Popdose - Latest Comments in Bottom Feeders: The Ass End of the ’80s, Part 38

Re: Bottom Feeders: The Ass End of the ’80s, Part 38

aaaa — Sat, 30 Nov 2013 11:39:52 -0000

Hall and Oates missed the top 40 with Who Says the World was Fair in 1980, peaking at #110 on the Bubbling Under.

Re: Bottom Feeders: The Ass End of the ’80s, Part 38

aaaaa — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 18:32:20 -0000

I'd Do It All Again by Sam Harris is listed as a duet with Lauren Wood. Lauren Wood hit #24 in 1979 with PLease DOn't Leave. DIck Clark introduced her on AB at the time as "a lady you ought to watch in the 80s". We didn't watch much of her on the hot 100, as the two aforementioned songs were her only times there. Just as many hot 100 hits as Sam Harris had in the 80s :)

Re: Bottom Feeders: The Ass End of the ’80s, Part 38

Methane Of Modern Love — Sat, 14 Feb 2009 15:51:27 -0000

Hagar, Schon, Aaronson, Shrieve. Sounds like a law firm.

Re: Bottom Feeders: The Ass End of the ’80s, Part 38

DavidMedsker — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 22:27:06 -0000

Well, these days, anyway. I think of songs like "Bohemian Rhapsody" and my beloved "Year of the Cat," both of which were last or next to last on the albums that spawned them.

Re: Bottom Feeders: The Ass End of the ’80s, Part 38

steed — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 11:05:37 -0000

Danny Spanos - "I'd Lie To You For Your Love" - man, what a terrible song.
There is some stuff on those rock charts that's seriously hard to locate. I have all the MP3s - but am still missing a hard copy of about 15-20% of the chart. Go for it man...and be prepared to open up the wallet.

Re: Bottom Feeders: The Ass End of the ’80s, Part 38

Evan4 — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 01:27:04 -0000

I was always surprised (and disappointed) that Debbie Harry's solo career never amounted to much, hits-wise. That's her entire collection of Hot 100 hits up there. The SAW remix did the trick for ILWL--it's her only solo single to top the Dance/Club Play chart.

Personally, I have an unnatural fondness for her '89 album, Def, Dumb & Blonde which is a pretty decent pop record for its time.

Re: Bottom Feeders: The Ass End of the ’80s, Part 38

Old_Davy — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 00:24:08 -0000

Being a Missouri boy (St. Louis had this weird fascination with Sammy Hagar) I'm surprised that "I'll Fall In Love Again" and that cover of "Whiter Shade Of Pale" didn't hit the top 40. Both got considerable airplay. The hype surrounding HSAS was huge...Hagar! and a guy from Journey!! in the same group!!! Oh well, can't win 'em all.

Re: Bottom Feeders: The Ass End of the ’80s, Part 38

mojo — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 22:17:27 -0000

I am stunned that what B-3 organ freaks consider the greatest application of a Hammond in rock--Whiter Shade of Pale--was covered by such a SuperGroup who, uh, left out the famous organ line. I mean, WTF?

Re: Bottom Feeders: The Ass End of the ’80s, Part 38

Cross Arm Breaker — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 20:57:45 -0000

Whoops, downloaded wrong. I meant "Never Give Up" rocks. "Winner" is a fine slab of cheese rock, though.

Re: Bottom Feeders: The Ass End of the ’80s, Part 38

BobCashill — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 20:44:51 -0000

I know Sam Harris mainly from The Life (1997), a great Broadway flop musical, the last by Cy Coleman. Harris starts the show with a superb number, "Use What You Got," and he has a song called "Easy Money," which onstage ended with the suggestion of a lusty threeway. (It's about pimps and ho's in the old Times Square.) The brassy cast album is worth a listen.

Lani Hall recorded the theme song to Never Say Never Again (1983), Connery's comeback Bond. "Never say never again/Never, ever say never again..."

Re: Bottom Feeders: The Ass End of the ’80s, Part 38

Cross Arm Breaker — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 20:32:58 -0000

I don't feel guilty about it at all, "Winner Takes It All" by Hagar rocks!

Re: Bottom Feeders: The Ass End of the ’80s, Part 38

Keith — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 19:46:36 -0000

Interestingly enough, in the early 80's I was very much into "2nd tier AOR". I loved Sammy's "Standing Hampton" record, which featured the first two songs listed in his entry here, as well as There's Only One Way to Rock (mentioned in another post above), and one of the two "Heavy Metal" themes. Still think it is his most solid solo effort, my personal fave being a song called "Can't Get Loose". Having said that, I never really appreciated the collaboration with Schon and the others. I much preferred Schon with Jan Hammer. Some great tracks buried in that 2nd tier AOR. Maybe I'll try to start a collection of all the songs that charted on Billboard's Mainstream Rock chart...anybody familiar with Danny Spanos?

