Song:Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)
Album:Ultimate Collection
Sweet Dreams was the breakthrough single and the only US number one hit for the British duo Eurythmics in 1983. They had three top five hits in the US but were more successful in England. The duo behind Eurythmics were singer Annie Lennox and musical jack of all trades Dave Stewart. In the early 70s, Dave Stewart was a member of the folk rock group Longdancer. They were signed to Elton John's Rocket Records but were unsuccessful. Meanwhile, Annie Lennox was studying flute and classical music at the Royal Academy of Music. The two met in 1975 at a restaurant where Annie was waitressing. After they began a romantic relationship, the two formed The Tourists with guitarist Peet Coombes. The Tourists were a conventional new wave band. They recorded three albums and had a top ten hit in England with their cover of Dusty Springfield's I Only Want To Be With You in 1979. Coombes wrote most of the songs and Stewart wanted more creative input. This led to the band split in 1980. Soon after, Coombes quit the music business. Stewart and Lennox had ended their romantic relationship but decided to continue their musical partnership and use session musicians. They signed with RCA Records and recorded the Eurythmics debut album In The Garden in Germany with musicians like Holger Czukay and and Jaki Liebezeit of electronic music pioneers Can. The album was not successful but the German musicians encouraged Stewart to use more electronic keyboards. Stewart produced the 1983 album Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This) with session guitarist Robert Crash and bassist Adam Williams formerly of The Selecter. The single Sweet Dreams topped the Billboard Hot 100. Supposedly Stewart came up with the brooding keyboard riffs while fooling around in the studio. The song is one verse repeated over three minutes so there's not much to it. But the video went into heavy rotation on MTV and folks liked it and bought the record. The Eurythmics albums were consistent sellers but Here Comes The Rain Again and Would I Lie To You? were their only other US top five hits. I think their videos drove record sales but not radio play. They split up after the 1989 album We Too Are One. You can get all their hits on this budget comp.Dave Stewart and Annie Lennox have both had successful solo careers and Stewart has had a lot of success as a producer. The Eurythmics reunited for the 1999 CD Peace and both returned to solo careers. Here's the video for Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This) by The Eurythmics.
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