Wednesday, July 22nd, 2009

Bottom Feeders: The Ass End of the ’80s, Part 61

by Dave Steed

feeders52

Okay, so I know this is going to sound weird, but there’s a song on my iPod and I have no idea how it got there. Maybe someone sent it to me (if so, thanks!), or I downloaded it, but the simple fact of the matter is that I don’t remember it at all. Better yet, I know nothing about the group or the song except that it’s clearly ’80s and quite good. The group is called Music for Pleasure and the song is “The Human Factor.” So who can tell me something about this mysterious group and song that’s shown up in my world?

Even if you can’t, that’s okay. You can still listen to the songs below. Two more weeks to go until we end the letter M, so here’s the next-to-last one. Enjoy more songs from the ass end of the Billboard Hot 100 chart during the 1980s.

Modern English
“I Melt With You” — 1983, #78 (download)
“Hands Across the Sea” — 1984, #91 (download)

Can you possibly believe that “I Melt With You” didn’t go Top 40? Hell, I can’t believe it didn’t go Top 10. This would definitely go down as a nominee for most recognized Bottom Feeders track. If you’ve never listened to it, tracking down After the Snow, the album whence it came, would be worth your while. “Hands Across the Sea” is from the good but not great follow-up, Ricochet Days.

Molly Hatchet
“Flirtin’ With Disaster” — 1980, #42 (download)
“The Rambler” — 1981, #91 (download)
“Power Play” — 1982, #96 (download)
“Satisfied Man” — 1984, #81 (download)

MollyThe first three songs here were produced by none other than Tom Werman, so I’ll let you go back and read about his experiences with Molly Hatchet. “Satisfied Man” was produced by Terry Manning for the album The Deed Is Done, the first less-than-stellar release from the group. I’m not just saying that because Werman didn’t produce the album — their next studio record, 1989’s Lightning Strikes Twice, was produced by him and kind of sucks too.

You know, I have to vent a bit here. I own the whole ’80s catalog of Molly Hatchet, so it’s not a big deal right now. But I was at a record show over the weekend flipping through $2 records and every one of these albums was in there. It made me remember what a pain in the ass it was to find them. No, they aren’t rare or anything. It’s simply that, other than 1983’s No Guts … No Glory, every album cover of theirs looks exactly the same at first glance. Even at second glance they all look the same. So I remembered back to when I was trying to find them without a list in front of me — I’m pretty good at remembering album covers, but damn if it isn’t confusing with this group.

Mondo Rock
“Primitive Love Rites” — 1987, #71 (download)

Mondo Rock were an Australian band that had a decent string of hits from 1981 to 1990 in their homeland. “Primitive Love Rites” is a pretty cool song, and the only one that caught on in the U.S.

Eddie Money
“Running Back” — 1980, #78 (download)
“Let’s Be Lovers Again” — 1980, #65 (download)
“Shakin’” — 1982, #63 (download)
“Big Crash” — 1983, #54 (download)
“Club Michelle” — 1984, #66 (download)
“We Should Be Sleeping” — 1987, #90 (download)
“Let Me In” — 1989, #60 (download)

Eddie MoneyI was surprised to see that Eddie Money had 13 Hot 100 hits, enough to put seven of them on my list. Money’s first three records are pretty boring and uneventful, but 1982’s No Control added the slicker arena-like sound that pushed him to the next level with songs like “Shakin’” and “Think I’m In Love.” “Big Crash” is the other one that should be immediately recognizable even if you don’t know his catalog. Both that and “Club Michelle” are from 1983’s Where’s the Party? Obviously he hit the big time in ’86 with the release of Can’t Hold Back and “Take Me Home Tonight.” “We Should Be Sleeping” was the fourth and final single from the record. Overall though, Eddie Money’s catalog kind of puts me to sleep. I mean, what’s with the snail-like pace of “Let Me In” anyway? He’s an artist that I don’t necessarily consider bad, but he’s just not my cup of tea.

