"Big Mistake" by Peter Cetera

Song#:  2996
Date:  01/24/1987
Debut:  91
Peak:  61
Weeks:  6
Genre:  Pop, Soft Rock



Pop Bits:  Cetera's second solo album and first since leaving his band Chicago, Solitude/Solitaire, spawned two #1 hits including his duet with Amy Grant "The Next Time I Fall." Getting back to solo mode, this third single was issued out. The song was originally slated to be the first single from the LP, but then the movie soundtrack tune "Glory of Love" got released instead. It was probably a wise choice since that song hit #1 and this single stalled low on the chart. A fourth single, "Only Love Knows Why," made it to #24 at AC, but missed the Pop chart.

ReduxReview:  Releasing an uptempo tune after two big ballad hits was a good idea, but this just wasn't the right song for the job. Had it been the lead single, who knows what might have happened to the album. Much in the same way that Chicago's 80s hits were nearly all big ballads, Cetera, perhaps inadvertently, started off his solo career the same way. People wanted Cetera crooning power ballads, not fronting synth-rock fare like this song. Breaking out of the ballad mode might have worked with a stronger song. This one wasn't going to do it. It was fine for an album track, but it just wasn't catchy enough to lure in listeners at Pop radio. As the coda of this song alluded to, Cetera wrote this when he was with Chicago. A few of the band's tracks had an outro that gave the horn section something to do and the one on this song seemed like that would have been the case if Chicago had recorded it. Even if they did, this still would not have been a good single.

ReduxRating:  5/10

Trivia:  After his solo album, Cetera recorded a one-off tune that would be used in a Japanese film. "Stay with Me" would play over the closing credits of the fantasy movie Princess from the Moon. Based on the ancient story The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter, the film performed well in Japan and would win three Japanese Academy Awards. It starred one of Japan's most famous actors, Toshiro Mifune (Seven Samurai, Yojimbo, Rashomon). Cetera's song was written by Bobby Caldwell and John Parker. Caldwell co-produced with Cetera. Cetera and Caldwell had previously worked together. Caldwell had co-written the hit "The Next Time I Fall" for Cetera. "Stay with Me" would be issued out as a single in Japan. It got to #40 on the chart there.

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