Break My Stride
Encyclopedia
"Break My Stride" was a major hit single for Matthew Wilder
in 1983 and 1984. Wilder co-wrote the reggae
/New Wave
song, which was his biggest hit, becoming a multiformat success in the U.S., charting on the Pop, Black, Dance and Adult Contemporary charts.
The song has been covered by many artists throughout the years, including charting versions from Unique II in 1996 and Blue Lagoon
in 2004, and, in interpolations, Puff Daddy in 1997 and Christina Aguilera
with Lil Kim in 2001.
in December 1983, and went to number four in the UK in January 1984. On the U.S. Cash Box chart, Wilder's single reached the number two position, where it remained for two weeks in early February. A remix version reached the top 20 on the Dance charts, and the song even hit the Billboard Hot Black Singles charts for four weeks. Though "Break My Stride" was Matthew Wilder's only UK hit, he also reached the U.S. pop chart with his next two singles, "The Kid's American" (#33) and "Bouncing Off the Walls" (#52), before turning to behind-the-scenes work on other artists' recordings.
The Wilder/Prestopino composition has been covered numerous times in several languages, and the song has been the basis for several rap/hip-hop tracks. In 1997, the Wilder song reached a new audience when it was sampled for the hit Puff Daddy track "Can't Nobody Hold Me Down
". This song was also translated to the Spanish language by Argentine dance-pop group El Símbolo as "No te Preocupes" (Don't Worry) in 1996. The Spanish lyrics respect the party-time spirit of the original, adding a funny ending.
The song was used in TV advertisements for National Car Rental
in 1994, and in 2010 once for a JPMorgan Chase bank commercial, and again in a cover version for Telstra
in their BigPond
wireless internet advertisements. It has also been used in UK advertisements for the soya beverage Alpro
, and as the closing end titles soundtrack to the movie Cedar Rapids
.
CD maxi - 2002 remix
and became a hit in several European countries, including Austria
, Germany
, Sweden
and Denmark
where it reached the top ten.
CD maxi
|valign="top"|
{|class="wikitable sortable"
!Chart (2004/05)
!Peak
position
|-
|Austrian Singles Chart
|align="center"|6
|-
|Belgian (Flanders) Singles Chart
|align="center"|49
|-
|Belgian (Wallonia) Ultratip Chart
|align="center"|1
|-
|Danish Singles Chart
|align="center"|10
|-
|Dutch Mega Top 50
|align="center"|45
|-
|French SNEP Singles Chart
|align="center"|18
|-
|German Singles Chart
|align="center"|2
|-
|Swedish Singles Chart
|align="center"|4
|-
|Swiss Singles Chart
|align="center"|15
|-
|}
|valign="top"|
{| class="wikitable sortable"
!End of year chart (2004)
!Position
|-
|Austrian Singles Chart
|align="center"|75
|-
|German Singles Chart
|align="center"|16
|-
|}
Matthew Wilder
Matthew Wilder is an American musician, composer and record producer, best known for his 1983 Top 5 hit, "Break My Stride"....
in 1983 and 1984. Wilder co-wrote the reggae
Reggae
Reggae is a music genre first developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s. While sometimes used in a broader sense to refer to most types of Jamaican music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that originated following on the development of ska and rocksteady.Reggae is based...
/New Wave
New Wave music
New Wave is a subgenre of :rock music that emerged in the mid to late 1970s alongside punk rock. The term at first generally was synonymous with punk rock before being considered a genre in its own right that incorporated aspects of electronic and experimental music, mod subculture, disco and 1960s...
song, which was his biggest hit, becoming a multiformat success in the U.S., charting on the Pop, Black, Dance and Adult Contemporary charts.
The song has been covered by many artists throughout the years, including charting versions from Unique II in 1996 and Blue Lagoon
Blue Lagoon (band)
Blue Lagoon is a German pop group featuring Estrella and David O'Joseph.- Studio albums :-Singles:Others* "Allright"...
in 2004, and, in interpolations, Puff Daddy in 1997 and Christina Aguilera
Christina Aguilera
Christina María Aguilera is an American recording artist and actress. Aguilera first appeared on national television in 1990 as a contestant on the Star Search program, and went on to star in Disney Channel's television series The Mickey Mouse Club from 1993–1994...
with Lil Kim in 2001.
