Music PROFILED! | "Summer Girls" by LFO, the Abercrombie & Fitch Summer Anthem...

"I like girls that wear Abercrombie & Fitch..." #iconic
Image, A&F Summer 2015, photographer Guy Aroch; edited by C.E.R.

         AN ALL-NEW Abercrombie & Fitch summer season has finally dawned as of today, Aberladies and Fitchmen! And with it, the opportunity to make fresh new unforgettable summer memories with the coolest friends and the hottest swim-trunks/bikini clad babes under the sun! In honor, it's time to jam non-stop to the ultimate anthem of an Abercrombie & Fitch summer: the timeless, ever-badass, amazing classic, "Summer Girls", by millennial boy-band LFO...

Music PROFILED! | Whitney Houston, Abercrombie & Fitch Playlists: A Retrospective...

Beauty enduring, eternal...   |    Image, (source)

         NOW THREE YEARS after the untimely passing of eternal icon Whitney Houston, her transcendent essence rings once again within the walls Abercrombie & Fitch! An ultimate throwback, a classic remix on one of her greatest and globally beloved hits, "How Will I Know (Oliver Nelson Remix)", on the A&F Summer Initial 2015 playlist. In honor, we take time to enjoy a delightful retrospective on the glorious use of some of the best of Whitney for Abercrombie & Fitch and RUEHL No.925... #WhitneyForever

Music PROFILED! | Summer Initial 2015 Says, "Geronimo!"...

Gotta love tracks running with the feel of living it up!
Model, A&F Face Amanda Norgaard   |   Image, Guy Aroch; edited by C.E.R.

         SAY, GERONIMO! Pretty much the track of the moment right now is Sheppard's totally heart-soaring, euphoric "Geronimo" remixed and playing hot with the Abercrombie & Fitch Summer Initial 2015 playlist - totally the most epic A&F Playlist yet this decade! - which, incidentally, is totally twinning this hit piece with Hollister's own version, too!

Music PROFILED! | Abercrombie & Fitch Summer Initial 2015 Playlist...

Turn-up sky high...
Image, @abercrombie, Instagram, 25 Match 2015, edited by C.E.R.

         IT MAY BE the Spring fashion season still, but things are beginning to major heat-up with the all-new A&F Playlist, Summer Initial 2015! No understatement, the best, multi-layered, true hardcore Abercrombie & Fitch playlist in a long time - an epic bass-blasting masterpiece to reinvigorate energy and classic AF attitude fierce...

Music PROFILED! | Abercrombie & Fitch Spring Preview 2015 Playlist...

It's electro-gold!   |   Feat. Frends Taylor Rose Gold Headphones, abercrombie.com

         WITH THE ARRIVAL of Spring Preview 2015 at Abercrombie & Fitch has been the all-new accompanying playlist for the ultimate party-up! The Sitch on Fitch is now officially on YouTube, and we've got the complete compilation for fans without the A&F iPhone app / access to The A&F Club!

Music PROFILED! | A&F Playlist, Christmas Jamming Here-There Always!...

With joy and shine, jam away with sound accessories like these, Frends at A&F!
Image, @abercrombie, Instagram, 12 December 2014

         CHRISTMAS DAY IS getting ever near, dear Aberladies and Fitchmen! And as the gift shopping and wrapping and merry ole yule cool gets going, party on hard with your ultimate love of Abercrombie & Fitch, you know how! Sick new tracks have been keeping it so hot for the occasion, and the best thing of all is they play-on wherever the sleigh ride may take you!...

Music PROFILED! | Profound Pleasure, Coyu Feat. Cari Golden...

         A SEXY, DARK romanticism beats seductively this holiday season with an utterly ravishing ecstasy of schadenfreude over a fool who proved naught but in-the-end shortcoming to the intent of sentiment. The seductive croon of "Profound Pleasure" – one of the most outstanding inclusions for an Abercrombie & Fitch Christmas playlist ever – comes from the vocals of enthralling vocalist Cari Golden on this house genre masterpiece by Coyu...

