song of the day – “The Right Thing” | SIMPLY RED | 1987.

Posted on June 12, 2017 by retrogod1985

On June 15, 2014, Casey Kasem, host of the longtime countdown program, AMERICAN TOP 40, passed away at the age of 82. From my first blog post (and prolly some more inbetween then and now), I explained how, in 1979, I was a geeky, lanky and somewhat lost 12-year-old living in Central Maine, had a few friends and not a lot of interest in much of anything, but at some point early that year, I discovered AMERICAN TOP 40, and was glued to it every weekend. Not only could I hear the 40 biggest songs in the country every week, but also Casey’s cool trivia and facts about the songs and the artists, a trait I treasure to this day. For me, the show was No. 1 with a bullet. And still is (thanks to the re-airing of broadcasts of AT40 on iHeart Radio).

In honor of my radio hero, Casey Kasem, for the entire month of June, I will be highlighting a song each day (some days will have two songs!) that peaked in the Top 40 of the BILLBOARD Hot 100 (including five (real) one-hit wonders of the 80s), and with every blog post, just like on AMERICAN TOP 40, the hits will get bigger with each post. On June 1, 2017, I featured a song that peaked at No. 40. On June 30, I’ll feature a “song of the day” that went all the way to No. 1.

As Casey used to say on AT40, “And on we go!”

Manchester, England’s Simply Red had been together only months before reaching No. 1 worldwide with the wonderful “Holding Back The Tears” in 1985 and 1986. After that success, and the success of their debut album, PICTURE BOOK, for their second album, MEN AND WOMEN, Simply Red got some shiny new clothes and brought up the level of their Blue-Eyed Soul.

The first single from MEN AND WOMEN, “The Right Thing,” seemed like quite the right choice as the first single, and to promote their updated look and sound. Released just before MEN AND WOMEN, “The Right Thing” debuted on the BILLBOARD Hot 100 at the end of February 1987 at No. 96.

“The Right Thing” made a steady climb up the Hot 100 and in late April 1987, it became the band’s third Top 40 hit here in America in as many tries. And, for two weeks in mid-to-late May 1987, No. 27 was the right peak for “The Right Thing.”

Around the globe, “The Right Thing” reached No. 4 in Belgium, No. 5 in The Netherlands, No. 9 in New Zealand, No. 10 in Switzerland, No. 11 in the U.K., No. 12 in Ireland, No. 17 in Australia, No. 25 in Canada and No. 27 in Germany.

Although Simply Red had two popular No. 1 songs in the 80s – “Holding Back The Years” and their soulful 1989 cover of Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes’ “If You Don’t Know Me By Now” – they were arguably more popular in their U.K. homeland than here in the U.S.

On the BILLBOARD Hot 100 between 1986 and 1991, Simply Red had just five Top 40 hits, while in the U.K. between 1985 and 2007, Simply Red had 31 Top 40 hits, 10 of which reached the Top 10, and one of those went to No. 1 – 1995’s “Fairground,” which was sadly not a hit in America.

By 2010, Simply Red had released 10 studio albums, five compilations, five live albums and countless singles, and singer / songwriter and Simply Red leader Mick Hucknall was the only original member left.

After a needed five-year break between 2010 and 2015, Simply Red returned with seven members (including original Simply Red keyboardist, Ian Kirkham). They released their first studio album in eight years, titled BIG LOVE, and it was their first studio album with the EastWest record label since the label dropped them in 2000 (Simply Red’s previous three studio albums were self-released).

In 2016, Simply Red kicked off a “25 Years Of Stars Live” tour, celebrating the 25th anniversary of their biggest-ever U.K. album, STARS. The title track is a longtime personal favorite. And Simply Red will continue to perform live in 2017.

For whatever reason, I have a lot of friends who do not like Simply Red…at all. But, some do. I admit here that I am not their biggest fan, but I do love a lot of their music, and out of all the songs that made them famous, the one that had the right stuff was this song. It’s fun, so damn soulful (especially the 12″ remix), and for me, has exactly “The Right Thing”…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLTJ5ktfyw8

song of the day #2 – “Fake Friends” | JOAN JETT & THE BLACKHEARTS | 1983.

Posted on June 4, 2017 by retrogod1985

As Casey used to say on AT40, “And on we go!”

