How Luther Vandross, cocaine & a campy music video helped make ‘You Spin Me Round’ a huge hit 40 years ago

British new wave group Dead of Alive, led by queer singer Pete Burns, released “You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)” 40 years ago this month, in November 1984.

The Hi-NRG track was the lead single off the band’s second studio album Youthquake, which dropped the following spring. Upon its release, “You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)” became the group’s first No. 1 hit in the UK. But while it’s considered their signature song today, it had a bit of a tortured beginning…

In his 2007 autobiography, Freak Unique, Burns explained the single was inspired by two other songs: “See You ‘Round Like a Record” by Little Nell (best known for playing Columbia in the film Rocky Horror Picture Show) and “I Wanted Your Love”

READ MORE OF THIS POST AT Queerty