Album · Joe Jackson
Look Sharp! by Joe Jackson
Look Sharp! is an album by Joe Jackson, released in 1979. 9 songs from it have charted on rock radio countdowns, with 139 countdown appearances in total. The biggest is “Is She Really Going Out With Him?”, on 44 lists with a best position of #39.
Look Sharp!, Joe Jackson's debut, hit the racks on A&M in January 1979, all nervy new wave energy and bite. It's the work of a songwriter with a sharp tongue and a sharper ear, who knew a hook when he wrote one and wasn't shy about spitting it out.
The calling card is the sneering, sidelong "Is She Really Going Out With Him?", but the album is stacked: the jittery title track, the wry "Sunday Papers", the breakneck "One More Time" and "Got The Time", and the rueful "Fools In Love". It's lean and wiry, bass and drums pushing everything forward, with not an ounce of flab on it.
Even the cover makes its point: just a pair of white shoes, a shot that Rolling Stone later ranked at number 22 among the 100 best album sleeves ever. In 2000 it turned up at number 865 in Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
Songs from Look Sharp! on radio countdowns
| # | Song | Strength | Lists | Best | #1s | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Is She Really Going Out With Him? | 44 | #39 | – | 1988–2026 | |
| 2 | Sunday Papers | 28 | #159 | – | 1988–2026 | |
| 3 | Look Sharp | 17 | #269 | – | 1988–2022 | |
| 4 | One More Time | 16 | #464 | – | 1999–2014 | |
| 5 | Happy Loving Couples | 7 | #715 | – | 1999–2005 | |
| 6 | Got The Time | 16 | #208 | – | 1989–2014 | |
| 7 | Fools In Love | 7 | #830 | – | 1999–2005 | |
| 8 | Pretty Girls | 2 | #829 | – | 2002–2003 | |
| 9 | Baby Stick Around | 2 | #1897 | – | 2002–2003 |
Only songs that appear on at least one countdown are listed. Release data from MusicBrainz.