"Opposites Attract" is a song recorded by Paula Abdul,
featured on her debut album
Forever Your Girl. It was written and produced by Oliver
Leiber, who came up with the title after browsing a bookstore.
Vocals on the song, in addition to Abdul, were provided by
Bruce DeShazer and Marv Gunn, aka 'The Wild Pair'. "Opposites
Attract" was the sixth and final single from the album, and
achieved success in many countries, including the US and
Australia where it was a #1 hit.
The lyrics are about a couple who love each other despite
being different in just about every way possible.
The song is distinctive for its colorful music video created
and directed by Candace Reckinger & Michael Patterson, in
which Paula dances with cartoon character MC Skat Kat, voiced
by 'The Wild Pair'. The music video adds an intro rap performed
by Romany Malco. An additional rap was provided by Derrick
'Delite' Stevens for the Street mix version of the song, which
was edited for the 7"/video.
The idea of MC Skat Kat came from the Gene Kelly movie
Anchors Aweigh, where Kelly dances with Jerry, the mouse
from the
Tom and Jerrycartoon series. Paula even choreographed
the animated character's moves to match her live-action dance
moves in the video. MC Skat Kat was animated by members of the
Disney animation team, working outside the studio between major
projects, under the direction of Chris Bailey. Also shown in
the video are Micetro, Taboo, and Fatz, yet their names weren't
revealed until the release of The Adventures of MC Skat Kat and
the Stray Mob.
The video won Abdul a Grammy award in 1991 for "Best Short
Form Music Video".
The song was covered by American indie band Mirror Ball
Associates for the album
Covers Vol. 1, which features Paul Durham (lead singer
of Black Lab) on vocals.
This video was later parodied by the
Family Guyepisode "The Father, the Son, and the Holy
Fonz" with Peter Griffin "dressed like a cat", taking the place
of MC Skat Kat. Paula herself actually appears in the sequence.
According to the DVD commentary, Abdul rerecorded her vocals
specifically for the episode.
The song was also featured in hit comedy TV show
Sabrina, The Teenage Witchin the Season 4 episode
"Aging, Not So Gracefully".
The Australian sketch comedy show
Fast Forwardparody of the song had Humphrey B. Bear in
place of MC Skat Kat.
The song also appeared in the television version of the
political thriller A Very British Coup.
"Opposites Attract" became one of the most popular R&B
and dance-pop singles of 1990. The single initially rose from
#72 to #47 the week of December 23, 1989, and landed at #1 the
week of February 10, 1990, where it remained for three weeks,
matching the run of "Straight Up". It became Abdul's fourth #1
single on the Billboard Hot 100 and made her only the fourth
artist in music history to score four #1 hits from a single
album, after Whitney Houston, George Michael and Michael
Jackson. Although the single was released at the end of 1989,
the song itself is considered one of the first popular songs of
the 1990s. "Opposites Attract" also topped the charts in
Australia, and peaked at #2 in the UK. It failed to enter the
German Top 10, peaking at #13.