It’s been interesting and fun in my research for the blog posts of this special series paying tribute to Casey Kasem. Some might say it’s neither interesting NOR fun, but since Casey is my radio hero, and since I still am, at age 50, a proclaimed and proud chart nerd (I still check out the BILLBOARD Hot 100 each week, even though I don’t know most of the artists on there), I am digging this. No, literally, today I AM digging into BILLBOARD chart history by looking up all of the songs that reached No. 35 between 1979 and 1989, and there are around 40 of them. You could have Casey on repeat, saying, “And in at No. 35…and in at No. 35…”

If you look at the discography of the amazing Joan Jett, you can tell she had a penchant for cover songs, and then making them all her own – songs like “Crimson And Clover,” “Everyday People,” “Light Of Day,” “Roadrunner,” “Dirty Deeds,” “Love Hurts,” “Summertime Blues,” “Destination Unknown,” “Do You Wanna Touch Me?” and her huge No. 1 hit, “I Love Rock ’N’ Roll” – all of these gems were actually cover songs, whether you knew that or not (I’m betting you did).

For Joan’s third album, however (an album simply titled ALBUM), she took a different route – all but three of the album’s 11 songs were original songs, co-written by Joan and her longtime collaborator and producer, Kenny Laguna. “I Love Playing With Fire” was actually written by Joan herself, but this song originally was performed by Joan’s former 70s Punk band, The Runaways. One of the original songs on ALBUM was the effort’s first single (and album, er, ALBUM, opener), “Fake Friends.”

Debuting on the BILLBOARD Hot 100 at No. 68 in early July 1983, “Fake Friends” reached the Top 40 by the end of July, becoming the band’s fifth Top 40 hit in two years, and their first original composition to reach the Top 40. But, like many songs that reach the Top 40 in a short amount of time, for whatever reason, the songs lose steam and they peak quickly. In the case of “Fake Friends,” it peaked for two weeks at No. 35 in August 1983. Joan and Co. were gone from the Hot 100 after just 10 weeks.

After ALBUM’s second single, the aforementioned spirited cover of Sly & The Family Stone’s “Everyday People,” peaked at No. 37 in October 1983, Joan Jett & The Blackhearts wouldn’t return to the Top 40 until 1987, when the Bruce Springsteen-composed “Light Of Day” reached No. 33 on the Hot 100 in April of that year.

“Light Of Day” was the title song from the film of the same name, starring Michael J. Fox and Joan Jett, her first film as an actress. Michael and Joan starred as brother and sister, and their band was called The Barbusters. On the Hot 100, “Light Of Day” was actually credited to The Barbusters, with Joan Jett & The Blackhearts in parentheses.

The next time Joan & Co. would chart the Hot 100 again on their own accord was in 1988, when Joan’s second original song to reach the Top 40, “I Hate Myself For Loving You,” reached No. 8.

Oft-credited as the Queen of Rock ’N’ Roll and the Godmother of Punk, Joan and The Blackhearts were rightfully inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in 2015. Their last album was in 2013 (UNVARNISHED), and Joan and the band continue to tour.

Last year, on a tour I had hoped to see but couldn’t, they performed with Heart and Cheap Trick, and starting June 14, 2017, they head out on a Summer tour with 70s and 80s Rock legends, Boston. Don’t know if it’ll be this year, but one day I hope I get to see Joan Jett & The Blackhearts perform. It’s long overdue.

I suppose it’s a bit weird to highlight a song called “Fake Friends” on a day of heartbreak (sadly again) in London, and much love and unity at the impressive One Love Manchester concert in Manchester, England, but Joan Jett has never been one to back down or not tell it like it is, and neither should I, and neither should you.

And, if you should ever encounter one of these “fake friends,” whether on social media or in person, and feel dejected about the whole thing after you’ve told them to eff off, just remember what Joan says:

“Ya got nothin to lose / Ya don’t lose when you lose fake friends…”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTDJWZ4WiI0

Blue Monday.

Posted on May 24, 2017 by retrogod1985

For years, during and away from STUCK IN THE 80s, I’ve been raving about and enjoying the music from Manchester and Greater Manchester, England, including but not limited to New Order, Joy Division, The Smiths, The Stone Roses, The Buzzcocks, Happy Mondays, James, The Chameleons, The Fall, When In Rome, as well as Lisa Stansfield, Swing Out Sister, The Bee Gees, The Hollies and Simply Red. Even this past weekend, Hope and I were taking about New Order’s incredible 1983 hit, “Blue Monday,” and how amazing it must have been to have heard this in the club at the time of its release!

