I’ve always had confidence. It came because I have lots of initiative. I wanted to make something of myself.
—Eddie Murphy
Eddie Murphy was discontent. Although still in his early twenties in 1984, he’d already conquered several worlds. He was a successful television, film, and stage performer, and his comedy albums were bestsellers. He’d been on Saturday Night Live from 1980 to 1984, America’s theater owners had voted him the nation’s second-most-popular box-office attraction, and he’d signed a contract with Paramount to star in five films. He even coproduced his films through his own production company.
But he’d always wanted to sing. He said he’d organized and sung with his own bands in high school, that Elvis Presley was his idol, and if an album of his own singing was successful, he would integrate his comic and singing talents into a new kind of stage show. “I might open with a short standup routine,” Murphy said, “sing a song or two, do some impressions, all with a nice hot band playing behind me, and with lights, explosions, all the effects you see at a rock concert,” alleging that this approach would “revolutionize standup comedy.”
Murphy and Rick had become friends when Rick appeared on Saturday Night Live in 1981 while Murphy was a cast member. Later on, Murphy sometimes joined Rick onstage at concerts as a big-haired, sleazy Rick caricature. Rick enjoyed the teasing, and in fact named his poodle Rick Eddie.
Murphy convinced Rick to write and produce the tune “Party All the Time,” which Murphy sang on his 1985 album How Could It Be. The song was about a woman Murphy had showered with expensive gifts only to discover she then continued to go to parties without him.
In spite of Murphy’s thin voice, the song did well. In fact, it did a lot better on the white charts than many discs by veteran black vocalists. Released by Columbia Records and billed as “written, produced, and arranged by Rick James,” it reached number 8 on the R&B singles chart and number 2 on the Billboard pop singles chart, probably because so many white people had seen Murphy’s movies.
Although “Party All the Time” was definitely a hit, Rick got the credit and Murphy got the dis. Wayne Robins of Newsday wrote that the only thing distinguishing the record “from any other well-crafted, full-bodied, formulaic James hit is the uncharacteristically high-pitched, melodically correct but pubescent vocal. That’s Murphy.” The Washington Post called the song “thoroughly innocuous.”
Murphy completed How Could It Be with help from Stevie Wonder as well as from Rick, with Wonder writing, producing, and arranging the song “Everything’s Coming Up Roses” and writing the song “Do I.” Newsday, noting Murphy had performed “cruelly hilarious parodies of Stevie Wonder,” thought Wonder might have succeeded in taking revenge against Murphy with the songs he contributed, which the paper disliked. The paper also called Murphy a “polite wimp” as a lyric writer.
The album itself rose to number 17 on the R&B album chart and 26 on the pop album chart, which wasn’t bad for a first try. The success of Murphy’s comedy albums, to say nothing of his movies, made this otherwise respectable showing look pitiful, however.
Murphy believed that of the sixty million people who had seen his hit movie Beverly Hills Cop, at least a million would buy the record. “Unfortunately,” he said, “I see now it doesn’t work that way. . . . People expect so much from this album. They think it’s supposed to be as good as my comedy. They forget I’m new at singing.” (He shouldn’t have been that disappointed. The album did indeed sell almost a million copies.) Murphy said the lyrics he wrote weren’t funny, and weren’t meant to be, but that “they [told] how [he felt] about certain things.”
Rick appeared in the video for “Party All the Time,” although he didn’t direct it. In it, Murphy walks into the recording studio control room with MTV executive Les Garland and is greeted by Rick, who has dyed his hair blond. Everyone in the room—including three attractive women—pats Murphy on the back. Murphy then walks into the live room and starts singing, accompanied by members of the Stone City Band.
Soon after Murphy starts singing, everyone in the studio slowly begins to overreact, snapping their fingers, smiling very broadly, bopping along with the music, and generally behaving as if they’ve never heard so wonderful a song. Rick bops around and smiles so much it looks like the top of his head is going to blow off. Unable to control himself, he then rushes into the live room near the end of the tune to sing the last part of the song with Murphy and embrace him.
This overreacting is so obvious that the video shows Murphy flashing the other people in the studio a look that clearly says “What’s wrong with you?” or, perhaps, “Are you trying to insult me with this shit?” A panel of Los Angeles Times reviewers rated the video “wretched,” with one reviewer giving it an “Oh barf!” rating.
Ironically, “Party All the Time” was the only video that included Rick to be aired on MTV. Murphy had agreed to host the MTV Video Music Awards that year, giving him an edge with the station. Also, since MTV cofounder Garland actually appears in the video MTV execs really had no choice.
Murphy seemed to want to blame some of the criticisms of “Party All the Time” on Rick. He later released a second album of music, So Happy, which Rick had nothing to do with; it was more favorably reviewed and did better on the charts than How Could It Be. While praising So Happy producer Narada Michael Walden in an interview with USA Today, Murphy somewhat ungratefully criticized Rick’s lifestyle. Comparing Walden to Rick, Murphy said, “I’d go to Rick’s and end up hanging out for two weeks when we were supposed to be doing a record. Narada gets the job done, and quickly.” (In 2013, in an interview with Billboard, he changed his story, saying that the reason he stayed in Buffalo with Rick for so long was because a snowstorm hit and he was stuck in Buffalo for two weeks. In the same article, he said he learned how to produce music from Rick.)
Music biz history eventually delivered Rick’s revenge: “Party All the Time” was Murphy’s only hit single.