Popdose: Bottom Feeders: The Ass End of the ’80s, Part 75
Jack Feerick
· 3 weeks ago
If loving Roger is wrong, then I don't want to be right, man. He's better than Creedence, at least.
John Anselmo
· 3 weeks ago
Dann Rogers is Kenny Rogers' nephew.
RLB
· 3 weeks ago
"Tip O, Tip O'Neill." This is why I love this series. I've been saying "Tip O, Tip O'Neill" for 20+ years anytime I've run across his name, but I'd completely forgotten from whence it came. Aw-aw-awesome.
kingofgrief
· 3 weeks ago
Whenever I see an O'Neill biography at work, I start singing "Tip-Tip-Tip-Tip-Tip" etc. to the tune of "Stars and Stripes Forever". And Sousa twitches in his grave every time.
DwDunphy
· 3 weeks ago
Would you rank Ronstadt's Riddle albums as better, worse or equal to Rod Stewart's American Songbook albums? And a big "Gee, thanks Linda" for possibly giving Rod the idea.
steed
· 3 weeks ago
I'd pick up the Rod Stewart discs before I would the three Ronstadt albums. Doesn't necessarily make them better I guess.
JonCummings
· 3 weeks ago
Here's the thing. La Ronstadt was actually the perfect person to launch the "standards" trend, with Nelson Riddle behind her, because she had a pure, malleable voice and had a fan base across a few genres (rock, pop, country). I have to say that, while I didn't much care for those albums of hers -- and neither did my dad, and he was an aficionado of that stuff -- they did send me on a search for BETTER versions of that music, which led me to finally pull out my dad's Sinatra and Ella albums. So I suppose Linda deserves thanks for that.
She also deserves thanks for "Heart Like a Wheel" and a bunch of her more country-flavored stuff from the '70s--a lot of which I didn't hear at the time because her versions of "Single Girl, Married Girl" and other old country hits didn't cross over to pop. Ronstadt may have gotten her hits with a lot of lame covers that wasted her voice, but she did some great stuff too.
DwDunphy
· 3 weeks ago
I actually picked up Sinatra & Strings today. So stinking good.
And I am a fan of that '70s wild-child Ronstadt... By the time she got "mature" I had checked out.
johnb
· 3 weeks ago
Ronstadt. "Heart like a wheel" Doesn't get much better
Jonathan Rundman
· 3 weeks ago
Love that Stones song, but I think there's a flaw in the MP3 data...is it fixable?
steed
· 3 weeks ago
Oh, I hear that now. It's not on my version so I'll try to upload again later tonight.
steed
· 3 weeks ago
The Stones song has been re-uped and doesn't include the blip in the middle this time.
JPH
· 3 weeks ago
i'm assuming that you meant "how do i MAKE you" in the linda ronstadt bit. such a great song, and a regular on my ipod. shame that's the last rock we heard from LR.
rwcass
· 3 weeks ago
Thanks for that correction, JPH.
Don Karnage
· 3 weeks ago
I remember reading that "How Do I Make You" was the only Top Ten single Linda ever had that wasn't a remake. I'd go back and verify that bit of trivia, but it's so much easier to just state it as fact and hope nobody calls you on it...
rsbrandt
· 3 weeks ago
Considering that, for starters, it was from an album of covers, I call shenanigans.
kingofgrief
· 3 weeks ago
Here's your answer, from writer Billy Steinberg's Wikipedia entry:
"In his mid-20s [he] formed the group Billy Thermal which was eventually signed to Richard Perry's Planet Records label. Their breakthrough occurred in 1980 when Linda Ronstadt heard their album and decided to record their song 'How Do I Make You?' for her 1980 Mad Love album. The album hit the top three of the charts and went platinum. Ronstadt's version of their song reached the American top ten."
The entry doesn't cite any sources, but apparently Mr. Steinberg himself verifies it here:
"Ronnie's Rap"! All I can see when I hear this is Homer Simpson forcing the Flanders family to listen to this on a long car trip. A nifty in-joke, given that Shearer did one of these records. "Heh heh. He did say 'well' a lot, didn't he?"
