Starting out as a trio called the Strutters, singer/songwriter Mark Kjeldsen along with rhythm section Bobby Irwin and Ron François re-branded themselves as the Sinceros, trading in New Wave and melodic power pop.  Epic Records took notice and signed the band in the late ’70s, but not before Irwin and François were tapped to play on Lene Lovich’s New Wave classic, Stateless. After this brief detour, the Sinceros released their debut, The Sound Of Sunbathing in 1979.  A single, “Take Me To Your Leader,” got a little buzz in the U.K., and the band toured heavily there and in the States with a power-pop dream line-up co-featuring 20/20 and Paul Collins’ Beat.

After picking up Don Snow as a keyboardist, the band began work on their second album in 1980, but the obviously titled 2nd Debut was shelved by Epic.  Reworking the existing tracks with Elton John’s super-producer Gus Dudgeon, the redone album was finally released in 1981 as Pet Rock. It’s a lost power-pop classic and the lead single “Disappearing” (download) is one of the greatest should’ve beens of the ’80s - in a perfect world it would have been Top Ten everywhere.  Pet Rock starts off with a powerful one-two punch of “Disappearing” and the album’s second single, “Memory Lane,” (download) a Squeeze-ish number that’s even better than the first single.   Unfortunately, despite plenty of hard touring, Pet Rock failed to break big and the Sinceros quietly faded away.  In fact, both albums have never been released on CD.

While keyboardist Don Snow replaced Paul Carrack in Squeeze (talk about a somewhat lateral promotion!), several internet sites claim that singer/songwriter Kjeldsen ended up driving a cab in the ’90s, before succumbing to AIDS a few years later.  A sad fate for one of power-pop’s great songsmiths, but a fervent underground fan base and several music blogs keep his work alive.

Neither single charted.

Get Sinceros music at Amazon.

Former Monkee Michael Nesmith closed out the ’70s in a better position than when the decade began.  After the Monkees disbanded, Nez knocked around a bit on RCA Records, scoring a sole Top 40 hit with “Joanne” in 1970, then a few lower charting country-rock singles as the years wound on, until he parted ways with the label.  It was probably the best move of his career, outside of auditioning for the Pre-fab Four.  Free of a major label contract, Nez founded Pacific Arts, a multi-media company specializing in commercials, filmwork, music, and most prescient, music video.

One of Pacific Arts’ first projects was a music video show for the kids’ network Nickelodeon called “Pop Clips,” which was one of, if not the first all-music video program.  The big bosses at Nickelodeon liked the show and concept so much, they used it as a template to create the world’s first all-video channel, MTV.  Ah, those were the days…

Nesmith began filming videos for his songs in 1977 with a clip for “Rio,” a single that became a minor hit overseas.  Two years later, he released Infinite Rider On The Big Dogma, a definite step away from the light, country-rock flavor for which he was best known.  Infinite Rider had plenty of rock, a bit of soul, and even some near-rap infused funk, as evidenced on the single, “Cruisin’.” (download) probably better known as the “Lucy And Ramona” song.  While “Cruisin’” failed to chart, it must have been somewhat of a regional hit, since I remember the local Top 40 station in Cleveland playing the hell out of it.  It didn’t hurt that the video clip Nes created for the single got plenty of exposure on HBO, Showtime, and Cinemax, in those glorious days when the channels filled time between movies with music videos. (more…)

It’s an old pop joke that winning the Grammy for Best New Artist is pretty much the kiss of death for long-term success. See the Starland Vocal Band, Milli Vanilli, and today’s featured combo, Australia’s Men at Work. While not the massive flameout some other Best New Artist winners were, Men at Work had a sadly truncated shelf life that no one really saw coming.

Their first two albums were massive successes, filled with hits. You know ‘em all: “Doctor Heckyll and Mister Jive,” “Be Good Johnny” … okay, I kid. “Who Can It Be Now” and “Down Under” were huge, along with “Overkill” and “It’s a Mistake.” Both albums, Business as Usual (1982) and Cargo (1983), came hot on the heels of each other; combined with the constant touring and promotional schedule for both, the band needed a much deserved break. Two years later, the group was reduced to a trio of singer Colin Hay, saxophonist Greg Ham, and guitarist Ron Strykert. By the time their third album, Two Hearts (1985), hit the streets, the group had been further reduced to a duo — Strykert left during production.

This pretty much made Men at Work “The Colin Hay Show,” and he seemed determined to take Men at Work in a more mature, less novelty-based direction. Gone were the quirky reggae hooks of songs like “It’s a Mistake” and in their place was straight-ahead adult pop-rock like the lead single, “Everything I Need” (download). The new direction wasn’t necessarily bad, just different, but it wouldn’t be unfair to say it wasn’t really Men at Work. (more…)

Scottish trio One Dove found themselves branded with the trip-hop label after releasing their debut Morning Dove White in 1993.  It wasn’t a label undeserved, really, since the group’s expansive, five-minute plus opuses tended to obscure the catchy hooks underneath layers and layers of shuffled beats, foggy synths, and in the case of the original “Guitar Paradise Mix” of the album’s lead single, “White Love,” squealing electric guitar.

