Popdose: Bottom Feeders: The Ass End of the ’80s, Part 55
BobCashill
· 5 months ago
No Lulu hate allowed. It may be a bad song but you have to love Lulu. She was a good sport about being a running punch line on ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS years later.
WHarrisBullzEye
· 5 months ago
Plus, she saw the merit in covering Bowie's "The Man Who Sold The World" 19 years before Nirvana helped American teenagers discover the song.
Mike
· 5 months ago
Wow. "Cars with the Boom" didn't hit the Top 40? I remember that song being HUGE. Good times.
magnolia7281
· 5 months ago
and of course the fabulous noo yawk accents those girls had just MADE that track. awesome roller-rink song.
Ray
· 5 months ago
I actually remember their single before this one (didn't make the pop charts), it was an answer record to Salt-N-Pepa called "Grab It" ("Grab it like you want it!" "So take a lesson and I hope you learn, that if you PUSH IT it might not return...").
David_E
· 5 months ago
Oooo, I was about to throw Lynne's "Every Little Thing" from Armchair Theater in your lap, but I see that charted in ... 1990.
Curse you, latter part of the title "Bottom Feeders: The Ass End of the '80s" !
Mary in Texas
· 5 months ago
I was thinking the same thing about "Every Little Thing, David_E; glad I read your comment before posting!
Pete
· 5 months ago
Wow, I love ELO but had no idea this Lynne tune existed. I can kinda see why.
magø
· 5 months ago
Wow. Thanks so much for reminding me about Love And Money! In college, I was a huge fan of that British white-funk-pop sound from the late '80's - Hipsway, Curiosity Killed The Cat, The Blow Monkeys - with its glassy production, pop horns, shimmery keys, big drums... Love And Money were right there with the best of 'em! Nice one!
Mary in Texas
· 5 months ago
Mago -- So glad to see your comment re: Curiosity Killed the Cat and The Blow Monkeys. LOVED them!! I lived in London in the late '80s and got to see both groups perform live. In fact, I was in the "crowd scene" of a CKTC concert that was filmed to air on U.S. TV, but of course CKTC never made it big here so I guess the video is lost in space. Ahh, memories... :)
Eric S.
· 5 months ago
Here's my theory on Loverboy. Many of the big singles (including "Turn Me Loose", "When It's Over" and "Queen of the Broken Hearts") are credited to Paul Dean and Mike Reno. Others are Dean with a different writing partner ("Hot Girls in Love", "The Kid is Hot Tonite").
When you start looking at the album tracks, it's guest writers and songs by committee. A lot of the guest writers are good: Bryan Adams, Jim Vallance, Bruce Fairbairn, Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora, Jonathan Cain and R.J. "Mutt" Lange, but I think it's why the albums aren't very cohesive. Many of the tracks are credited to three to five writers and it's rarely just the band members.
Thirteen Hot 100 hits in a decade is impressive, but it's pretty obvious that Reno and Dean aimed for the singles while the band took whatever help it could get to fill out the albums.
Also, thanks for jogging my memory about Michael Anderson's "Sound Alarm". A great song and CD that I'm going to have to dig out again.
Mary in Texas
· 5 months ago
Hey Dave, LOVE "I Knew the Bride..." Haven't heard it in ages, so I'll be adding it to my playlist tomorrow.
steed
· 5 months ago
I'm actually surprised it doesn't get more spins these days...it's such a fabulous song.
ElCartero
· 5 months ago
Listening to it now, though, I'm startled about how thoroughly it rips off Chuck Berry's "You Never Can Tell". I half expected to hear "C'est la vie, say the old folks..." at the end of a couplet.
kingofgrief
· 5 months ago
"Hallelujah Man": So no American chart love for "Candybar Express"? That's odd, considering it's the single that first comes to mind when I think of Love and Money...even if I never remember how it goes. Rate Your Music describes them as "Sophisti-Pop", described as "[a] style of Pop that originated in the 1980s and is mainly defined by the influence of Jazz and Soul and its slick, smooth production". Considering the two top-related releases in this genre (Prefab Sprout's Steve McQueen and The Blue Nile's Hats) are big personal faves, I think an investment in some Love and Money LPs are in order.
"No Big Deal": At my first record-store gig, I used the number of sold-back copies of this album (within a year of its release) as a clue not to bother. Still love "So Alive", though, and I'll pick up the "No Big Deal" 12" if it ever floats my way. I have a promo EP of some tracks that Ash recently did with Thomas Froggatt of She Wants Revenge; haven't listened to them yet.
"Lead a Double Life": when you refer to a Loverboy cut as "strangely new wave", you have my attention. I bet you I could get away with this during my Classic Club Hour next to Devo or Hilly Michaels' "Calling All Girls". I'm grabbing this one on my next iTunes spree.
I'd be a bigger Nick Lowe fan if he wasn't so arrogant in his disdain for prog-rock. (And Rick Astley, re "All Men Are Liars".)
"Cars With the Boom": I always think of hearing this on the radio with my friend Dave and laughing at the "boom" sound effect at the beginning...which sounded like a weak fart on my inadequately-bassed stereo. It gives me a chuckle to this very day. (I scored the promo CD single a few years back!)
"If I Were You": no Lulu hate here, but I prefer "The Boat That I Row" (one of my fave Neil Diamond covers) or its B-side from some movie.
