"Too Funky" is a song written and performed by English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 singer George Michael

George Michael

George Michael is a British musician, singer, songwriter and record producer who rose to fame in the 1980s when he formed the pop duo Wham! with his school friend, Andrew Ridgeley...

 and released by Columbia Records

Columbia Records

Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...

 in the United States and Epic Records

Epic Records

Epic Records is an American record label, owned by Sony Music Entertainment. Though it was originally conceived as a jazz imprint, it has since expanded to represent various genres. L.A...

 elsewhere in 1992.

History

"Too Funky" was Michael's final single for his recording contract with Sony Music before he started legal action

Lawsuit

A lawsuit or "suit in law" is a civil action brought in a court of law in which a plaintiff, a party who claims to have incurred loss as a result of a defendant's actions, demands a legal or equitable remedy. The defendant is required to respond to the plaintiff's complaint...

 to extricate himself from his contract. "Too Funky" had been initially earmarked for a follow-up to the album Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 2 but Michael shelved the idea, instead donating it, along with three other songs, to the project Red Hot + Dance

Red Hot + Dance

Red Hot + Dance is an album produced by the Red Hot Organization, an organization dedicated to raising money and awareness to fight the onslaught of HIV/AIDS....

, which raised money for AIDS

AIDS

Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...

 awareness. Michael subsequently donated the royalties

Royalties

Royalties are usage-based payments made by one party to another for the right to ongoing use of an asset, sometimes an intellectual property...

 to the same cause. The song didn't appear on any of Michael's studio albums, although later it was included on his solo collection Ladies & Gentlemen: The Best of George Michael

Ladies & Gentlemen: The Best of George Michael

Ladies & Gentlemen: The Best of George Michael is a greatest hits collection released by George Michael in 1998.The collection of 28 songs are separated into two halves, with each CD of the double set containing music of a particular theme and mood...

.

Song

Lyrically, the song is a basic, animalistic plea for sexual activity.

It features a clip from The Graduate

The Graduate

The Graduate is a 1967 American comedy-drama motion picture directed by Mike Nichols. It is based on the 1963 novel The Graduate by Charles Webb, who wrote it shortly after graduating from Williams College. The screenplay was by Buck Henry, who makes a cameo appearance as a hotel clerk, and Calder...

; Anne Bancroft

Anne Bancroft

Anne Bancroft was an American actress associated with the Method acting school, which she had studied under Lee Strasberg....

's line of "Would you like me to seduce you? Is that what you're trying to tell me?" is repeated during the final crescendo. The song then ends with a sample ("Will you stop playing with that radio of yours. I'm trying to get to sleep") from an episode of the Tony Hancock Show called 'The Radio Ham'. The line was spoken by actress Annie Leake.

Music video

Directed by fashion designer Thierry Mugler

Thierry Mugler

Thierry Mugler is a French fashion designer and creator of several perfumes.-Childhood:Mugler was born in Strasbourg, France on 21 December 1948. His passion led him to focus more on drawing than on school and at the age of 9, he began to study classical dance...

, the video features Michael (sporadically) as a director

Music video director

A music video director is driven by a given music track. These are called music videos and are then used as promotional tools for popular music singles...

 filming a number of supermodel

Supermodel

The term supermodel refers to a highly-paid fashion model who usually has a worldwide reputation and often a background in haute couture and commercial modeling. The term became prominent in the popular culture of the 1980s. Supermodels usually work for top fashion designers and labels...

s, similarly to the video for his 1990 single "Freedom! '90

Freedom! '90

"Freedom '90" is a song written and performed by George Michael, and released on Columbia Records in 1990. The "'90" added to the end of the title is to prevent confusion with an international hit by Michael's former band, Wham!, also titled "Freedom".It was the third single taken from Listen...

". The models featured in this video are Linda Evangelista

Linda Evangelista

Linda Evangelista is a Canadian model. She has been featured on over 600 magazine covers and has garnered work on numerous modeling assignments with companies, most recently with L'Oréal.- Early years :...

