The Title of This 80s One-Hit Wonder Seemed Sexy, but Its Message Was Deadly Serious

Some acts came and went in the 80s so quickly that they were forgotten not long after they appeared. If they were lucky, however, they might have delivered an indelible song as an enduring legacy.

Sly Fox lasted only a single album, most of which failed to make much of a dent. But with the crunchingly funky single “Let’s Go All The Way”, the duo ensured a place on 80s playlists for a long time to come.

On the Sly

Sly Fox was comprised of Gary “Mudbone” Cooper and Michael Camacho. The pair came together for the project. They didn’t know each other prior to the making of their lone album, which was named after the song that put them on the map.

Prior to that, Cooper earned a place in the ever-evolving group of musicians working with George Clinton’s various collectives, including Parliament-Funkadelic. Through that association, he also began working with Clinton stalwart Bootsy Collins, who gave Cooper the “Mudbone” nickname. But he had a notion to do something where he was more out in front of the proceedings.

Enter Camacho, who, at that point in his career, was most known for singing on a jeans commercial. The two men developed an artistic connection in a hurry. And Collins wrote “Let’s Go All The Way To Introduce” the duo to the world.

It’s “Go” Time

Set apart from other pop music of the time by its crunching beat that mimicked the industrial grind of factory work, “Let’s Go All The Way” confused folks with its title into thinking the song had something to do with sex. In an interview with the website Redicsoverthe80s.com, Cooper explained its true meaning:

“For me, the song simply meant that whatever your goal, dream or vision, you should go all the way to get it. In other words, don’t let anything stop you from achieving, especially yourself. Those that saw the video saw it had kids destroying weapons, etc.”

“Let’s Go All The Way” took a while to get to its pinnacle. Released in 1985, it wasn’t until a year later that the mainstream pop world started to recognize it. The song landed in the Top 10 in the US, the UK, and several other countries.

Behind the Lyrics of “Let’s Go All The Way”

The lyrics to “Let’s Go All The Way” offer a warts-and-all depiction of the race to the top. “Sitting with the thinker,” the narrator says at the beginning of his attempts to make sense of it all. “Trying to work it out.” Politicians don’t seem to be the answer: “Presidential party/No one wants to dance.”

In the second verse, the complaints turn to the working life and the insufferable nature of it all: “Try to make a dollar/Damn what a beat.” “Got to be a man of war” is the answer for how to survive it all, although the refrain eventually skews toward the peaceful: “Let’s go all the way/We need heaven on Earth today/We can make a better way.”

As mentioned above, Sly Fox didn’t have much staying power. The duo split up just a few years after their biggest hit took the world by storm. But for a moment there, “Let’s Go All The Way” offered both a bracing jolt of reality and some hopeful fodder for the dreamers.

Photo by Jim Steinfeldt/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images