T.S. Monk
“Bon Bon Vie” — 1981, #63 (download)

This isn’t some ordinary funk artist here — this is the son of jazz great Thelonious Monk. Thelonious Sphere Monk Jr. had three records in the ’80s with his band T.S. Monk. (Later in the ’90s he went solo, also billed as T.S. Monk. Creative bastard, ain’t he?) What’s occurring as I’m writing this is actually a rare thing: this is a song that I’ve always liked very much, but I’m listening to it right now it really isn’t anything special. It’s got a nice sing-along chorus, but not much else.

Monkees
“Daydream Believer” — 1986, #79 (download)
“Heart and Soul” — 1987, #87 (download)

MonkeesWhy why why was this necessary? Seriously, was there anyone clamoring for a Monkees reunion, or better yet a very slight remix of “Daydream Believer”? That said, “Heart and Soul” is a pretty damn good tune from the miserable reunion album Pool It!, featuring all the members of the original group except for Michael Nesmith (which kind of makes it not a “reunion” at all, does it?). I’m just extremely excited that I didn’t have to talk about the 1987 New Monkees album, too, because then I would’ve been ripped a new one for not owning two houses in Los Angeles. Thank heaven luck is on my side.

Monroes
“What Do All the People Know” — 1982, #59 (download)

I don’t know if I can necessarily say this is a rare song, but the Monroes are a pretty obscure new-wave band from the early ’80s thanks to the fact that they released just one self-titled five-song EP. Unfortunately, their record label, Alfa, failed to promote them and ultimately dropped them; they never got another record off the ground. The EP is pretty solid if you can find it cheaply.

MoodyMoody Blues
“Talking Out of Turn” — 1981, #65 (download)
“Blue World” — 1983, #62 (download)
“The Other Side of Life” — 1986, #58 (download)

I think the Moody Blues are my mother’s favorite band. I don’t know that for a fact, but the last time I looked at her CD collection it included Billy Joel’s Greatest Hits and a Moody Blues box set. That’s it. They are not her son’s favorite band, though they are another group I know I should give a closer listen to. I thoroughly enjoy all their ’80s albums, and what can you say about those harmonies — on pretty much every song they’re magnificent. Justin Hayward has the absolute perfect voice for these songs. Sooner or later I’m going to hit the Moody Blues’ back catalog and catch up on what I’ve been missing.

QUICK HITS
Best song: Modern English, “I Melt With You”
Worst song: Eddie Money, “Let Me In”

Next week we finish up the letter M with some light-rock sappiness, more Werman, and the song I proposed to my wife with.

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 22nd, 2009 at 7:30 am and is filed under Bottom Feeders, Featured, Featured - Frontpage, Music. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

  • jack
    "I now own two houses in a nicer part of Los Angeles."

    Thanks so much for pointing me to a year-old article on the New Monkees. The comment from Marty Ross (made ELEVEN months later. Google yourself much?) is GOLD.

    When a former member of the New Monkees tears you one, that is a solid gold feather in your writing cap (or a solid gold turd in your shoe)!
  • Jeff
    Wholeheartedly agree that Modern English's "After the Snow" is worth checking out. I never understood why this band didn't make it big. "I Melt With You" must have been included on every mix tape that I made for a girl up until the time I stopped making mix tapes for girls.

    And it might sound cliche, but if you want to start listening to The Moody Blues, you really can't go wrong with Days of Future Passed. Overall, I'm not a huge fan of The Moody Blues, but this album moves me every time I hear it, and it was one that I played for my infant son at night when he couldn't sleep.
  • kingofgrief
    Two factoids about "I Melt WIth You": According to the liner notes of my Modern English anthology CD (signed by Robbie Grey!), "Melt" was certified by BMI as having logged a million radio spins. And the first time I heard it, it reminded me of Bang-era Neil Diamond. I'm sure he and Rick Rubin could knock out a mean cover.

    You'd think the abovementioned ME collection would contain their other Hot 100 placing, but alas. So thank you for allowing me to have "Hands Across the Sea" in digital form. The "Back to Back Hits" reissue of "Melt" and "Hands" was the first release I ever owned to bear the 4AD logo, so both songs hold extra personal significance.

    Eddie Money's not your cup of tea? I have a hard time computing that one. Goes to show you never truly know someone you only glean insights about once a week.

