Lost in the ’80s: The Sinceros, “Pet Rock”
Tuesday, October 21st, 2008 by John C. Hughes
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?”
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.
Board games, candy, AWFUL boys, Nancy Drew books and girls who sing – these are a TON of my favorite things!
What’s up, every bizzle? It’s Jizzle-ohn in the hizzouse with another Lost in the Izzle.
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