Let the Music Play (Shannon song)

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The original version of the song was produced by Chris Barbosa and Mark Liggett. By the early 1980s, the backlash against disco had driven dance music off mainstream radio stations in the United States. The rhythmic ingenuity of "Let the Music Play" was largely due to Barbosa, who wrote and arranged the original demo track with Rob Kilgore playing all instruments. It featured a series of keyboard chords and drum patterns produced by gating a Roland TR-808 drum machine. Specifically, a reverb was placed across the kick and snare and hard gated to change the sounds. Further, it was one of the first tracks to sync together a TR-808 and a Roland TB-303 bassline, famous in later years as the instrument responsible for creating acid house. The TB-303 plays the bassline for the entire song; in this case, the filter is not adjusted, which was typical for acid house. This technical achievement made the production even more groundbreaking and it resulted in a unique sound, called "The Shannon Sound", which eventually became known as freestyle.

The vocal on the chorus is by session guitarist/vocalist Jimi Tunnell, who is uncredited.{{cite web|title=Key Tracks: Shannon's "Let the Music Play"|url=https://daily.redbullmusicacademy.com/2015/09/key-tracks-shannon-let-the-music-play|accessdate=February 23, 2024}}

"Let the Music Play" is a dance-pop and freestyle song with synthesizer and drum machine-produced rim shot percussion sounds and kick-drum/snare-drum interaction. The song's tempo is 116 beats per minute and is in the key of C minor.{{Cite book|last=Brusca|first=Donny|year=2006|title=BPM List 2006: Main Edition|publisher=Lulu.com, 2006|page=542|isbn=978-1-84728-860-8}}

The accompanying music video for "Let the Music Play", directed by British director Nigel Dick and released in November 1983, starts with Shannon in a dressing room applying make-up as if she is getting ready for a performance. She then proceeds to the stage of an empty theater where she proceeds to dance and sing the song. Interspersed throughout these scenes are shots of male and female dancers fashioned in dress shirts and bow ties warming up. The dancers join Shannon by the second chorus of the song and near the end, one of the dancers proceeds to take her in his arms and dance with her. The video ends with the dancers doing a choreographed routine while Shannon continues singing.{{Cite web|url=http://www.mvdbase.com/video.php?id=25057|title = Site Maintenance}}{{cite AV media| url-status = live| archive-url = https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/cpEGDXhu5oM| archive-date = December 11, 2021| url = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpEGDXhu5oM| title = Shannon "Let the Music Play" | website=YouTube}}{{cbignore}}

American DJ, record producer, remixer and songwriter Armand van Helden picked "Let the Music Play" as one of his "classic cuts" in 1995, adding, "A very powerful record. The first strong vocals over electro music. The first big hit that I can remember that struck me and paved the way for freestyle. Back then it was hip hop, but not considered rap."{{cite magazine|first= |last= |title= Jock On His Box |magazine= Music Week, in Record Mirror (Dance Update Supplemental Insert) |date= May 6, 1995 |page= 5 |accessdate= May 9, 2021 |url= https://worldradiohistory.com/UK/Music-Week/1995/Music-Week-1995-05-06.pdf}} VH1 ranked the song number 24 in their list of the "100 Greatest Dance Songs" in 2000. Blender ranked it number 465 in their list of "The 500 Greatest Songs Since You Were Born" in 2005.{{cite web|title=The 500 Greatest Songs Since You Were Born|publisher=Blender|date=October 2005|accessdate=July 29, 2020|url=http://www.blender.com/guide/articles.aspx?ID=1760|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080316040718/http://www.blender.com/guide/articles.aspx?ID=1760|url-status=dead|archive-date=March 16, 2008}} Slant Magazine ranked it number 54 in its "100 Greatest Dance Songs" list in 2006, adding, "Alongside Madonna's 'Holiday', D.C.-born jazz vocalist Brenda Shannon Greene's 'Let the Music Play' helped redefine dance music in the anti-disco early-'80s, setting the stage for the troubled genre for the next decade. Producers Mark Liggett and Chris Barbosa, considered one of the founding fathers of Latin freestyle, merged the then-hip electro-funk sound with Latin rhythms, unwittingly creating the world's first freestyle song."{{cite journal |title=100 Greatest Dance Songs |url=http://www.slantmagazine.com/features/article/100-greatest-dance-songs/P12|journal=Slant Magazine |date=January 30, 2006 |accessdate=March 22, 2017}}

