Good Life (Inner City song)
"Good Life" is a 1988 song by American electronic music group Inner City, featuring vocals by Paris Grey, and was released as the second single from their debut album, "Paradise" (1989). It is written and produced by Kevin Saunderson, and became a hit, reaching number-one in Finland and number four in the UK. In the US, it peaked at number-one on the "Billboard" Hot Dance Club Play chart. "Good Life" with "Big Fun" has been considered for being prototypes for Belgian act Technotronic's 1989 hit "Pump Up The Jam". Background and release . Electronic music producer Kevin Saunderson met singer Paris Grey through a good friend of his. She then travelled 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. He told 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.'" 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, and was certified silver by the British Phonographic Industry  for sales exceeding 200,000 copies. 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). A new music video was also made to accompany it. Critical reception. Alex Henderson from AllMusic called the song a "house gem". Another editor, John Bush described it as  a "uplifting" gem from "the uncommonly moody Detroit club scene of the '80s." J.D. Considine from "The Baltimore Sun" stated that songs like "Good Life" "boast more than enough pop appeal for the average listener." Pan-European magazine "Music & Media" commented, "If you thought Big Fun was good, then check this out. Same basic formula but more melody. Funky and smouldering." Matthew Cole in "Music Week"'s "RM" Dance Update, described it as Inner City's "finest moment". Alf Billingham from "The Observer" deemed it "another unequivocal slab of Techno hi-tech". Pop Rescue stated that it 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". Barry Walters for "The San Francisco Examiner" stated 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." Chart performance. "Good Life" was very successful globally, peaking  at number-one in Finland and on both the Canadian "RPM" Dance/Urban chart and the US "Billboard" Hot Dance Club Play chart. In Europe, it made it to number two in West Germany, being held off the top spot by Robin Beck's "First Time". It climbed into the Top 10 also in Belgium, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. In the latter, it peaked at number four in its fifth week at the UK Singles Chart, on January 1, 1989. It spent two weeks at that position. Additionally, "Good Life" was a Top 20  hit in Austria. In Oceania, it reached number eight in New Zealand and number 52 in Australia. And on the US "Billboard" Hot 100, it went to number 73. Music video. A music video was made for the song, which sees Kevin Saunderson and Paris Grey prancing around in London. It was directed by Andrew Doucette. 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. "Good Life" was later published on YouTube in October 2012. By September 2020, the video had more than 5,6 million views. Impact and legacy. 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." "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." 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." "Mixmag" included the song in their ranking of "The Best 20 House Classics From Before 1990" in 2017.