Break My Stride is a hit 40 years later
Matthew Wilder had a hit song in 1983--Break My Stride and by 1984 it was number 5 on Billboards Hot 100 chart and number 2 on Cashbox. Several artists have done remakes over the years there is nothing like the original. 40 years later this song is still popular and in 2020 the song became a TikTok sensation and went viral. The young folk recognize great music when they hear it and Break My Stride was in close to 800,000 TikTok videos.
Wilder addresses his newfound success
Wilder says he did not use the social media platform but friends and family kept telling him his song was blowing up and then Sony which distributes Break My Stride gave him a call and asked if
he would like them to navigate him through his song going viral.
“I don’t know that I would apply the word lucrative to Break My Stride, but I knew it was special. Actually, I believed that so much that I made a grandstand at one record label when I submitted the demo, which went on to become the record,” he recalled. “When they passed on it and said that they didn’t think it was a hit, that’s when I planted my flag and said, ‘If you can’t hear this, there’s nothing more I can do for you. Let me go.’
Wilder has kept moving
Although Wilder never had another hit song and is considered a one-hit wonder he did not let anything break his stride and kept on moving in other directions. He co-wrote the music for Disney's Mulan, and was a songwriter and a record producer for such acts as "No Doubt (the hit album Tragic Kingdom), 702, Christina Aguilera, Kelly Clarkson, Miley Cyrus on her Hannah Montana song "G.N.O. (Girls Night Out)", Wilder was also featured in a 1999 episode of Where are they Now.
Matthew Wilder's one-hit Break My Stride continues to be a wonder and is breaking records with a younger generation and generating notoriety for the artist 40 years later and that's a good thing.
Comments / 0