Fine Young Cannibals
"She Drives Me Crazy"

The band toured relentlessly and also got involved with a couple of different soundtracks (their cover of The Buzzcocks’ “Ever Fallen in Love” was a highlight of the excellent Something Wild soundtrack), but mass success eluded them until they put out their second album, The Raw & the Cooked, in 1989. A single from that record, “She Drives Me Crazy,” roared to the top of the charts in the U.S. (Number One) and UK (Number 5) and became positively ubiquitous at the end of the ’80s—a last gasp of UK pop power before the ’90s muddy and melancholy deluge came rushing out of Seattle.

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In 1989, David Z was an engineer and producer based in his hometown of Minneapolis, working in the not-unpleasant shadow of the talented and demanding artist then (and now) known as Prince. Z had even recorded the demo that got Prince his first record deal. He continued to work with Prince and his musical minions over the next decade, but by the mid-1980s was chafing to establish his credentials outside of Prince’s stable. But his association with Prince would turn out to be beneficial in an ironic way:

“I got called out of the blue on [Fine Young Cannibals],” recalls Z, whose production discography also includes records for Billy Idol, Big Head Todd, Collective Soul, Buddy Guy, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Johnny Lang and Leo Kottke, as well as Prince offspring like Sheila E. “What it was, they wanted to work with Prince for their next record. They were told that Prince doesn’t work with anybody that way, as a producer-for-hire. But they were also told there was someone who works with Prince who does. That was me, and they were willing to try it out.”

Z had a meeting with representatives of Fine Young Cannibals’ label, who mentioned that the band, then living in London, had been taking an unusually long time between their first and second records. “[The label] suggested that they come to Minneapolis so that they would have no choice but to work and get the record done,” says Z, who also points out that there is precious little to do in Minnesota in the wintertime besides hibernate and work. “They faced extreme culture shock when they got over here,” he recalls. “They had shaved heads and a punk attitude, and we didn’t have a lot of that yet in Minnesota. I took them over to some clubs on First Avenue, and all they could do was comment on how everyone looked so big and blond and Swedish. I don’t think they ever really got used to it over here.”

Regardless, the band and Z hit it off, and pre-production consisted of sending songs back and forth for consideration. When what would eventually become “She Drives Me Crazy” made it into Z’s tape recorder, the melody got his immediate attention. However, the song—then titled “She’s My Baby”—wasn’t the band’s favorite by a long shot. “I called them up and said I love this melody and I could create a great groove for it,” says Z. “They said they were ready to throw it away. But I wanted to try it. So they started rewriting the lyrics to something they liked better, starting with the title, which immediately made a huge difference. ‘She’s My Baby’ is kind of a nebulous sentiment—it’s something you say, but it doesn’t hit home. ‘She Drives Me Crazy’—now there’s something that every guy in the world has said at least once in his life with conviction.”

In fact, it often leads to criminal convictions. But in telling this part of the story, Z underscores a critical point found in most great records: The sentiment of the lyric infuses and affects every aspect of the recording, from the production process to the vocal and musical performances to the passion with which technical expertise is brought to bear on it. “The change of the lyric to something they could get behind changed the attitude of everything and everyone toward the project,” he observes.

Reprinted with permission from

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