"Boy" is the title of the 1985 debut single by the Americanpop band Book of Love. The song was included on the band's eponymous debut album Book of Love in 1986. Although the song failed to reach the BillboardHot 100 chart, it did make the Top 10 on the BillboardHot Dance Club Play chart, where it peaked at no. 7 in April 1985. "Boy" was written by band member Theodore Ottaviano and features a prominent tubular bells melody. The band secured a recording contract when the demo of the song was given to DJ/producer Ivan Ivan, who then passed it along to Seymour Stein of Sire Records. The song is also notable for its uncommon subject matter, describing the frustrations of a woman who likes "a boy who likes boys". The lyrical content, however, is veiled and suggestive rather than overt and explicit, presumably due to the unease surrounding homosexuality in most circles of US culture in the mid-1980s. Ted Ottaviano said in a 2016 Village Voice interview that the song "is actually written about Boy Bar, which was a very exclusive gay club in the East Village." In 1985, a rare Australian promotional video was shot for the single. On May 21, 1985, the song was featured on American Bandstand's rate-a-record segment. Up against B.E. Taylor Group's "Reggae Rock & Roll", "Boy" won the competition with the score of 84. In 2000, almost sixteen years later, the song was remixed by noted club DJ Peter Rauhofer, as well as Headrillaz, Dubaholics, RPO, and re-released to dance clubs in late 2000/early 2001. These remixes, including an almost ten-minute-long version by Rauhofer, again charted on the Billboard Club Play chart under the title "Boy ", this time reaching no. 1 on the dance chart in February 2001. Both the original version of "Boy" as well as an edit of the remix by Rauhofer were included on Book of Love's greatest hits album, , in 2001. In 2001, a promotional video remix titled 'Big Red Mix' was made for the album edit of the Peter Rauhofer remix using footage from the band's 1989 appearance at Bill Graham's In Concert Against AIDS benefit show in San Francisco. The song is played during a club scene in the episode "Limbo" of the American television seriesHalt and Catch Fire, and during a bar scene in the movie Fun Mom Dinner.
Track listings
1985 7" Single (Sire Records 7-29030)
Side A: "Boy" - 3:02 Side B: "Book of Love" - 4:31
Remix A&R coordination Tracks 3-9 : Bill Coleman for Peace Bisquit, NYC.
Remix and additional production on Peter Rauhofer Remix, Peter Rauhofer Club Mix, Peter Rauhofer Dub, A Capella, by Peter Rauhofer for Unique Productions, NYC.
Remix and additional production on Headrillaz Extended Vocal Mix, Headrillaz Dub, Headrillaz Club Dub, by Headrillaz at The Bunker. Edits by Albert Cabrera for One Rascal.
Postproduction and remix on RPO Remix by Rick Pier O'Neil at RPO Traxx, France.
Remixing on Dubaholics Remix and Dubaholics Dub by The Dubaholics for Dubaholics Productions at the Asylum Studios, UK. Rhodes: Antony Gorry. Bass licks: Mall.
Production and remix on Sound Bisquit "Blame" Dub by Ted Ottaviano and Bill Coleman for Peace Bisquit and Sound Umbrella. Mixed by Doug McKean at World of Beauty, NYC.
Cover art by Bill Jacobson, copyright 1993, Interim portrait #525, courtesy of Julie Saul Gallery, NYC.