"Suara label boss and one of Spain’s leading house producers, Coyu, has joined forces with LA club songstress, Cari Golden, to deliver this seductive house number on Defected Records. ‘Profound Pleasure’ opens with a bass heavy kick and cracking wood drum followed by some heaving bass frequencies. The white noise storms in and out to introduce the vocal, a seductively spoken rendition by the classically trained vocalist Cari Golden. As the lyrics allude to the dark joys of revenge and broken love, the track breaks into a cascading and emotional cacophony. With its thumping energy and irresistible decadence, ‘Profound Pleasure’ is a pleasure for those who favour the darker side of the dance floor." – Defected Records, Soundcloud

Music PROFILED! | A&F Playlists, Pet Shop Boys Homage...

Cara leading faux-protester models to PSB, CHANEL SS '15, Grand Palais, Sept. 30.
Image used for illustrative purposes only   |   (image source)

         PET SHOP BOYS forever! Hoorah! Hoorah! This past Tuesday during Paris Fashion Week for Spring-Summer 2015 ready-to-wear womenswear (Sept. 23 - Oct. 1), only the ultimate pinnacle of the global industry's presentations season, the iconic music legacy of the legendary English duo echoed coolly, inside the great, historical Grand Palais, in full splendor of its signature, timeless, modern spirit. In step with the cool of the Boys' 1983 cover of I'm Not Scared (listen), a feminist army of models – it-girl model Cara Delevingne and supermodel Gisele Bündchen among the troops! – marched down a theatrical Paris streets-inspired runway to the beat of timelessness PSB synthpop awe!

Now, and coinciding with #ThrowbackThursday, #THEHOTTESTBLOG pays epic homage to the Pet Shop Boys with a recollection of their appearances on the A&F Co. playlists – particularly with Abercrombie & Fitch where they've been a hallmark of classic, quintessential Abercrombie through the years...

NOTE: The playlists transitioned from monthly releases to seasonal releases by 2008.



A B E R C R O M B I E
&   F I T C H


"Close To Heaven"
J  A  N  U  A  R  Y     2  0  0  0


"It's a Sin"
M  A  R  C  H     2  0  0  0


"The Streets Have No Name (I Can't Take My Eyes Off You)"
J  U  L  Y     2  0  0  0


"For Your Own Good"
D  E  C  E  M  B  E  R     2  0  0  1


"Break 4 Love (Friburn & Urik Tribal Mix)"
M  A  R  C  H     2  0  0  2


"Home And Dry"
M  A  Y     2  0  0  2


"New York City Boy (Almighty Mix)"
J  U  N  E     2  0  0  2


"London (Westbam In Berlin Edit)"
J  A  N  U  A  R  Y     2  0  0  3


"Here (PSB New Extended Mix)"
M  A  R  C  H     2  0  0  3


"Somebody Else's Business"
J  U  L  Y     2  0  0  3


"Miracles"
J  A  N  U  A  R  Y     2  0  0  4

"Before (Danny Tenaglia Classic Parade Mix)"
Close matches ("Tenaglia UnderGround Mix") ("Classic Paradise Mix")
M  A  R  C  H  -  A  P  R  I  L     2  0  0  4


"Flamboyant (Tomcraft Edit)"
M  A  Y     2  0  0  4


"If Looks Could Kill" Immortalized by Benoit Denizet-Lewis in his benchmark 2006 interview article over Mike Jeffries, "The Man Behind Abercrombie & Fitch"
N  O  V  E  M  B  E  R     2  0  0  5


"The Resurrectionists (Goetz B. Edit)"
A  U  G  U  S  T     2  0  0  6


"Minimal"
O  C  T  O  B  E  R     2  0  0  6


"Break 4 Love (Friburn & Urik Tribal Mix)"
J  U  L  Y     2  0  0  7


"Metamorphosis"
N  O  V  E  M  B  E  R  -  D  E  C  E  M  B  E  R     2  0  0  7


"Go West"
S  P  R  I  N  G     2  0  0  8


"I Wouldn't Normally Do This Kind Of Thing"
S  U  M  M  E  R     I  N  I  T  I  A  L     2  0  0  8


