Great Unknowns: Off Broadway
Monday, January 14th, 2008 by Darren Robbins
This column is dedicated to featuring those bands that aren’t household names but, to my ears, should be.
Growing up in a small town in southern Michigan, the closest major city was Chicago. We were still a good two hours away, though, so it was with great inconsistency that my little bedside transistor radio picked up Chicago rock powerhouse WLS (home of legendary rock DJ Larry Lujack). During the fateful summer of ‘79, while Cheap Trick enjoyed their first taste of national and international success, another Chicago band was also ruling the Windy City airwaves.
That band was Off Broadway, and the song was “Stay in Time,” the first single from their Atlantic Records debut, On. Comprised of simple elements — as is the case with all great rock songs — there was something about “Stay in Time” that was nevertheless unlike anything else.
Off Broadway, 1978
It was with some difficulty that I finally tracked down a copy of On in late 1980 or early ‘81, and from the moment it landed on my turntable, it would be months before I listened to anything else.
Since this was waaaaay before the Internet, and since little attention was being paid to Off Broadway in the major rock magazines, the only thing I really knew about them was they freakin’ rocked. By the time I discovered On, they had already issued a second album, Quick Turns, which had fared poorly and led to their dismissal from the Atlantic roster.
A year or so later, without knowing Off Broadway had broken up, I read a rundown of the local Chicago scene in an issue of Trouser Press and learned that the band’s singer, Cliff Johnson, was in a new band called U.S.S.A. with bassist Pete Comita, whose recent tenure in Cheap Trick had been short-lived. (Comita replaced original bassist Tom Petersson in 1980. He cowrote the song “Reach Out,” a highlight of the successful Heavy Metal soundtrack.) The idea of members of my two favorite bands joining forces was almost too much for me to process.
And it would get better.
When my brother and I went to see Cheap Trick at the intimate Morris Civic Auditorium in South Bend, Indiana, in the fall of ‘82, we had no idea what was in store for us. As was often the case back then, the opening act wasn’t announced ahead of time. A band that didn’t look anything like Cheap Trick meandered onstage and, within seconds, started performing a riveting version of “Stay in Time.” My brother and I quickly put two and two together and damn near shat our pants.
For the next 45 minutes we were in absolute awe. Cliff Johnson sang every song as if his life depended on it, careening wildly about the stage, half clown, half rock star.
And then it was over. U.S.S.A. and Cliff Johnson dropped off the face of the earth.
Fast-forward to 1993: I’m living in Chicago and playing the local club circuit. I get a phone call from a booking agent asking if my band wants to open for Off Broadway.
Come again? Did you just say “Off Broadway”?
Off Broadway, 1996
Needless to say, after years of admiring them from afar, I couldn’t wait to get through my own band’s set to catch Off Broadway. Knowing that it had been a good decade and change since the band last played a gig, I wasn’t expecting miracles, but what I heard and saw that night was a band that sounded just as good as they did on the albums I knew by heart, if not better. I watched with tears in my fucking eyes, it was that good.
And you know what? Almost 15 years after that fateful night, Off Broadway is still rocking the Chicago scene as convincingly as any band you’ll ever see.
Stay in Time
Bad Indication
Bully Bully
Drop Me a Line
Full Moon Turn My Head Around
Hang On for Love
Oh Boy
Tags: Cheap Trick, Darren Robbins, Off Broadway
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I hear ya!
in 1981(I think), I drove from Elgin to Milwaukee to see these guys. I was awful messed up and only knew they were there but never actually played. What the hell happened??? Anyone???
This takes me back to the spring of 1980. ON was a HUGE album in Chicago my sophomore year of high school and I remember hearing several cuts from it on the big FM rock stations (The Loop, WMET and "WE" FM), including "Stay In Time", "Full Moon Turn My Head Around" and even "New Little Girl" (two other cuts I'm partial to are "Bad Indication" and "Money's No Good"... excellent power pop with some cool hooks!). Of course not long after it dropped out of the charts this album went immediately out of print and practically vanished, save for the occasional used vinyl copy that would cost upwards of 50 bucks. Needless to say I was a VERY happy camper when Atlantic reissued it on CD in 1997.
WLS? Check. I grew up in Chicago so, yeah, this record was a big deal growing up--still have the vinyl. Great story, how absolutely fucking cool for you to have experienced that.
C'mon Mr. Moon, don't bug out too soon.
Indeed.
They're playing with Enuff Z'nuff this month in Milwaukee at perhaps the most frigtening concert venue I've ever been too:
http://www.paysbig.com/entertainment/calendar.php
1) Grew up in small town in southern Michigan - Check
2) Earliest pop/rock memories from listening to Chicago's WLS - Check
3) Favorite band, Cheap Trick - Check
4) Couldn't stop listening to first Off Broadway album - Check
Had you thrown in a reference to Shoes and their Present Tense album, you would have defined most of my teen years and my ongoing musical tastes
While I adore Shoes, I always saw Off Broadway as having much more in common with Trick. "Full Moon", for example, has more than a passing similarity to "Hello There"...they both have songs called "Oh Boy" (no biggie, but still)...and they were both managed by Ken Adamany.
Present Tense is my fave Shoes album, though, and I will say that seeing them live for the first time (in the early 90's) was just as revelatory as seeing the reunited Off Broadway a few years later.
One other big thing those two bands had in common during that time was Tom Werman's production. I know Cheap Trick had their differences with him, but Heaven Tonight has always been my favorite album of theirs. It's funny that they added the keyboard-less versions of Surrender and Dream Police to the most recent CD reissues.
If memory serves, there was a recut version of the entire "In Color" on the old He's a Whore website. The band redid it because they couldn't stand Werman's orignal production.
One of my favorite late-70s albums. Thanks for putting the word out, Darren.
I've never heard of Off Broadway. Thank you for bringing them to my attention! But... I think there's a typo in your download list; you have 2 songs labeled "Oh Boy", but they appear to be different songs.
My apology, the first "Oh Boy" is actually a song called "Full Moon Turn My head Around".
It's fixed now. Thanks, Jes!
I love "Stay in Time." I picked up "On" several years ago, when it first scored domestic CD release, and had never heard a single song from it before, but the various write-ups of it had inspired me to go for it. It was a worthwhile purchase, to be certain.
Awesome. "Stay In Time" is one of the lost gems of the 80's. If you had a hard time finding it back then - can you imagine how hard it is to find now. It was one of the last tracks I got for my Top 100 80's collection about two years ago - you can imagine how many hits turn up on Ebay when you search "Off Broadway" "On". Didn't know anything about them though - so I'm excited to read this and learn they are still playing. (Shocked at that, really).
Thanks for the post.