Wow, you can actually hear the cocaine on that Roger track.
paulzas
· 3 weeks ago
Via my mom, the Linda/Riddle albums were my first introduction to a lot of those standards. It wasn't until I went much deeper into jazz and big band (thanks, in part, to those albums) that I realized how devoid of soul they were. But they were my gateway drug, so they still hold a place in my heart. I won't listen to them, but still, a little, tiny place.
Chris X
· 3 weeks ago
I've never heard Rodway before, but I'm really diggin this. Hmm.
The Romantics are the only band in this week's offering that I care to comment on (Kenny Rogers? Linda Ronstadt? Really? We're going from my grandmothers to my mom's record collections - literally, not even joking here haha) I really can't believe "What I like About You" did as poorly as it did. This week's Meltie, for sure. I especially can't believe it did worse than "One In a Million."(which I like, I'm just sayin') It's weird how songs that did ok in the charts don't get any play these days, while songs that failed to do much chart climbing get daily radio airplay. How does that work? "Test of Time" isnt really that great. "Talking In Your Sleep" IS really that great.
Next week- I fucking hate Todd Rundgren. I went to the Hall and Oates/Hooters show at the Spectrum last Friday, and he played in between them. I spent his set out in the lobby. Awful music, awful hairdo.
JonCummings
· 3 weeks ago
Yeah, Chris, but how were the Hooters? That's what we all want to know.
As for "What I Like About You"--1980 wasn't a good year for that sort of song to become a big hit, but the video was all over MTV in its first year, which is how the song came to be ubiquitous. My hometown didn't get MTV until after I'd graduated high school and gone off to college--literally, until 1984 my only experience of music videos was from "Friday Night Videos" and "Nite Flite"--so I was initially baffled by the squealing reaction the song always got from the geeks at the dorm parties I DJ'd. It was pretty much the only song they'd be sure to dance to, so at first I would make sure to play it--but then, after a few of these parties, I decided to make sure NOT to play it, because I didn't so much like watching them dance anyway.
Chris X
· 3 weeks ago
The Hooters were fantastic as always. They are one of, if not my absolute, favorite live bands. In fact, I'm listening to Live In Germany as I type this, haha.
JT
· 3 weeks ago
Shocked about the the Romantics “What I Like About You" It is such a good song, with tons and tons of radio play (and im sure licensing rights for commercials)
JohnHughes
· 3 weeks ago
"One Foot Back In Your Door" and "Get Outta My Dreams, Blah, Blah" were both written by - wait for it - the former Mister Shania Twain himself, Robert John "Mutt" "Pyromania" Lange.
Billy got a co-writing credit on his version - he must have contributed a "yeah" or something.
pete12
· 3 weeks ago
I'm the big gipper don;t mess with me I'm the baddest rapper this side of DC with my best girl Nancy as my spouse rapping to you from that big white house Push Push into George Bush Yeah! Tip Tip Tip.
steed
· 3 weeks ago
You have to admit - for a novelty song it's really well written.
kingofgrief
· 3 weeks ago
And we kick off with a winner! "Don't Stop Trying" was a discovery from my personal Bottom Feeders YouTube odyssey of a year ago (before I discovered the 'dose). I've since acquired the 12" single (whoever wants an mp3 of the 5:56 extended mix need only ask) and the Horizontal Hold album (I can see why there was no followup hit). I'd wager the disco tag came from label association; it was released on Millennium, best remembered for Meco's initial foray into boogified Star Wars themes (later cresting with the majestic "Ewok Celebration"). Heck, the all-purpose die-cut sleeve for the 12" bears the phrase "Millennium Disco". (Either that or the sax.)
I hear elements of past and future Human League hits in "Don't Stop Trying": the phrase "two years later on" echoes "five years later on" from "Don't You Want Me", and the chord progression in the verse hints at the following year's "(Keep Feeling) Fascination". Talk about a mirror man...
On the subject of don't, stop and try: What's your source for "Don't Try to Stop It"? I have this version on a Richard Blade comp, and it's listed as an extended mix.
"What I Like About You" = this week's Meltie, one I'm sure that goes unchallenged. "Test of Time" (and "One Foot Back in Your Door") were constant spins on Houston's low-power video channel, TV5.