Where the “Guitar Paradise Mix” meanders for more than ten minutes, the Stephen Hague radio mix of “White Love” (download) gets right to the point, pushing the melody to the front, beefing up the dancier aspects of the song and putting vocalist Dot Allison in center stage.  The tinkering resulted in a decent-sized modern rock radio hit for the band, a dance floor smash, and a video in regular rotation on MTV, no small feat for a dance act in the age of grunge:

Same deal with Morning Dove White’s second single, “Breakdown” - the original “Cellophane Boat Mix” (download) was a much more dubby affair with a drowsy Allison vocal, while whiz kid Hague’s superior radio mix (download) strips the song down to its hooky essentials, energizing the vocals in the process.  “Breakdown” also has some neat wordplay, as Allison laments a lost love to the moon:

I remember the night you left me
The moon was full, I felt empty
Tides and werewolves may be turned
But you don’t know how to cry (more…)

Here’s an oldie but a goodie, in a whole new style: the classic video for a-ha’s “Take On Me,” redone literally. What does that mean, you ask? Watch and learn, friends. Watch and learn.

It may be the height of over-sharing to admit this, but Revenge of the Nerds was a movie that really spoke to me in high school.  As a computer-loving, comic book-collecting, Dungeons & Dragons-playing sophomore, I certainly related to Lewis and Gilbert and their struggle and desire to fit in.  Maybe I wasn’t as persecuted as they were, but I certainly felt a kinship for being teased for being smart and not athletic (not that I was any sort of genius, mind you).  While the movie was meant to be another Animal House-style comedic romp, the background and weight given to the lead characters led to a few actually somewhat poignant moments.

But for all those thoughtful moments, Revenge of the Nerds was most certainly primarily a comedy, with plenty of classic, repeatable lines (”What the fuck are ‘robster craws?’”) and memorable scenes, such as the infamous panty raid as pretext for hiding cameras in a sorority (talk about predicting the future of the Internet early!).  Also memorable was the movie’s soundtrack, a hodgepodge of minor New Wave also-rans and never-weres, like Gleaming Spires and Bone Symphony.

Gleaming Spires began life as a band called Bates Motel, gigging around Los Angeles in the early ’80s.  It was there they were discovered by Ron and Russell Mael, and Bates Motel became the new backing band for Sparks, playing on Whomp That Sucker, Angst in My Pants and Sparks in Outer Space.  During this period, with an okay from the Maels, the group began recording on their own again under the name Gleaming Spires, releasing a few albums and a novelty New Wave number called “Are You Ready for the Sex Girls,” (download) which got some airplay on KROQ.  A year or so later, it also ended up being used in Nerds during the Lambda Lambda Lambda/Omega Mu bash.  Gleaming Spires recorded one more album after their Nerds exposure, then faded away. (more…)

Remember when the Hustle swept through discos everywhere?  People were taking Hustle classes, the nightly news reported on the fad, there were instructional records and books.  Hey, remember when everyone did the bump to, say, “Lady Bump?”  How about in 1977, when everyone was doing the latest dance, the “Crazy Thing,” to Jeff Lynne’s “Doin’ That Crazy Thing?”

No?  Oh, sorry.

Creating a new dance craze was definitely on someone’s mind when Jeff Lynne took a short break from leading the Electric Light Orchestra to release this forgotten single.  “Doin’ That Crazy Thing” (download) was released with the mugshot picture sleeve overseas, but here in the States the 12″ version can with a sleeve complete with step-by-step instructions on how to do the “Crazy Thing,” the new moves that were destined to sweep the nation.  Except, like, they didn’t.  The copy I found was sadly saddled with a generic Jet Records sleeve, damn it.

“Doin’ That Crazy Thing” was a strange detour for Lynne, a downtempo, straight-ahead disco tune slipped out under his own name rather than ELO’s, even though the group would flirt with and nearly fully embrace disco a short two years later.  You don’t hear about the one-off solo single, it’s never been released on CD (to my knowlege) and along with its almost identical B-side, “Goin’ Down To Rio,” (download) it’s been written off in Lynne/ELO history. (more…)

Y’know, if you name your kid Herbert or Poindexter, you’re just setting that child up for a lifetime of teasing and ridicule.  And if you name your band Kajagoogoo, well, you can expect a certain amount of critical derision.

That’s probably why after the success of the band’s first album, White Feathers, and Top 5 single, “Too Shy,” the group ditched both lead singer Limahl (the story goes Limahl was a Buddhist while the rest of the ‘goos were Christians) and the “googoo” suffix to release their second album, Extra Play, under the new name Kaja.  Except we here in the States are the only ones that got that title and improved moniker - everywhere else in the world Extra Play was known as Islands, the cover art was completely different, and the band remained Kaja with the googoo still intact.