"I Wouldn't Normally Do This Kind Of Thing"
S  U  M  M  E  R     2  0  0  8


"What Have I Done To Deserve This? (Shep Pettibone Remix)"
S  U  M  M  E  R     I  N  I  T  I  A  L     2  0  0  9


"More Than a Dream (Yes)"
L   A  B  O  R     D  A  Y     2  0  0  9


"Left To My Own Devices"
S  U  M  M  E  R     I  N  I  T  I  A  L     2  0  1  0


"It Doesn't Often Snow At Christmas (New Version)"
C  H  R  I  R  S   T  M  A  S     2  0  1  0


"Saturday Night Forever"
B  A  C  K  -  T  O  -  S  C  H  O  O  L     2  0  1  1


"It Doesn't Often Snow At Christmas (New Version)"
C  H  R  I  R  S   T  M  A  S     2  0  1  1


a b e r c r o m b i e


"Home and Dry"
J  U  N  E     2  0  0  2


R U E H L   N o . 9 2 5


"Liberation"
O  C  T  O  B  E  R     2  0  0  7


"West End Girls"
C  H  R  I  S  T  M  A  S     2  0  0  8


We haven't had any Pet Shop Boys on the playlist in forever, and the fellas have come out with great new work since 2011, too!

Let's pick up those picket signs and get the leather flip-flops ready for some serious street protest on Fitch Path! What do we want?! PET SHOP BOYS! When do we want it?! NOW! Haha.

Stay FIERCE!

PLEASE NOTE: If any of the links/videos become unavailable in time, you may find some of them on the Pet Shop Boys official Spotify account (here) where you can also explore the majority of their work. 

Follow @TheSitchonFitch

Music PROFILED! | Abercrombie Gets Sci-fi Epic...

Can't wait 'til this gets instores! :p

         "PROMETHEUS HAS LANDED"... Pulsing instore with soaring atmospheric-trance vocals and electronic instrumentals is a transportive composition, via the great electronica mixmind of Deadmau5, totally worthy of a sweeping sci-fi epic (think urban cyperpunk-grunge-meets-minimalist-sleek sprawl megalopolises in the night, 3D holography, space travel, and expansive, awe-inspiring landscapes exploration on your futuristic ride all à la Avatar, Prometheus, and Oblivion to give you an idea)...




This is the second time such a beats-sick evocative track has been used on the A&F Playlist, Labor Day release – Giuseppe Ottaviani's "Feel The Music (Extended Mix)" in 2013 was so intense! Let's make this a tradish, Ted!

The next generation of all-American style, indeed...

Stay FIERCE!

Follow @TheSitchonFitch

Music PROFILED! | Abercrombie's Musicmeister, Ted Keyes...

Ted energizin' crowds at A&F Challenge 2013, September 9, 2013
Image, @abercrombie on Instagram

         TED IS LIFE! Enthralling worldwide fans of the iconic Abercrombie & Fitch retail theater with its sick beats, the musicmeister is the mastermind behind the coalescence that makes up the revered playlists, soundtracks to the fantasies at play. His creations fill and feel the heart and soul – literally when blasting it up! – and transport, in euphoric soundwave ecstasy, to the emotional cool of the lifestyles' dream. Commander of beats, our guy is that special golden key to the ultimate party-up!

