#1 Alert!
Song#: 2818 Date: 08/02/1986
Debut: 42
Peak: 1 (3 weeks)
Weeks: 19
Genre: Pop, Rock
Pop Bits: The band's 1983 album Sports was a major success reaching #1 and eventually selling over seven million copies. It was helped along by four singles that reached the Top 10. Not long after the album wound down, the band contributed a couple of songs to the soundtrack of the hit film Back to the Future. Their single from the film, "The Power of Love," would be their first #1 and second gold record. The band then needed to get a follow-up together and retreated to the studio to record. It would take a year before their next effort, Fore!, would be ready. This first single got things started and it seemed that folks were ready for Lewis and the band to return. After a high debut, the song made its way to the top to the Pop chart where it stayed for three weeks. In doing so, it would just edge out "The Power of Love" to become the band's biggest chart hit. It would also reach #1 at AC while getting to #2 at Rock. The hit would help push the album to #1 later in the fall.
ReduxReview: For me, the band's formula was beginning to wear thin. This wasn't all that different from the doo-wop, retro-rock tunes they had already churned out (i.e., "If This Is It" from their Sports album). I wasn't buying it but plenty of people were. I can't say I blame them though. It's a fun little head-bobbin' track that appealed to a wide audience. At the time they knew how to dish out a crowd pleaser and this one fit the bill. It worked out well and got them a second #1, but I didn't really care for it.
ReduxRating: 5/10
Trivia: Huey Lewis goes disco? It happened. Back in 1978, Lewis was playing a regular Monday night gig at a local club north of San Francisco. It was during this time that what would become the News would begin to form. Later in 1979, they became Huey Lewis & the American Express. They ended up recording a one-off single credited to American Express that consisted of a disco version of the famous theme from the film Exodus, which they titled "Exodisco." The flip side was more of a party/dance track title "Kick Back." The single, oddly picked up by Phonogram in the UK and put out on the Mercury label there, went nowhere. While "Exodisco" was just a jokey lark they did at the time, it ended up helping them out. It wasn't long after that the band signed on with Chrysalis and began work on their 1980 self-titled debut album under their new name of Huey Lewis & the News.
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6/10 for me, I'm glad I'm not the only one who doesn't think too highly of this song either despite it being a #1 single, the only songs he did that I really liked from this point forward are "Hip To Be Square" (8/10), "Jacob's Ladder" (9/10) and "Perfect World" (9/10), the rest of his later singles are IMO forgettable
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