Speaking of videos, the TV show produced by our big album-rock station used to air the uncut "She Was Hot" that had to be amended for the Nervous Nellies at MTV. I'd still like to know why a whole chunk of the first verse was used in the video but snipped for the album.
I was hoping to leave you with a link to Benny Hill's awesome Kenny Rogers impression, but it appears to have been blocked for American YouTubers. So I'll substitute a link to the collection you can find it on.
brettalan
· 3 weeks ago
Yes, that's an extended mix of "Don't Try To Stop It". The album version is a shade under three minutes.
kingofgrief
· 3 weeks ago
Thanks! I'll have to pick up Cookin' on the Roof when I can find it for far less than $30.
steed
· 3 weeks ago
Yep, it's an extended mix. Ran into some issues earlier in the week and couldn't locate the album version - though it's on disc somewhere in my collection. My bad for not mentioning it - I expected it to just be a placeholder.
steed
· 3 weeks ago
$10 total (that's with shipping) on ebay right now if you really want it. I'm sure you can find it cheaper at some point though as I don't recall it being that tough for me to locate and I spent $10 on nothing (well, almost)
kingofgrief
· 3 weeks ago
As Shirley Q. Liquor once said, "99 cents is not a bargain if you do not have 99 cents."
Actually, I could swing .99, but not $10 at the moment. I'm sure a cheap copy will manifest when I'm flush with cash again.
brettalan
· 3 weeks ago
I adore Roman Holliday--at least until Mutt Lange got hold of them. Their first album, Cookin' On The Roof, from which "Stand By" and "Don't Try To Stop It" hail, is one of my favorite albums of the 80s, deftly mixing New Wave and classic swing. The second album was produced by Mutt Lange, who buried everything that was special and interesting about the band under all of his usual production tricks and such. I found the second album at a flea market on a dreadful rainy day, and I was so excited and then quite disappointed when I heard it. I hate Mutt Lange.
To me "Don't Try To Stop It" is too upbeat to resemble "Stray Cat Strut", but I guess I see where you're going with the comparison. But listen to it back to back with "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" and try to tell me that George Michael wasn't feeling a little inspiration from RH.
steed
· 3 weeks ago
"Wake Me Up" didn't occur to me at the time, but I definitely see the similarities.
And see, I'm the opposite with Roman Holliday and I definitely know I'm in the minority here. I have never been a fan of swing or rockabilly at all so Cookin' really doesn't do anything for me. I went back to listen to it just to make sure I didn't just glance over it - but I still didn't like it. I definitely understand why you hate the second album if you love the first though. Way different.
Eric S.
· 3 weeks ago
Mutt sure had a formula. I don't really remember "Don't Break My Heart", but you can sure hear the influence it had when Mutt moved on to the next Mrs. Lange. It's like he took this song and singer, added a little country twang and told Shania, "Here, do this". Even the vocal tics are similar.
davidjburton
· 3 weeks ago
Not surprised Billy Ocean didn't acknowledge Roman Holiday, given that "Carribbean Queen"="Billie Jean" and "Suddenly"=Lionel Richie's "Hello."
Linda Ronstadt also did "The Pirates of Penzance" on Broadway in 1981, and a country trio album with Dolly Parton and Emmylou Harris in 1986. And her biggest hit wasn't on any of her studio albums, it was "Somewhere Out There" with James Ingram.
steed
· 3 weeks ago
strange thing really is that I don't actually mind the Trio record - and that shocks even me. I'm never going to pull it out unless someone forces me, but it's better than the Nelson Riddle records.
Russ
· 3 weeks ago
Hence the reason I always said Billy OH Shit when any of his stuff came on the radio.
All Comments
She also deserves thanks for "Heart Like a Wheel" and a bunch of her more country-flavored stuff from the '70s--a lot of which I didn't hear at the time because her versions of "Single Girl, Married Girl" and other old country hits didn't cross over to pop. Ronstadt may have gotten her hits with a lot of lame covers that wasted her voice, but she did some great stuff too.
And I am a fan of that '70s wild-child Ronstadt... By the time she got "mature" I had checked out.