, Nadja Auermann

Nadja Auermann

Nadja Auermann is a German model and actress. Fashion designer Valentino once commented on her physical resemblance to Marlene Dietrich. A New York Times fashion columnist, Guy Trebay, wrote of her "ice maiden visage and pole vaulter's legs".-Biography:Auermann arrived in Paris in 1990, signing...

, Emma Sjöberg

Emma Sjöberg

Emma Wiklund is a Swedish fashion model and actress.Emma was born in Stockholm, Sweden....

, Estelle Hallyday, Shana Zadrick

Shana Zadrick

Shana Zadrick is an American model. She has appeared on the cover of several editions of Vogue Italia and in the 1992 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue. She appeared in John Cougar Mellencamp's music video for the song Wild Night, a track of the album "Dance Naked"...

 and Tyra Banks

Tyra Banks

Tyra Lynne Banks is an American model, media personality, actress, occasional singer, author and businesswoman. She first became famous as a model, but television appearances were her commercial breakthrough...

. Actresses Julie Newmar

Julie Newmar

Julie Newmar is an American actress, dancer and singer. Her most famous role is Catwoman in the Batman television series.-Early life:...

 and Rossy de Palma

Rossy de Palma

Rossy de Palma, is a Spanish actress. Described by many as a Picasso come-to-life, Rossy de Palma broke the rules of beauty in 1988 when she starred in Pedro Almodóvar’s Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown and became a model and muse for designers like Jean-Paul Gaultier, Thierry Mugler, and...

 also make an appearance. The costumes worn by the models were designed by Mugler.

The video's concept was written by Jeff Beasley after attending a benefit fashion show held by Mugler several months before in Los Angeles. Beasley worked at Propaganda Films

Propaganda Films

Propaganda Films was a prolific and successful music video and film production company founded in 1983 by producers Steve Golin and Sigurjón Sighvatsson and directors David Fincher, Nigel Dick, Greg Gold and Dominic Sena...

, the production company where David Fincher

David Fincher

David Andrew Leo Fincher is an American film and music video director. Known for his dark and stylish thrillers, such as Seven , The Game , Fight Club , Panic Room , and Zodiac , Fincher received Academy Award nominations for Best Director for his 2008 film The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and...

 directed "Freedom '90" - the supermodel video on which "Too Funky" is based. Originally the same models from Fincher's video were going to be used, namely Linda Evangelista

Linda Evangelista

Linda Evangelista is a Canadian model. She has been featured on over 600 magazine covers and has garnered work on numerous modeling assignments with companies, most recently with L'Oréal.- Early years :...

, Naomi Campbell

Naomi Campbell

Naomi Campbell is a British model. Scouted at the age of 15, she established herself among the top three most recognisable and in-demand models of the late 1980s and early 1990s, and she was one of six models of her generation declared "supermodels" by the fashion world...

, Christy Turlington

Christy Turlington

Christy Turlington Burns is an American model best known for representing Calvin Klein from 1987 to 2007. She has worked on dozens of modeling contracts with companies including Maybelline Cosmetics and Versace. Turlington starred in her fashion documentary Catwalk and Isaac Mizrahi's Unzipped...

, Cindy Crawford

Cindy Crawford

Cynthia Ann "Cindy" Crawford is an American model. Known for her trademark mole just above her lip, Crawford has adorned hundreds of magazine covers throughout her career. She was named #3 on VH1's 40 Hottest Hotties of the 90s...

, and Tatjana Patitz

Tatjana Patitz

Tatjana Patitz is a German model and actress who rose to international prominence in the 1980s and 1990s, representing top fashion designers, campaigns, and collections, and who continues to model today.-Modelling career:...

. Mugler decided, however, that he wanted new models and only kept Evangelista for the project. The video was produced by Beasley and filmed by Mike Southon

Mike Southon (cinematographer)

Mike Southon BSC is a British cinematographer. He is a past President of the British Society of Cinematographers. As well as films, he has shot over 250 music videos and 200 television commercials.- Films :*1985 Captive Paul Mayersberg c...

