Song#: 0620
Date: 05/30/1981
Debut: 85
Peak: 14
Weeks: 19
Genre: Pop, Country Crossover
Pop Bits: The TV show "The Dukes of Hazzard" was in it's third and most popular season in 1981 with the show ranking #2 in viewers. Co-star Schneider, who did have some experience singing on stage and with groups, decided to strike while the iron was hot and got signed to do an album for Scotti Brothers. His debut album "Now or Never" featured this title track that found its way into the Top 20, thanks in part to his popularity on the "Dukes." It would be his highest peaking pop entry, but later in the 80s Schneider would prove that it was no fluke and he continued a successful country music career that got him four #1 hits.
ReduxReview: I have to say that this is just...awful. If you choose to cover Elvis, it had better be damn good. This is so weak that if Elvis had heard it, he'd probably choke on his fried peanut butter/banana sandwich. Now, Schneider does have a voice and he would do so much better later on with solid country material and even on Broadway, but he just can't compete with Elvis. The arrangement is so old-fashioned that is sounds like what a karaoke backing track does now. How bad is it? I loved "Dukes" and watched it all the time back then and even had a crush on Schneider. Yet I couldn't even go out and buy this dud.
ReduxRating: 2/10
Trivia: This song was originally a huge #1 hit for Elvis Presley in 1960. The song is based on the popular Italian song "O Solo Mio," as was another hit from 1949, "There's No Tomorrow" by Tony Martin. At the point where Presley was in the military and stationed overseas, he heard the Tony Martin song and got the idea to do something similar. Songwriters Aaron Schroeder and Wally Gold were recruited to do the song and "Now or Never" was born.
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