"Knocked Out" is the first song Paula Abdul

Paula Abdul

Paula Julie Abdul is an American singer-songwriter, dancer, choreographer, actress and television personality.In the 1980s, Abdul rose from cheerleader for the Los Angeles Lakers to highly sought-after choreographer at the height of the music video era before scoring a string of pop music-R&B hits...

 Recorded and the first single, released in 1988 from the album Forever Your Girl

Forever Your Girl

Forever Your Girl is the debut album from singer Paula Abdul. It was released on June 13, 1988 and took 64 weeks from its release to hit number one on the Billboard 200 album sales chart, the longest an album has been on the market before hitting number one. The album was eventually certified seven...

. It was written by Babyface, L.A. Reid and Daryl Simmons

Daryl Simmons

Daryl Simmons is an American Grammy Award winning R&B songwriter, musician and record producer who is best known for his association with the LaFace Records production duo of Antonio ‘L.A.’ Reid and Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds....

 and produced in early 1988 by the former two.

Song information

The song was originally included on a Virgin Records sampler for the launch of Virgin Records America. In the spring of 1988 it was released as a single to test Abdul's commercial appeal. "Knocked Out" proved to be very successful for a low budget single: it became a Top 10 R&B hit.

In the UK, "Knocked Out" was released three times. It was originally Abdul's first single, and charted on September 24, 1988, peaking at a lowly #98. Following the success of "Straight Up" and its follow-up "Forever Your Girl", "Knocked Out" was reissued and peaked at #45 on 19 August 1989, just missing out on the all-important Top 40. Finally, after the huge success of "Opposites Attract" in 1990, the single was extensively reworked by Shep Pettibone and it finally cracked the UK Top 30, peaking at #21 on the 28th July 1990.

The remixed version of "Knocked Out" which was released in the UK as well as 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...

 was from the Shut Up and Dance

Shut Up and Dance

For the hit 1994 single by Aerosmith, see "Shut Up and Dance ." For the British hip hop/house music group, see Shut Up and Dance ....

remix album. While this version was not issued as a single in the United States, it did receive significant airplay and just missed the American Top 40, peaking at #41.

Music video

The original, extremely low budgeted, "Knocked Out" video was directed by Danny Kleinman. It featured Abdul and a large number of dancers working out dance routines on the dance floor.

For the second release, a revamped video was made and rereleased without Abdul actually in it. This video was plotted around a boxing match, while screen caps of Abdul's other videos were played in the background.

Track listings and formats

US 12"

1. Knocked Out - Extended mix
2. Knocked Out - Instrumental
3. Knocked Out - Radio edit
4. Knocked Out - TKO dub

UK 5" CD

1. Knocked Out - 7" version
2. Knocked Out - Extended mix
3. Knocked Out - TKO dub
4. Knocked Out - Instrumental

Official mixes

• Radio edit / 7" version / album version / Single Version 3:52
• Extended mix 7:06 - L.A. Reid/Babyface
• TKO Dub 6:31 - as above
• Instrumental 3:43/2:24 - as above; faded early on UK CD single
• Pettibone 12"/edit 6:10/3:31 - Shep Pettibone
  Shep Pettibone
  Robert E. Pettibone, Jr. is a record producer, remixer, songwriter and club DJ, one of the most prolific of the 1980s. His earliest work known to the public was for one of New York City's top disco/dance radio stations, WRKS 98.7 "Kiss" FM, and later as remixer/producer for the disco label Salsoul...
  
  
• House 12" 7:28 - as above
• Bassey Thang 5:53 - as above
• Power mix 6:44 – Boris Granich/Christer Modig
• DMC
  Disco Mix Club
  Disco Mix Club is a DJ remix service founded by Tony Prince which began as a radio show in 1981 on Radio Luxembourg in the UK. Prince helped popularise a new style of DJ mixes using the turntable as an instrument. DMC started operating as a remix service in 1983. They started producing remix...
  
   mix 6:30 – Sanny X

Chart performance

Chart (1988/1989/1990)	Peak position
U.S. 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...	41
U.S. Billboard Hot Black Singles Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, is a chart released weekly by Billboard in the United States.The chart, initiated in 1942, is used to track the success of popular music songs in urban, or primarily African American, venues. Dominated over the years at various times by jazz, rhythm and blues, doo-wop, soul,...	8
U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Sales Hot Dance Singles Sales Hot Dance Singles Sales is a chart released weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States, established in 1985. It measures the sale of commercially released singles that deal with dance music and remixes...	11
U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Music/Club Play	14
Canadian Singles Chart	23
UK Singles Chart	21 (Remix)