.

An alternate edit of the video includes several male models, including eventual Grey's Anatomy

Grey's Anatomy

Grey's Anatomy is an American medical drama television series created by Shonda Rhimes. The series premiered on March 27, 2005 on ABC; since then, seven seasons have aired. The series follows the lives of interns, residents and their mentors in the fictional Seattle Grace Mercy West Hospital in...

 star Justin Chambers

Justin Chambers

Justin W. Chambers is an American actor and former Calvin Klein male fashion model. As of 2005, he is starring in the ABC drama series Grey's Anatomy as Dr. Alex Karev....

 and Oscar-nominated actor Djimon Hounsou

Djimon Hounsou

Djimon Diaw Hounsou is a Beninese actor and model. As an actor, Hounsou has been nominated for two Academy Awards.-Early life:Djimon Hounsou was born in Cotonou, Benin, in 1964, to lbertine and Pierre Hounsou, a cook. He emigrated to Lyon in France at the age of thirteen with his brother, Edmond....

, who was discovered by Mugler in Paris.

Chart performance

"Too Funky" reached number 4 in the UK Singles Chart

UK Singles Chart

The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...

 in 1992 and became that year's most played record in Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

.

In the U.S., the single debuted at number 84 on Billboard Hot 100

Billboard Hot 100

The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...

, reaching number 10 - its peak position - by its fourth week. It sold over 500,000 copies, being certified Gold by the RIAA

Recording Industry Association of America

The Recording Industry Association of America is a trade organization that represents the recording industry distributors in the United States...

.

In Australia, it became the biggest gainer song ever in the top 50 of the Australian ARIA Singles Chart

ARIA Charts

The ARIA charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling singles and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA commenced compiling its own charts in-house from the week ending 26 June...

 when it jumped from number 50 to number 8 (42 places), before reaching its peak position at number 3. "Too Funky" held this record until 2009, when "3

3 (song)

"3" is a song by American recording artist Britney Spears, from her second greatest hits compilation The Singles Collection. It was released on September 29, 2009, as the only single of the album by Jive Records. The song was produced by long-time collaborator Max Martin and Shellback, and recorded...

" by Britney Spears

Britney Spears

Britney Jean Spears is an American recording artist and entertainer. Born in McComb, Mississippi, and raised in Kentwood, Louisiana, Spears began performing as a child, landing acting roles in stage productions and television shows. She signed with Jive Records in 1997 and released her debut album...

 rose from number 50 to number 7 (43 places).

In Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

, "Too Funky" peaked at number 6 on the RPM singles chart

RPM (magazine)

RPM was a Canadian music industry publication that featured song and album charts for Canada. The publication was founded by Walt Grealis in February 1964, supported through its existence by record label owner Stan Klees. RPM ceased publication in November 2000.RPM stood for "Records, Promotion,...

.

"Too Funky" reached number 3 on the Dutch Top 40

Dutch Top 40

The Dutch Top 40 is a weekly music chart, which started as the "Veronica Top 40", because the offshore radio station Radio Veronica was the first to introduce it. It remained "The Veronica Top 40" until 1974, when the station was forced to stop broadcasting...

.

