If you’re only going to have one big hit, you might as well make it a No. 1 smash. That’s what the Canadian artist Nick Gilder managed when he made his way to the US and came through with a huge single from his second solo record.
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The song was “Hot Child In The City”. And although it sounded, on the surface, like an innocent enough ode to youth gone wild, it actually contained a deeper, darker meaning.
Canadian Band to American Solo
Born in England and raised in Vancouver, Nick Gilder found success in Canada with a band called Sweeney Todd. (And, in case you’re wondering, the name has nothing to do with the musical.) They found success via a glam rock formula in the mid-70s
Sweeney Todd scored its biggest Canadian hit with the 1976 song “Roxy Roller”. However, it was at that time that Gilder started to think that maybe the band’s best days were behind them. He also wanted the opportunity for a wider audience beyond the Canadian borders. That’s why he headed to California, taking fellow Sweeney Todd member Jimmy McCulloch with him.
The fellow who replaced Gilder in Sweeney Todd? None other than Bryan Adams, who went on to enjoy a fair amount of solo success on his own. As for Gilder, he nabbed a solo deal and, with McCulloch writing with him, put out a solo debut in 1977 called You Know Who You Are. His biggest hit would appear on the 1978 follow-up City Nights, and it was inspired by what he witnessed in Los Angeles.
“City” Lights
In different interviews, Gilder gave varying stories about the origins of “Hot Child In The City”. He has claimed that the song was just a celebration of the young people trying to make it in LA. But he has also said that the song came from witnessing young prostitutes on the Sunset Strip.
That latter interpretation is hard to hear when you listen to the song’s big, power-popping arrangement. Produced by Mike Chapman, who also helped deliver a slew of hits for Blondie, the song appeared as a single in June 1978.
“Hot Child In The City” then began an agonizingly slow climb up the US charts. Finally, in October, it reached No. 1. It also vaulted Gilder into the spotlight, although he couldn’t quite sustain that momentum when it came to delivering more solo hits.
Behind the Lyrics of “Hot Child In The City”
You can certainly take a sinister view of the motives held by the narrator of “Hot Child In The City”. Or you can hear him as one of the girl’s many admirers. Gilder delivers a memorable opening line to paint the picture of this character: “Danger in the shape of something wild.”
Her free-spirited nature captivates him. “When she comes downtown she walks like she just don’t care,” Gilder sings. In the middle eight, he tries to seduce her. We don’t know if he had any success, because the chorus quickly comes around to celebrate this “Hot child in the city/Runnin’ wild and lookin’ pretty.”
Nick Gilder would go on to enjoy success writing for other singers. In fact, “The Warrior”, which he wrote with Holly Knight, earned a big hit for Scandal. Meanwhile, “Hot Child In The City” still struts its stuff with confidence whenever it’s played, regardless of what level of innocence the listener hears in it.
Photo by Richard E. Aaron/Redferns
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