Re: Bottom Feeders: The Ass End of the ’80s, Part 38

Ray — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 18:46:18 -0000

Some good stuff here! I clearly remember John Hall Band's "Crazy (Keep On Fallin'") being a pretty big hit in Chicago on WLS during my senior year (Class of '82). I also remember hearing Debbie Harry's "French Kissin' (in the USA)" a lot back in '87.

Re: Bottom Feeders: The Ass End of the ’80s, Part 38

steed — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 17:03:07 -0000

Hazard, Hooters - they're all coming...

Re: Bottom Feeders: The Ass End of the ’80s, Part 38

breadalbane — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 16:13:09 -0000

"De facto" feminist? Makes 'em sound like they were somehow feminist by default. Like 'em or hate 'em, The Parachute Club were a proudly lesbian-positive, feminist band from the start (from more-or-less the same Toronto scene as Rough Trade.).

Oates, by the way, actually produced and co-wrote the "Love Is Fire" track, which (credited simply to The Parachute Club) was a top 40 hit in Canada.

He also co-wrote the Icehouse hit "Electirc Blue" around this time.

Re: Bottom Feeders: The Ass End of the ’80s, Part 38

scrumble — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 15:28:41 -0000

oops, there were more guys in the band than I remembered ... so, they were de facto "feminist"

Re: Bottom Feeders: The Ass End of the ’80s, Part 38

scrumble — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 15:26:31 -0000

Oates did a duet around that time with the Parachute Club, basically a semi-closeted lesbian band from Toronto, who did have a hit or two (but not this one)
http://www.spike.com/video/...

Re: Bottom Feeders: The Ass End of the ’80s, Part 38

The Flyin Hawaiian UK — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 14:18:47 -0000

I think the previous version was an edit of a Justin Strauss remix...it looks like Geffen was sending "ILWL" to a bunch of remixers to try to turn it into a hit. (It's understandable, the LP version is dull.) I remember that Rockbird was promoted pretty heavily, but "French Kissin" was a big, and somewhat surprising, disappointment on the charts. I guess they tried to recoup the promo budget with the second single.

Re: Bottom Feeders: The Ass End of the ’80s, Part 38

Chris X — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 14:05:37 -0000

There's only ooooooone way to rock!

that's what comes to mind immediately for me, after "55" of course.

Re: Bottom Feeders: The Ass End of the ’80s, Part 38

Chris X — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 14:04:23 -0000

One can only wonder what John Oates was doing while Daryl was recording these solo records. Grooming his moustache? Seriously though, why did Hall even bother? This stuff sounds just like something H&O would churn out together(which of course, is a good thing). Did he have a bet with Oates or something? "I can have a hit record without you and your moustache!" Or was he trying to capitalize on his "I'm the half of the duo that the ladies love, I'm going to get my face out there some more." shtick?

Largely forgettable list this week, with a couple exceptions. "Rockit" naturally, though that it did not chart in the top 40, or even top 10 based on how much I remember it being played back then, is unbelievable It STILL gets respectable airplay. And that Paul Hardcastle song is excellent. Agreed that it is better than "19(Vietnam)"

and what, no Robert Hazard? The Hooters? (can you tell I'm from Philly or what?)

Re: Bottom Feeders: The Ass End of the ’80s, Part 38

steed — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 12:26:30 -0000

I have to agree on "Winnner Takes It All" - if you asked me to sing a Hagar solo song - "55" would of course be first, but "Winnner" is next on the list. It's both epic and total crap at the same time.

Re: Bottom Feeders: The Ass End of the ’80s, Part 38

steed — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 12:22:09 -0000

"Voa" didn't chart. Only "Two Sides of Love" and "I Can't Drive 55" from that record did.

He's My Girl is already on my list - so it's too late. Though maybe not - seeing that my wife and I seem to take a week and a half per disc and that it's #86 on my list right now - I may never get to it.

The version of "In Love with Love" up now is the SAW (12" extended mix, I believe) - meant to just post that here and leave the version I originally posted up but things don't always go as planned. Weird part about the version I posted originally is that's the one I'm most familiar with - not the SAW. Now I'm even curious as to what that version was...

Re: Bottom Feeders: The Ass End of the ’80s, Part 38

arensb — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 12:02:25 -0000

"and yet I would know his son before him."

I'm the other way around. I remember watching Johnny Halliday when he was the host of the Friday night movie (or something) on TV, but didn't even know he had a son.

Re: Bottom Feeders: The Ass End of the ’80s, Part 38

scrumble — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 11:45:06 -0000

There's an interesting confluence here of artists around age 40 (give or take: Hagar, Hall, Hancock, Harrison, Harry) all doing what they could to try and connect with a 12-24-year-old audience, if somewhat cynically at times. Now, the script has flipped where the artists are younger and the Top 40 radio audience is older.

Re: Bottom Feeders: The Ass End of the ’80s, Part 38

DwDunphy — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 11:08:57 -0000

Most hits that fall in the latter half of the album are total flukes. I don't know of a single A&R guy who would force the label to not frontload a potential single.