“Opposites Attract” by Paula Abdul (ft. The Wild Pair)

The primary singer and her romantic interest (portrayed by The Wild Pair) come off like the Odd Couple. 

In other words, they have completely-opposite likes and characteristics. For instance, whereas she prefers to “go to bed early”, he has an affinity toward ‘partying all night’. Also Paula is depicted as a non-smoker, but her partner ‘likes to smoke’ – and so on and so forth.

And in comparing their characters, they conclude that they do not have even one thing in common. 

However, they are still able to boast of an edifying, fun-filled relationship with each other. And to symbolize this reality, they use a well-known idiom, “opposites attract”. And just as the song details, this phrase is based on the idea that people who are vastly different from each other tend to be attracted to one another.

Release Date of “Opposites Attract”

This song was both produced and written by a musician named Oliver Leiber. And it was released by Virgin Records on the date of 28 November 1989. It was the last single from Paula’s debut full-length, “Forever Your Girl”.

Music Video

Many people may remember “Opposites Attract” due to its unconventional music video, which featured Paula Abdul performing alongside a cartoon character named MC Skat Kat. In other words, it was a mixed live-action/animated affair similar to “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” (1988), a hit Disney film from that era which utilized the same technique. 

In fact MC Skat Kat himself was animated by Disney employees. However, for the record, it is said that the actual inspiration for the video came from a much older film, “Anchors Aweigh” (1945). The film featured the late Gene Kelly (1912-1996) dancing with an animated character, i.e. Jerry Mouse of Tom & Jerry fame.

The clip went on to be a rousing success, taking home the following awards:

• MTV Video Music Award
• Grammy Award

It won the latter award in 1991 after beating a number of major hits, including Phil Collins’ “Another Day in Paradise“.

The directors of the music video were the husband-and-wife pair of Michael Patterson and Candace Reckinger. And it was actually the former who created MC Skat Kat.

And just to note, the cartoon character’s appearance on the video proved to be so successful that he went on to drop his own album in 1991. In fact MC Skat Kat has even been credited with making “Opposites Attract” a hit.

The Wild Pair

The vocals which the fictional MC Skat Cat performs on the clip are those rendered by The Wild Pair in the song. The Wild Pair is a musical duo (Marv Gunn and Bruce DeShazer) whose most notable achievement is in fact their contributions to “Opposites Attract”. And they actually laid down their part for the song (singing it in its entirety) before Paula Abdul did. Simply put, the lead vocalist more or less adlibbed over their vocals.

Additionally the radio edit and music-video version of “Opposites Attract”, known as the Street Mix,  features a rap interlude which is credited to MC Skat Kat and performed by a DJ named Derrick “Delite” Stevens.

Single and Album Versions

The single version of this classic is notably different from the album version. The primary reason for this is because Oliver Leiber was unsatisfied with the first recording. Owing to this, he made significant changes to the tune.

“Opposites Attracts” attracts Success

Although you may rarely hear her name now, Paula Abdul was one of the most-successful singers ever, at least for a moment in time. For instance, “Opposites Attract” was the fourth Hot 100 number 1 from “Forever Your Girl”.

This made Abdul the first artist in history to score so many number ones via her debut album. Also at the time only permanent A+ listers Michael Jackson, George Michael and Whitney Houston had ever managed to drop four number ones off of a single album.  

“Opposites Attract” also topped music listings in Canada and Australia, in addition to reaching as high as number two on the UK Singles Chart. Additionally it empowered “Forever Your Girl” to top the Billboard 200 (for a second time) after 64 weeks of being on the market, which itself is a record.