Chart performance
Included on his 1983 album I Don't Speak the Language, the single went to number five on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100Billboard 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...
in December 1983, and went to number four in the UK in January 1984. On the U.S. Cash Box chart, Wilder's single reached the number two position, where it remained for two weeks in early February. A remix version reached the top 20 on the Dance charts, and the song even hit the Billboard Hot Black Singles charts for four weeks. Though "Break My Stride" was Matthew Wilder's only UK hit, he also reached the U.S. pop chart with his next two singles, "The Kid's American" (#33) and "Bouncing Off the Walls" (#52), before turning to behind-the-scenes work on other artists' recordings.
The Wilder/Prestopino composition has been covered numerous times in several languages, and the song has been the basis for several rap/hip-hop tracks. In 1997, the Wilder song reached a new audience when it was sampled for the hit Puff Daddy track "Can't Nobody Hold Me Down
Can't Nobody Hold Me Down
"Can't Nobody Hold Me Down" is a hip-hop song by Sean "Puff Daddy" Combs. It appears on Combs' debut album No Way Out and it was released as the first single in 1997....
". This song was also translated to the Spanish language by Argentine dance-pop group El Símbolo as "No te Preocupes" (Don't Worry) in 1996. The Spanish lyrics respect the party-time spirit of the original, adding a funny ending.
The song was used in TV advertisements for National Car Rental
National Car Rental
National Car Rental is a rental car company based in Clayton, Missouri. National was founded by 24 independent rental car agents on August 27, 1947...
in 1994, and in 2010 once for a JPMorgan Chase bank commercial, and again in a cover version for Telstra
Telstra
Telstra Corporation Limited is an Australian telecommunications and media company, building and operating telecommunications networks and marketing voice, mobile, internet access and pay television products and services....
in their BigPond
BigPond
BigPond is an Australian Internet service provider and is a product of Telstra. BigPond is Australia's largest ISP and based in Melbourne.- Internet :...
wireless internet advertisements. It has also been used in UK advertisements for the soya beverage Alpro
Alpro
Alpro is a company based in the U.K. that markets organic and non-organic, non-genetically modified, soy based food and drink products.It employs about 750 people and has manufacturing plants in Belgium, France, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands....
, and as the closing end titles soundtrack to the movie Cedar Rapids
Cedar Rapids (film)
Cedar Rapids is a 2011 American comedy film directed by Miguel Arteta. The script, written by Phil Johnston, was included on the 2009 Blacklist, a Hollywood list of the most popular unproduced screenplays of the year.-Plot:...
.
Charts
| Chart (1983/84) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Austrian Singles Chart | 8 |
| Dutch Singles Chart | 5 |
| New Zealand Singles Chart | 32 |
| Norwegian Singles Chart | 1 |
| South African Singles Chart | 4 |
| Swedish Singles Chart | 14 |
| Swiss Singles Chart | 22 |
| 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 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100 | 5 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot Adult Contemporary | 4 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot Black Singles | 76 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot Dance | 17 |
| U.S. Cashbox Top 100 | 2 |
Certifications
| Country | Certification | Date | Sales certified |
|---|---|---|---|
| UK | Silver | 1983 | 200,000 |
Unique II version
In 1996, Austrian duo Unique II had its most successful hit by covering "Break My Stride". This dance version of the 1983 Matthew Wilder song was the first international success for the band, peaking in the Australian charts at number 2, and in New Zealand at number 1. The single also charted in Italy, Canada and Scandinavia.Track listings
CD maxi- "Break My Stride" (FM track) — 3:16
- "Break My Stride" (prolongation) — 4:57
- "Break My Stride" (native track) — 5:14
CD maxi - 2002 remix
- "Break My Stride" (re-work 2002 - panamericana radio edit) — 2:50
- "Break My Stride" (re-work 2002 - extended version) — 4:57
- "Break My Stride" (re-work 2002 - big club mix) — 4:20
- "Break My Stride" (re-work 2002 - original) — 3:16
Charts
1 2002 remix |
Certifications
|
Blue Lagoon version
In later 2004, "Break My Stride" was covered by German band Blue LagoonBlue Lagoon (band)
Blue Lagoon is a German pop group featuring Estrella and David O'Joseph.- Studio albums :-Singles:Others* "Allright"...
and became a hit in several European countries, including Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
and Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
where it reached the top ten.
