“Party All the Time” – Single by Eddie Murphy from the album How Could It Be
Released September 23, 1985
Label Columbia, CBS
Songwriter Rick James
Producer Rick James
Charted No.2 in US, No.87 in UK, No.4 in Canada, No.9 in West Germany.
“Party All the Time” was the lead single from Murphy’s 1985 debut musical album How Could It Be.
The single was recorded at Rick James’s home studio in Buffalo, New York, during what would go on to be named Buffalo’s “Six-Pack” storm (named after a quote from Mayor James D. Griffin), where 33 inches of snow and 50 mile per hour wind speeds shut down the city. Originally only planning to stay in Buffalo for a weekend to record the song, Murphy ended up being stuck inside with James for two weeks. In addition to writing and producing the song, James also provided backup vocals.
The white guy who shows up in the control room in the video is Les Garland, who was one of the founders of MTV. His appearance was a peace offering by Rick James, who accused Garland of being a racist when the network refused to play the “Super Freak” video in 1981. Garland’s side of the story was that the “Super Freak” video was low quality and too explicit, and that MTV played very few black videos because they tried to stick with a Rock format early on, and because very few videos were made by black artists, as record companies weren’t funding them.
Eddie Murphy – lead vocal
Rick James – drums, percussion, backing vocals, production
Kenny Hawkins – guitar
Greg Levias – keyboards
Levi Ruffin – keyboards, backing vocals
LaMorris Payne – backing vocals