The cool floppy disk-like cover art for New Order’s “Blue Monday.”

Well, this past Monday, May 22, 2017, was indeed a Blue Monday, but not the cool, danceable New Order-kind of Monday. By now, I’m sure everyone has heard about the tragic bombing in Manchester immediately following a concert by American Pop star, Ariana Grande. The bombing happened at Manchester’s largest venue, the Manchester Arena (which has a capacity of 21,000 people).

The Empire State Building in NYC, paying tribute to the victims of the Manchester attack by going dark.

As people were filing out of the venue, many of whom were stopping at the merch table on their way out, a 22-year-old man and British citizen (and of Libyan descent) took his own life and the lives of 22 others by detonating a bomb inside the venue. At least 120 others were injured from the blast (with nearly half of those folks having to be hospitalized).

The Eiffel Tower in Paris also went dark, paying tribute to the victims of the Manchester attack.

Among those 22 people who died that night were Georgiana Callander, an 18-year-old superfan of Ariana Grande; Kelly Brewster, a 32-year-old fan who covered her niece from the explosion; Alison Howe and Lisa Lees, two friends (and moms) who weren’t even at the concert and were just waiting for their daughters to come out after the show; and Saffie Rose Roussos, an eight-year-old girl who was prolly attending her first concert ever and had her whole life ahead of her and then some. Students and teachers at the school she attended (about 40 miles north of Manchester), held a moment of silence for Saffie, and then sang Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’” (the popular GLEE version) in her honor.

Eight-year-old Saffie Rose Roussos, the youngest victim of the Manchester attack.

The Burj Khalifa in Dubai, the tallest structure in the world, showing their support for the U.K. and the victims of the Manchester attack.

Many nations around the globe expressed their sorrow regarding the Manchester attack, and their solidarity and their prayers. Donald Trump called ISIS (who made an unconfirmed claim of responsibility for the attack) “evil losers.”

While my response might have been a bit more eloquent than Mr. Trump, I will agree that ISIS is evil, and yes, they are losers. All over the globe, ISIS (the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) has caused much havoc and taken far too many lives under a mask of religious violence, but when it’s all said and done, they really just don’t give a shit about anything except maybe their beloved Prophet Muhammad. As a lifelong Catholic (practicing, non-practicing and recovering), I can’t imagine the Apostle of God would be down with all this. Just sayin’.

Please know what you just read was not said to demean Muslims or Muhammad; my beef is with ISIS.

Here’s another reason why the collective of ISIS are a bunch of losers, or in my book, rank somewhere next to ticks and cockroaches as having no meaning or need for existence on this Earth: ISIS thinks that, with every venue they blow up, it’s going to stop people from returning to see concerts. They are so fucking mistaken. I’m in mourning for the loss of people I didn’t even know from this Manchester attack, and the one in Paris in late 2015. Many folks around the globe are in mourning too. But, you can’t let ISIS win.

It’s alright to fear. It’s alright to be scared. I’m scared more often than I’d like to admit for whatever reason, but for the sake of it being alright to be scared, I’m admitting it here. Of course, I’d never want something to happen to anyone I love (family, friends, radio listeners, kind blog readers) because of ISIS. Moreover, though, I’d never want anyone I love to give up something they love or love doing because these misguided, coward ISIS motherfuckers have their own agenda and don’t want you to do anything you love. It’s alright to be scared. It’s alright to fear. But, just because they don’t give a shit about their own lives or the lives of others in this world, you can’t let it stop you from doing something you love, with someone you love. So, don’t let it…

Sending many thoughts and prayers, and peace and love, to everyone in Manchester, England, and beyond, after a very Blue Monday…

#ManchesterUnited #ManchesterAttack #WeStandWithManchester

song of the day – “All Around The World” | LISA STANSFIELD | 1989 / 1990.

