This No. 1 Hit From the 1980s Has Serial Killer Origins

Some of the biggest hits of the 80s came from movies. That opened up the playing field to all kinds of artists to score. You didn’t have to have an established brand name if you could get your song in the right film at the right time.

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That theory certainly applied to Michael Sembello. His song “Maniac” found the perfect vehicle in Flashdance to springboard it into massive success, despite the track’s bizarre origins.

A Killer Song

Michael Sembello made his name in the music business as a guitar prodigy of sorts, playing on impactful Stevie Wonder albums at a young age. He eventually segued into the world of writing and producing. Along the way, he connected with Dennis Matkosky, a fellow writer with whom he penned “Mirror Mirror”, a Top 10 hit for Diana Ross in 1981.

Sembello decided he wanted to move forward with recording his own music. Meanwhile, Matkowsky came up with a set of lyrics that he wrote after hearing a news report about a serial killer. The original lyrics for “Maniac” included lines about a lunatic living next door who kills cats.

Matkosky brought it to Sembello, and they began to write the music and work up a demo. The frantic tone of the song was understandable considering the dangerous subject matter. But the pair didn’t have any illusions about the song being commercial fodder, as it was more of a joke than anything. That’s when fate intervened.

Changing It on the Fly

Looking to get his songs placed somewhere, Sembello had sent a tape with a bunch of demos to producer Phil Ramone, known for his work with Paul Simon, Billy Joel, and others. Unbeknownst to Sembello at the time, he had included the early demo for “Maniac” on that tape.

At the time, Ramone was looking for music for a film about a steelworker by day, dancer by night. He liked the urgency of the “Maniac” demo, specifically the siren-like sounds that form the rhythmic pulse. Ramone got in touch with Sembello and asked him to rework the lyrics to fit what was going on in the script.

Sembello complied. “Maniac” ended up playing over perhaps the movie’s most iconic scene, one that depicts the dancer played by Jennifer Beals doing a grueling workout at home. When Flashdance became a hit, “Maniac” went with it, soaring to No. 1 in 1983.

Behind the Lyrics of “Maniac”

“Just a steel town girl on a Saturday night,” Sembello begins “Maniac”. “Looking for the fight of her life.” The narrator suggests that she’s pushing herself too hard while trying to fulfill her dreams. “She has danced into the danger zone,” he sings. “Where the dancer becomes the dance.”

This girl willingly does that to gain the opportunity for greatness when it presents itself. “You can work all your life for that moment in time,” Sembello explains. “It could come or pass you by.” “She’s a maniac, maniac at your door,” he sings, a remnant of the song’s scary origins. “And she’s dancing like she’s never danced before.”

Michael Sembello never again delivered a hit as big as this one, instead moving behind the scenes in the music business. But his smash “Maniac” proved that a song, no matter how bizarre, can thrive once it finds its proper form and just the right spot to showcase it.

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