Tag Archives: Huey Lewis and the News

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Song of the Day #6,316: ‘Jacob’s Ladder’ – Huey Lewis and the News

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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Song of the Day #6,251: ‘The Power of Love’ – Huey Lewis and the News

On the week of August 17, 1985, Tears for Fears held the top spot with ‘Shout,’ which spent three weeks at #1.

Right behind it, on its way to its own #1 berth, was Huey Lewis and the News’ ‘The Power of Love,’ lead single of the soundtrack of blockbuster hit Back to the Future. The song plays early in the film as Marty McFly skateboards to school, followed shortly by Lewis himself in a cameo as an uptight school employee.

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Song of the Day #5,590: ‘Hip to Be Square’ – Huey Lewis & the News

Psychological Horror movies are more about the characters’ state of mind than some outside terrorizing force. To be fair, those outside forces are often present, but the filmmaking is more interested in the emotional and mental fallout.

The movie considered by many the best in this sub-genre is Roman Polanski’s 1965 Repulsion, the director’s first English-language film. Repulsion stars a chilly Catherine Deneuve as a woman pathologically averse to the leering presence of men. Hiding in her apartment, beset by increasingly disturbing hallucinations, she descends into murderous madness.

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Song of the Day #4,276: ‘If This Is It’ – Huey Lewis and the News

My 12th favorite 1983 album is one I definitely listened to at the time. Huey Lewis and the News were a big hit in my house, and I vividly remember listening to my older sister’s vinyl copy of the album Sports.

This baby has one hell of a tracklist. It could be mistaken for a greatest hits collection, boasting songs such as ‘The Heart of Rock and Roll,’ ‘Heart and Soul,’ ‘I Want a New Drug,’ ‘Walking On a Thin Line’ and today’s SOTD, ‘If This Is It,’ a favorite of mine.

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