Huey Lewis & the News hit #1 with Fore!

First posted 11/26/2020.

Fore! Huey Lewis & the News

Released: August 20, 1986 Peak: 11 US, 8 UK, 13 CN, 3 AU Sales (in millions): 3 US, 0.6 UK, 4.57 world (includes US and UK) Genre: mainstream pop rock

Tracks: Song Title (Writers) [time] (date of single release, chart peaks) Click for codes to singles charts. Jacob’s Ladder (1/5/87, 1 US, 10 AR, 17 AC, 16 CN, 48 AU) Stuck with You (7/21/86, 1 US, 1 AR, 1 AC, 12 UK, 1 CN, 2 AU) Whole Lotta Lovin’ Doing It All for My Baby (6/29/87, 6 US, 2 AC, 93 UK, 30 CN, 93 AU) Hip to Be Square (10/6/86, 3 US, 1 AR, 20 AC, 41 UK, 14 CN, 17 AU) I Know What I Like (3/23/87, 9 US, 25 AR, 30 AC, 30 CN) I Never Walk Alone Forest for the Trees Naturally Simple As That Total Running Time: 41:40 The Players: Huey Lewis (vocals, harmonica) Mario Cipollina (bass) Johnny Colla (guitar, saxophone, backing vocals) Bill Gibson (drums, percussion, backing vocals) Chris Hayes (guitar, backing vocals) Sean Hopper (keyboards, backing vocals)

Rating: 3.556 out of 5.00 (average of15 ratings) Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Album: Huey Lewis & the News became superstars with their third album, Sports. On the strength of four top-10 hits, the album reached #1 and multi-platinum status. All Music Guide’s Stephen Thomas Erlewine noted it was “one of the rare mainstream pop/rock albums where everything works – the songs were catch, the sound was inviting, and it all sounded perfect on the radio.” AMG They’d set the bar high for themselves, but if 1985’s #1 hit “The Power of Love” from the Back to the Future was any indication, it looked like they could reach the same lofty heights a second time around. With their aptly named Fore! album, they did – depending on one’s measuring stick. Like its predecessor, it reached the pinnacle of the album chart. It bested Sports by achieving not four, but five, top-10 hits. None of the singles from Sports got above #6, but three of the singles from Fore! did – including the #1 songs Stuck with You and Jacob’s Ladder. Fore! did, however, fall short of Sports was in sales. While both achieved multi-platinum status, Sports topped ten million while Fore! didn’t reach half that. Part of the problem is that “much of Fore! sounds labored” AMG and the songs just weren’t as catchy. In essence, once the band achieve major fame, they could “no longer sound like a working band,” AMG which was much of what drove their appeal with Sports. The song Hip to Be Square garnered a rather odd second dose of fame more than a decade after its release when the main character in American Psycho discusses the song in terms of how it espouses “the pleasures of conformity.” WK While the song is perfectly inoffensive, it becames disturbing to hear a serial killer commending it for its virtues. Notes: The European, Australian, and Japanese versions added “The Power of Love” to the album.

Resources and Related Links: DMDB encyclopedia entry for Huey Lewis & the News AMG All Music Guide review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine WK Wikipedia