The Reynolds Girls
The Reynolds Girls in the music video for their first and only hit single, "I'd Rather Jack" (1989)
Background information
OriginLiverpool, United Kingdom
GenresDance-pop
Years active1989
LabelsPWL
Past members
  • Aisling Reynolds
  • Linda Reynolds

The Reynolds Girls were a British dance-pop duo composed of sisters Linda (born in 1970) and Aisling Reynolds (born in 1972). They are best known for their hit single "I'd Rather Jack", produced by Stock Aitken Waterman, which achieved success across Europe in 1989.

Early life

The sisters grew up in Litherland, a suburb of Sefton, Liverpool, and were of Irish descent.[1] The duo's younger sister, Debbie (no relation to the late American actress Debbie Reynolds),[2] played the original Katie Rogers, in Brookside, from 1987 to 1989.

1989: the single produced by SAW

Background and lyrics

"... AM/FM, all that jazz, we'd rather sing along with Yazz, what happened to the radio, they never play the songs we know ...." " ... No heavy metal rock and roll, music from the past, I'd rather jack, than Fleetwood Mac, I'd rather jack ...".

The sisters signed to the PWL record label after giving Pete Waterman a demo tape,[1] and their single "I'd Rather Jack" was produced by Stock Aitken Waterman.[3] The song started out as a response to music critics who ignored the younger pop acts in the UK at the time, and to radio DJs who continued to play older bands on their playlists rather than Stock Aitken Waterman songs.[3] It was also a response to a perceived snub at the Brit Awards, where SAW acts lost out to more "mature" acts such as Enya and Steve Winwood.[3]

Chart performance

"I'd Rather Jack" reached the top ten in all the European countries it was released. It peaked at number 8 on the UK Singles Chart in April 1989 where it remained for 12 weeks,[4][5] number 6 in Ireland,[6] number 6 in Finland,[7] number 8 in the Netherlands,[8] number 7 in the Flanders region of Belgium,[9] and number 43 in Australia.[10] The single also reached a peak of number 24 on the Eurochart Hot 100.

Impact and legacy

In a public poll conducted by Channel 4 in 2003, "I'd Rather Jack" was voted number 91 in a list of the 100 Worst Pop Records of All Time,[11] and has been called "the beginning of the end for Stock Aitken Waterman."[3] By contrast, in 2021, British magazine Classic Pop ranked the song number 38 in their list of 'Top 40 Stock Aitken Waterman songs', presented the song a "pure-pop apes Chicago house in a track squarely aimed at the teen market. [...] A bubbling, squelchy momentum carries the tune skywards as the two jettison music's old guard".[12] In 2023, Alexis Petridis of The Guardian listed the song" at number 20 in his "Stock Aitken Waterman's 20 greatest songs – ranked!", adding: "Not a great record, but as a mad act of provocation designed to upset as many people as possible in three minutes, "I'd Rather Jack"... is unbeatable."[13]

After the success

After their brief success in 1989 with "I'd Rather Jack", The Reynolds Girls had a public falling out with Pete Waterman, who accused them of being difficult.[3] They parted ways with PWL, saying they wanted to direct their own careers. The girls self-released a second single, "Get Real", funded by their parents remortgaging their family house, but the song failed to chart.[3]

The duo have not made any real media appearance since.[1] In a documentary about PWL that aired in 2012, the people interviewed admitted that the single was indeed a tongue-in-cheek response to the critics, and in part did ruin the siblings' career after they'd recorded it.[14] It is unknown what happened to them after that and they could not be traced for a 2012 PWL reunion concert.[15]

In 2013, ITV started a search for the sisters, so they could appear in a commemorative documentary about Stock, Aitken and Waterman.[16] As of 2022, their whereabouts remain unknown.[17]

Discography

Singles

List of singles, with selected chart positions
Title Year Peak chart positions
UK
[4]		 AUS
[10]		 BEL
(FL)
[9]		 FIN
[7]		 IRE
[6]		 NLD
[8]
"I'd Rather Jack" 1989 8437668
"Get Real"[1] ——————

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "The Known Facts". thereynoldsgirls.com. February 2001. Archived from the original on 27 October 2009. Retrieved 9 February 2020 – via Wayback Machine.
  2. ↑ Kibble-White, Graham; Redmond, Phil (2002). Phil Redmond's 20 Years of Brookside. London: Carlton Publishing Group. p. 157. ISBN 978-1-84222-764-0.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "A Journey Through Stock Aitken Waterman: Ep 44: I'd Rather Jack on Apple Podcasts". Apple Podcasts. Retrieved 17 January 2023.
  4. 1 2 "Official Charts > Reynolds Girls". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 11 February 2020.
  5. ↑ Roberts, David, ed. (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records. p. 459. ISBN 978-1-904994-10-7.
  6. 1 2 "Search results for Reynolds Girls (from irishcharts.ie)". Fireball Media. Retrieved 23 August 2016 – via Imgur.com.
  7. 1 2 Pennanen, Timo (2021). "The Reynolds Girls". Sisältää hitin - 2. laitos Levyt ja esittäjät Suomen musiikkilistoilla 1.1.1960–30.6.2021 (PDF). Helsinki: Kustannusosakeyhtiö Otava. p. 215. Retrieved 22 June 2022.
  8. 1 2 "dutchcharts.nl > The Reynolds Girls – I'd Rather Jack" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 3 October 2014.
  9. 1 2 "Ultratop Vlaanderen > The Reynolds Girls – I'd Rather Jack" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 3 October 2014.
  10. 1 2 "australian-charts.com > The Reynolds Girls – I'd Rather Jack (song)". Hung Medien. Retrieved 23 August 2016.
  11. ↑ "The One Hundred... Worst Pop Records". Channel 4. 1 January 2004. Archived from the original on 16 December 2009. Retrieved 24 December 2009 – via Wayback Machine.
  12. ↑ "Top 40 Stock Aitken Waterman songs". Classic Pop. Retrieved 31 October 2022.
  13. ↑ Petridis, Alexis (23 November 2023). "Stock Aitken Watermans 20 greatest songs – ranked!". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 16 January 2014.
  14. ↑ The Hit Factory: The Stock Aitken Waterman Story (Television programme). Produced and directed by Stephen McGinn. ITV: ITV Studios. 2012. 37 minutes in. Retrieved 9 February 2020 – via YouTube.{{cite AV media}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  15. ↑ Wright, Jade (3 July 2012). "1980s Liverpool pop act the Reynolds Girls sought for PWL concert". Liverpool Echo. Trinity Mirror. ISSN 1751-6277. Retrieved 9 June 2018. But the Liverpool sisters who burst into the pop charts in 1989 with the Stock Aitken Waterman-penned protest song I'd Rather Jack (than Fleetwood Mac) have still not been traced.
  16. ↑ Wright, Jade (2 July 2012). "Echo search for 80s pop act the Reynolds Girls". liverpoolecho. Retrieved 28 June 2020.
  17. ↑ Earls, John (18 August 2021). "Whatever Happened To The Reynolds Girls?". Classic Pop. Retrieved 20 June 2022.
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