As much as I adore the inherent goofiness that is new wave — the guyliner, the overwrought posing, the one-finger keyboard technique — sometimes I must admit some acts come…
John C. Hughes
175 Articles
John C. Hughes
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John Hughes is lost in the ’90s once again…and this time, he’s got Shirley Manson sitting bitch in the wayback machine.
John C. Hughes
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Now, I know what you’re thinking.Á‚ How can one of Devo’s most famous songs outside of “Whip It” be Lost in the ’80s?Á‚ How can a song whose video was…
John C. Hughes
1 Min Read
Before singer/songwriter Carly Simon attempted to fully embrace the excess of the ’80s with a misguided stab at New Wave, she released this single in 1982 from the soundtrack of…
John C. Hughes
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Growing up in Cleveland, Ohio, in the Seventies, it was next to impossible to escape hearingÁ‚ Raspberries almost daily on the radio – not that that was a bad thing.Á‚ …
John C. Hughes
1 Min Read
All right, let me stop all you young ‘uns right there — 1980’s Xanadu is not a great movie, a lost treasure, or an overlooked masterpiece of fun. It’s a…
John C. Hughes
1 Min Read
French duo Fred Chichin and Catherine Ringer met at a theater production in the late ’70s and an instant musical bond was formed, one that took them from rock to…
John C. Hughes
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When Marcy Playground’s borderline-annoying novelty hit “Sex And Candy” was all over alternative radio in the late ’90s, spending an astounding 15 weeks at #1 on the Modern Rock Chart,…
John C. Hughes
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Eight children, four each from different families, purÁƒ©ed Brady Bunch style in a $250-a-month, four-bedroom apartment in mid-’70s Elyria, Ohio. Inflation squeezed the wallets and coin purses dry, forcing both…
John C. Hughes
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Big things were planned for Boston’s Face To Face in 1984. Signed to Epic, the New Wave group was pushed heavily by the label as the next big music sensation. …
John C. Hughes
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On Tuesday, we talked about Jules Shear’s “Whispering Your Name,” a failed single from his solo debut, Watch Dog. While the single and album flopped, it stayed in the hearts…
John C. Hughes
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I gave Jules a quick once-over a little over three years ago, so I think it’s high time I spotlighted another track of Shear beauty, this one from his stellar…
John C. Hughes
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Unknown to nearly everyone save the most devoted power-pop and glam aficionados, the Quick were managed by legendary Los Angeles scenester and Runaways cofounder Kim Fowley. Fowley also coproduced the…
John C. Hughes
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A quickie today, folks – I’m getting ready to move in with my betrothed, and I’m currently surrounded by boxes of stuff.Á‚ Moving is such a hassle, but I can’t…
John C. Hughes
2 Min Read
She’s the voice you hear on the Smiths’ “Ask” and Morrissey’s “Interesting Drug.” She’s the salty dame calling Shane McGowan a “cheap, lousy faggot” on the Pogues’ “Fairtytale of New…
John C. Hughes
1 Min Read
Oh, some things just write themselves, don’t they? I kid, I kid. “So Bad” is an overlooked little gem from the Paul catalog, released in the States as the follow-up…
John C. Hughes
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Charlie’s Angels chanteuse Cheryl Ladd was known for two spectacular things: her acting and her singing. What? What’d you think I was gonna say? Anyhoo, Ladd got her start as…
John C. Hughes
1 Min Read
This has been a week of happy endings for me, and I’m not referring to a trip to the massage parlor (this time). Y’see, twenty-odd years ago, I bought one…
John C. Hughes
1 Min Read
Record deals were being handed out like Halloween candy to anything remotely resembling “alternative” in the post-Nirvana ’90s.Á‚ It’s nearly impossible to imagine a band like art/math rockers Shudder to Think…
John C. Hughes
1 Min Read
Remember when power-pop singles could actually be hit singles? Ah, them’s was the days. The Romantics, Cheap Trick, the Raspberries, the Dwight Twilley Band … Oh, about the Dwight Twilley…
John C. Hughes
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Though history has been kind to Marc Bolan and T. Rex, during their early-Á¢€â„¢70s heyday American radio most definitely was not. Limited to just one solitary Top 40 single in…
John C. Hughes
1 Min Read
Lest you think Paris Hilton or any of the various Kardashians invented “Famous for Being Famous,” let me point you to Peter Robinson, better known to UK tabloid readers as…
John C. Hughes
2 Min Read
Have I mentioned that the internet is a pretty cool place lately?Á‚ No?Á‚ Okay, Imma mention it now! I mean, first there’s all the porn.Á‚ Granted, some it can be…
John C. Hughes
1 Min Read
This one’s been a long time coming … and it’s not even as complete as I’d like it to be.Á‚ Let me explain… When I first started Lost in the…
John C. Hughes
1 Min Read
Sometimes I can forgive a band for anything if I love them enough.Á‚ Even being featured in a Pringles ad or an Adam Sandler film. Oxford, England’s Candyskins were never…
John C. Hughes
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After dipping his toe into the mainstream with his fourth album, Security, and its Top 40 hit, “Shock the Monkey,” it’s only natural that Peter Gabriel would continue to experiment…
John C. Hughes
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Morrissey was one of the earliest fans and champions of Britpop glumlords Suede, and it’s not too tough to figure out why. Besides owing quite a musical debt to Morrissey…
John C. Hughes
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Another example of a one-hit wonder in the States while huge in the U.K., paranoid android and Bowie Low cop artist Gary Numan can lay the blame for his lack…
John C. Hughes
1 Min Read
It wasn’t the most auspicious of beginnings for Richard and Karen Carpenter.Á‚ Despite later huge success with several Top 40 hits and platinum albums, their first album, Offering, was a…