VH1 ranked the song number 42 in their "100 Greatest One-Hit Wonders of the 1980s" in 2009. ThoughtCo ranked it number nine in their list of "25 Best Dance Pop Songs of All Time" in 2018.{{cite web|title=25 Best Dance Pop Songs of All Time|publisher=ThoughtCo|date=May 1, 2018|accessdate=October 6, 2018|url=https://www.thoughtco.com/best-dance-pop-songs-4147273}} Slant Magazine ranked it number nine in their ranking of "The 100 Best Dance Songs of All Time" in 2020.{{cite web|title=The 100 Best Dance Songs of All Time|url=https://www.slantmagazine.com/music/100-greatest-dance-songs/|website=Slant Magazine|date=June 15, 2020|accessdate=July 27, 2020}} Rolling Stone ranked "Let the Music Play" number six in their list of "200 Greatest Dance Songs of All Time" in 2022. Billboard ranked it number 417 in their "500 Best Pop Songs of All Time" in October 2023, saying, "The seductive and wildly ahead of its time club perennial that preached to girls out on the dancefloor that all they needed to get the guy they wanted was to leave it up to the DJ." In March 2025, the magazine ranked it number 63 in their list of "The 100 Best Dance Songs of All Time".{{cite web|first1=Andrea|last1=Domanick|first2=Andrew|last2=Unterberger|first3=Elias|last3=Leight|first4=Eric|last4=Renner Brown|first5=Jason|last5=Lipshutz|first6=Joe|last6=Lynch|first7=Kat|last7=Bein|first8=Katie|last8=Bein|first9=Krystal|last9=Rodriguez|first10=Lily|last10=Moayeri|first11=Melinda|last11=Newman|first12=Thomas|last12=Smith|first13=Zei|last13=McCarthy|url=https://www.billboard.com/lists/best-dance-songs-all-time/|title=The 100 Best Dance Songs of All Time: Staff List|work=Billboard|date=March 28, 2025|access-date=April 6, 2025}}

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{{Certification Table Top|caption=Certifications for "Let the Music Play"}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=United States|type=single|title=Let the Music Play|artist=Shannon|award=Gold|relyear=1983|certyear=1984}}

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{{Infobox song

| name = Let the Music Play

| cover = LtmpKiani.JPG

| alt =

| type = single

| artist = Mary Kiani

| album = Long Hard Funky Dreams

| released = April 1, 1996

| recorded =

| studio =

| venue =

| genre =

| length =

| label = 1st Avenue, Mercury Warehouse Records, Leeds UK

| writer = Chris Barbosa, Ed Chisolm

| producer =

| prev_title = I Give It All To You / I Imagine

| prev_year = 1995

| next_title = 100%

| next_year = 1996

}}

In 1996, Mary Kiani covered "Let the Music Play" as her third solo single. The song was remixed in a variety of styles, notably by Paul Oakenfold of Perfecto and Steve Rodway of Motiv8. A video of the song was also released.

These are the main formats and track listings of the single release of Mary Kiani's "Let the Music Play".

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• In 1984, Hong Kong singer Connie Mak covered this song in Cantonese.
• In 1987, Icelandic punk band Mosi frændi released a cover of the song on their 13-track cassette-only release, "Suzy Creamcheese for president".
• In 1991, freestyle artist Tiana did a cover of this song.
• The soundtrack of Neil Jordan's The Crying Game, released in 1992, includes a cover by Carroll Thompson, produced by Pet Shop Boys.
• In 1996, Scottish singer Mary Kiani covered the song and hit the #19 spot on the UK singles chart.
• A cover version by Music Instructor was included on its album Electric City of Music Instructor, released in 1998.
• Exile, a Japanese boy band, did a cover of this song on their album, Asia, released in 2006.
• In 2006, Mexican pop band RBD covered "Let the Music Play," which is featured on its first English-language album, Rebels, but only as an iTunes digital-download exclusive. The track was not included on the album itself.
• "S.O.S. (Let the Music Play)", the second single from the 2009 album Battlefield by Jordin Sparks, contains lyrics and melodies from the song.
• In 2006, "Let the Music Play" was also recorded by Sisaundra Lewis.
• House DJ/producer Secondcity sampled the lyrics on his track "Let the Music".

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Category:1983 songs

Category:1983 debut singles

Category:1996 singles

Category:Shannon (singer) songs

Category:Mary Kiani songs

Category:Songs written by Chris Barbosa

Category:Song recordings produced by Chris Barbosa

Category:Music videos directed by Nigel Dick

Category:Mirage Records singles

Category:Atco Records singles

Category:Atlantic Records singles

Category:Mercury Records singles

Category:Songs about music