"Best of Times" by Peter Cetera

Song#:  3697

Date:  10/29/1988

Debut:  88

Peak:  59

Weeks:  8

Genre:  Pop

Pop Bits:  Cetera's third solo album One More Story got kicked off in a good way with its first single, "One Good Woman," reaching #4 Pop/#1 AC. Despite the hit, sales of the LP were slow from the start and Cetera needed another solid single to help it along. This next track was selected, but unfortunately it couldn't do the job. It stalled at #22 AC while not even cracking the top half of the Pop chart. With those results, the LP stopped at #58 and failed to go gold. It was a disappointment coming on the heels of his second solo album Solitude/Solitaire, which had gone platinum. No other singles from the album would reach the Pop/AC charts, however the track "You Never Listen to Me" would make an appearance on the Rock chart at #32.

ReduxReview:  I really liked the opening of this track as it set a cool, dark, energetic mood, but then as soon as the verse hit, the tone changed and the song totally lost momentum. The chorus tried to rally the tune back, but by then it was too late. It wasn't all that memorable either. As an album-opening track it wasn't too bad. As a single, it wasn't going to get anywhere and there was little else on the album that was going to do any better. Cetera just wasn't coming up with the hits needed to keep him high on the charts.

ReduxRating:  4/10

Trivia:  Included on the One More Story album was the track "Save Me." It featured backing vocals by Richard Sterban, the bass vocalist from the Oak Ridge Boys, along with Bonnie Raitt on guitar and backing vocals. The song was selected to be the theme song to the NBC action drama Baywatch, which starred David Hasselhoff. The show premiered in '89 and lasted for one season on NBC. "Save Me" would be the theme for that initial season. Due to high production costs, low ratings, and other issues, NBC axed the show after one season. However, Hasselhoff believed the show still had potential and he helped to get it revived as a first-run syndicated series in '91. Baywatch became a hit not only in the US, but all over the world and would run for nine more seasons with the show relocating to Hawaii in its last two seasons. When the show went to syndication, Cetera's song was dropped as the theme song and replaced by a new song from Survivor's Jimi Jamison that he co-wrote title "I'm Always Here."

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