"Rush Rush" is the first single released from Paula Abdul's
second album,
Spellbound. Written by Peter Lord, and produced by Peter
Lord and V. Jeffrey Smith (both members of The Family Stand),
the song achieved success in the U.S. where it topped the
BillboardHot 100.
"Rush Rush" was a departure for Abdul stylistically, as it
was her first ballad released as a single, following as it did
the five uptempo singles from her debut LP, and was viewed by
all observers as a rather risky strategy in kicking off her
second album of new material
Spellbound. But the decision was vindicated, as it was
very well received at retail.
Abdul laid down a scratch vocal for the track, which was
never intended to make it to the song's final mix. But the
producers felt that its unpolished sound was what was needed to
give the song its ingenuous tone, to match its subject matter
and accompanying promotional video clip; it ended up on the
final cut.
The video features a street race and co-stars Keanu Reeves,
drawing stylistic inspiration from the 1955 James Dean/Natalie
Wood film
Rebel Without A Cause, and as such, has a period theme.
A 90-second dramatic prelude to the song rather mirrors the
characters from "Rebel." The video was directed by Stefan
Würnitzer, and produced by Karen Rohrbacher for Lucasfilm
Commercial Productions.
"Rush Rush" debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 at #36 on May
11, 1991, and hit #1 five weeks later, June 15, 1991, where it
remained for five consecutive weeks. At the time of its
five-week stint, it was the longest running #1 since Madonna's
"Like a Virgin" spent six weeks at #1 during the winter of
1984-1985. The song also spent five weeks atop the U.S. adult
contemporary chart. It peaked at #6 on the UK Singles
Chart.
U.S. Cassette
U.S. Promo 5" CD
UK 5" CD