Track listings
CD single- "Break My Stride" (radio edit) — 3:04
- "Break My Stride" (extended version) — 5:10
- "Love Is the Key" — 3:27
CD maxi
- "Break My Stride" (radio edit) — 3:01
- "Break My Stride" (extended version) — 5:08
- "Love Is the Key" — 3:26
- "Break My Stride" (a capella reprise) — 1:05
- "Break My Stride" (video)
Charts
{|width=75% style="font-size:100%;"|valign="top"|
{|class="wikitable sortable"
!Chart (2004/05)
!Peak
position
|-
|Austrian Singles Chart
|align="center"|6
|-
|Belgian (Flanders) Singles Chart
|align="center"|49
|-
|Belgian (Wallonia) Ultratip Chart
|align="center"|1
|-
|Danish Singles Chart
|align="center"|10
|-
|Dutch Mega Top 50
Mega Top 50
The Mega Top 50 is a Dutch music chart, originally started on May 23, 1969 as the Hilversum 3 Top 30. Throughout the years, the chart has had several names and lengths:*1969 - 1974: Hilversum 3 Top 30...
|align="center"|45
|-
|French SNEP Singles Chart
|align="center"|18
|-
|German Singles Chart
|align="center"|2
|-
|Swedish Singles Chart
|align="center"|4
|-
|Swiss Singles Chart
|align="center"|15
|-
|}
|valign="top"|
{| class="wikitable sortable"
!End of year chart (2004)
!Position
|-
|Austrian Singles Chart
|align="center"|75
|-
|German Singles Chart
|align="center"|16
|-
|}
Certifications for Blue Lagoon version
Other cover versions
- HerreysHerreysHerreys, or Herrey's, is a Swedish pop group, consisting of the three Mormon brothers Per Herrey , Richard Herrey and Louis Herrey . They won the Eurovision Song Contest 1984 with the song "Diggi-Loo Diggi-Ley". In 1985, they won the Sopot International Song Festival with "Sommarparty på Stranden"...
("Det finns ingenting som hindrar mig") - Natusha ("Moviendo la cintura")
- El Simbolo ("No te preocupes", 1996)
- The chorus was later interpolated for the Puff DaddySean CombsSean John Combs , also known by his stage names Diddy and P. Diddy, is an American rapper, singer, record producer, actor, and entrepreneur. He has won three Grammy Awards and two MTV Video Music Awards, and his clothing line earned a Council of Fashion Designers of America award. He was originally...
song "Can't Nobody Hold Me DownCan't Nobody Hold Me Down"Can't Nobody Hold Me Down" is a hip-hop song by Sean "Puff Daddy" Combs. It appears on Combs' debut album No Way Out and it was released as the first single in 1997....
" in 1997. - Max-A-MillionMax-A-MillionEarly LifeDurand Maxamillian Estev`ez [es te be] was born on April 1 in the Black Woods of Clarendon in May Pen Jamaica, West Indies. As a youth, Max lived not only in the Yard but also in the Brixton community of Birmingham, London, England. As a teen, he lived between New York’s Bedfordsty...
("Break My Stride", 1998) - AC Rock ("Break My Stride", 1999) a capella version
- DispatchDispatch (band)Dispatch is an American indie/roots band. The band consists of Brad Corrigan , Pete Francis Heimbold , and Chad Urmston ....
would sing the chorus, as well as the chorus from MadonnaMadonna (entertainer)Madonna is an American singer-songwriter, actress and entrepreneur. Born in Bay City, Michigan, she moved to New York City in 1977 to pursue a career in modern dance. After performing in the music groups Breakfast Club and Emmy, she released her debut album in 1983...
's Like a PrayerLike a Prayer (song)"Like a Prayer" is a song by American singer-songwriter Madonna on her fourth studio album of the same name . It was released on March 21, 1989, by Sire Records as the album's lead single...
