Pink Floyd, Dire Straits, Fleetwood Mac they came, they conquered. The Reynolds Girls…hmm!

1989-2024: 35 Years of “I’d Rather Jack”

1989. Mike Stock, Matt Aitken and Pete Waterman were dominating the charts the world over with their own, unique brand of high-NRG pop. “You Spin Me Round”, “Venus”, “Never Gonna Give You Up” and “I Should Be So Lucky” had all been global smash hits. Within the space of three years, the hit making trio had made stars of Rick Astley, Sinitta, Mel and Kim and worked with established acts such as Bananarama.

1988 would add another name to that list. Her name was Kylie Minogue. That year would bring even bigger successes and record sales than the previous and 1989 would be the biggest of all. Seven of the years number one’s came from the PWL/SAW hit factory, spending a total of 16 weeks at the top. New acts included Sonia, Big Fun and disco queen Donna Summer, and a new duo from Liverpool. Two sisters hopeful of musical stardom and a slice of that oh so sweet cake.

The Reynolds Girls are Linda (born 1970) and Aisling (born 1972) who were born and brought up in Liverpool. The sisters were signed to PWL records after sending Pete Waterman a demo tape.

In mid February their debut single “I’d Rather Jack” was released. Lyrically the song was written as a response to critics who ignored younger pop acts of the time, as demonstrated in the second verse:

“Can’t they see that every generation
Has music for its own identity?”

Despite the fact the song was voted the 91st worst pop record of all time in a poll conducted in 2003, “I’d Rather Jack” was a big hit, climbing the UK top 40 to peak at No.8 and selling over 100,000 copies. It also charted top ten in Ireland, The Netherlands and Belgium, and made No.43 in Australia.

A follow up single called “Get Real” was recorded and released but sold just a few dozen copies. And so ended the Reynolds Girls career.

That was 35 years ago…

Perhaps if you know where Linda and Aisling ‘jack’ or you are a Reynolds Girl yourself, then please let us know…we would love to hear from you!

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Take a look at our other Where Are They Now? posts or find out more here.