Grace Jones’ ‘Pull up to the Bumper’ makes Billboard list
KINGSTON, Jamaica — Pull Up to the Bumper, a 1981 hit song by Jamaican-born Grace Jones that didn’t make the cut on a previous album, ranks at #82 on Billboard magazine’s 100 Best Dance Songs of All-Time list.
The respected music and trade publication revealed the first 20 songs on its list and will continue to reveal 20 more songs each day until Friday, March 28.
Pull Up to the Bumper, which was the third single from Jones’ Island Records album Nightclubbing, is an electro-disco, post-punk, disco-pop record. It was recorded at the famous Compass Point Studios in Nassau, Bahamas.
Among the Jamaican musicians who worked on the track were guitarist Mikey Chung, percussionist Uziah Thompson, bass guitarist Robbie Shakespeare, and drummer Sly Dunbar.
Pull Up to the Bumper was a global hit, making charts in Australia, Spain, West Germany, New Zealand, Netherlands, Ireland, Belgium and Finland. In the United Kingdom (UK), the song rose to #53, however, a re-release of the song in 1986, saw it placing much higher, topping out at #12 on the UK Singles chart.
In its first run, Pull Up to My Bumper peaked at number five on Billboard’s R&B Singles chart and number two for seven weeks on the Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart.
Dancehall artiste Patra covered Pull Up to My Bumper for her 1995 sophomore 550 Music/Epic Records album Scent of Attraction. Her version peaked at #60 on the Billboard Hot 100, #21 R&B and #15 on the Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart. It also dented charts in Australia and New Zealand, while making it to #50 on the UK Singles chart.
— Kevin Jackson