"Shake It Up Tonight": I don't know if I remember this from urban radio at the time or from the Club Columbia CD I purchased about two years ago. Either way, it rang a bell.
"Encore": Oops, there's a skip at :32. Break out the Discwasher. ;) Yes, the Jam/Lewis fingerprints are obvious.
"Video!": the titular object of which I remember from the syndicated music program Hot! This could rank with the best 80s-era ELO if not for all the sound effects. All the same, I'd like to know if there was ever an extended mix.
DavidMedsker
· 5 months ago
What he said about "Candybar Express." I need to write that one up for White Label Wednesday...
Chris X
· 5 months ago
I was sort of joking about looking forward to Loverboy when I brought them up two weeks ago. Sort of. How on earth have I never heard "Lead a Double Life" before?(maybe because it only reached #68 when I was in 5th grade and hasnt been spun since?) Seriously though, it sounds like the bastard child of Devo and Sisters of Mercy. I have a feeling this is gonna go into regular rotation for me, and I might even spin it on a Thursday night if I'm feeling adventurous, red headbands be damned.
That said, I will never ever NOT mark out for "Working For the Weekend" when I hear it. Seriously, that opening cowbell countoff, and I jump right out of my seat, no matter where I'm at, what I'm doing, or who I'm with.
I dig Love and Rockets, and this song is no exception, though "So Alive" is obviously their best song.
L'Trimm. Didn't we cover JJ Fad last month?
That's all I got.... Madness next week? And Madonna, if all her songs didn't breach the top 40? Oh god...dare I say...MECO? *shudder*
steed
· 5 months ago
M's a big letter - so we've got a while until Meco. *shudder* is a good way of putting it. Madonna's lowest charting song in the '80s was "Oh, Father" which peaked at #20.
At least JJ Fad had Dr. Dre on their side.
/ian
· 5 months ago
are we ready for Shamus M'Cool next week?
steed
· 5 months ago
No, my weird alphabet puts him under MC...so it will be a few...but you'll know. You'll know.
All Comments
Curse you, latter part of the title "Bottom Feeders: The Ass End of the '80s" !
In college, I was a huge fan of that British white-funk-pop sound from the late '80's - Hipsway, Curiosity Killed The Cat, The Blow Monkeys - with its glassy production, pop horns, shimmery keys, big drums... Love And Money were right there with the best of 'em!
Nice one!
When you start looking at the album tracks, it's guest writers and songs by committee. A lot of the guest writers are good: Bryan Adams, Jim Vallance, Bruce Fairbairn, Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora, Jonathan Cain and R.J. "Mutt" Lange, but I think it's why the albums aren't very cohesive. Many of the tracks are credited to three to five writers and it's rarely just the band members.
Thirteen Hot 100 hits in a decade is impressive, but it's pretty obvious that Reno and Dean aimed for the singles while the band took whatever help it could get to fill out the albums.
Also, thanks for jogging my memory about Michael Anderson's "Sound Alarm". A great song and CD that I'm going to have to dig out again.
LOVE "I Knew the Bride..." Haven't heard it in ages, so I'll be adding it to my playlist tomorrow.
"No Big Deal": At my first record-store gig, I used the number of sold-back copies of this album (within a year of its release) as a clue not to bother. Still love "So Alive", though, and I'll pick up the "No Big Deal" 12" if it ever floats my way. I have a promo EP of some tracks that Ash recently did with Thomas Froggatt of She Wants Revenge; haven't listened to them yet.
"Lead a Double Life": when you refer to a Loverboy cut as "strangely new wave", you have my attention. I bet you I could get away with this during my Classic Club Hour next to Devo or Hilly Michaels' "Calling All Girls". I'm grabbing this one on my next iTunes spree.
I'd be a bigger Nick Lowe fan if he wasn't so arrogant in his disdain for prog-rock. (And Rick Astley, re "All Men Are Liars".)
"Cars With the Boom": I always think of hearing this on the radio with my friend Dave and laughing at the "boom" sound effect at the beginning...which sounded like a weak fart on my inadequately-bassed stereo. It gives me a chuckle to this very day. (I scored the promo CD single a few years back!)
"If I Were You": no Lulu hate here, but I prefer "The Boat That I Row" (one of my fave Neil Diamond covers) or its B-side from some movie.
"Shake It Up Tonight": I don't know if I remember this from urban radio at the time or from the Club Columbia CD I purchased about two years ago. Either way, it rang a bell.
"Encore": Oops, there's a skip at :32. Break out the Discwasher. ;) Yes, the Jam/Lewis fingerprints are obvious.
"Video!": the titular object of which I remember from the syndicated music program Hot! This could rank with the best 80s-era ELO if not for all the sound effects. All the same, I'd like to know if there was ever an extended mix.
That said, I will never ever NOT mark out for "Working For the Weekend" when I hear it. Seriously, that opening cowbell countoff, and I jump right out of my seat, no matter where I'm at, what I'm doing, or who I'm with.
I dig Love and Rockets, and this song is no exception, though "So Alive" is obviously their best song.
L'Trimm. Didn't we cover JJ Fad last month?
That's all I got.... Madness next week? And Madonna, if all her songs didn't breach the top 40? Oh god...dare I say...MECO? *shudder*
At least JJ Fad had Dr. Dre on their side.