1972 Power Pop Hit, Once Banned From Radio, Became Band's Definitive Song
In 1972, the Raspberries released what would become their biggest hit with "Go All the Way." Written by Eric Carmen, the song appeared on the band's self-titled debut album and peaked at No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 in August 1972. The certified gold record was the band's only Top 10 hit.
Ultimate Classic Rock named "Go All the Way" the Raspberries' greatest song, describing it as "one of the most vibrant and triumphant records ever." "In many ways, this is the definitive power pop song of all time," the music outlet noted.
While "Go All the Way" was a U.S. smash, Carmen's sexually suggestive lyrics about taking a romantic relationship "all the way" didn't go over so well in the UK. In 1972, the song was banned from the radio by the BBC, according to American Songwriter.
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The Rolling Stones inspired the song
Carmen, who would find massive success as a solo artist a few years later, once revealed that "Go All the Way" was inspired by a similarly suggestive song: the Rolling Stones' "Let's Spend the Night Together."
In an interview published by The Huffington Post, Carmen recalled that the Stones' song was "too racy" for American TV and the lyrics had to be changed to "let's spend some time together" for the band's appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show. Carmen noted that at the same time, the Beach Boys were "getting away with murder" with the lyrics to their song "Wouldn't It Be Nice."
"Between the lines, the Beach Boys were getting much more suggestive stuff on the radio, but no one batted an eye because they sounded like choir boys and they looked pretty harmless," Carmen said. "When I sat down to write, I remember thinking to myself, ‘I've got to write a song that's suggestive, but I've got to present it in a way that we don't end up like the Stones.'"
Carmen noted that he came up with the "Go All the Way" title but wrote the song as a girl saying it to a guy, so it would come off as "less threatening."
"So that was kind of how we did it," he said. "One of two things would happen, just based on the title: It was either going to be banned, in which case that would create some controversy and we would sell some albums, or it would be a big smash hit, just based on the title. It turns out it was banned in England, they wouldn't play it at all, and in America it went top five."
The Raspberries split in 1975, and Carmen went on to find massive success as a solo artist. In an interview with the Observer, he noted that he pushed for his solo single, "All By Myself," because it "was certainly as far away from 'Go All The Way' as you could get."
"The Raspberries had recorded some ballads on every one of our albums, but after ‘Go All The Way' was successful Capital pretty much wanted to hear nothing but ‘Go All The Way,'" Carmen explained. "I wanted [‘All By Myself'] to be the first single because it was the furthest thing from the Raspberries, and I wanted people to understand that's not all I can do."
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This story was originally published May 21, 2026 at 4:12 AM.