The man with the hookup, Ted took on the role of music supervision for the Company back in May 2008 and has been responsible in overseeing all operating aspects of the music facet of the business. This has entailed global digital delivery and strategy, promotions, strategic licensing, talent and label relations, sequencing, and mixing and mastering as detailed in his 2013 Brand Innovators profile. And, oh, the iconic playlists in our community he's overseen since. Who could furthermore forget the absolutely jubilant Christmas playlists of 2010 and 2011 and, signature of the holiday season at A&F in particular since his start, the loved "Rosie Christmas" by Donna Summer: "It's really hard to find great, great Christmas music that fits our style unless we find something really amazing that we think is iconic," he told to The Columbus Dispatch (which discussed the use of holiday tracks and rather more early for the season in retail). The most profitable time of the year for A&F, the holidays got a track-sleighride that gained high fun in the start-years of the 2010s before a sudden halt for Christmas 2012 – a markedly new feel of music for Abercrombie & Fitch was introduced that season that incorporated heavy use of house music elements – which many found very "Ruehl" – for the first time. Since then, the A&F Playlist (and those of the rest of the family) has been subject to a higher degree of scrutiny and intrigue with every succeeding release, in the community, for a very distinct evolution, from the precedent established structure, though in progressive continuum of codes essential to the brand (i.e. energy, sensuality, etc.) and, too, maintaining ties with featured artists with a long trackrecord with A&F and establishing new ones. What is to be highly appreciated from this evolution, now into the mid-2010s, is the admirable modernity which Ted has brought forth, in his pursuit of keeping the playlists in step and of relevance to the times, in organic form of what is happening in electronica and EDM hitherto. He is pure undisputed epic greatness!

Apart from his work at Abercrombie, crowds totally go mad in witness of his killer skills at live events...

"[Ted does] not disappoint. TK incorporated numerous genres of [EDM] and popular vocals into his set and the crowd was digging it! We were trying to find a word to describe his set while we were packing up and we decided that Ted Keyes played a very appropriate set, which is a huge compliment in the DJ community." - Trance Tuesday blog

His working career prior to Abercrombie & Fitch was at Sony Entertainment, in New York City, as a recording engineer where he spent nearly 2.5 years in role. Can't resist the sweet call of the Moose, and o'er to Columbus he went!

Ted's Twitter and IG are @teddyzep and @tedkeyes, respectively, and, though set private, may give you the friendly okay or nah. (The Sitch on Fitch Editor-in-Chief is a follower since last year and has had cool interaction with him and even Peyton; he is also followed by celebrities including Jesse Decker, wife of New York Jets' wide receiver Eric Decker, and by the Human Rights Campaign). His privacy is understandable, though his social media presence is only noted here for how widespread awareness of him came to be by 2013 through it in our community. Furthermore, he uses it as a connection tool for his work.

Loving the current playlists? Blast and dance on!

Stay FIERCE!

Follow @TheSitchonFitch

Letter from the Editor! | Peculiar Mr. Christmas 2013...

An insta-classic? The highly admired pic from our new instagram account.
Photo by C.E.R. for The Sitch on Fitch.

         CHRISTMAS 2013 has been the fourth Xmas season at #THEHOTTESTBLOG, though very much quite the different one. Markedly, this has been the first to carry on with no high-profile A&F Flagship store openings festivities – what have always been our signature appeal, what thousands worldwide relish, and the hallmark of our Christmases. Instead, this Christmas 2013 we experienced took a thrilling sleigh ride through new territory...

This season, #THEHOTTESTBLOG experienced an inviting new restructuring, had a neat interaction with the lovely Sage Nicole Humphries (current A&F model), and provided clarity through affecting new developments as time progressed - the shooting at Westfield Garden State Plaza, Gilly Hicks' stores closing, the future of Abercrombie & Fitch Co., fire destruction at A&F Paris, and the game-changing leadership situation at the Company. All-the-while, we interwove new fun with relevant fashion and pop culture trends of the moment, followed Hollister as it crashed its waves of cool ever more around the world, and shouted euphoric glee to finally see the new a&f kids hoarding wall go up in London. Furthermore, in awe we grew as we came to be ever more acquainted with the beauty of A&F Shanghai to open in the spring.

But the icing on the cake was definitely our new special holiday tradition, FIERCEMAS, during which we celebrate the 12 days leading up to Christmas Day with ever hot gifts! Fans definitely had fun in wonder of what the Moose would gift each day (see all gifts), and I already can't wait for when FIERCEMAS will take things to amusing new heights next year!

No epic flagship store openings, indeed, as in prior St. Nick seasons, but we sure had a Christmas to remember!

Now on the day of family, friends, food, and awesome presents, I wish a very joyous yuletide blast to all you awesome readers of the #THEHOTTESTBLOG 'round the world! I leave you off with this, my favorite of festive tunes ever played for Christmas by the A&F Family...




