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She Blinded Me with Science

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"She Blinded Me with Science"
UK cover art
Single by Thomas Dolby
from the album The Golden Age of Wireless
B-side
  • "One of Our Submarines" (UK, 25 October 1982)
  • "The Jungle Line (Live)" (UK, 27 June 1983)
  • "Flying North" (US)
Released25 October 1982
Genre
Length
  • 3:42
  • 5:09 (extended version)
Label
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)
Thomas Dolby singles chronology
"Windpower"
(1982) 		"She Blinded Me with Science"
(1982) 		"One of Our Submarines"
(1982)
Music video
"Thomas Dolby - She Blinded Me With Science" on YouTube

"She Blinded Me with Science" is a song by the English musician Thomas Dolby, released in 1982. It was first released as a single in the United Kingdom in October 1982. It was subsequently included on the EP Blinded by Science[3] and the 1983 re-release of Dolby's debut album The Golden Age of Wireless.[4]

Although viewed as a success in both the United States and Canada, peaking at No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 and 2 weeks at No. 1 in Canada's RPM magazine, the song barely managed to score among the Top 50 in Dolby's native United Kingdom, peaking at No. 49 on the UK Singles Chart in 1982.

Dolby is often considered a one-hit wonder in the United States on the basis of the song's chart success there. In 2002, US cable television network VH1 named "She Blinded Me with Science" No. 20 on its list of the "100 Greatest One-hit Wonders".[5] While the song is Dolby's only Top 40 single on the Billboard Hot 100, he has had other songs that scored on the music charts. In 2006, VH1 placed it at No. 76 on their list of "Greatest Songs of the '80s".[6] Then, in 2009, it ranked No. 13 on VH1's "100 Greatest One Hit Wonders of the 80s" list.[7] The song was used as the theme song in the pilot episode of The Big Bang Theory before it was replaced with the "Big Bang Theory Theme" by rock band Barenaked Ladies.

Song structure

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The song features exclamations from the British scientist and TV presenter Magnus Pyke,[5] who repeatedly interjects "Science!" and delivers other lines in a deliberately caricatured mad scientist manner, such as, "Good heavens, Miss Sakamoto, you're beautiful!"[8]

Music video

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The video for "She Blinded Me with Science" was conceived and storyboarded before the song was written.[9] Dolby added the song title, wrote the song to fit the planned video, and then directed the music video.[10] The video features Magnus Pyke as The Doctor, at "The Home for Deranged Scientists". Much of it was filmed at The Holme near Regent's Park in London,[11] at the time owned and managed by the Crown Estate.

Dolby later said that he wrote the line "Good heavens, Miss Sakamoto" because he wanted a Japanese woman to appear in the video. He was quoted as saying. "I was boldly ahead of the times in fetishizing Asian women."[12] The name is a reference to Ryuichi Sakamoto's wife Akiko Yano, who was in the studio at the time; she had previously sung backing on Dolby's 1982 single "Radio Silence", and he would collaborate with Sakamoto on the single Field Work a couple of years later.[citation needed]

Personnel

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Credits sourced from Mix[13]

Chart positions

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Certifications

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Region Certification Certified units/sales
Canada (Music Canada)[26] Gold 50,000^

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Discover the 10 Albums that changed Thomas Dolby's life". Goldmine. 14 January 2013. Retrieved 9 May 2016.
  2. ^ Lanham, Tom (16 September 2011). "Thomas Dolby in town to lecture you on science". The San Francisco Examiner. Retrieved 9 May 2016.
  3. ^ "Billboard's Top Album Picks > EPs". Billboard. Vol. 95, no. 7. 19 February 1983. p. 61. ISSN 0006-2510.
  4. ^ "Dolby Unveils New Wireless" (PDF). Billboard. Vol. 95, no. 11. 19 March 1983. p. 1. ISSN 0006-2510.
  5. ^ a b "Greatest One Hit Wonders List > Hour 5: #20 – 1". VH1. Archived from the original on 31 August 2004.
  6. ^ "VH1'S '100 Greatest Songs of the '80s' preaches to the choir with Bon Jovi's 'Livin' on a Prayer' taking the top spot". VH1. 24 October 2006. Archived from the original on 31 January 2010.
  7. ^ Ali, Rahsheeda. "100 Greatest One-Hit Wonders of the '80s". VH1. Archived from the original on 5 May 2013.
  8. ^ "That song from Thomas Dolby and the other Sakamoto". Tampa Bay Times. Retrieved 2023-05-08.
  9. ^ MacIntosh, Dan (16 March 2011). "Thomas Dolby : Songwriter Interviews". Songfacts. Retrieved 24 April 2017.
  10. ^ Dolby, Thomas (11 October 2016). The Speed of Sound: Breaking the Barriers Between Music and Technology: A Memoir. Flatiron Books. ISBN 978-1250071842.
  11. ^ "Thomas Dolby: She Blinded Me with Science (Music Video 1982) - Filming & production". IMDb.
  12. ^ Tannenbaum, Rob (2011). I Want My MTV. E. P. Dutton. ISBN 978-1-101-52641-5.
  13. ^ "Classic Tracks: Thomas Dolby's "She Blinded Me With Science"". mixonline.com. January 2000. Retrieved 2023-05-18.
  14. ^ "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 9 May 2016.
  15. ^ "Forum – ARIA Charts: Special Occasion Charts – CHART POSITIONS PRE 1989". Australian-charts.com. Hung Medien. Retrieved 9 May 2016.
  16. ^ "Top RPM Singles: Issue 6239." RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved 9 May 2016.
  17. ^ "Thomas Dolby – She Blinded Me with Science" (in German). GfK Entertainment charts. Retrieved 9 May 2016.
  18. ^ "Thomas Dolby – She Blinded Me with Science". Top 40 Singles. Retrieved 9 May 2016.
  19. ^ "South African Rock Lists Website SA Charts 1969 – 1989 Acts (D)". Rock.co.za. Retrieved 9 May 2016.
  20. ^ "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 9 May 2016.
  21. ^ a b c d "Thomas Dolby – Awards". AllMusic. Retrieved 9 May 2016.
  22. ^ "CASH BOX Top 100 Singles – Week ending MAY 28, 1983". Cash Box. Archived from the original on 11 September 2012.
  23. ^ "The Top Singles of 1983". RPM. Vol. 39, no. 17. 24 December 1983. Retrieved 9 May 2016.
  24. ^ "Top 100 Hits for 1983". The Longbored Surfer. Retrieved 9 May 2016.
  25. ^ "The CASH BOX Year-End Charts: 1983". Cash Box. Archived from the original on 11 September 2012.
  26. ^ "Canadian single certifications – Thomas Dolby – She Blinded Me With Science". Music Canada. Retrieved June 20, 2023.
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