{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2022}} {{Infobox song | name = Total Control | cover = The Motels Total Control 1979 single cover.jpg | alt = | type = single | artist = The Motels | album = Motels | B-side = Love Don't Help | released = 1979 | recorded = 1979 | studio = | genre = | length = 3:45 | label = Capitol | writer = Martha Davis, Jeff Jourard | producer = Carter | prev_title = Closets and Bullets | prev_year = 1979 | next_title = Anticipating | next_year = 1980 }} "'''Total Control'''" is a song by American new wave band the Motels. It was released in 1979 as the second single from their debut studio album ''Motels''. The song failed to make an appearance on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100, but reached number 9 on the Bubbling Under the Hot 100 chart in December 1979.<ref name="Billboard"/> It fared better in Australasia, peaking at number 7 in Australia and 11 in New Zealand.
==Background== Speaking of the song in 2000, Davis recalled, "When I wrote this my heart had been broken. I was angry, I wrote a thrash punk rock song, [then] Jeff Jourard came along with this wonderful minimalist chord progression [and] I laid my thrash lyrics on the new progression."<ref>{{cite AV media notes |title=Anthologyland |others=The Motels |year=2000 |first=Davis |last=Martha |type=CD |publisher=Oglio Records |id=OGL81607-2 |location=US}}</ref>
==Reception== Upon its release as a single, ''Cash Box'' noted how Davis' "hauntingly plaintive vocals succeed beautifully in capturing the smoldering intensity of this L.A.-based outfit on the first single off of its self-titled debut effort". The reviewer also commented on the "lazy bass and fluid, moaning sax work [which] catch the bluesy late night feel of the cut".<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Reviews: Singles |magazine=Cash Box |date=November 10, 1979 |volume=41 |issue=26 |page=20 |issn=0008-7289}}</ref> ''Record World'' considered the song to be a "rather quirky ballad" on which Davis "gives a hauntingly vulnerable reading".<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Single Picks |magazine=Record World |date=November 10, 1979 |volume=36 |issue=1686 |page=16 |issn=0034-1622}}</ref>
The song was prominently featured in Jonathan Demme's 1986 comedy-thriller film ''Something Wild'' during a pivotal robbery scene involving Ray Sinclair (Ray Liotta) and Charlie Driggs (Jeff Daniels).
==Cover versions== "Total Control" has been covered by American singer Tina Turner for the 1985 ''We Are the World'' album, an American superstar charity recording for famine relief efforts in Ethiopia, and by Australian singer Missy Higgins for the television series ''Total Control''. In 1980, Italian singer Anna Oxa made a spooky cover of the song with new lyrics in Italian by Marco Luberti under the title "Controllo totale", and it was released as a single there in 1980.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.oxarte.net/artists-story/|title=Artist's Story}}</ref>
==Track listing== '''US 7" single''' # "Total Control" - 3:45 # "Love Don't Help" - 1:56
==Charts== ===Weekly charts=== {|class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center" |+Weekly chart performance for "Total Control" |- !Chart (1979–80) !Peak<br>position |- !scope="row"|Australia (Kent Music Report)<ref>{{cite book |last=Kent |first=David |author-link=David Kent (historian) |title=Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 |year=1993 |publisher=Australian Chart Book |isbn=0-646-11917-6}}</ref> | style="text-align:center;"|7 |- {{singlechart|New Zealand|11|artist=The Motels|song=Total Control|rowheader=true|accessdate=February 6, 2022}} |- !scope="row"|UK Singles Chart (BMRB)<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Jones |first=Alan |title=Chartfile |magazine=Record Mirror |date=16 February 1980 |page=38 |issn=0144-5804}}</ref> | style="text-align:center;"|106 |- ! scope="row"|UK The Singles Chart (''Record Business'')<ref>{{cite magazine |title=The Singles Chart - Ones to Watch |magazine=Record Business |date=18 February 1980 |volume=2 |issue=48 |page=7 |issn=0144-0691}}</ref> | style="text-align:center;"|110 |- !scope="row"|US ''Billboard'' Bubbling Under the Hot 100<ref name="Billboard">{{cite magazine |title=Bubbling Under the Hot 100 |magazine=Billboard |date=December 8, 1979 |publisher=Billboard Publications, Inc. |volume=91 |issue=49 |page=29 |issn=0006-2510}}</ref> | style="text-align:center;"|9 |}
===Year-end charts=== {| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center" |+Year-end chart performance for "Total Control" ! Chart (1980) ! Position |- ! scope="row"| Australia (Kent Music Report)<ref name="aus80">{{cite web|url=https://imgur.com/a/kTGdGUZ|title= National Top 100 Singles for 1980|publisher= Kent Music Report |issue= 341 |via= Imgur |date= January 5, 1981 |access-date= January 17, 2022 }}</ref> | 32 |}
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{The Motels}} {{Missy Higgins}}
Category:1979 singles Category:2022 singles Category:The Motels songs Category:Missy Higgins songs Category:Capitol Records singles Category:1979 songs Category:Songs written by Martha Davis (musician)