Posted on May 2, 2017 by retrogod1985

In mid-October 1989, Pop music in America didn’t know which direction it was going in. Take the Top 10 of the BILLBOARD Hot 100 chart for October 14, 1989 for example. You had 80s Pop mainstays Janet Jackson and Madonna leading the pack (“Miss You Much” and “Cherish,” respectively), the future great Grammy taker-awayers, Milli Vanilli (“Girl I’m Gonna Miss You”), a rare big American hit for The Cure (“Love Song”), the last big hit for the Rolling Stones (“Mixed Emotions”), Tears For Fears channeling The Beatles (“Sowing The Seeds Of Love”), rapper Young M.C. with the first (and last) big hit of his own (“Bust A Move”), Hollywood, CA Glam Metal band Warrant (“Heaven”), another big Pop hit for Sweden’s Roxette (“Listen To Your Heart”) and the first Pop single for R&B singer, songwriter and future mega-producer, Babyface (“It’s No Crime”).

Meanwhile, over in the U.K., Disco, which saw its peak ten years earlier, was mounting a sort of comeback. Sure, there were Disco influences in the 80s – you heard it in the music of Madonna, Michael Jackson, Lionel Richie, Irene Cara, Queen and Pet Shop Boys, to name a few (Pet Shop Boys even named several of their early remixes as the “Disco Mix”).

In September 1989, Italian Eurohouse band Black Box started a six-week run at No. 1 on the U.K. singles chart with “Ride On Time,” and ended up being the biggest U.K. single of 1989. Black Box would go on to have big global hits in the early 90s, scoring a couple of Top 10 hits in the U.S. with “Everybody Everybody” and “Strike It Up.”

During the last week of Black Box’s reign on the U.K. singles chart, Manchester, England native Lisa Stansfield released – that same week in mid-October 1989 mentioned at the beginning of the blog post – the second single from her then-forthcoming album, AFFECTION – “All Around The World.”

Lisa Stansfield had tried out a solo career back in the early 80s, and released a number of singles, including a 1983 song called “Listen To Your Heart” (no relation to the Roxette song from 1989).

After a brief first try at a solo career, Lisa joined the short-lived trio, Blue Zone, which was a combination of Pop, Dance and Blue-Eyed Soul. Their only album, 1988’s BIG THING, well, wasn’t. It did, however, give Blue Zone (known as Blue Zone UK in the U.S.) one hit on the BILLBOARD Hot 100, with the song “Jackie,” featured in the 1987 film, SUMMER SCHOOL, starring Mark Harmon and Kirstie Alley. “Jackie” reached No. 54 on the Hot 100.

It was not until Lisa’s first collaboration with producer and remixer Coldcut in the Spring of 1989 that gave her a big U.K. hit. The song was “People Hold On,” from Coldcut’s debut album, WHAT’S THAT NOISE?. Lisa sang and co-wrote the song, and it reached No. 11 on the U.K. singles chart and No. 6 on BILLBOARD’s Dance chart. It also had Top 40 success in some countries around the globe.

After “People Hold On” was a hit on both sides of the Atlantic, Arista Records signed Lisa on as a solo artist. Her first successful solo single, “This Is The Right Time,” was released in late July 1989 (it was released as her third single in the U.S. a year later).

“This Is The Right Time” (produced by Coldcut) was a success, reaching No. 13 on the U.K. singles chart, and would go on to fare well in Austria, Canada, Germany, the BILLBOARD Hot 100 (where it reached No. 21), and the BILLBOARD Dance chart, where it spent a week on top in mid-October 1990.

A month before the mid-November 1989 release of Lisa’s debut solo album, AFFECTION, her second U.K. solo single was released – “All Around The World.” And this one WOULD take her all around the world.

Almost immediately, critics and music fans were hooked. ROLLING STONE critic Amy Linden gave the AFFECTION album four out of five stars, saying “the way her voice slinks around the line ‘so-oo sad’ in ‘All Around The World’ show[s] that this is someone who knows her roots even if they aren’t really hers.”

The sound of “All Around The World” was inspired by the late, great R&B legend, Barry White (who would sing, with Lisa, on a version of the song in 1992), and it paid off. Ten years after the peak of Disco, Lisa Stansfield brought the genre back for four-and-a-half minutes and then some all around the world.

The single “All Around The World” was a massive hit nearly everywhere it landed. It spent two weeks at No. 1 in the U.K. in November 1989, and from there, it reached No. 1 in Austria (six weeks), Belgium, Canada (five weeks), Holland (four weeks), Norway, Spain, and two weeks at No. 1 on both of BILLBOARD’s R&B and Dance charts, where it finished 1990 at Nos. 6 and 3, respectively, for the year.

