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

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.

Huey Lewis & the News’ Sports hit #1

First posted 5/30/2008; updated 11/26/2020.

Sports Huey Lewis & the News

Released: September 15, 1983 Peak: 11 US, 23 UK, 3 CN, 22 AU Sales (in millions): 7.0 US, 0.1 UK, 10.6 world (includes US and UK) Genre: mainstream pop rock

Tracks: Song Title (date of single release, chart peaks) Click for codes to singles charts. The Heart of Rock and Roll (3/17/84, 6 US, 49 UK, 5 AR) Heart and Soul (9/10/83, 8 US, 61 UK, 1 AR) Bad Is Bad I Want a New Drug (10/22/83, 6 US, 7 AR, sales: 1.0 m) Walking on a Thin Line (2/18/84, 18 US, 16 AR) Finally Found a Home (9/15/84, 41 AR) If This Is It (7/21/84, 6 US, 39 UK, 3 AR, 5 AC) You Crack Me Up Honky Tonk Blues Total Running Time: 37:46 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: 4.044 out of 5.00 (average of 23 ratings) Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Album: In today’s musical landscape, if an album doesn’t debut at #1, its chances of ever reaching that peak are slim. Albums don’t “climb” the charts. They operate more like movies – their first week out of the gate is their biggest and they decline from there. In the ‘80s, however, starting at the top was a rarity. Bruce Springsteen’s live box set did the trick in 1986 – the first album in a decade to do so. Before that albums had to prove themselves first. Huey Lewis & the News definitely fell into that category. They released Sports in the autumn of 1983. It was the group’s third album following their 1980 self-titled debut, which didn’t even chart, and 1982’s Picture This, which achieved gold status on the strength of the top ten single “Do You Believe in Love.” The minor hits “Hope You Love Me Like You Say You Do” and “Working for a Living” followed. “Picture This found Huey Lewis and the News developing a signature sound, but they truly came into their own on their third album, Sports.” STE “The record holds together better than its predecessors because it has a clear, professional production, but the real key is the songs. Where their previous albums were cluttered with generic filler, nearly every song on Sports has a huge hook. And even if the News aren’t bothered by breaking new ground, there’s no denying that the craftmanship on Sports is pretty infectious. There’s a reason why well over half of the album…were huge American hit singles – they have instantly memorable hooks, driven home with economical precision by a tight bar band, who are given just enough polish to make them sound like superstars. And that’s just what Sports made them.” STE With the lead single (Heart and Soul) from Sports, Huey & Co. found themselves in the top 10 again, reaching #8. The next single, I Want a New Drug, did even better, reaching #6. The song generated controversy because of the drug reference although anyone listening to the lyrics would know the “drug of choice” was love, not some illegal narcotic. The band was also sued by Ray Parker. Jr., who accused them of plagiarizing his 1984 hit “Ghostbusters.” The case was settled out of court for an undisclosed sum. WK It wasn’t until the third single, Heart of Rock and Roll (which Blender magazine ranked #6 on its list of the “50 Worst Songs Ever”) WK was spending its fourth week at #6 before Sports finally climbed to the top rung. It was only for one week, but it had such longevity that it placed at #2 on Billboard’s year-end album chart, after Michael Jackson’s Thriller. WK A fourth single – If This It – also found itself just outside the top 5. More than a year after the release of the album, Walking on a Thin Line was released as a fifth single, peaking at #18. All five singles proved their crossover worth as well by hitting the rock charts. The group was embraced by MTV because of their fun videos. Lewis had an easy air about him; he was an everyman who was funny, self-deprecating, and likable. It was no accident that the album cover depicted the band hanging out at a sports bar. These weren’t just the kind of guys who people wanted to hang out with; this felt like the local bar band which drew crowds week after week because they guaranteed a fun evening. Notes: In 1999, an expanded edition of the album added live versions of “The Heart of Rock and Roll,” “Walking on a Thin Line,” “If This Is It,” “Heart and Soul,” and “I Want a New Drug.”

Resources and Related Links: DMDB encyclopedia entry for Huey Lewis & the News STE Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide WK All Music Guide