'Til Tuesday was an American new wave band formed in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. The band, consisting of Aimee Mann, Robert Holmes (guitar), Joey Pesce (keyboards), and Michael Hausman (drums), was active from 1982 to 1989.
They are best known for their 1985 hit single "Voices Carry". 'Til Tuesday disbanded in 1990 when Mann left to begin a solo career.
members: Aimee Mann
labels: Epic Records
genres: new wave
awards: MTV Video Music Award for Best New Artist
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'Til Tuesday first gained fame six months after its formation when it won Boston's WBCN Rock & Roll Rumble in 1983. Their original composition "Love in a Vacuum" (credited to all members of the group) received a fair amount of airplay on the station, and the group was eventually signed to Epic Records.
"Voices Carry" is a song by the American rock band 'Til Tuesday. It was produced by Mike Thorne for the band's debut studio album, Voices Carry (1985).
The accompanying music video, directed by D.J. Webster, received wide exposure on MTV and positive reactions from critics.
One claim for the inspiration for the song says that an argument between Michael Hausman and bandmate/former girlfriend Aimee Mann inspired the song's lyrics, but producer Mike Thorne disputes this and states the lyrics originally had Mann singing to another woman and that the gender was changed due to pressure from Epic Records. Ministry frontman Al Jourgensen claims that the song was inspired by a brief relationship he had with Mann while living in Boston. Mann later stated that she wrote the song about a female acquaintance, and wrote the song from a male's point of view. Mann also stated that the rewritten verse in the studio version that begins with "He wants me but only part of the time" was based "on something I was going through...
"Voices Carry" was recorded in 1985 at RPM Sound Studios in New York. The song is about past sour relationships, and was originally written and sung by Aimee Mann as to a woman. 'Til Tuesday rehearsed that format in Boston the previous summer, but Epic was unhappy with the lyrics; they thought that it was a "very powerful, commercial song", and wanted to remove the lesbian components to appeal to the mainstream market.
"Voices Carry" received generally positive reviews from pop music critics. In a review of the band's second album Welcome Home, David Wild from Rolling Stone magazine said that their "debut [album], Voices Carry, had its icy charms", calling the song "wonderfully eerie". Allmusic's Stewart Mason said that "'Voices Carry' is one of the most distinctive radio singles of its era"; he also praised the production saying that it "does wonders both for Mann's breathy voice and the ... chorus, which brilliantly releases the tension that builds throughout the stark, paranoid verses". Joe Viglione also from Allmusic, in a review of their debut album said that the song is "captivating", and praised its production saying that Mike Thorne did...
The music video for "Voices Carry" was directed by D.J. Webster, and filmed at Dorchester's Strand Theater, Davio's Restaurant, and W. Brookline St in Boston. The video inserts several spoken or silent short, dramatic scenes on top of the song. The band's lead singer, Aimee Mann, plays a musician with an abusive boyfriend, played by actor Cully Holland. He demeans her music "hobby", demands she change her look to fit his respectable, 1980s professional caste lifestyle and demands, "Why can't you for once do something for me?" before essentially forcing himself upon her. The conclusion shows them formally dressed in an elite Carnegie Hall audience, the boyfriend giving Mann a disgusted look when he finds a visibly counter-culture rattail...