...Stay FIERCE!

Follow @TheSitchonFitch

Hollister Summer 2013 feat. "Alive" by Empire of the Sun...

If you haven't yet, then you've totally gotta check out this all-new video from Hollister all about the #SoChill cool of Summer 2013! It features the lead single "Alive" of Australian duo Empire of the Sun straight from their all-new album, Ice on the Dune. Seriously, Ice on the Dune is beautiful, one of the great albums of 2013, and totally deserves a future Grammy nom! Released June 14, the album is defs you Editor-in-Chief C.E.R.'s favorite new thing to listen to at the moment...pure original awesome genius! Have yourself a viewing of HCo's vid and don't forget to soak in the latest musical cool of this incredible summer...

LOVING EVERY MINUTE

‘CAUSE YOU MAKE ME FEEL

SO ALIVE!

Dom in England! | Music Break: Songs That Should Have Been on the RUEHL Playlist...

Had RUEHL survived the recession, it's interesting to think about how it would be as a brand today. With the recent surges in fashion-influenced merchandise across the brands, it may be correct in assuming RUEHL would be the most fashion forward of the bunch...or maybe not! Perhaps classic style would be more appropriate for the target demographic?

Regardless, we'll never know. However, the RUEHL brand continues to live on, and one crucial piece of the brand was it's incredible music. Here are a selection of songs that never made it onto a RUEHL playlist - either because they are post 2010, or they were simply never chosen....enjoy.

I hope you enjoy listening to these tracks. Let us know if you have any other classic tracks that should have been featured in any of the brands!

Dom




Byron Stingily - Back To Paradise (Frankie Knuckles Classic Mix)

This aptly titled piece of house is typical Frankie Knuckles - fantastic piano, and far more melodic than most other pieces in the house genre. A good few of his remixes made it onto the RUEHL playlists, and this is one which seems so good, it's criminal it was never included. Also helping is Stingily's fantastic falsetto voice which is unusual, but brilliant at the same time - a bit like RUEHL.






Groove Assassin and Kenny Bobien - About Love (Sean McCabe Remix)

Bringing RUEHL bang up to date is this fantastic recent release by Groove Assassin and Kenny Bobien - taken from the incredible album Tales From Beyond The Tone Arm by Frankie Knuckles (definitely check this one out). It's ironically the same album which contains the remix of Candi Staton's Hallelujia Anyway that was featured on the most recent A&F playlist (Christmas 2012). By this logic, perhaps we'll see this one soon too...who knows.





Jose Carretas Feat. Diviniti - Life In A Box (Original Mix)

Beware folks, now we're divulging into obscure territory now. This fantastic track by Brazilian musician Jose Carretas is incredibly rare and the sort of unusual thing you'd expect to find on a RUEHL playlist. It's brilliantly laid back and very lounge-y - definitely the sort of thing you could imagine hearing inside No.925...





The Girl From Ipanema (Jazz N' Groove Mix)

One of my personal favourites. Although this is a version of the famous song about the coolest beach in Rio, this Jazz N' Groove remix feels right at home in a Greenwich Village brownstone. Probably one of the most sophisticated and adult pieces of house music you'll ever find.





Kerri Chandler - On My Way

This incredibly jazzy piece of house music has just the right amount of cool to make it a perfect fit for RUEHL...the saxophone is great.





Martine Girault - Rivival

Possibly one of the finest pieces of lounge music ever produced. Martine is a fantastic singer, but sadly has been relegated into the realms of obscurity - very unfair. However, her best work is without a doubt Revival, a brilliant late-night-esque piece of music. This would have fit perfectly with shopping inside an empty Ruehl on a late summer night just before closing...sadly something we'll never be able to do again:

Music Profiled! | 'Sunrise', Love to Infinity Remix, by Simply Red...

Everyone has their pick as to what constitutes as the best song ever featured on the A&F Playlist. But the fact is that there is indeed one definitive song which should very well be labeled as "Abercrombie's Theme." In its remix form, it is pure and aspirational, energetic, and filled with pulse-pounding romanticism...it is Sunrise, in Love to Infinity remix, by Simply Red. Yeah, it belongs in every A&F fan's music library!

