| "Better Be Good to Me" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 U.S. 12-inch vinyl single | ||||
| Single by Tina Turner | ||||
| from the album Private Dancer | ||||
| B-side | "When I Was Young" | |||
| Released | September 3, 1984[1] | |||
| Recorded | 1984 | |||
| Genre | Rock[2] | |||
| Length | 5:10 (LP version) 3:43 (single version) 7:47 (extended version) | |||
| Label | Capitol | |||
| Songwriter(s) | Mike Chapman Holly Knight Nicky Chinn (not physically present) | |||
| Producer(s) | Rupert Hine | |||
| Tina Turner singles chronology | ||||
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| Music video | ||||
| "Better Be Good to Me" on YouTube | ||||
"Better Be Good to Me" is a song written by Mike Chapman and Holly Knight and Nicky Chinn, recorded by singer Tina Turner for her solo studio album Private Dancer (1984) and released as a single in early September 1984. The song was originally recorded and released in 1981 by Spider, a band from New York City that featured co-writer Knight as a member. Turner's version peaked at No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the US and No. 6 on the then-Hot Black Singles charts. At the 27th Annual Grammy Awards in 1985, it won Best Rock Vocal Performance, Female, one of four Grammys awarded to Turner's Private Dancer album at that ceremony.[3] The song was also included on the Miami Vice soundtrack, and the 2024 Paramount Pictures film IF, during which the main characters sing and dance to the track inside the official music video.
In the video, Turner is seen performing the song on stage, wearing a black leather jacket and black skin-tight, knee-length leather pants, with leopard print high heels and spikey blonde hair. Towards the end, a man (Cy Curnin lead singer of the Fixx) appears on stage and grabs Turner's arms. She looks him in the eyes and sings the words, "Why can't you be good to me?", then pushes him away. At the end of the video, Turner disappears under the stage in a puff of smoke. Both Curnin and the guitarist in the video, Jamie West-Oram (also of the Fixx), perform on the Private Dancer album.
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...Turner made it feel like a signature statement, imbuing its demand for respect with rock-star swagger and her own story of struggle and resilience.
