Get A Move On

"Get A Move On" by Eddie Money

A Working-Class Rocker on the Rise

Picture the American FM dial in the late summer of 1979: the pavement still hot at dusk, muscle cars idling outside record stores, and radio speakers pumping out the muscular, hook-heavy rock that ruled the era. Into that world stepped Eddie Money, an ex-cop from New York turned San Francisco bar-band hero, a man whose whole appeal was that he sounded like the guy next to you at the ballgame who happened to have a great voice. By 1979 he had already broken through with a run of radio staples that made him a fixture of album-oriented rock. He was not a poet or a mystic. He was a hustler with a rasp, a showman who understood that rock and roll at its best is blue-collar joy with the volume up. "Get A Move On" arrived as he worked to keep that momentum rolling into the back half of the decade.

The Sound of a Second-Album Grind

By the time this single hit the airwaves, Money was deep in the demanding cycle of an artist expected to deliver hit after hit. The record carries all the hallmarks of his style: driving rhythm, a chorus built to be shouted back from a crowd, and that unmistakable gravelly voice pushing the melody forward. There is an urgency to the arrangement that matches the title, a song that seems physically impatient, always leaning toward the next beat. Money's gift was making effort sound like fun, and the track sweats a little in exactly the right way. It is meat-and-potatoes American rock, unpretentious and built for motion, the kind of song designed to sound enormous coming out of a car stereo with the windows down.

A Steady Climb That Stalled Just Short

The chart story is one of solid momentum that never quite broke into the upper tier. "Get A Move On" debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 on August 25, 1979, at number 81. From there it moved with purpose, jumping to 66, then 59, then 53, then 48 in successive weeks, a clean and encouraging climb. It ultimately peaked at number 46 during the week of October 6, 1979 and spent a total of eight weeks on the Hot 100. That is a respectable run for a rock single, the mark of a song that got real radio support without ever becoming an inescapable smash. For an artist whose reputation was built more on album rock airplay than on chart-topping singles, a peak in the mid-forties fit the pattern of his career neatly.

Rock Radio at Its Commercial Peak

To appreciate where this record sat, remember what 1979 sounded like. Disco was at its glittering height and simultaneously sparking backlash, new wave was creeping in from the clubs, and classic hard rock was still a titan of the airwaves. Eddie Money lived in the sweet spot of accessible, radio-friendly rock, music with enough grit to feel authentic and enough polish to earn heavy rotation. He was one of the reliable engines of album-oriented rock radio, an artist programmers trusted. "Get A Move On" is a snapshot of that ecosystem, a workmanlike single from a workmanlike hero, the sound of an era when rock and roll still expected to dominate the dial and often did.

A Deep Cut in a Beloved Catalog

In the sweep of Eddie Money's long career, this single is not among the handful of songs that immortalized him. Those bigger anthems would keep his name alive for decades and earn him a warm, enduring place in the hearts of rock fans. But a catalog is more than its greatest hits, and songs like this one are the connective tissue, the tracks that kept an artist visible and working between the monuments. Money remained a beloved figure until his death in 2019, remembered as an everyman rocker who never lost the common touch. Today "Get A Move On" lives on as a deep cut with roughly 70,000 YouTube views, cherished by the faithful who know his whole story.

Press Play and Roll the Windows Down

Give this one a spin and you get pure, uncomplicated Eddie Money: a rasp, a hook, and a beat that dares you to sit still. It was built for movement, for the open road and the crowded bar, and it still delivers exactly that. Turn it up and let it do what it was always meant to do.

"Get A Move On" — Eddie Money's singular moment on the 1970s charts.