The Love to Infinity remix has been featured six times on the A&F Playlist throughout the 2000s and on into the 2010s.

• April 2002 – Sunrise (Love To Infinity Club Mix)
• July 2005 – Sunrise (Love To Infinity Club Mix)
• July 2008 – Sunrise (Love To Infinity Club Mix)
• Summer 2010 – Sunrise (Love To Infinity Club Mix)
• Summer 2011 – Sunrise (Love to Infinity Classic Mix)
• Summer Initial 2012 – Sunrise (Love To Infinity Club Mix)

Furthermore, it was used as the soundtrack to the first ever promotional film – so awesome! – of A&F Home Office headquarters...



Other songs to have been featured on the A&F Playlist by Simply Red include:

• January 2004 – Fake (Love To Infinity Classic Radio Edit)
• January 2006 – Perfect Love (Kurtis Mantronik Vocal Edit)

Yes, Sunrise is back and currently playing inside Abercrombie & Fitch stores around the world! It was only fitting to highlight this amazing track for its significance in A&F culture. The versions featured on the A&F Playlist are shortened edits of the original remixes. The song is not available in remix on iTunes. Purchase Sunrise (Love To Infinity Club Mix) (here) and Sunrise (Love To Infinity Classic Mix) (here), both in their full versions, on the American amazon.com for US$0.99.

Stay FIERCE!

P.S. You can listen to the official track on the A&F Playlist right now, of course, by heading over to the Experience A&F online feature of abercrombie.com. But you can listen to an uploaded version of the track here on YouTube below...

Remembering Whitney Houston and Her Vocals at Abercrombie and RUEHL...

In light of her death and in honor of Whitney Houston, I want to note her notable appearances on the Abercrombie & Fitch playlists as one of the greatest artists to have ever been featured...

• Whatchulookinat - featured on the September 2002 A&F Playlist
• Listen to the song (here)
• Try It Own My Own (Club Anthem Edit) - featured on the February 2003 A&F Playlist
• The exact remix is unavailable. Listen to the Thunderpuss remix (here)
• I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)(Junior's Happy Handbag Mix) - featured on the March 2008 A&F Playlist
• Listen to the song (here)
• Could I Have This Kiss Forever (feat. Enrique Iglesias) - featured on the Ruehl No.925 Spring and Summer 2009 playlists.
• Listen to the song (here)
•  I Will Always Love You (Hex Hector Mix) - featured on the Spring 2012 playlist which was eerily released two days before her death. (This bullet is a 14 February 2012 update)

The remixes to her songs for the A&F Playlist, upbeat and alive, played it all cool within Abercrombie & Fitch stores. Her duet with Enrique Iglesias was one of the best songs to have ever played along with the romance of Ruehl No.925. Listening to it always reminds me of the seductive, sensual, and aspirational wonder that was Ruehl. And the Throw Down disc two on her Whitney: The Greatest Hits is just awesome! I first listened to it back in Christmas 2010 and I completely imagined some of those remixes blasting inside A&F Fifth Avenue! It's that good! That CD was like a soundtrack to my Christmas that year along with the A&F Family playlists. In fact, I also remember listening to I'm Every Woman (Clivilles & Cole Mix) while working on a post for Gilly Hicks when the brand opened its first international store in London: I thought, "This song totally needs to be played inside Gilly Hicks stores!" Just an undeniably fantastic artist...


Whitney Houston was pronounced dead inside the Beverly Hilton hotel in Los Angeles on February 11 at 4:00pm (Pacific Standard Time) / 7:00 (Eastern Standard Time); and, soon afterwards, national television programming was interrupted on channel ABC, here in America, to announce her death with a special report. A great tragedy on the eve of the biggest night in music, news of her passing hit deep and hard in the hearts of many and spread far and wide throughout media and social networking around the world...

