the song didn’t hit the Billboard Hot 100, it soared to number 4 in the US Billboard R&B chart, and the album went gold. The song, and the band’s musical output as a whole, became closer to the P-Funk style music becoming popular during that time. It had expanded use of the synthesizers and spoken monologues within song that made it feel more “funky.” The song “Steppin’ (Out)” also reached the top 10 R&B.
The band reached a whole new level of fame in 1980, thanks to the release of the number 1 R&B and number 16 Billboard 200 hit, The Gap Band III. That album had soul ballads such as the number 5 R&B song “Yearning for Your Love”, and funk songs such as the R&B chart-topper “Burn Rubber on Me (Why You Wanna Hurt Me)” and “Humpin'”.
They repeated this formula on the Number 1 R&B album Gap Band IV in 1982 (the first album released on Simmons’ newly launched Total Experience Records), which resulted in three hit singles: “Early In The Morning” (number 1 R&B, Number 24 Hot 100), “You Dropped A Bomb on Me” (Number 2 R&B, number 31 Hot 100), and “Outstanding” (Number 1 R&B chart). 1983’s Gap Band V: Jammin’, also gold. Its closing track, “Someday” (a loose cover of Donny Hathaway’s “Someday We’ll All Be Free”) featured Stevie Wonder as a guest vocalist.
