweg used portions of this song, along with Inner City's other two singles, "Big Fun" and "Paradise", for his 2003 single "All I Want"
In 2005 the song was used in the South African movie Crazy Monkey presents Straight Outta Benoni. Both the original Inner City version and a cover by South African band The Finkelsteins were used in the soundtrack.[61]
^ abPennanen, Timo (2006). Sisältää hitin - levyt ja esittäjät Suomen musiikkilistoilla vuodesta 1972 (in Finnish) (1st ed.). Helsinki: Tammi. ISBN978-951-1-21053-5.