A winner of six Grammy Awards, Whitney Houston was honored and remembered at the 54th Grammy Awards ceremony on February 12 as a tribute to her life and for her profound contributions to music. A woman gifted with one of the most beautiful voices in modern music, she gave the world a great and magnificent body of work which has come to touch many worldwide and influenced the likes of Celine Dion, Toni Braxton, Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Jennifer Hudson, Lady Gaga, and Adele. (Most of those singers have also had their songs played on Abercrombie & Fitch playlists).

A beautiful woman, a wonderful artist, Whitney Houston will always be present in human culture as one of the greatest stars - a phenomenal singer - in the art of music...

I will always love you, Whitney,
C.E.R., editor-in-chief

Music Profiled! | Love is a Hurricane - Boyzone

My god, when I walked into Abercrombie & Fitch the day after Christmas Day and this song came up, it was as if I was hit by romanticism like a runaway train... The imagery: "Lie in bed, but I can't sleep / on the ledge, but I can't leap...when you kiss my lips, I see lightning in the sky...one step forward and two steps back, you're love is like a hurricane / when you're with me, I'm on track / we're riding on a crazy train / I'll be fine, if you're mine / on the end of the line...butterflies I want to keep / I try to laugh, but I just weep / something about you gets me so deep inside...one step forward and two steps back, you're love is like a hurricane..." It just takes you on an emotional storm; it stirs the inner romance in us all. This song is amazing.

And I am sure many of you felt the same way. Love is a Hurricane (7th Heaven Radio Edit) by Boyzone was a part of the A&F pre-Spring 2011 playlist that played in stores from December 26th to mid-Ferbruary. This happens to be my pick for one of the best playlists ever compiled for Abercrombie & Fitch and I rank this track as one of the top best in the playlist. Basically, that makes the track one of the best songs ever played inside A&F and of course it is. Love is a Hurricane (7th Heaven Radio Edit) is classic Abercrombie & Fitch: romantic, passionate, energetic, and youthful, nothing comes close.

I really, really love this song and decided to check out the artists. Boyzone is an Irish pop boyband that came together in 1993 with five guys - Keith Duffy, Stephen Gately, Mikey Graham, Ronan Keating, Shane Lynch - Keating and Gately were the band's leading singers. Boyzone's first studio album, Said and Done, was released in November 1994 and was certified 3x platinum in the United Kingdom. A Different Beat, their second studio album, which was released in October 1996, was also certified 3x platinum. Boyzone's third album, Where We Belong, was mostly written by the band members and became the 3rd best selling in the UK for the year; it was certified 5x platinum after being released in May 1998. After 2000, the guys split up to pursue solo careers. They had sold over 13 million records and were one of the best-selling artists of the time. In October 2009, Stephen died in his apartment in Majorca, Spain, of pulmonary oedema which resulted from an undiagnosed heart condition: "Stephen Gately’s death represents the first time that the boyband genre has had to deal with such a tragic situation," stated the The Irish Times. His name was one of the most searched for topics on Google UK in 2009, and "Boyzone" came third after Barack Obama's Nobel Peace Prize accolade. Gately was the band's openly gay member, a philanthropist, and heralded as a hero of gay rights by The Times UK.

Named in memory of Gately, Boyzone's first studio album in 12 years was titled Brother. A tribute to Gately, and featuring vocals by him, the single Gave It All Away was #1 on the Irish Singles Chart and a Top 10 in the UK Singles Chart. Released in March 2010, the album over all was positively reviewed. The second and last single happens to have been...you guessed it...Love is a Hurricane. It is the original version and no less amazing. I watched the official music video for it this past weekend and it is awesome, truly awesome...and damn those Irish guys are hot!



I've since got their Said and Done and Brother albums in my iTunes library, but haven't got the chance to listen to them completely. That's why I wasn't able to comment on how much I liked them. Nevertheless, from what I have listened to, they're totally great. Especially Brother which is one of the best reviewed. However, this album is more adult rock than the pop Boyzone is known for. All-in-all, very, very good music. And I've gotta thank Abercrombie & Fitch for introducing me to these guys. Boyzone's got a fan in me! Stay FIERCE!

P.S. This is all very coincidential for me considering that A&F is opening in Dublin!