It’s the end of the letter T this week as Bottom Feeders checks out more rockin’ tunes from that decade but only those rock tunes that failed to cross over onto the Billboard Hot 100 as well.
Traveling Wilburys
”Last Night” 1988, #5 (download)
”Tweeter and the Monkey Man” 1989, #41 (download)
”Heading for the Light” 1989, #7 (download)
I swear I didn’t do this on purpose but it’s funny how things work sometimes. One day after Lucky Wilbury’s 70th birthday, Bottom Feeders starts off with his supergroup. Based on the reactions from the first series, the only people that don’t think Volume One is fantastic are those that think Jeff Lynne is a putz. I don’t think he’s a putz and I’ll listen to this album from Nelson, Lucky, Otis, Lefty and Charlie Wilbury any day of the week.
Do yourself a favor and if you haven’t yet checked out the Dylan post from yesterday, do so. I’m not a fan at all and it’s still a pretty fantastic list of songs. And ”Tweeter and the Monkey Man” is in it.
Pat Travers
”New Age Music” 1981, #33 (download)
”Killer” 1984, #23 (download)
Pat Travers released four albums in the 80s, none of which I would go back to on a regular basis but all of which had some rockin’ tracks on them. I don’t know anything about this work in the 70s, but if his albums are as hit or miss as they were in the 80s then maybe a hits comp. is the way to go for him. Both these tracks can be found on compilations of his work, ”Killer” being from his last album of the decade — Hot Shot — and ”New Age Music” being a cover of an Inner Circle song from 1980 off of Radio Active.
Treat Her Right
”I Think She Likes Me” 1988, #15 (download)
Treat Her Right was a blues band out of Boston that helped usher in the Cowpunk genre of music. At this point they are probably better known as the vehicle that launched the career of Mark Sandman, later the mastermind behind Morphine before his untimely death in 1999.
Triumph
”Allied Forces” 1981, #55 (download)
”Fight the Good Fight” 1981, #18 (download)
”Say Goodbye” 1982, #50 (download)
”A World of Fantasy” 1983, #3 (download)
”Never Surrender” 1983, #23 (download)
”All the Way” 1983, #2 (download)
”Spellbound” 1984, #10 (download)
”Mind Games” 1985, #49 (download)
”Tears in the Rain” 1986, #23 (download)
”Long Time Gone” 1987, #28 (download)
Seeing 10 tracks here from Triumph is not easy for me as I’m no fan. I don’t think there’s anything after 1981’s Allied Forces album that’s any good from these guys but at least the first three songs here are from that album. Everything after that point either sounds just like previous material, way too poppy or like a band that just had no energy left in them.
”A World of Fantasy” went to #3 you’d like to think because it sounded just like a Styx song and ”All the Way” was probably the most rockin’ tune on 1983’s Never Surrender so it makes sense that they were the biggest of the remaining hits.
I will give them this though, the tunes that got played on rock radio outshine the ones that crossed over to the Hot 100 in the decade (except for the cool ”Magic Power” in 1981).
Robin Trower
”Into Money” 1981, #18 (download)
”Won’t Let You Down” 1981, #43 (download)
”No Time” 1987, #25 (download)
”Tear It Up” 1988, #9 (download)
Both ”Into Money” and ”Won’t Let You Down” actually get credited to Jack Bruce/Bill Lordan/Robin Trower or sometimes simply known as B.L.T. (that was also the name of the album from which these songs came). That’s an album that back when I was actively searching for records for the collection, I just couldn’t find cheap enough to warrant a purchase, so I still don’t own it. If all I knew from it was ”Won’t Let You Down” I probably wouldn’t bother to get it, but ”Into Money” has some killer guitar work in it and is intriguing enough that sooner or later I’m going to spend the cash and pick the album up.
But of course I bought Trower’s 1987 album — Passion — because of the naked lady on the front cover. Well, okay – inside was a pretty solid record too even if it wasn’t the most exciting thing in the world. ”Tear It Up” was the hit off Take What You Need, which had no boobs on the cover but still had quite a bit of listenable material on it.
Tsunami
”The Runaround” 1984, #60 (download)
If I didn’t have this song right here, I would have assumed this was another Joel Whitburn plant in his book. I know nothing about the group except for what the Whitburn bible tells me. They were a San Francisco band that featured Doug Denton on vocals and Tatsuya Miyazaki and Tomotaka Yamamoto on guitars. I know more about the Jenny Toomey led 90s band with the same name than I do this gang. ”The Runaround” isn’t peaking my interest in finding out more in the least bit.
The Tubes
”Talk To Ya Later” 1981, #7 (download)
I’m surprised to see this here as I would have thought this was a bigger track for the Tubes. I guess it almost was having bubbled under at #101.
Joe Lynn Turner
”Endlessly” 1985, #19 (download)
Man, Rainbow to this. ”Endlessly” is another one of those songs that you can use as a pure example of the cheese factor of 80s music. Only in this decade could a song sound this bad and still be great at the same time.
[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/31DNFoW3NAw" width="600" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]
Tina Turner
”Back Where You Started” 1986, #18 (download)
I guess I don’t usually think of Tina Turner as a rock singer but she did kick ass, so it fits. ”Back Where You Started” was from Break Every Rule and featured Bryan Adams on background vocals.
Dwight Twilley
”Somebody To Love” 1982, #14 (download)
I’ve mentioned before how much a fan I am of Dwight Twilley’s 1984 album, Jungle – but I need to go back and listen to 82s Scuba Divers again. ”Somebody To Love” is pretty great song from what I know is a great album but one that I haven’t listened to in many years.
Twisted Sister
”The Price” 1985, #19 (download)
”Hot Love” 1987, #31 (download)
Twisted Sister hits me in different ways at different times. Sometimes it’s nice to throw a fist in the air to their early 80s hits but other times I can’t listen to the overplayed pop tunes they recorded. Strangely enough though, I love ”Hot Love” off their final album, Love Is For Suckers. The record was a Dee Snider solo album but the record company wanted the band name on it for marketing. None of the members of the group played on the record and the result was a very pop oriented record. Frankly, the disc sucked but I still can’t get enough of this tune.
Quick Hits
Best Song: Traveling Wilburys, ”Last Night”
Worst Song: Tsunami, ”The Runaround”
Appeared in the rock chart and Hot 100
Traveling Wilburys (2): ”Handle with Care” ”End of the Line”
Triumph (3): ”Magic Power” ”Follow Your Heart” ”Somebody’s Out There”
The Truth (1): ”Weapons of Love”
The Tubes (4): ”Don’t Want To Wait Anymore” ”She’s A Beauty” ”The Monkey Time” ”Piece By Piece”
Tina Turner (3): ”What’s Love Got To Do With It” ”Better Be Good To Me” ”We Don’t Need Another Hero”
Dwight Twilley (2): ”Girls” ”Little Bit of Love”
Twisted Sister (3): ”We’re Not Gonna Take It” ”I Wanna Rock” ”Leader of the Pack”
Bonnie Tyler (1):”Total Eclipse of the Heart”
Transvision Vamp (1): ”Tell That Girl To Shut Up”
Comments