Over here in the U.S., “All Around The World” was released in mid-January 1990, three months after its U.K. release, and the news of its success, well, all around the world was good news to American radio stations and record stores. “All Around The World” debuted on the BILLBOARD Hot 100 just a couple of weeks later, in early February 1990.

A couple of months later, it had reached No. 3, and certainly had the momentum to reach No. 1, but it got stuck in a few tight chart weeks, and it stayed at No. 3 for three weeks. The competition for No. 1 was so tight, in fact, in those three weeks, there were three different No. 1 songs, the last of which was “Nothing Compares 2 U,” the Prince-composed gem of a cover by Sinéad O’Connor.

As it turns out, “All Around The World” really did have the momentum of being a No. 1 song here in America. When BILLBOARD tallied up the top Hot 100 songs of 1990, “All Around The World” beat out the first two songs that did go to No. 1 (and prevented Lisa from going to there), not to mention it beat out several other No. 1 songs that year too.

Though some would prolly classify it more as an R&B or Dance song than a Disco song, I think “All Around The World” had a real big hand in reinvigorating the Disco genre for awhile in the early 1990s, or at least inspiring other artists and / or songs to include that “Disco” influence.

One of THE BEST songs to dance to evah, Deee-Lite’s “Groove Is In The Heart” (released during the Summer of 1990), would certainly fit into that category. Maybe even U2’s “Lemon” (1993), the Pet Shop Boys remix of Blur’s “Girls & Boys” (1994) and the brilliant “Justified & Ancient” by The KLF and Tammy Wynette (1991) would fit into that category as well.

In 1991, Lisa Stansfield was nominated for two Grammy Awards, including Best New Artist and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance, losing out to Mariah Carey in both categories. For the British equivalent of the Grammy Awards, the BRIT Awards, Lisa won Best British Newcomer in 1990 and Best British Female in 1991.

After “All Around The World” (and not counting her vocal contribution to 1989’s “Do They Know It’s Christmas II”), Lisa Stansfield would go on to have 13 more Top 40 U.K. hits, six of those which reached the Top 10. And she did okay over here in the U.S. for awhile. Most recently, she released her seventh solo studio album, appropriately titled, SEVEN, in early 2014. It was her highest-charting U.K. album in 17 years. That same year, she also released her fourth compilation, and her second and third remix albums back-to-back.

Between 1999 and 2013, Lisa Stansfield appeared in five films, and in 1998, she married her second husband – her longtime friend, engineer, mixer, co-writer and co-producer, Ian Devaney. They were married in a small ceremony in New York City.

Hard to imagine at one time I didn’t even like Lisa Stansfield or “All Around The World.” It took me about five years, around my second year living in Portland, but I finally saw and heard what folks were raving about back in 1990. And, once I learned this song was actually a U.K. hit in 1989, you can bet I played this song often on my little 80s radio show, STUCK IN THE 80s. And, why wouldn’t I?

Sure, somewhere in there, “All Around The World” is a melancholy song with some hope (“I can’t find my baby / I don’t know when, I don’t know why / Why he’s gone away / And I don’t know where he can be, my baby / But I’m gonna find him…”). And it did what it set out to do – go all around the world, but also, it helped incorporate and reintroduce a genre that had pretty much been declared dead a decade before, and at a time where Grunge was about to take off, that’s a pretty impressive feat and then some for a song that almost sounds like it could have come out of 1977…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVuuatjHGnY

song of the day – “Telephone Operator” | PETE SHELLEY | 1982.

Posted on April 17, 2017 by retrogod1985

Today, English singer / songwriter / guitarist Pete Shelley turns 61 – Happy Birthday! Pete is prolly best known for his five-year stint with the Greater Manchester, England Punk Rock band, Buzzcocks, which he co-formed with Howard Devoto in 1976 (Howard would leave the band a year later). Buzzcocks released three studio albums in 1978 and 1979, and the SINGLES GOING STEADY compilation album (released in 1979 on I.R.S. Records) was the first album by the band released in North America.

From the amazing SINGLES GOING STEADY collection and their second studio album, LOVE BITES, was THE song Pete and Buzzzcocks will be forever known for – “Ever Fallen In Love (With Someone You Shouldn’t’ve).” The 1978 gem was a No. 12 hit on the U.K. singles chart and a No. 14 hit in Ireland, and has been immortalized for nearly 40 years on college and community radio, through numerous appearances in films and in TV shows like SCRUBS, and because of an even bigger 1986 / 1987 cover version by Fine Young Cannibals.

