The Gap Band : Burn Rubber (Why You Wanna Hurt Me)
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On February13, 1981 Tulsa Oklahoma's Gap Band had the #1 R&B song in America, "Burn Rubber (Why You Wanna Hurt Me)". The infectious and funky dance floor filler also peaked at UK#22 but never got higher than #84 on the Hot 100.
Actor Nick Offerman told NME this is the song that always wants to make him dance :
“I like to dance a lot more than you might think to look at me. I was the right age to be swept away by breakdance. My cousin and I were in a breakdance duo, in fact. We grew up on a farm and we’d listen to late night radio to discover R&B songs we could dance to.”
Here's Charlie Wilson singing and dancing with his brothers on Top of the Pops in 1981. It is one of the high points of his career. At 68, he's doing well these days but he spent the early 90's living on the streets of Hollywood Boulevard.
“The drugs, they were my downfall,” he told Essence magazine in 2010. “It’s how I landed on the streets. I did a lot of moving during the night; during the day I’d disappear. I didn’t want people seeing me. I’d eat where I could and sometimes shower using random sprinkler systems around town. I didn’t want to ask for help, but the people that I did reach out to, they turned their backs on me. I felt like I didn’t have anyone on my team.”
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