Charts

Chart (1992)	Peak position
Australian Singles Chart ARIA Charts The ARIA charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling singles and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA commenced compiling its own charts in-house from the week ending 26 June...	3
Austrian Singles Chart Ö3 Austria Top 40 Ö3 Austria Top 40 is the name of the official Austrian singles chart, as well as the radio show which presents it, aired Fridays on Hitradio Ö3. The show presents the Austrian singles, ringtones and downloads chart. It premiered on 26 November 1968 as Disc Parade and was presented by Ernst Grissemann...	9
Canadian RPM Top Singles RPM (magazine) RPM was a Canadian music industry publication that featured song and album charts for Canada. The publication was founded by Walt Grealis in February 1964, supported through its existence by record label owner Stan Klees. RPM ceased publication in November 2000.RPM stood for "Records, Promotion,...	6
Dutch Singles Chart Dutch Top 40 The Dutch Top 40 is a weekly music chart, which started as the "Veronica Top 40", because the offshore radio station Radio Veronica was the first to introduce it. It remained "The Veronica Top 40" until 1974, when the station was forced to stop broadcasting...	3
French Singles Chart Syndicat National de l'Edition Phonographique The Syndicat national de l'édition phonographique is the inter-professional organization which protects the interests of the French record industry...	5
German Singles Chart Media Control Charts The official music charts in Germany are gathered and published by the company Media Control GfK International on behalf of Bundesverband Musikindustrie...	12
Irish Singles Chart Irish Singles Chart The Irish Singles Chart is Ireland's music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association and compiled on behalf of the IRMA by Chart-Track. Chart rankings are based on sales, which are compiled through over-the-counter retail data captured...	5
Italian Singles Chart Federation of the Italian Music Industry The Federation of the Italian Music Industry is an umbrella organization that keeps track of virtually all aspects of the music recording industry in Italy....	2
Japanese Oricon Singles Chart Oricon , established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and information on music and the music industry in Japan. It started as , which was founded by Sōkō Koike in November 1967 and became known for its music charts. Oricon Inc...	95
New Zealand Singles Chart Recording Industry Association of New Zealand The Recording Industry Association of New Zealand is a non-profit trade association of record producers, distributors and recording artists who sell music in New Zealand...	5
Norwegian Singles Chart VG-lista VG-listen is a Norwegian record chart. It is weekly presented in the newspaper VG and the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation program Topp 20. It is considered the primary Norwegian record chart, charting albums and singles from countries and continent around the world. The data is collected by...	2
Swedish Singles Chart Sverigetopplistan Sverigetopplistan, earlier known as Topplistan and Hitlistan and other names, is since October 2007 the Swedish national record chart, based on sales data from Swedish Recording Industry Association ....	7
Swiss Singles Chart Swiss Music Charts The Swiss Music Charts are Switzerland's main music sales charts. The charts are a record of the highest-selling singles and albums in various genres in Switzerland.The Swiss Charts include:* Singles Top 75...	6
UK Singles Chart UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...	4
US Billboard Hot 100 Billboard Hot 100 The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...	10
US Billboard Hot Dance Club Songs	20

Certifications

Country	Certification
Australia Australian Recording Industry Association The Australian Recording Industry Association is a trade group representing the Australian recording industry which was established in 1983 by six major record companies, EMI, Festival, CBS, RCA, WEA and Universal replacing the Association of Australian Record Manufacturers which was formed in 1956...	Gold
United States Recording Industry Association of America The Recording Industry Association of America is a trade organization that represents the recording industry distributors in the United States...	Gold

Chart procession and succession

End of year chart (1992)	Position
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	58

Track listings

UK CD single

1. Too Funky (Extended) - 5:37
2. Crazyman Dance - 5:52
3. Too Funky – 3:45

Europe CD single

1. Too Funky (Extended) - 5:37
2. Too Jazzy (Happy Mix) - 5:53
3. Too Funky (Digital Mix) - 6:25

US CD single

1. Too Funky (Extended) - 5:37
2. Too Funky (Digital Mix) - 6:25
3. Too Jazzy (Happy Mix) - 5:53
4. Too Funky (Single Version) – 3:45
5. Crazyman Dance - 5:52

7" single

1. "Too Funky" – 3:45
2. "Crazyman Dance" – 3:34

12" single (US)

1. Too Funky (Extended) - 5:37
2. Too Funky (Digital Mix) - 6:25
3. Too Jazzy (Happy Mix) - 5:53
4. Crazyman Dance - 5:52

12" single (UK) (658058 6)

1. "Too Funky" (extended) – 5:01
2. "Crazyman Dance" – 6:00

12" single (UK) (658058 8)

1. Too Funky (Extended) - 5:37
2. Too Jazzy (Happy Mix) - 5:53
3. Too Funky (Digital Mix) - 6:25