Popdose - Latest Comments in Bottom Feeders: The Ass End of the ’80s, Part 16

Re: Bottom Feeders: The Ass End of the ’80s, Part 16

Sara — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 18:33:54 -0000

Quite a shame Bill Champlin never lived up to the success of Peter Cetera. Most of his future albums were released in Europe and Japan where they care about Westcoast (a.c.) music. He's so talented!

Re: Bottom Feeders: The Ass End of the ’80s, Part 16

rwcass — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 14:27:32 -0000

But their album covers put the traditionally good-looking guys right in front, with the fat guy and the nerd on the back. That made them seem pretty image-conscious to me. You can blame it on their management or label, but it seemed like Cheap Trick worked the visual aspect harder than people would've expected.

Re: Bottom Feeders: The Ass End of the ’80s, Part 16

Matt — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 23:37:37 -0000

I agree with Darren, in reference to "Up The Creek" by Cheap Trick: It's a great (albeit hokey) number...

Re: Bottom Feeders: The Ass End of the ’80s, Part 16

Eric S. — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 20:29:49 -0000

I'm not even sure "most underrated band of the decade" does Cheap Trick justice. I've seen them 7 or 8 times over the last three decades (as recently as last year) and I've never been disappointed. The band's influence goes way beyond the songs that have charted. Their last album even got some critical acclaim, even though it couldn't get played anywhere. How many other bands have stayed that relevant for that long while (almost) maintaining the same lineup?

Re: Bottom Feeders: The Ass End of the ’80s, Part 16

EightE1 — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 19:43:58 -0000

Funny how many hit songs from '82 and '85 were just throwaways, yet "If You Want My Love" and "Tonight It's You" still resonate with me. God, I love Cheap Trick!

And I remember seeing Chubby Checker lip-synching "Running" on Solid Gold back in the day. Haven't heard that song in 25 years. Wow.

Rob
EightE1

Re: Bottom Feeders: The Ass End of the ’80s, Part 16

Old_Davy — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 18:10:54 -0000

I always thought "Baby Can I Hold You" should have been a bigger hit. That song made it's way onto a lot of my mix tapes. And yeah, I like it better than "Fast Car" too.

I agree about Cheap Trick, they are terribly underrated. In the era of 'image-is-everything' rock, poor Rick Nielsen could've written the best rock song ever and the public still would have ignored it. A friend of mine was dating this ditz who said she didn't like Cheap Trick because they had a fat guy and a nerd in the band. Geez.

As for Cheech and Chong, this is something that Weird Al is sooooooo much better at. But by this time C&C were so burned out, a breakup was probably the best thing for both of them.

Re: Bottom Feeders: The Ass End of the ’80s, Part 16

eddie_w — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 18:10:15 -0000

I've always loved Cherrelle's version of "I Didn't Mean to Turn You On", much more than Mr. Palmer's. Takes me right back to being 15 again.

And, if I remember right, some Europe-based boy band covered "Baby Can I Hold You" in the late 90s to much success there. Just goes to show how a well-written song will hold up.

Great column again...always a highlight of my week!

Re: Bottom Feeders: The Ass End of the ’80s, Part 16

DavidMedsker — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 14:03:04 -0000

Love "Tonight It's You" and "Baby Can I Hold You Tonight." God, how many times did Cheap Trick just miss the Hot 100?

Re: Bottom Feeders: The Ass End of the ’80s, Part 16

wags — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 13:09:31 -0000

Chong did show up on That 70s show in the late nineties/early aughts...

Re: Bottom Feeders: The Ass End of the ’80s, Part 16

MarlboroTestMonkey7 — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 12:34:52 -0000

The Champlin songs have just re-emerged from the depths of my mind

Re: Bottom Feeders: The Ass End of the ’80s, Part 16

scrumble — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 11:45:43 -0000

It was a designer bong website his son was running, Tommy himself stopped smoking the stuff years before.

Re: Bottom Feeders: The Ass End of the ’80s, Part 16

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 10:12:15 -0000

"Tommy Chong presumably just continued to smoke the ganja."

Didn't he go to prison when his chain of high-end head shops got busted?

Re: Bottom Feeders: The Ass End of the ’80s, Part 16

Darren — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 09:36:15 -0000

re: Cheap Trick's "Up The Creek"...yeah, its hokey, yeah it was written for a really lame Animal House--goes-camping movie, but the tune itself rocks and ranks as one of my fave Trick tunes...

Spring Break, on the other hand, is a total throw-away. The band was too busy to actually write a tune for the movie so their manager gave the honor to Graham from the Elvis Brothers, who was managed by the same guy. Graham sweats it out, write a great tune, then Rick comes along, realizes he can make some publishing bucks if he does it himself, and literally pens a tune at the last minute.

Admittedly, at the time, I remember liking the tune enough to have my band cover it. We played it at our gigs that took place during spring break (symmetry, my friend) and it always went over really well.

Re: Bottom Feeders: The Ass End of the ’80s, Part 16

jack — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 09:35:07 -0000

"Baby Can I Hold You?" is one of those songs that may not have impacted the charts, but there are likely many people who associate this song with a past relationship (like I do). Adds a bittersweet quality to it.

Cheap Trick was (is?) just an amazing band. The harmonies at the beginning of "If You Want My Love" are tight. And I really liked "Up the Creek." I had the 45, even though I wasn't old enough to see the movie!

And admit it, Dave, the 13 years old you would have totally done 63-year-old Cher as well. Most of us would have at 13.

Re: Bottom Feeders: The Ass End of the ’80s, Part 16

scrumble — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 08:53:27 -0000

Could Tracy Chapman have been the first sign that the Hot 100 wasn't going to make it much longer as a measure of mainstream taste? Those songs had a much greater impact than chart positions indicate, everywhere except the top 40 radio used as the main measuring stick...