Continuing my look at the albums of 1986…

Huey Lewis and the News were the Hootie and the Blowfish of the 80s. Both bands had massive but short-lived success releasing feel-good pop rock driven by a charismatic frontman’s excellent vocals. And both were largely (and wrongly) relegated to joke status after the shine had worn off.

If 1983’s Sports was Huey Lewis’ Cracked Rear View, then 1986’s Fore! was their Fairweather Johnson — a triple-Platinum follow-up that still lived in the shadow of the bigger hit. The difference is that Sports went 7x Platinum — impressive, but not the Diamond-selling juggernaut Hootie could never escape.

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