    Who was clamoring for a Monkees reunion? Only the kids who made the original sitcom one of MTV's most successful programs of the mid-80s and renewed Davy's pin-up status. Though you're both right about "Heart and Soul" (my copy's on pink vinyl!) being pretty damn good and Pool It! being miserable. It's still a few shades above the Nesmith-included Justus from '96. I give the Monkees a wider berth than most people (hell, I even own Changes) but that record didn't last a week in my library. (And even if the "Daydream Believer" remix is superfluous, it does boast "Randy Scouse Git" on the flip, so I'll allow it.)

    I'm on a time crunch this morning, but I'll return to weigh in on "What Do All the People Know". And BOY, am I gonna weigh in.
  • I was into the Monkees when I was six years old. Of course, I was also into The Banana Splits so there's that. Suffice it to say that I got through '80s Monkee Mania unscathed. To me, it was about as Must-See-TV as a Gilligan's Island marathon, which is less than nil. Even so, the descent from their headache inducing psyche of Headquarters to everybody frolicking in the pool is just a total fireable offense for the dude who okayed it.

    I'm just sayin.
  • kingofgrief
    I will concur that the series hasn't held up very well. I picked up both seasons on the cheap last year and found myself skipping episodes towards the middle of season 2. But the packaging is cool, and it afforded me the opportunity to see 33 1/3 Revolutions Per Monkee (the B-side to Head) at long last.
  • I don't think anybody can fault the Monkees for releasing new product after the success of the show on MTV and Nickelodeon, but yeah, that album is pretty much crap. Although for some unknown reason, Peter's song "Since You Went Away" jumps into my head every so often.

    I went looking for the video for "Heart and Soul" (which I loved as a kid), but couldn't find it. I did find this video of a girl who won the Nick Rocks contest to meet the Monkees, and the memories came flooding back. I'm almost positive I taped this off of Nick during a Monkees marathon and the video is lying around somewhere.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FrZJn6n2aME
  • thefxc
    The Monroes song has had a decent afterlife; it showed up on a lot of new wave comps in the 90s. (The Rhino Just Can't Get Enough series really shaped the new wave canon at a time when radio stations were starting 80s retro shows--it salvaged this song, and Peter Godwin's "Images of Heaven," probably a few others that would have just faded away . . .)The problem wasn't that their label didn't push the song--they went under while the song was on the charts!

    The MTV 24-hour Monkees marathon is where the network started going bad. It was actually a nice idea--they pushed the Monkees as godfathers of the music video, which is a defensible position--but the overkill swallowed up most of the summer of '86.

    As far as I'm concerned, music began in 1979, which is to say I like the Moody Blues' 80s stuff and I haven't heard anything else. Note that their big comeback ("Your Wildest Dreams") with its 60s-retro video was big the same year The Monkees came back.

    Who would have guessed that Mondo Rock's biggest hit (a great song, BTW, and a fine record too) placed eight spots higher than "I Melt With You"? There has to be a (likely very strange) that "Melt" wasn't a bigger hit--maybe it got lost in the first wave of MTV/new wave backlash? Which led to the 60s nostalgia bubble of '86? It's all coming together...

    BTW, it's too bad the The Models' "Out of Mind, Out Of Sight" made it to #38 or something. Maybe once this is over you can do all the songs that peaked between #40-#31? Sometimes they really get forgotten...for example: The Models.
  • kingofgrief
    I've entertained the notion of proposing a Bottom Feeders-esque series devoting itself to 80s charters between 36 and 40, if for no other reason to rave about Naked Eyes' "When the Lights Go Out", which nobody spins on the air anymore (but me). But they have two singles everyone remembers; The Models don't even have that much. (Think I'll spin 'em next week; thanks for the idea.)

    I know of two 80s comps that featured "All the People": volume 4 of Just Can't Get Enough (as you mentioned) and the 3rd volume of EMI's Living in Oblivion (where I first discovered it). Both are out of print, and the only version of the song Amazon MP3 offers is an out-of tune cover by Leckerphonics, so this is one to grab and cherish.

    I still have not yet begun to weigh in on "All the People", so stay tuned.
  • Doug
    Yes - I really liked the Models (saw them open for OMD in 86 at Warner Theater in DC) but alas only had "Out of Mind, Out of Sight" on cassette. So, obviously would love to see the single appear on a high-30's post!