Another difference was the U.S. got a different first single and remix of said song.  “Turn Your Back On Me” (download) kept with Kaja’s new mission as probably New Wave’s first overtly Christian act (unless you’d like to throw U2 in there), as the funky, bass-fueled number featured lyrics with a heavily allegorical Judas/Jesus theme - or maybe it was really supposed to be sung from Limahl’s point of view?  No?  Hrmm.

“Turn Your Back On Me” got a beefier mix for its Stateside release, as well as a different video than overseas, to no avail, since I never saw it on MTV, only once on Nickelodeon when they used to play music videos between programs.  While bassist and new vocalist Nick Beggs probably had a better voice than Limahl, he was lacking the charisma of the exiled Buddhist, and it didn’t help that he resembled ’til tuesday’s Aimee Mann: (more…)

Note from John: My Phagz on 45 partner (not THAT way!) Matty has been on my jock non-stop, begging me to feature today’s artist on Lost in the ’90s since its inception.  After nearly nine months of crying, hounding, and Abby Ewing-level blackmail, I finally told the bitch to put his money where his mouth is and write the damn thing himself if he wants to see it so badly.  And the sucker fell for it!  So, here’s Matty with today’s post…

Board games, candy, AWFUL boys, Nancy Drew books and girls who sing – these are a TON of my favorite things!

Melissa Farris and Margaret McCartney met while waiting tables at the Zig Zag café in DC.  The two had been playing guitar for about 3 and 6 months respectively when they recruited bassist Phil Satlof and drummer Jack Hornady to form their first band, (named in homage to Fonzie’s paramour, Leather Tuscadero).  Says Melissa via e-mail, “We knew that between them they owned both a drum kit and a bass, and that was very important. Plus they were nice to us.”  When asked if my foggy memories of their inception happening at a Halloween party in the fall of ’93 were accurate, she adds “I think the Halloween story might have been that we decided to form a band whilst liquored up at a Halloween party. Like everything we did in Tuscadero, the decision was made with an almost tactical precision.”  This is so my kinda gal!  I still won’t balance my checkbook without a fistful of candy corns and a Natty Lite!

Like the stuff Indie legends are made of, Mark Robinson of Teenbeat Records signed the band on the spot at their first gig.  The whole story is like a Girl Band Geek FAIRYTALE – not unlike my recurring dreams of my fairy Godmother Kim Shattuck waving her Gretsch wand and changing my Converse Hi Top and pack of Parliaments into a Go-Go’s driven Coopers limousine to Ladyfest! – but for realsies!!! (more…)

What’s up, every bizzle? It’s Jizzle-ohn in the hizzouse with another Lost in the Izzle.

Before you grab the flaming torches and pitchforks, let me just say that’s my li’l way of introducing you to today’s artist, hip-hop pioneer/legend Frankie Smith, co-author of the classic “Double Dutch Bus” and progenitor of “izzle”-speak. That’s right, Frankie Smith gets all the credit/blame, not Snoop Dogg, who appropriated the izzle to big success a few yizzears ago.

A song about both the jump-rope technique and public transportation in Philly, “Double Dutch Bus” (download) was a nearly instantaneous smash on the R&B charts after its release. Smith wasn’t quite an overnight success, though, having spent some time in the trenches as a writer for acts like the O’Jays, Billy Paul, and other artists in the Philadelphia International Records stable. Smith got the idea for “Double Dutch Bus” after being turned down for a job as a city bus driver. He ended up in the studio at two in the morning, where he recorded a profanity-laced tirade about the bus system that, once cleaned up, became a single.

After massive success on the R&B charts (it spent eight weeks at the top), “Double Dutch Bus” crossed over to the pop side of things, where it had a little more difficult time, peaking at just #30. The chart position belies its importance in hip-hop history, however, since the song has been remade, sampled, stolen, etc., over and over, most recently by Missy Elliott with “Gossip Folks” in 2003, and this year’s travesty, a more straight-ahead remake by former Cosby Show cutie Raven-Symoné.

As for Smith, he had trouble following up, failing to chart any more singles on the pop side of things. Smith went into acting with parts in Beloved (1998) and various B movies. His Wikipedia page claims he currently works as a delivery driver, which I sort of want to believe because it would mean he finally got that dream driving job he always wanted, yet I don’t want to believe it because that’s a little depressing after scoring a gold single. Can you imagine Frankie Smith delivering your package? “Here you gizzo. I just need your sigizznatizzure right hizzere.”

“Double Dutch Bus” peaked at #30 on the Billboard Pop Singles chart and at #1 on the Hot Soul Singles chart in 1980.

Get Frankie Smith music at Amazon or on