, during extended acoustic live renditions of their song "Elias" - MumsdollarMumsdollarMumsdollar was a New Zealand rock band formed in 1998 with Ben Claxton on lead vocals, Dave Barr on guitar and backing vocals, Tim Beale on drums, and brothers Pete Wood, on guitar, and Steve Wood on bass and backing vocals.-History:...
("Break My Stride", 2002) - Legend Has It ("Break My Stride", (2003?))
- Lil' KimLil' KimKimberly Denise Jones , better known by her stage name Lil' Kim, is an American rapper and actress who was a member of the group Junior M.A.F.I.A.....
used the last line of the chorus, "I got to keep on movin'", in her verse for the girl power anthem, "Can't Hold Us DownCan't Hold Us Down"Can't Hold Us Down" is a song written by Christina Aguilera, Scott Storch and Matt Morris for Aguilera's second album, Stripped, with production by Storch. Released on August 26, 2003 as the fourth single from the album, the single peaked at #12 on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming Aguilera's 10th...
" by Christina AguileraChristina AguileraChristina María Aguilera is an American recording artist and actress. Aguilera first appeared on national television in 1990 as a contestant on the Star Search program, and went on to star in Disney Channel's television series The Mickey Mouse Club from 1993–1994...
, which incorporates the main synth riff of "Break My Stride" as a guitar riff, and loosely takes its title from the lyric "nobody gonna slow me down". - P-nuckle ("Stride") Voted best Reggae act in 2006 used the chorus lyrics of "Break My Stride" in the own version called "Stride".
- Dutch Maffia Hi Tack Club Mix 7:16
- MatisyahuMatisyahuMatthew Paul Miller , better known by his Hebrew name and stage name Matisyahu, is an American Hasidic Jewish reggae and alternative rock musician....
used the chorus lyrics of Break My Stride as the bridge in his single "Jerusalem". - Goldenchyld (*Got to keep on moviing*) 2007
- Pittsburgh SlimPittsburgh SlimSied Chahrour, better known by his stage name Slimmie Hendrix , is an American rapper from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In January 2011, he teamed up with Snowballers Entertainment, the record label founded by famed music video director Ray Kay and music producer Axident. His first single is expected...
used the chorus in the beginning of the song (*Sunrays*) 2007 - Aaron CarterAaron CarterAaron Charles Carter is an American singer. He came to fame as a pop and hip hop singer in the late 1990s, establishing himself as a star among pre-teen and teenage audiences during the early-first decade of the 21st century....
featuring No SecretsNo Secrets (girl group)No Secrets was an American girl group with five members: Angel Faith, Carly Lewis, Erin Tanner, Jessica Fried and Jade Ryusaki. The group debuted in the United States in 2002 with their single "Kids in America".-Debut album:...
sampled the song in the year 2001, in the song "Jump on the Fizzy". - Alvin and the ChipmunksAlvin and the ChipmunksAlvin and the Chipmunks is an American animated music group created by Ross Bagdasarian, Sr. in 1958. The group consists of three singing animated anthropomorphic chipmunks: Alvin, the mischievous troublemaker, who quickly became the star of the group; Simon, the tall, bespectacled intellectual;...
covered the song in an episode of their popular 1980s cartoon seriesAlvin and the Chipmunks (TV series)Alvin and the Chipmunks is an American animated television series featuring The Chipmunks, produced by Bagdasarian Productions in association with Ruby-Spears Enterprises from 1983–87, and DIC Entertainment from 1988-90....
. - L.A. GunsL.A. GunsL.A. Guns is the name of a hard rock group formed in Los Angeles, California, of which two rival incarnations currently exist due to numerous line-up changes. The first incarnation of the group was formed, by Tracii Guns, in 1983 but disbanded in 1985 following its merger with fellow Los Angeles...
took the song on their cover album Covered in GunsCovered in GunsCovered in Guns is a cover album released by Phil Lewis's version of L.A. Guns in 2010.-Track listing:#"Pour Some Sugar on Me" – 4:23#"Rock & Roll All Night" – 3:36#"Crazy Bitch" – 3:23...
in 2010.