The Beachy 80s: 'I Want Candy' by Bow Wow Wow (1982)

This week's The Beachy 80s track goes to the clearly-beach-influenced 1982 Bow Wow Wow hit song I Want Candy. This song (originally written and recorded in the 1960's by US group The Strangeloves) was even filmed on a beach, as a beach scene, and so there it is. Bow Wow Wow were an English 1980s New Wave band created by Malcolm McLaren in order to promote his and business partner Vivienne Westwood's New Romantic fashion lines. The band was made up primarily of members Annabella Lwin, Leigh Gorman, Phil Gough, and Devin Beaman with many other members coming and going and has been on hiatus since 2006. I Want Candy was released in 1982 on Bow Wow Wow's The Last of the Mohicans EP and hit #9 on the UK Singles Chart, but only reached #62 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 despite being considered one of the "enduring new-wave classics," which is also partly due to having lots of airplay on MTV in the 80's as well.