Cutouts Gone Wild!: Jimmy Harnen, “Can’t Fight the Midnight”
Thursday, May 22nd, 2008 by Jeff Giles
Jimmy Harnen - Can’t Fight the Midnight (1989)
purchase this album (Amazon)
That’s right, cutout lovers! It’s Jimmy Harnen!
Why do you all have that look on your faces? What, you don’t remember Jimmy Harnen, lead singer of the late ’80s Wilkes-Barre sensation Synch?
Okay, fair enough. But here’s the thing, you guys: You totally do remember Jimmy. If you’ve shopped for frozen foods or had your teeth cleaned at any point in the last 19 years, you’ve heard his big fat adult contemporary hit, “Where Are You Now.” You probably thought it was Air Supply or Deon Estus singing it, but no. Jimmy Harnen had you fooled.
He had a lot of people fooled, actually — unfortunately, most of them were the ones buying his album, Can’t Fight the Midnight, based on the simpering stylings of his hit single. You wouldn’t think it, listening to “Where Are You Now” — I didn’t believe it until I heard it for myself — but Harnen was no AC crooner. No, he was a good old-fashioned mullet rocker.
The reason for the discrepancy, as was the case strangely often in the ’80s, was that Harnen had recorded “Where Are You Now” years previous, as the drummer for Synch, a Pennsylvania band that pulled a Hooters and turned local success into a contract with Columbia. Harnen wasn’t Synch’s singer — in fact, the single was the only track he took the lead on — but Columbia execs knew an MOR hit when they heard one.
Except it wasn’t a hit — not at first, anyway. Synch lost its record deal and broke up; following the split, according to Harnen’s Wikipedia entry, “Jimmy finally got his hair cut.”
Fast forward to 1989, when, a la Benny Mardones and Sheriff, our boy Jimmy finds himself with a belated hit on his hands. The folks at Columbia promptly sent him back into the studio to record a new album, surrounding him with ringers like Randy Jackson, Steve Lukather, and (again, quoting from Wikipedia) “one of Harnen’s idols, REO Speedwagon’s Kevin Cronin.”
The result was Can’t Fight the Midnight, an album I totally slept on when it was released, but I can say now, with complete confidence, that I would have played the shit out of if I’d owned it in 1989. It’s got the intelligence of an amoeba, but it’s also chock full of that nougaty ’80s fake heartland rock goodness that made the last few years of the decade so much fun, and I don’t know what else you can ask for. The Cronin duet, “I Don’t Mind,” is particularly wonderful, and by “wonderful” I mean “borderline offensive in the way it tries to pander to truck-driving Natty Light drinkers who would probably break Kevin Cronin in half if they bumped into him in a bar.”
Did it sell worth a damn? Of course not — this is Cutouts Gone Wild! we’re talking about here. But for once, we aren’t dealing with an album that flopped because of terrible songs, or unfashionable music, or dunderheaded record execs. It just…flopped. Harnen had the look and the sound, but nobody cared. It was the musical equivalent of a 11-foot-tall basketball player whiffing on a dunk — utterly fascinating for all the wrong reasons.
Harnen knew when he was licked, and quit the biz, heading into A&R, where he’s apparently made quite a name for himself — from what I’ve read, he’s currently a senior VP at Capitol. Way to ward off the “Where Are You Now” jokes, Jimmy! Sure, Capitol sucks, but what label doesn’t these days?
And with that, we’ve said much more than anybody ever needed to say about Jimmy Harnen, Synch, and Can’t Fight the Midnight, so I’m just going to leave you with every track from the album, which was fetching ungodly sums on Amazon last time I checked. You do not need to pay more than $20 for this. (Special thanks to our pal Kurt for the files!)
Hello
When Midnight Comes
If She Cries
All Those Tears
Little Nikki
I Don’t Mind
No Reason in the World
Southern Lady
For All the Wrong Reasons
Boy in Love
Where Are You Now?
Tags: Cutouts Gone Wild!, Jeff Giles, Jimmy Harnen
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Jimmy Harnen, you are no Henry Lee Summer! But I do still like "Where Are You Now?"
Can't Fight The Midnight, huh? That alone is the reason why the thing didn't sell. Imagine bringing this up to the counter where the cute girl is prepared to ring you up... "Can't Fight The Midnight, huh?" she toys. "Good luck on trying to march in the St. Patrick's Day Parade this year! Rainbow power!"
Yeesh.
I'm just waiting for a John Parr post at this point. Keep em' coming Jeff!
Also, Harnen was really from Nanticoke, as I remember. Nanticoke being famous as the site of Luzerne County Community College, and the Pennsylvania "city" which declined fastest in population in the 1990s (from something like 12,000 to 9,000). The most desolate main street I've ever seen.
Yeah, having also grown up kinda-near Wilkes-Barre in the late 80s I remember the Synch phenomena. (Every station from Philly to Scranton was looking for the Next Hooters; I thought it would be Bricklin or Tommy Conwell.) The local top 40 station (WKRZ) played the crap out of "Where Are You Now" before they were signed to a contract. Then Synch signed to Columbia and the station playing the "new" version, which was much slicker and AC--read "worse"--than the demo version. It was bizarre to see it become a bona fide hit a few years later...
Yes!
Growing up in the Wilkes-Barre area, I eventually realized that the local media was prone to announcing that some local band was bound for nationwide success, or had actually achieved nationwide success, or was building on their legacy of nationwide success, despite none of this being the case. I found it hard to believe that the incredibly wussy one-hit-wonders the Buoys and Jimmy Harnen would be followed up by bands like the Badlees (who sounded exactly like Hootie and the Blowfish, but less predictable and more likely to use folk instruments) or Solution A.D. (the poor man's Collective Soul) actually making good on their major-label deals. Therefore I was surprised a decade later when it turned out that the Badlees did have one song that WAS played extensively on the radio OUTSIDE the Wilkes-Barre area.
Then of course a Wilkes-Barre band became one of the biggest bands on modern-rock radio (Breaking Benjamin) without the local press mentioning them hardly at all, because they don't play the kind of music that anyone over age 20 likes.
You're too kind, Jeff. No, really, you are. But why the hell is this album already in my collection? Have I actually... bought it?
It's so funny the way he belts out HELLO!!! HELL - O!!!!! on the first song. Way to go, Jimmy! You made it through the hard times, you kept on going strong with your fire burning inside and everything, and you return to say HELLO! HELLO!!!! (is that all you can say after all these years, Jimmy?) HELLO!!!!!! (ok, ok, ok)
Who the hell is Jimmy Harnen? On "Where Are You Now," he's Michael W. Smith.
yeah baby! I love "Where Are You Now?" One of my favorite ballads of the decade for some reason. This is a damn fine album. Damn fine.
I really did say "Who the hell is Jimmy Harnen?" when I read this. And then I heard the song, and instantly recognized it. Funny thing, though: all I could think of while it was playing was Eric Cartman singing "Swiss Colony Beef Log."
Hell, for all these years I thought it was another Jack Wagner softee.
We are long overdue for the "Popdose Guide to Jack Wagner". The man is an 80's AOR / CHR under-rated legend.