Pete Shelley is also prolly best-known for his first solo hit, 1981’s controversial “Homosapien,” a No. 4 hit in Australia and a No. 14 hit on BILLBOARD’s Dance chart. The BBC banned the song for its “explicit reference to gay sex” from the lyrics “homo superior / in my interior.” Regardless of being banned by the BBC, “Homosapien” still found its way to dance clubs around the globe.

I’m sure at some point, I’ll highlight both of those memorable gems on the blog, but the song by the birthday boy on my mind today was “Telephone Operator” (from his 1983 solo studio album, XL1), co-produced by Pete Shelley and the late Martin Rushent, who also produced albums for Buzzcocks, Human League, Altered Images, The Go-Go’s, The Stranglers among many others.

Pete Shelley met Howard Devoto in 1975 at the then-Bolton Institute of Technology (now the University of Bolton), and, in a groundbreaking and unusual move prolly not unrelated to his time spent at BIT, the original release of Pete’s XL1 album included a computer program for the ZX Spectrum computer, and featured graphics and lyrics that displayed in time with the music, which is commonplace with media players today, but in 1982 was pretty rare.

“Telephone Operator” was the first of two singles released from XL1, and it ended up being Pete’s biggest U.K. hit, reaching a should’ve-been-higher No. 66 peak. It fared better on BILLBOARD’s Dance chart, where it reached No. 22.

After releasing his last studio album, HEAVEN AND THE SEA, in 1986, Pete Shelley re-formed Buzzcocks, and since 1989, the band has released six studio albums (including 2014’s THE WAY), four live albums, and 10 compilations (including my favorite, the brilliant 25-track 1991 comp, OPERATORS MANUAL: BUZZCOCKS BEST).

In 2016, Pete and Buzzcocks celebrated their 40 years together with a tour called Buzzcocks 40. On May 29, 2017, they will play at the 18th Annual Punk Rock and Bowling Music Festival in Las Vegas, and headline a show in Denver on June 2nd. Wish I could be there.

I think another reason I wanted to share the awesome “Telephone Operator” today is because it tends to get overshadowed by the also awesome “Homosapien” and “Ever Fallen In Love.” For me, though, “Telephone Operator” is three minutes and 15 seconds of pure, edgy New Wave / Dance perfection. Go ahead, put the phone down and prove me wrong. I double dog dare ya.

“Telephone Operator / You’re my aural stimulator…”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DGvjdZGyrI

(real) one-hit wonder of the week – “Come Out Fighting” | EASTERHOUSE | 1989.

Posted on April 16, 2017 by retrogod1985

Between late 1979 and the end of 1989, there were nearly 500 (real) one-hit wonders of the 80s that reached the BILLBOARD Hot 100 just one time, a list that includes Soft Cell, Gary Numan, Timbuk 3, The Church, Bronski Beat, Nik Kershaw, The Buggles, The Waitresses, Ultravox and two different bands named The Silencers. Once a week, I’ll highlight a (real) one-hit wonder for you.

On this Easter Sunday night in Central Maine, USA, I thought I’d share a song by an Indie Rock band whose name is not actually related to the Easter holiday, but for a suburb of Glasgow, Scotland, approximately six miles from the center of the city – Easterhouse.

The band Easterhouse, though named after that Glasgow suburb, was actually from the town of Stretford, England, not far from the 80s music mecca of Manchester. Led by brothers Andy and Ivor Perry, Easterhouse was a five-man band who formed in the early 80s, and were oft-called a “stridently political band,” or basically presenting their political music in a loud, harsh, controversial and forceful way. The Smiths’ Morrissey was a fan.

Lead singer Andy Perry had this weird fascination with communism, which is great if you’re planning a radio show about the Cold War, but isn’t so hot if your views on communism don’t match up with the other members of your band.

The band signed on with the very cool Rough Trade record label (then-fellow label mate Morrissey of The Smiths may or may not have had something to do with it). Easterhouse released just two albums and an EP, with their 1985 EP, IN OUR OWN HANDS, being released first. It fared well on the U.K. Indie singles chart, reaching No. 13. Their first full-length album was 1986’s CONTENDERS. This album reached No. 3 on the U.K. Indie Album chart and gave the band a couple of Top 5 singles on the U.K. Indie Singles chart – “Whistling In The Dark” and “Inspiration.”

