Making Your Mind Up

"Making Your Mind Up"
Single by Bucks Fizz
from the album Bucks Fizz
B-side	"Don't Stop"
Released	12 March 1981
Genre	Pop
Length	2.39
Label	RCA Records
Writer(s)	Andy Hill / John Danter
Producer	Andy Hill
Certification	Gold [1]
Bucks Fizz singles chronology
- "Making Your Mind Up" (1981) "Piece of the Action" (1981)
"Making Your Mind Up" Eurovision Song Contest 1981 entry Country United Kingdom Artist(s) Bobby G, Mike Nolan, Jay Aston, Cheryl Baker As Bucks Fizz Language English Composer(s) John Danter Lyricist(s) Andy Hill Conductor John Coleman Finals performance Final result 1st Final points 136 Appearance chronology ◄ Love Enough for Two (1980)    One Step Further (1982) ►

"Making Your Mind Up" is a song by British pop group Bucks Fizz. It was the winner of the 1981 Eurovision Song Contest and a UK Number-one single. From 2004 to 2007 the BBC used the name Making Your Mind Up for their Eurovision selection show in honour of the song.

Background

In late 1980, songwriter Andy Hill teamed up with John Danter and composed "Making Your Mind Up" with an eye to entering it into the A Song for Europe finals the following year. Working with his then girlfriend, Nichola Martin, a former singer, they set about recording a demo of the song to enter. This featured the vocals of Hill, Martin and Mike Nolan, a singer Martin had worked with before. Martin then set about gathering a line-up to enter the song with, based around her and Nolan. With the song already entered under the name Bucks Fizz, Martin and future manager, Jill Shirley recruited Cheryl Baker, Bobby G and Jay Aston to the line-up, with Martin herself dropping out. The song secured an entry into the final along with another Hill/Danter composition, "Have You Ever Been in Love", which would be performed by Martin and Hill under the name Gem.^[2]

Martin and Shirley secured a recording deal with RCA Records and Hill spent a week in the recording studio with the group recording the song and its B-side. Backing vocals on the record were supplied by Alan Carvell, who also went on to be one of two backing singers in the Eurovision performance. The song was published by Paper Music, which was a year-old publishing company owned by Billy Lawrie – himself a songwriter and brother of singer Lulu.^[3] Choreographer Chrissie Whickham, a former member of dance troupe Hot Gossip, spent two days with the group working on the dance routine.

On 11 March 1981, Bucks Fizz performed "Making Your Mind Up" at the Song for Europe finals and despite being up against favourites and current chart group Liquid Gold, won the contest with ease.^[4] From this point, the group undertook much promotion of the song around the UK, including an appearance on Top of the Pops, whereby the single entered the UK charts at 24. The following week it rose to No.5 and on 4 April the 1981 Eurovision Song Contest was staged in Dublin. In a close contest throughout the voting procedure, "Making Your Mind Up" managed to secure a victory, beating second-placed Germany by a mere four votes.

"Making Your Mind Up" went to No.1 in the UK following the victory and remained there for three weeks, becoming one of the biggest selling songs of the year.^[5] It also saw the group in high demand throughout Europe, with the single hitting No.1 in many countries and charting in the top ten in Australia. The record eventually sold four million copies worldwide.

The song is held in affectionate regard by many Eurovision fans, and is generally considered to be a good example of a pop song from the Contest. It has a strong beat and catchy lyrics. Reaction was less favourable to the group's performance of the song, which was considered to be off-key, and led to much criticism that the members were chosen more for appearance than vocal ability. In addition, the performance is remembered for the point at which the two male members of the group removed the skirts of the two female members – only to reveal shorter skirts beneath them. This move (which was mirrored by Mick Jagger and Tina Turner at 1985's Live Aid) has appeared in many contests since that time – most notably as part of Latvia's Marie N's performance of "I Wanna", which won for Latvia, in 2002.^[6][7]

The lyrics of the song are largely meaningless, although it can be argued that they are about making the decision to commit to a serious relationship.^[8]

In the Eurovision, the song was succeeded as a UK entry by "One Step Further" by Bardo, who were managed by the same team as Bucks Fizz. As a winner, it was succeeded by "Ein Bisschen Frieden", sung by Germany's Nicole.^[9] The song title has also given the name to the UK selection process for the Eurovision Song Contest.^[10]

"Making Your Mind Up" was spoofed by many artists following its success, with alternative titles: "Me vas a volver loco (You're Going to Drive Me Crazy)" (by Spanish group Parchís), "Rock and Roll Cowboy" and "It's Only a Wind Up".

The single began a run of 20 UK hits for Bucks Fizz and was quickly followed up by "Piece of the Action" and debut album, Bucks Fizz.^[11] At the end of the decade, "Making Your Mind Up" was No.47 in the UK top selling singles of the 1980s.^[12] Despite the success of the song, fans of the group don't consider it to be a good representation of their work, while member Cheryl Baker doesn't rate it as one of their best songs.^[13][14]

Track listing

1. "Making Your Mind Up" (Andy Hill / John Danter) (2.39)
2. "Don't Stop" (Andy Hill / Nichola Martin) (4.08)

Chart positions

Country	Peak position
United Kingdom	1
Ireland [15]	1
Austria [16]	1
The Netherlands	1
Belgium	1
Spain	1
Israel	1
Denmark	1
Sweden	2
Norway [17]	2
New Zealand[18]	3
Switzerland	3
Germany	5
Australia [19]	6
South Africa [20]	7

See also

• Eurovision Song Contest 1981
• United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest 1981

References

1. ^ BPI award certification and release date
2. ^ "Beauty and brains behind Bucks Fizz”, David Wigg, Daily Express, 15 June 1981
3. ^ “Brendan Martin's Euro Diary”, RTE Guide 10 April 1981
4. ^ Eurovision Song Contest Serbia 2008 | Eurovision Song Contest 1981 participants
5. ^ Chart Stats - Bucks Fizz - Making Your Mind Up
6. ^ Rolling Stone website - Live Aid appearance on Jagger with Turner, 1985
7. ^ eurovision.tv - Marie N performance
8. ^ Making Your Mind Up lyrics
9. ^ Eurovision Song Contest 1982 | Year page | Eurovision Song Contest - Belgrade 2008
10. ^ BBC Radio 2 - Making Your Mind Up
11. ^ Chart Stats - Bucks Fizz
12. ^ Buzzjack.com - Top selling singles of the 1980s
13. ^ Bucks Fizz early years - Fans top 40, 2007
14. ^ Nul Points, BBC documentary, 1993]
15. ^ Irishcharts.ie - Irish Chart details
16. ^ Austrian Charts
17. ^ Norwegian Charts
18. ^ http://charts.org.nz/showitem.asp?interpret=Bucks+Fizz&titel=Making+Your+Mind+Up&cat=s
19. ^ Australian Chart Book, 1970-1992
20. ^ South African Charts

Preceded by "This Ole House" by Shakin' Stevens	UK number one single 18 April 1981 - 2 May 1981	Succeeded by "Stand and Deliver" by Adam and the Ants
Preceded by What's Another Year by Johnny Logan	Eurovision Song Contest winners 1981	Succeeded by Ein Bisschen Frieden by Nicole
Preceded by Love Enough for Two	United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest 1981	Succeeded by One Step Further