"Welcome to the Boomtown" by David & David

Song#:  2882
Date:  10/04/1986
Debut:  94
Peak:  37
Weeks:  16
Genre:  Rock



Pop Bits:  David Baerwald and David Ricketts began collaborating on music after meeting in a club. They recorded a demo and thanks to a connection, it wound up in the hands of a rep for A&M Records. The label signed the duo and they began work on a debut album. It would be titled Boomtown and this first single was issued out. It did well on the Rock chart getting to #8. It would crossover to Pop and after a slow climb it peaked just inside the Top 40. While it wasn't a huge hit, it got the duo noticed and that along with solid reviews helped album sales. It would reach #39 and eventually be certified as a gold record.

ReduxReview:  If Bruce Springsteen was born in L.A. instead of New Jersey, he might have written a song like this. Or maybe even John Mellencamp. It has a heartland, blue-collar rock feel yet there is also a sharper, West Coast edge that provides a bit of bitterness. I remember liking this song and nearly buying the album, but for some reason did not. Both the song and album have held up well over the years. It can be a bleak listen as it highlights the darker side of L.A. instead of its stereotypical sunny, dreamland image, but it's quite good and this hooky tune was it's best single candidate.

ReduxRating:  7/10

Trivia:  Later on in 1992, David Baerwald and a few other L.A. musicians including engineer/producer Bill Bottrell started a collaborative songwriting group that would gather at Bottrell's new recording studio once a week. They became known as the Tuesday Music Club and it was at one of their gatherings that regular member Kevin Gilbert introduced his girlfriend. She was trying to work up material for an album and began sitting in with the group. Soon the meetings turned into work sessions that in the end would result in the debut album by Sheryl Crow, appropriately titled Tuesday Night Music Club. Baerwald would get writing credit on seven of the LP's songs including its #2 Grammy-winning hit "All I Wanna Do." David Ricketts was also around for some of the sessions and co-wrote four of the tracks. Bottrell would produce the album. It would be a hugely successful debut album selling over 7 million copies and generating three Grammy wins.

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