    I would have sworn that Modern English would have had a third Hot 100 song with "Ink and Paper" - but I see now that it didn't even chart in the UK. Too bad, that was a very solid song. I remember them playing it on MTV's Spring Break...guess even MTV's influence couldn't get people to buy it. And it's a good thing that that awful "I Melt With You" remake didn't come out until 90 so it didn't have to be part of this feature...I can't believe it actually charted higher than the original!
  • kingofgrief
    The fact that "I Melt WIth You 90" bested the classic model by two positions (AND outlasted its chart run by three weeks) is something I'll never wrap my head around. I offer my review of that pointless venture as originally posted on Rate Your Music last year:

    If the label doesn't say Sire or 4AD (or Rhino), and the video contains sunflowers, SEND IT BACK.
  • kingofgrief
    BTW, I nearly squealed like a girl at CIrcuit City when JCGE #12 was released and I saw it contained "Images of Heaven". Nearly squealed again when I got it home and found it was the full 5-minute version. Heck, let's have a Bubbling Under series while we're at it. No telling what lost gold (or utter dreck) we'll drudge up.
  • Am I missing it somewhere in the middle here or did you not yet weigh in on the Monroes song? I strapped myself in yesterday for this....
  • kingofgrief
    I'm waiting until I can sit down in front of my own computer with enough time to gather my thoughts. Tomorrow (Friday) night, perhaps.

    Can I follow my weigh-in with a shameless plug for my Bottom Feeders radio special a week from Tuesday?
  • I wasn't aware anyone had so many thoughts on it. I'm curious now.
  • thefxc
    Cool on The Models. I used to own the cassette and I did quite like it but I don't think I've listened to anything but "Out of Mind . . ." since the 80s.

    "What Do All the People Know" is on the muzak rotation at my local supermarket.
  • thefxc
    PS: I'll second, or third, that After the Snow is a beautiful, beautiful record, even if you're tired of "I Melt With You." 4AD 4ever!
  • 4AD records are not my style at all - but damn if that isn't a great album.
  • I'm not sure if I have my timelines correct, but if I do, I can't imagine Modern English getting a boost from being Cocteau Twins' labelmate.
  • thefxc
    I think Modern English were the first poppy 4AD group. The label was best known for Bauhaus and Birthday party at the time, although the first Cocteau Twins LP came out in '82 so they were transitioning to their etherial period. The first Modern English album was rather Bauhaus-y.
  • The Man I Used To Be
    That "Can't Hold Back" album from Ed Mahoney had four singles? Three which cracked the Top 40? That forced me to go to wiki the data on the album and I was shocked to see how high "I Wanna Go Back" and "Endless Nights" went.

    Could 1987 have been the worse Top 40 year in the 80s?
  • I'm more shocked at "Endless Nights" than "I Wanna Go Back". And for as high as it charted, I don't believe I ever hear "Nights" on the radio now.
  • Jlowry24
    I was just checking Wikipedia and saw he had three other moderate hit songs that I can't remember ever hearing - The Love in Your Eyes (#24 in 1989), Peace in our Time (#11 in 1990), and I'll Get By (#21 in 1991), plus Endless Nights, which also hit #21. I was listening to a lot of top-40 radio at that time but they don't ring a bell at all. Maybe they just weren't as big in Canada? Those songs sure have gotten zero airplay in the last 20 years.

    I love this series by the way - it's always the first thing I check on Wednesday mornings!
  • I only know "The Love in Your Eyes" because it falls in the decade. "Peace in Our Time" is more recognizable than you might think but I have no idea what "I'll Get By" is.

    Thanks for reading and commenting.
  • "I'll Get By" was more of an AC hit -- it was the requisite goopy ballad from his final studio set for Columbia, 1991's "Right Here."
  • After the Snow is indeed a fantastic record. One of my favorites, in fact. The title track, "Someone's Calling", "Life In the Gladhouse"...my god, so many good songs. It's a wonder this band wasn't huge. But they have the stigma of "everyone knows that song, but 99% of them couldn't tell you who sings it." Seriously, anyone could sing "I Melt with You" front to back, but you ask them who the artist is, and you ether get a blank stare or a hilarious cross section of 80s bands (Tears For Fears, New Order, Duran Duran, etc)

