"Under the Gun" by Poco

Song#:  0260
Date:  07/19/1980
Debut:  86
Peak:  48
Weeks:  10
Genre:  Country Rock, Soft Rock



Pop Bits:  After the breakup of Buffalo Springfield, members Richie Furay and Jim Messina went off and founded the group Poco. Their country-rock sound was embraced by critics, but it didn't really translate into sales. This would be a theme repeated throughout the group's years as would a continuous change in personnel. By 1980, there was only one original member still remaining in the group - Rusty Young. They had just come off of their first gold album, "Legend," which featured two Top 20 hits when the follow-up "Under the Gun" was released. The title single couldn't get inside the Top 40 and the album ended up floundering much like their previous efforts. Any momentum built up by "Legacy" was quickly gone.

ReduxReview:  Their previous two singles, "Crazy Love" (#17) and "Heart of the Night" (#20) were on the easy AC side, so they probably wanted to change it up and unleash something a bit more rock-oriented. This was a good choice but I don't think it was as catchy as it needed to be to storm up the chart.

ReduxRating:  5/10

Trivia:  The group's original name was Pogo. This came from the title character (a possum) from a cartoon strip created by Walt Kelly. The comic ran in syndication from 1949 through to 1975. Unfortunately, Kelly was not fond of the name being used for the band and threatened a lawsuit. The group had pretty much already established the name and didn't want to start from scratch, so they just change one letter and became Poco.

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