The cover art for CONTENDERS, the first Easterhouse album.

But, the two Perry brothers were constantly at odds with each other, and Ivor Perry left the band. Three other members soon followed. By the time a second (and final) album with the Easterhouse name was released in 1989 (WAITING FOR THE REDBIRD), only lead singer Andy Perry was the original member left.

Both the album and WAITING FOR THE REDBIRD’s first single, “Come Out Fighting,” reached No. 18 on their respective U.K. Indie charts. But, unlike before, Easterhouse had a minor hit here in the U.S., with “Come Out Fighting.”

The U.S. 12″ single cover art for “Come Out Fighting.”

Easterhouse got some airplay on college and commercial radio, and debuted on the BILLBOARD Hot 100 for the chart dated Saturday, April 1, 1989 (six days after Easter 1989) with “Come Out Fighting” entering the chart at No. 91. But, “Come Out Fighting” did not get to fight its way up the chart much, peaking at No. 82 a couple of weeks later and coming out of the chart after four weeks. Easterhouse never reached the Hot 100 again. And their final single, “You’re Gonna Miss It (When It’s Gone)” prolly wasn’t missed at all.

New York magazine TROUSER PRESS once described the band’s demise as “a shame, since Easterhouse seemed well on its way towards perfecting a brand of explicitly political rock that compromised neither music nor message.”

A 1989 press photo for Andy Perry of / as Easterhouse.

Well, at the very least, Easterhouse did at least come out trying, and got me to enjoy this great song forever…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DrYAxUUw6mw

song of the day – “Breakout” | SWING OUT SISTER | 1987.

Posted on May 12, 2016 by retrogod1985

Here’s one of those songs that I absolutely did not like when it was originally released, but grew to enjoy and love. Manchester, England is the birthplace to many great bands and artists like New Order, The Smiths, Morrissey, Johnny Marr, Buzzcocks, The Chameleons, Happy Mondays, The Outfield, Tim Booth, Electronic, The Stone Roses, David Gray, Oasis, Bee Gees, Simply Red and Joy Division. Manchester, England is also the birthplace to the Brit-Pop band, Swing Out Sister (fashion designer-turned-vocalist Corinne Drewery, keyboardist Andy Connell, and at first, drummer Martin Jackson).

Swing Out Sister’s debut album, IT’S BETTER TO TRAVEL, was released this week in 1987, and was the band’s first of nine studio albums released through 2008. And, from that album, was the band’s breakout song, titled appropriately enough, “Breakout.”

Released in early October 1986, “Breakout” was a refreshing Brit-Pop treat with Jazz influences, unlike anything else on radio at that time. A month later, “Breakout” reached its No. 4 peak in the U.K., but it took awhile longer for the single to break out here in the U.S., debuting on the BILLBOARD Hot 100 in mid-August 1987.

“Breakout” went on to spend two weeks at No. 6 on the Hot 100 in November 1987, a whole year after its peak on the U.K. singles chart. “Breakout” stuck around through January 1988, nearly spending a half-year on the Hot 100, ending up as one of the biggest hits of 1987, and earning a Grammy nomination for Best Pop Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group (Swing Out Sister was also nominated for Best New Artist).

Around the globe, “Breakout” also reached No. 4 in New Zealand, No. 6 in Ireland, the Top 20 in Australia, Belgium and Canada, and the Top 30 in Germany and Holland.

The follow-up single to “Breakout,” the lovely “Twilight World,” was already climbing the Hot 100 when “Breakout” was still on the chart, and peaked at No. 31 in late February 1988. The band would make two more appearances on the Hot 100 – “Waiting Game” (No. 86, 1989) and “Am I The Same Girl” (No. 42, 1992).

In 2014, Swing Out Sister started a crowdfunding project through PledgeMusic titled “A Moveable Feast,” saying, “We’re making a thing, don’t know what it is yet. Come along for the ride and we’ll find out together.” The result was the album, RUSHES, released in 2015, which was sent out to those who had pledged.

Whenever I think of Swing Out Sister, I think of their charismatic style, with equal parts Pop and Jazz, and a hint of something I wasn’t hearing anywhere else. “Twilight World” remains my favorite song by them, but I’ll never forget about their big “Breakout…”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMBk-O7D-R0