Dead or Alive’s ‘You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)’ Was Created With the Help of Cocaine

Some classic rock songs wouldn’t exist without drugs. For example, Dead or Alive’s “You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)” was completed with the help of expensive cocaine. A producer once the song explained how it came together.

A famous trio producer Dead or Alive’s ‘You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)’

Stock Aitken Waterman was a production trio composed of Mike Stock, Matt Aitken, and Scott Waterman. They are known for such hits as Rick Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up” and Kylie Minogue’s “I Should Be So Lucky.” During a 2023 interview with NME, Waterman was asked if he took cocaine to complete the classic record “You Spin Me Round (Like a Record).”

“I’d put my neck on the line because I knew it was a No. 1,” he replied. “This was my one shot. Then the mixing desk broke down in the middle of the night so we had to wait for the engineer to come [to London] from Southend.”

Dead or Alive producer Scott Waterman said another band inspired him to use drugs

Waterman said this experience drove him to use drugs. “I’d been up for 24 hours at this point and still had at least 10 hours to go,” he said. “A very famous rock band who shall remain nameless used to mix downstairs overnight, and took a lot of drugs to get them through the night, so I thought if they can do it, so can I!

“When they told me it was £80 a gram, I thought: ‘You’re joking! I can go to Peru for £65!,'” Waterman added. “We used to play terrible tricks on that band. We once substituted their cocaine for plaster of paris so they all had bunged-up noses for a while!”

How ‘You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)’ performed on the charts

“You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)” peaked at No. 11 on the Billboard Hot 100, making it Dead or Alive’s highest-charting single. The tune appeared on the album Youthquake, which peaked at No. 31 on the Billboard 200 and stayed on the chart for 20 weeks. None of the band’s albums charted higher in the United States.

According to The Official Charts Company, “You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)” reached No. 1 in the United Kingdom for two weeks, lasting on the chart for 36 weeks altogether. The song subsequently recharted at No. 23 and stayed on the chart for three weeks. On the other hand, Youthquake hit No. 9 in the U.K. and remained on the chart for 15 weeks.

Flo Rida sampled “You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)” for his 2009 hit “Right Round.” His song is much more explicitly sexual than the original. “Right Round” helped introduce the original song to a whole new generation. “Right Round” sampling “You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)” is one of many examples of 2000s music drawing from 1980s music.

“You Spin Me Right Round (Like a Record)” is a classic Hi-NRG song and it wouldn’t be the same without a certain drug.