Popdose - Latest Comments in Bottom Feeders: The Ass End of the ’80s, Part 74

Re: Bottom Feeders: The Ass End of the ’80s, Part 74

steed — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 20:52:24 -0000

drop me an e-mail dave at popdose.com

Re: Bottom Feeders: The Ass End of the ’80s, Part 74

Frank — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 18:17:38 -0000

Here's a random note about Rockie Robbins: his song "You And Me" is a cover of the original from Exile's album "Mixed Emotions", that also contained "Kiss You All Over". The guys in Exile didn't write any of their pop hits (Mike Chapman and Nicky Chinn did) but they were good songwriters in their own right. Dave & Sugar (a name if there ever was one) took "Stay With Me" from the same album into the country top ten in 1980. They also wrote "Take Me Down" for Alabama, and I think those hits made them decide to switch to country in the middle of the decade - a very smart move for them.

Re: Bottom Feeders: The Ass End of the ’80s, Part 74

Frank — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 18:12:12 -0000

Cliff got REALLY schmaltzy in the 1990s, so beware. His early 1980s stuff produced by Alan Tarney is all pretty good. I pretty much like anything Alan Tarney produced in that period - Leo Sayer's album "Living In A Fantasy" sounds similarly good.

Re: Bottom Feeders: The Ass End of the ’80s, Part 74

Frank — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 18:10:25 -0000

"You Might Need Somebody" is a fairly well-covered song. Randy Crawford (who I love and who never hit the Hot 100, dammit) did a version in 1981 that hit #11 in the UK. (At least they had the good sense to like her over there.) Turley must have recorded his version around the same time as Randy. Shola's version is nice - they're all pretty similar and it's just a good, solid song.

I hope I can get my hands on Turley's mp3... I remember hearing it back in 1980.

Re: Bottom Feeders: The Ass End of the ’80s, Part 74

Chris X — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 15:56:23 -0000

is the Bob Rock of Rock and Hyde the same Bob Rock who ruined Metallica? Eek. I hear traces of the Payolas in this stuff, but it's far inferior. Speaking of which; Rings- yeah hi, you're not the Cars.

Definitely prefer the Murray Head version of "Bangkok" although musically, there's a lot of good things going on in the Robey version, but Murray Head owns it vocally.

Otherwise...man, what a sub par week.

Re: Bottom Feeders: The Ass End of the ’80s, Part 74

Don Karnage — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 19:38:51 -0000

Sort of, actually. But it ends up sounding more like Thomas Dolby adopting the stereotypical "gay accent". Were Thomas Dolby to ever say "ooo, get HER!", it'd sound a lot like Rockwell, I think.

Re: Bottom Feeders: The Ass End of the ’80s, Part 74

kingofgrief — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 19:20:38 -0000

I always thought he was trying to emulate Thomas Dolby with that accent. Imagine him saying "I don't beLIEVE it! There she goes aGAIN!" You hear it?

Re: Bottom Feeders: The Ass End of the ’80s, Part 74

Don Karnage — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 18:01:44 -0000

Actually, I quite like his cover of "Taxman". No, it's not stellar enough for me to get in his corner and try to convince people that he's more than a one-hit wonder, but it's still pretty cool. But what was up with his oddball pseudo-British accent? "You dirty little nasty twit!" he chirps at the end of "Obscene Phone Caller", sounding NOTHING like the son of Berry Gordy has any right to sound...

Re: Bottom Feeders: The Ass End of the ’80s, Part 74

steed — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 10:41:11 -0000

On another Rockwell note - I just went to his Wikipedia page and saw two more albums listed - Rockwell Bloody Rockwell and a 2010 record called Seriously, Get These Kids off my Lawn.

Ha, that has to be a joke. Both of them.

Re: Bottom Feeders: The Ass End of the ’80s, Part 74

steed — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 10:25:26 -0000

Ha. I haven't honestly cracked the Bubbled Under book open in ages. When I first got it I realized that I had the vast majority of stuff in it - so I rarely go back to look - so I didn't realize "He's A Cobra" was even a single. I thought "Peeping Tom" was the first one from Captured - turns out it wasn't.

Trust me, you don't need to hear it. Or anything else from Rockwell for that matter. I've taken the time to listen to Somebody's Watching Me, Captured and Genie so you don't have to. I've suffered enough.

Re: Bottom Feeders: The Ass End of the ’80s, Part 74

steed — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 10:20:02 -0000

Certainly - I mean, not saying the commercials are good - but I'm sure he's making a pretty penny off them (and probably saving 15% by switching to Geico)

Re: Bottom Feeders: The Ass End of the ’80s, Part 74

kingofgrief — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 23:12:15 -0000

He also bubbled under at #108 in '85 with "He's a Cobra" (see, Steed? All this information in one handy volume!). I've never heard it, but I remember another invasion-of-privacy-themed single called "Peeping Tom". I foresee an edition of You Again? involving a song about spam texting.

