
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)
The 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.


Jeff Beck was an Epic act with whom I was familiar as a result of my being the A&R liaison with our British artists, who also included Argent, the Hollies and Argent’s lead singer, Colin Blunstone. I had spent some time with Jeff at his home outside London, where he showed me his hotrod collection and we played some snooker in the game room. Since the Yardbirds, Jeff was pretty much a solo act, and when he played live, it was usually with other well-known musicians (Carmine Appice, Tim Bogert, Rod Stewart, etc.).
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Eddie Money knows he’s an archetype, and he doesn’t mind it one bit. His 15-year run of AOR hits and arena-rock stardom, from the 1978 double shot of “Baby Hold On” and “Two Tickets to Paradise” through MTV hits like “Take Me Home Tonight” and “Peace in Our Time,” was interrupted in 1981 by a drug overdose that nearly took his life. Rehab stints for drug and alcohol problems later put a dent in his always healthy touring schedule, but Money soldiers on as he approaches his 60th birthday next year — staying clean and “trying not to smoke a million cigarettes,” as he rasped during our talk a couple weeks back.
Patti Myers wants her favorite band in the 