Doesn't get much better
"In his mid-20s [he] formed the group Billy Thermal which was eventually signed to Richard Perry's Planet Records label. Their breakthrough occurred in 1980 when Linda Ronstadt heard their album and decided to record their song 'How Do I Make You?' for her 1980 Mad Love album. The album hit the top three of the charts and went platinum. Ronstadt's version of their song reached the American top ten."
The entry doesn't cite any sources, but apparently Mr. Steinberg himself verifies it here:
http://voicesandvisions.skybleedsscorpio.com/html/billy.html
I'll have to keep an eye out for that album.
Wow, you can actually hear the cocaine on that Roger track.
The Romantics are the only band in this week's offering that I care to comment on (Kenny Rogers? Linda Ronstadt? Really? We're going from my grandmothers to my mom's record collections - literally, not even joking here haha) I really can't believe "What I like About You" did as poorly as it did. This week's Meltie, for sure. I especially can't believe it did worse than "One In a Million."(which I like, I'm just sayin') It's weird how songs that did ok in the charts don't get any play these days, while songs that failed to do much chart climbing get daily radio airplay. How does that work? "Test of Time" isnt really that great. "Talking In Your Sleep" IS really that great.
Next week- I fucking hate Todd Rundgren. I went to the Hall and Oates/Hooters show at the Spectrum last Friday, and he played in between them. I spent his set out in the lobby. Awful music, awful hairdo.
As for "What I Like About You"--1980 wasn't a good year for that sort of song to become a big hit, but the video was all over MTV in its first year, which is how the song came to be ubiquitous. My hometown didn't get MTV until after I'd graduated high school and gone off to college--literally, until 1984 my only experience of music videos was from "Friday Night Videos" and "Nite Flite"--so I was initially baffled by the squealing reaction the song always got from the geeks at the dorm parties I DJ'd. It was pretty much the only song they'd be sure to dance to, so at first I would make sure to play it--but then, after a few of these parties, I decided to make sure NOT to play it, because I didn't so much like watching them dance anyway.
It is such a good song, with tons and tons of radio play (and im sure licensing rights for commercials)
Billy got a co-writing credit on his version - he must have contributed a "yeah" or something.
I hear elements of past and future Human League hits in "Don't Stop Trying": the phrase "two years later on" echoes "five years later on" from "Don't You Want Me", and the chord progression in the verse hints at the following year's "(Keep Feeling) Fascination". Talk about a mirror man...
On the subject of don't, stop and try: What's your source for "Don't Try to Stop It"? I have this version on a Richard Blade comp, and it's listed as an extended mix.
"What I Like About You" = this week's Meltie, one I'm sure that goes unchallenged. "Test of Time" (and "One Foot Back in Your Door") were constant spins on Houston's low-power video channel, TV5.
Speaking of videos, the TV show produced by our big album-rock station used to air the uncut "She Was Hot" that had to be amended for the Nervous Nellies at MTV. I'd still like to know why a whole chunk of the first verse was used in the video but snipped for the album.
I was hoping to leave you with a link to Benny Hill's awesome Kenny Rogers impression, but it appears to have been blocked for American YouTubers. So I'll substitute a link to the collection you can find it on.
Actually, I could swing .99, but not $10 at the moment. I'm sure a cheap copy will manifest when I'm flush with cash again.
To me "Don't Try To Stop It" is too upbeat to resemble "Stray Cat Strut", but I guess I see where you're going with the comparison. But listen to it back to back with "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" and try to tell me that George Michael wasn't feeling a little inspiration from RH.
And see, I'm the opposite with Roman Holliday and I definitely know I'm in the minority here. I have never been a fan of swing or rockabilly at all so Cookin' really doesn't do anything for me. I went back to listen to it just to make sure I didn't just glance over it - but I still didn't like it. I definitely understand why you hate the second album if you love the first though. Way different.
Linda Ronstadt also did "The Pirates of Penzance" on Broadway in 1981, and a country trio album with Dolly Parton and Emmylou Harris in 1986. And her biggest hit wasn't on any of her studio albums, it was "Somewhere Out There" with James Ingram.