Earlier this year, I introduced a Cover Me entry with the question: Who had the highest charting success with Bruce Springsteen and Patti Smith’s “Because the Night?”
The answer was the subject of that entry: 10,000 Maniacs. But I included a parenthetical qualifier: “in the U.S., at least.”
Because even though 10,000 Maniacs took the song all the way to #11 in the U.S. in 1993 (compared to Patti Smith, who only reached #13 in 1978), there’s another version of “Because the Night” that became a global smash hit that very same year.
In 1992, an Italian Eurodance trio called CO.RO. teamed up with vocalist Emanuela Gubinelli (a.k.a. Taleesa) and took “Because the Night” all the way to the Top Ten–not just in Italy (where it hit #7), but also Greece (#8), Belgium (#7), France (#6), and all the way to #1 in Spain.
Their version of “Because the Night” was more than a cover–it was also a mash-up, prominently sampling Depeche Mode’s “Master and Servant,” making for one of the most unlikely Springsteen pairings ever.
“Because the Night” by CO.RO. and Taleesa took Europe by storm, reaching #15 on the Eurochart Hot 100. In addition to the Top 10 honors above, CO.RO. broke into the Top 20 in Austria, Germany, and The Netherlands as well.
From late 1992 through early 1993, “Because the Night” by CO.RO. and Taleesa was inescapable… in Europe at least, where the group made frequent television appearances to promote their single.
In the U.S. though, they hardly registered at all. “Because the Night” would indeed chart in the U.S. again in 1993, but only in the form of the well-known 10,000 Maniacs acoustic version the band performed on MTV Unplugged.
So the next time you play Springsteen Trivia and you’re asked which artist had the highest-ever chart performance with “Because the Night” in 1993, make sure you ask which country? Because amazingly, there are two correct answers.
