Huey Lewis & the News “Naturally” released on Fore! album

Naturally Huey Lewis & the News

Writer(s): Johnny Colla, Huey Lewis (see lyrics here) Released: August 20, 1986 (album cut) First Charted: -- Peak: 1 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 0.41 video, -- streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: Huey Lewis & the News formed in San Francisco in 1979. Their self-titled 1980 debut failed to chart, but 1982’s Picture This reached #13 and went gold, thanks to the top-ten hit “Do You Believe in Love?” Two more singles charted – “Hope You Love Me Like You Say You Do” (#36) and “Workin’ for a Livin’” (#41), but this didn’t seem like a band that would go on the have much more success. In fact, they were just getting started. Their Sports album was one of the unexpected hits of 1983. “Heart and Soul,” “I Want a New Drug,” “The Heart of Rock and Roll,” and “If This Is It” were all top-10 hits, aided by the band’s likable presence in fun videos on MTV. The album also had a fifth hit with the top-20 “Walking on a Thin Line.” The blockbuster success of what had become the world’s most successful bar band led to the album reaching #1 and selling seven million copies. They followed up with “The Power of Love,” a #1 song from the 1985 movie Back to the Future. Between that and the monstrous success of Sports, the band were in an unexpected position when recording their next album. As Lewis said, “We had never released a record to any expectations before…There was a certain amount of pressure that was new to us.” UCR They delivered with the 1986 album, Fore!, a three-million seller which also hit #1 on the album chart. They scored two #1 songs (“Stuck with You,” “Jacob’s Ladder”) from the album as well as three more top-10 hits (“Hip to Be Square,” “I Know What I Like,” and “Doing It All for My Baby”). As successful as the singles were, the album also featured some killer non-single cuts such as “Simple As That” and “Naturally.” The latter was an a cappella tune which sounded like it could have been written and recorded fifty years earlier. It was the last song they recorded fo the album. UCR It started as a slower song, but then they made it more up-tempo. It was released as a B-side for “Doing It All for My Baby.” Resources: DMDB encyclopedia entry for Huey Lewis & the News UCR Ultimate Classic Rock (9/22/2021). “How Huey Lewis Overcame Commercial Pressure for Massive ‘Fore!’” by Gary Graff WK Wikipedia page for Fore! Related Links: First posted 12/27/2022.

Huey Lewis & the News "The Power of Love" hit #1

The Power of Love Huey Lewis & the News

Writer(s): Johnny Colla, Chris Hayes, Huey Lewis (see lyrics here) First Charted: June 28, 1985 Peak: 13 US, 13 BA, 12 CB 13 GR, 13 RR, 6 AC, 12 AR, 9 UK, 11 CN, 12 5 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 1.0 US, 0.6 UK Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 26.39 video, 372.31 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: Hugh Anthony Cregg III (later known as Huey Lewis) was born in New York City in 1950, but grew up in the San Francisco bay area. In 1971, he joined the band Clover. After they disbanded in 1978, he formed Huey Lewis & the News. They released a self-titled album in 1980 which went nowhere, but their second album, 1982’s Picture This, featured the top-ten hit, “Do You Believe in Love?” The band exploded with their next album, 1983’s Sports. “Huey Lewis’ rise was perfectly timed to the beginning of MTV, a place where he carved out a persona as a handsome, self-effacing goofball everyman” SG amidst “the colorful, flamboyance of the British new-romatic artists.” MM The band “looked like working-class guys who spent their Sundays together watching football on TV.” MM The multi-platinum, #1 album sent four top-ten singles up the charts and made Lewis “one of the biggest stars in rock ‘n’ roll.” SG Lewis & Co. were tapped to write the theme song for Back to the Future, which became the biggest movie of 1985. It set the band up for “an unstoppable smash,” SG “The Power of Love.” “It’s got the sleek pulse of mid-’80s pop” SG and “has hooks on hooks on hooks, with all the keyboard stabs and shiny-bluesy riffs in the exact right places.” SG Lewis “wails out nonsensical…philosophical nuggets about how love is tougher than diamonds, rich like cream, and stronger and harder than a bad girl’s dream” SG while “the rest of the band gets in some nice Billy Joel-style fake doo-wop harmonies on the bridge.” SG It was one of two songs the group wrote for the movie. “Back in Time” actually fit the plot of the movie, but “The Power of Love” had nothing to do with the film. It showed up early in the film as star Michael J. Fox (Marty) skateboards out the door of his friend Doc Brown’s house. It shows up again when Marty and his band audition to play for the high school dance with a crude version of the song (the actual early demo) and one of the judges – played by Lewis – proclaims, “I’m afraid you’re just too darn loud.” The song was nominated for an Oscar for Best Original Song. Resources: DMDB encyclopedia entry for Huey Lewis & the News MM Marc Myers (12/6/2022). Anatomy of 55 More Songs. Grove Press: New York, NY. Pages 335-9. SG Stereogum (10/21/2020). “The Number Ones” by Tom Breihan TB Thunder Bay Press (2006). Singles: Six Decades of Hot Hits & Classic Cuts. Outline Press Ltd.: San Diego, CA. Page 220-1. First posted 8/6/2023.