Re: Bottom Feeders: The Ass End of the ’80s, Part 74

drcastrato — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 23:05:00 -0000

are you referring to those geico commercials? ugh.

Re: Bottom Feeders: The Ass End of the ’80s, Part 74

steed — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 16:46:34 -0000

yeah, imagine that - a second Rockwell song hit the Top 40. 38 or 36 or something like that I think. I kind of like the track - it was a good follow up to "Somebody's Watching Me". (And how happy is Rockwell right now?)

Re: Bottom Feeders: The Ass End of the ’80s, Part 74

eddie_w — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 14:59:34 -0000

Oh yeah...I don't think it got very high in the top 40, but I remember that one. In fact, for some reason, I think I was actually a pretty big fan of that song back then.

In case you're interested, here's a link to the video: http://www.youtube.com/watc...

Re: Bottom Feeders: The Ass End of the ’80s, Part 74

George — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 11:08:13 -0000

I didn't know Rockwell had 2 top 40 hits? Never heard of "Obscene Phone Caller."

Re: Bottom Feeders: The Ass End of the ’80s, Part 74

steed — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 09:41:51 -0000

Is the extra P sort of like another way to call a cat a kitten?

Re: Bottom Feeders: The Ass End of the ’80s, Part 74

steed — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 09:21:59 -0000

Thanks for the link, I had no idea someone covered this. I should check youtube out for every song I post - I can't imagine how many covers are out there that I don't know about.

I've never heard of Shola Ama before and nothing of her's charted in the US.

Re: Bottom Feeders: The Ass End of the ’80s, Part 74

DDay1971 — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 09:15:13 -0000

You Might Need Somebody.... Jeez, never knew this song other than this 90s version: http://www.youtube.com/watc... (did that version cross over the ocean?)
Once more, thx for opening eyes (hadn't heard of Robey either) :-D

Oh, and Sir Cliff... Don't dig too deep. Lots of schmaltz might come your way.

Re: Bottom Feeders: The Ass End of the ’80s, Part 74

Don Karnage — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 01:23:40 -0000

Robey's version always just sounded unfinished to me. It sounds like a well-polished demo. The singing on the chorus can politely be called "slight", and the fade at the end screams "we'll figure out something cool to do in this part later".

Cliff Richard supposedly said one of my favorite on-stage patter bits ever. "Every once in a great while, a truly beautiful song comes along. And until one does, I'd like to do this one..."

...and I sincerely hope I'm the only one who already owns "Ronnie's Rapp". (The extra P is for extra...?) Not counting you, Sir Steed.

Re: Bottom Feeders: The Ass End of the ’80s, Part 74

Guest — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 00:35:04 -0000

Am I the only one who "hears" Robey smirking through the song?

Re: Bottom Feeders: The Ass End of the ’80s, Part 74

kingofgrief — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 23:40:19 -0000

I have the "Cuddly Toy" 12" with 2 or 3 mixes, one of which has been digitized. I've been meaning to work it into the Club Hour. Maybe in two weeks (doing a Halloween mix for the next show).

If you have the same Bubbling Under book I do, I'd hang on to it if the album section is of any use to you. Flipping through at random, I see that Nile Rodgers' B-Movie Matinee (featuring "Let's Go Out Tonight") peaked at #206.

Re: Bottom Feeders: The Ass End of the ’80s, Part 74

steed — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 23:34:11 -0000

Hard to believe that I love Rockpile and Technical Death Metal too - my tastes are weird, I'm fully aware of that at least.

That said, I won't fight it. I'll give it a shot. Tomorrow, I'll listen to Third/Sister Lovers and try it out. I have to admit though that I'm not anticipating this as much as I was with the Replacements. We'll see I guess.

Re: Bottom Feeders: The Ass End of the ’80s, Part 74

Brett Alan — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 23:05:10 -0000

I certainly wouldn't expect you to launch right into a box set, but I have a hard time believing that anyone who loves Rockpile wouldn't find listening to Big Star at least somewhat worthwhile. They're both smack in the middle of that thing we call power pop. (See my site for a list of the defining power pop songs..."Teacher Teacher" just makes the cut.)

(Is there a reason why I can't paste here, or is it my browser? Hope I got the URL just right.)

Well, I don't see the URL, so I'll just put it here:

http://digitaldreamdoor.nut...

Re: Bottom Feeders: The Ass End of the ’80s, Part 74

Stephen R. Bierce — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 22:21:23 -0000

I thought the Burt Reynolds song was from "Best Little Whorehouse in Texas". *shrug*