    I remember when the Monkees had their second 15 minutes of fame. "Daydream Believer" was ll over MTV, and the old TV show got brought back to the airwaves(yeah, THAT was necessary) I mean, I like their sugary sweet hits just as much as the next guy(yeah, thats a Monkees record in that stack of vinyl over there) but come on.
  • JonCummings
    I interviewed Robbie Grey when "Ricochet Days" came out. As I recall it, the guy had nothing of interest to say. But when I think back on the interview it just seems hilarious that we were talking at a time when "I Melt with You" had come and gone from modern-rock radio, without making much of any impact elsewhere, and was not yet the iconic, constantly-played thing it's become since then. (I've heard it at least twice on the radio just this week, and I only listen to terrestrial radio in the car.)

    As is always the case with a band following up its (mildly) successful first album, Robbie was trying to put "I Melt with You" in the past while talking up "Ricochet Days" (which is, and was then, largely a snoozer of an album). How things change...
  • "I Melt With You" really didn't get it's afterlife up and running until every damned advertising agency licensed it for their commercials.
  • Evan4
    Although it falls just outside the scope of this series, it should be noted that Modern English re-recorded and reissued "I Melt With You" in 1990 as the lead single from an album of otherwise new material. It managed to chart just two places higher at #76.

    It is kinda fascinating that so many songs that a lot of people considered decade-defining '80s hits (like this one), got very little chart love at the time (see also Split Enz, Missing Persons, Talk Talk, New Order, et al).
  • magø
    Gotta disagree with your critique of "Ricochet Days", Jon!
    I think it's a fantastic album. While not as quite as strong track-for-track as "After The Snow", I think it sounds great even today...

    Also, "After The Snow" was actually Modern English's second album...their first being the woefully underrated "Mesh And Lace" which came out in 1981 on 4AD, but never saw a US release...
    It wasn't a pop record by any means, but is still a great post-punk gem, slotting in nicely between Bauhaus and (very) early New Order.
  • Mesh and Lace is a great album, and Bauhaus is definitely the first thing I think of when I hear it as well. They certainly popped things up a bit for the next record (though not TOO much, as it has its share of quirkiness - then again, "I Melt With You" is pretty much THE perfect pop song, leading once again to wondering how the heck it did not chart higher - either time!)
  • I didn't send you The Human Factor, but thanks for mentioning it. I found it on an old cassette tape of mine when I was converting my tapes to MP3, and didn't know anything about it. I tried googling the lyrics I could make out, but turned up empy. Now that you've given me a band name and title, it's much easier. Thanks!

    Discogs.com has all the details.
  • Interesting. If that's correct then The Human Factor didn't appear on an original album. Really good song though - I'll have to see if I can dig up their first LP somewhere.
  • OJ Incandenza
    I can't believe "Flirtin' with Disaster" didn't go Top 40, but then I was sure it was late-'70s instead of early '80s ...
  • Eh, you aren't far off - "Flirtin' with Disaster" first appeared on the Hot 100 - on the first chart of the decade - 1/5/1980.
  • WHarrisBullzEye
    I second your incredulity about the chart placing. As someone from the Hampton Roads area of Virginia, Molly Hatchet must have played here every other weekend during the '80s...always with the Road Ducks opening!...and were so ubiquitous on the airwaves that the local stations had me convinced that they were one of the biggest bands in the country.
  • Old_Davy
    To get into the Moody Blues back catalog, I'd suggest something different. Start with "Seventh Sojourn" and work your way backwards to "Days Of Future Passed". SS is such a beautiful record all the way through, and paves the way toward hearing them mix symphonic rock with a real orchestra.
  • kingofgrief
    Not to nitpick, Steed, but I'm listening to the offered download of "Daydream Believer" and it sounds no different than the original '67 release. Weren't there some extra handclaps or something? I need to check my 45 stash and see if I have that remix after all.
  • I think it was the drumtrack actually - I might be wrong. If you're correct, then I don't know what happened here, because I uploaded it directly from the Then & Now... album. Was the single version different than the album version (the new album version)?

