One listen to the hit “Uptown Funk” featuring Bruno Mars and Mark Ronson, you couldn’t imagine that the 80’s reminiscent feel-good hit had any snares. Besides snare drums, that is. But Mark Ronson, the cool and collective guy in comparison to Bruno’s more eclectic charm, says that writer’s block caused a lot of stress in the making of the song.
Ronson doesn’t really seem like someone who would be a mega-hit funk star. He is quietly spoken and rather thoughtful – not at all the party glam boy he is often taken for. Nor does he seem especially ecstatic at “Uptown Funk’s” success (100 million YouTube hits and counting, number one across the United States, Britain and America). At 39-years-old, Ronson’s been around long enough to understand what’s here today is gone tomorrow, and the success of “Uptown Funk,” while fun, doesn’t mean a whole lot in the grand scheme of his career. And the singer believes a lot in fate and happenstance.
“It feels great and it feels strange to have a huge hit. I love the song – that’s the main thing. It’s not some song I hated that just suddenly became popular. I love Uptown Funk and believe in it. At the same time, whether or not something becomes a hit is not up to you. All you can do is make it great.”
While that may be a comfort to some, Ronson is candid about the stress the making of the song caused — stress so bad that it caused him to literally vomit . What began as a breezy effortless tune was full of heartache. It began as a smooth groove, with Ronson playing bass and Bruno Mars on drums. They easily hit 90 seconds of devastating rhythm, then nothing. It was a dead standstill, out of ideas. On the drive home, Ronson couldn’t stop listening to the recording – and yet was concerned as to where the song went next. Honestly, he was stumped, and extremely stressed, knowing he was on the edge of something great.
“We did a lot of late nights. There were sleepless sessions. We worked on the song in Memphis, Toronto, London. It was like ‘oh man, this sucks’. We had this magic one time and then it was gone. We thought it might not return.”
The anguish eventually paid off for millions of now-thankful fans, Mars, and Ronson. “Uptown Funk” finally came together, as did the accompanying LP, Uptown Special . The work behind it, however, is one that just a few can appreciate. If you haven’t yet experienced “Uptown Funk’s” breezy swagger, you can catch it here.