“Rod Stewart Ultimate Hits” entered the UK album charts at Number 5 on Friday and to celebrate the albums release we are bringing you the low down on all the classic tracks that have been brought together for the first time in the compilation that includes songs ranging from his 1971 hit, “Maggie May” to selections from 2024’s “Swing Fever,”
“Young Turks” is a song from 1981 taken from Rod’s album “Tonight I’m Yours”. The track saw Rod backed by a new synth-pop and new wave sound, influenced by acts like Devo, The song began with a pacey, pulsing synthesiser sound which was created by co-writer and synch keyboard player Duane Hitchings who said, “I started the idea because Devo was really big and one of my favourite groups and of course Rod did a great job! I got a bit of help with a nice instrumental line from Kevin Savigar also.” the track was produced with synthesizers and a hi-hat played over a drum machine.
The music for the song was composed by Carmine Appice, Duane Hitchings, and Kevin Savigar, with lyrics written by Rod, The song, was released as the first US single (second in the UK) from “Tonight I’m Yours” Rod produced the track himself and Jim Cregan co-produced.
“Young Turks” falls into a small category of songs that don’t mention the whole title in the lyrics. Rod sings Young Hearts but not Young Turks. A young Turk is a slang term originating in an early 20th-century political party the secular nationalist reform party in Turkey. It’s used to describe a rebellious youth who acts in the opposite way of what is expected by society.
Rod’s lyrics, tells the story of two young lovers, Billy and Patti who were financially broke but wanted to run away together to be free and do what they wanted to do. Carmine Appice told Songfacts, “Rod was always trying to be on the cutting edge at that time, so we did the drum machine stuff. Duane had just gotten a sequencer, so we started screwing around and came up with the chords and melodies and we presented it to Rod. This one was easy because he used the whole concept that we came up with. We just transferred it from the 8-track that Duane had going right onto the 24-track. We used the drum machine and everything. Once we gave Rod the music, he wrote the lyrics.”
On the Billboard Hot 100, “Young Turks” debuted at No. 61 on 17 October 1981 and peaked at No. 5 on 19 December 1981 – 9 January 1982. The song peaked at No. 11 on the UK Singles Chart and was also a top 5 hit in Australia, Belgium, Israel (No. 1) and Canada. Released a few months after MTV started, and it was the first video played that contained breakdancing.
Billboard said that it was “the kind of song Stewart is best at: melodic, lyrical and a bit harder than a ballad.” Record World said that “Stewart hitches onto a brisk beat and trades in his vocal gravel for an attractive light tenor.”
Even though Rod now had many under his belt videos were still a fairly new phenomenon in the early 80s. “The videos were cutting edge,” revealed Carmine Appice. “Rod had top-of-the line people. When I first joined him, the first video we did was for Hot Legs, and that was a great video. It was played all over the world. For every album we did with Rod, we did two or three videos. There were a lot of stations that would play videos. There were video outlets in Australia and England. Top of The Pops would play the videos all the time.”
In the liner notes for his “Storyteller” album Rod said “Definitely one of my favorites to sing live, and, if I may say so as a songwriter, the area in which I’m most comfortable. The telling of a story with a beginning and an end is very difficult within the confines of a rock & roll song.”
The video was directed by Russell Mulcahy and was a similar vibe to the hit TV show and film of the time Fame, lots of kids dancing in the street and on car roof’s and bonnets in Los Angeles. Rod and his band are on stage and the part of Patti was played by the actress E.G. Daily whose real name is Elizabeth Ann Guttman who later went on to voice characters in Rugrats, The Powerpuff Girls and, in 1994, provided the voice of Bamm-Bamm in the film version of The Flintstones. Billy was played by Dale Pauley whose other known work was as the fat bloke in Olivia Newton-John’s video for “Physical” That coincidentally was a song that was offered to Rod but he turned down. The video was produced by Simon Fields and Paul Flattery and choreographed by Kenny Ortega, About 14 seconds after the start of the video, Billy emerges from one floor above the now long abandoned Licha’s Santa Fe Grill, in reality at the northwest corner of 7th and Santa Fe Streets in Los Angeles, and descends a ladder before dropping the last few feet down to the street. A little more than one-third of the way through the song, Billy and Patti are shoved toward the entrance of the Hotel Hayward, in reality at the west corner of 6th and Spring Streets, again in Los Angeles, between a mile and a half and two miles to the northwest. The dancers eventually end up in a railway yard just to the east of the grill, to where the couple has returned and Rod is singing the last half of the song.
Rod’s videotaped rooftop performance of the song in Los Angeles (different from the aforementioned music video) appeared about one-third of the way through Dick Clark‘s three-hour American Bandstand 30th Anniversary Special Episode on 30 October 1981.
Chart (1981–1982)
Australia (Kent Music Report) 3
Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders) 5
Belgium (VRT Top 30 Flanders) 4
Canada (CHUM) 1
Canada Top Singles (RPM) 2
Ireland (IRMA) 9
Israel Singles Chart 1
Italy (FIMI) 23
Netherlands (Dutch Top 40) 9
Netherlands (Single Top 100) 14
New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ) 19
South Africa (Springbok Radio) 2
UK Singles (OCC) 11
US Billboard Hot 100 5
US Billboard Hot Dance Club Play 63
US Billboard Top Tracks 23
US Cash Box 5
West Germany (GfK) 30
Year-end charts
Canada (RPM Top 100 Singles) 57
Italy (FIMI) 90
Chart 1982
Australia (Kent Music Report) 23
Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders) 43
Canada (RPM Top 100 Singles) 26
South Africa (Springbok) 11
US Billboard Hot 100 48
US Cash Box 44
Personnel
Rod Stewart – lead vocals, backing vocals
Kevin Savigar – synthesizers, clavinet
Duane Hitchings – synthesizers, electric piano
Jim Cregan – lead guitar, backing vocals
Jay Davis – bass guitar
Carmine Appice – hi-hat, Oberheim DMX programming, backing vocals
Linda Lewis – backing vocals