    (Son of a bitch...this is the answer. I didn't realize it wasn't the album version - I thought the album version was remixed (see why it would help to know music before 1980?) Which means you have saddened my day - now knowing that I don't actually own this song. Though that should be an easy purchase in just a few minutes.)
  • kingofgrief
    Sorry to bring you down, but at least you Learned Something Today. AFAIK, the '86 remix never appeared on any Monkees compilation, not even the Then & Now collection which it was supposedly promoting.

    Turns out I was mistaken about owning that 45, so if you could ever upload the remix once you get it, I for one would be appreciative. (And if anyone could float me the mp3 of the New Monkees' "What I Want", let's talk reciprocation.)
  • I definitely think you're correct about that - and I'm worried about the ebay purchase as the records they are calling the remix on it say nothing on it about being a remix, say "From Then & Now..." and have the original picture sleeve on it. I guess I'm going to have to take my chances on this one. Not as easy to find as I expected it to be.
  • kingofgrief
    FYI, the remix of "Daydream" was packaged in a replica of the original '67 picture sleeve. The only difference about the sleeve front is the omission of the listing for the original B-side, "Goin' Down" (and the Colgems logo).

    Here's the original: http://rateyourmusic.com/release/single/the_monkees/daydream_believer___goin_down/

    And here's the remix: http://rateyourmusic.com/release/single/the_monkees/daydream_believer___randy_scouse_git/

    I think the remix sleeve mentions Then & Now but might not indicate the versions differ. Frustrating, innit?
  • Wondering why many new wave classics like "I Melt With You" didn't go Top 40? It's simple - those songs got virtually zero airplay in the Midwest and South. There was no KROQ in places like St. Louis, Kansas City, Cincinnati or Atlanta. The radio was Styx, Journey, REO Speedwagon, etc., and audiences behaved accordingly. New wave was for over-educated skinny-tie wusses, and you just weren't exposed to it if you weren't within range of a college radio station. As others have noted, there was something of a revival in the latter 80's, and that was when songs like "I Melt With You" started to get airplay in the heartland, going from "obscure" to "classic" in one fell swoop.
  • I still own my vinyl copy of the Monroes EP. I'll admit that I really loved the song in my teens (WNEW in NY played the HELL out of it – which is why I bought it), 20s and 30s – but I've kind of fade on it in my middle years. Nice 80s pop. Nothing much else.
  • wags
    Hey, the music that you wouldn't expect to find here is what I love about this blog. Things like I Melt with You and Flirtin' with Disaster. Stuff I would've thought definitely had to have spent time in the top 40... but just goes to show that the charts aren't necessarily the best at identifying the best music. My guess is Melt was just too far ahead of its time -- especially considering how used it is in commercials these days.

    Oh the other thing I really like about this blog -- and I won't admit which band it was this week -- is I often find musicians whose name I'm familiar with but couldn't place a song or sound with that name if you'd asked me to. But I get that info here. Marshall Crenshaw was the first artist like that for me...
  • kingofgrief
    And now, as long promised (well, since Wednesday morning), the King of Grief weighs in on "What Do All the People Know":

    As mentioned earlier, I first heard "All the People" on the third volume of EMI's Living in Oblivion series, which I picked up either in May or June of 1994. I liked it from the get-go; within a few months it would be one of my favorite songs of the era. That was a rough period in my life...my father died of cancer a month after confessing to me that I'd been adopted...and though my musical choices predictably veered towards the somber or melancholy, "All the People" would serve to pick up my spirits and remind me that life served other purposes than just smacking me around.

    Fast-forward to the fall of 2001. I'm getting over a divorce, an unrequited crush, and the still-fresh incidents of 9/11. I'm at a club and I run into an old flame I hadn't seen since '93. We're talking, and suddenly the DJ slaps on "What Do All the People Know". I'm shocked and surprised at hearing it in a club setting and invite my re-acquaintance to dance. I sing every word to her (yes, I wasn't sober). After a false start, we start dating the week before Christmas, a relationship that lasts half a year (a record for me, marriages notwithstanding).

    So "All the People" has served on more than one occasion as a beacon of hope, corny as that sounds. It can bring a smile to my face and mist to my eye, sometimes simultaneously. If I were to assemble a short list of my favorite Bottom Feeders covered to date, it would wind up somewhere in the top three. If not higher.

    And now I've got to hear it again...
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