song of the day – “Theme From THE GREATEST AMERICAN HERO (Believe It Or Not)” | JOEY SCARBURY | 1981.

Posted on October 23, 2016 by retrogod1985

In April 2004, I put together a theme show for my little 80s radio program, STUCK IN THE 80s (on WMPG community radio in Portland, Maine). This wasn’t your ordinary theme show – it was actually about themes, TV themes to be exact. The show was called DO NOT ATTEMPT TO ADJUST YOUR SET. In the course of 120 minutes, I played a total of 63 80s TV themes, along with some bits from shows like WKRP IN CINCINNATI and CHEERS. I also played a special remix on TeeVee Toons Records (later TVT Records), named after a line in one of the favorite cartoons of my youth (THE JETSONS), “Jane, Get Me Off This Crazy Thing!” It was co-produced by Ivan Ivan (who produced Book Of Love’s wonderful debut album), and featured TV themes from the 50s and 60s.

Fast forward 12-and-a-half years, and on tonight’s show (10.23.2016), I’m going to revisit the show – DO NOT ATTEMPT TO ADJUST YOUR SET: THE SERIES FINALE. In listening to the 2004 show this past week, apparently I concentrated more on quantity than quality, but this time I’ll bring back the coolest and most memorable themes of the 80s, and some I didn’t get to last time, including “Falling” by Julee Cruise (the vocal version of the theme from TWIN PEAKS, which was released in 1989, in advance of the show itself), and an entire set dedicated to 80s TV theme show legend, Mike Post.

80s TV theme song legend, Mike Post.

Most of Mike Post’s theme songs were instrumental gems, but there was one song he wrote the music for that had vocals (songwriter Stephen Geyer wrote the lyrics). It was for a television show called THE GREATEST AMERICAN HERO (starring William Katt, TV veteran Robert Culp and the lovely Connie Sellecca), and it was sung by California native and Pop singer, Joey Scarbury.

Joey Scarbury had a minor hit back in 1971 with a song called “Mixed Up Guy.” It reached No. 73 on the BILLBOARD Hot 100. By the end of the decade, he had started working with Mike Post, and when the opportunity came along to record a theme song for this new TV series, Joey was given the chance to sing on it.

THE GREATEST AMERICAN HERO debuted with a 2-hour pilot episode in mid-March 1981, and was a huge success. That success inspired Elektra Records to release it as a single, and within just a couple of months, it flew into the Hot 100 at No. 85.

A couple of months later, in mid-June 1981, “Believe It Or Not” rocketed into the Top 40 at No. 27, and on July 4th (I’m not making this up), the theme for THE GREATEST AMERICAN HERO made its way into the Top 10. Unable to penetrate the stranglehold Diana Ross and Lionel Richie had at No. 1 with “Endless Love” (the second-biggest song of 1981; two other songs would fail as well), “Believe It Or Not” had to settle for a couple weeks at No. 2.

Though it never made it to No. 1, “Believe It Or Not” did sell a million copies in the U.S. alone, it spent half a year on the BILLBOARD Hot 100, and was ranked at No. 11 for all of 1981, beating out No. 1 songs by Sheena Easton, Air Supply, two songs by Blondie, and “Medley” by Stars On 45.

With the success of “Believe It Or Not,” Elektra Records gave Joey Scarbury a chance to do an entire album, called AMERICA’S GREATEST HERO, which turned out to be the only album he ever released. It did, however, generate one more single, “When She Dances,” which reached No. 49 on the Hot 100.

THE GREATEST AMERICAN HERO spent three seasons on ABC before flying away from our TV sets. Joey Scarbury would go on to write songs for Kenny Rogers, Eddie Rabbitt and The Oak Ridge Boys, among others, but it’s the song co-written by Mike Post that will forever stay in the hearts of many (yours truly included) – you can believe it…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcsMPyjwav8

(real) one-hit wonder of the week – “Miami Vice Theme” | JAN HAMMER | 1985.

Posted on October 22, 2016 by retrogod1985

Between late 1979 and the end of 1989, there were nearly 500 (real) one-hit wonders of the 80s that reached the BILLBOARD Hot 100 just one time, a list that includes Soft Cell, Gary Numan, Timbuk 3, The Church, Bronski Beat, Nik Kershaw, The Buggles, The Waitresses, Ultravox and two different bands named The Silencers. Once a week, I’ll highlight a (real) one-hit wonder for you.

Fast forward 12-and-a-half years, and on tomorrow night’s show (10.23.2016), I’m going to revisit the show – DO NOT ATTEMPT TO ADJUST YOUR SET: THE SERIES FINALE. In listening to the 2004 show this week, apparently I concentrated more on quantity than quality, but this time I’ll bring back the coolest and most memorable themes of the 80s, and some I didn’t get to last time, including “Falling” by Julee Cruise (the vocal version of the theme from TWIN PEAKS), and an entire set dedicated to 80s TV theme show legend, Mike Post.

One song I did get to last time and will play again tomorrow night was the biggest TV theme song of the 80s, and the last instrumental to reach No. 1 on BILLBOARD’s Hot 100 singles chart until 2013 – The “Miami Vice Theme” by Jan Hammer.

MIAMI VICE, starring Don Johnson, Philip Michael Thomas and Edward James Olmos was prolly the flashiest (and grittiest?) crime drama of the decade, and was one of the biggest TV shows during the second half of the 80s. The show debuted on NBC in September 1984, and in August 1985, the show’s theme, by the Prague-born American musician, composer and producer, was released.

While Jan Hammer will forever be best known for his Synthpop work on MIAMI VICE, his specialty has been Experimental music and Prog Rock, and over the years, he has contributed to and collaborated on several albums with the NYC Jazz / Rock Fusion group, The Mahavishnu Orchestra, legendary Rocker Jeff Beck, Jazz Fusion guitarist Al Di Meola, plus work with Carlos Santana, Joni Mitchell, Mick Jagger (on his 1985 solo album, SHE’S THE BOSS), Journey’s Neil Schon, the late, great Clarence Clemons and many more.

In August 1985, the popular theme from MIAMI VICE was released as a single, in advance of the TV soundtrack. Another song that would appear on the soundtrack, “Smuggler’s Blues” by Glenn Frey, originally appeared on his 1984 album, THE ALLNIGHTER, but due to its inclusion on the TV show, it became a Top 15 hit in late June 1985.

Jan Hammer’s “Miami Vice Theme” debuted on the Hot 100 in early September 1985, reaching the Top 40 a couple of weeks later. It was climbing the Top 10 this week in October, and in November 1985, it spent a week at No. 1 and a total of 22 weeks on the chart. It was also a big multi-format hit, charting on BILLBOARD’s Adult Contemporary, Dance, Rock and even the R&B chart, where it reached No. 10.

Around the globe, the “Miami Vice Theme” reached the Top 10 in the U.K., Austria, Canada, Germany, Ireland, New Zealand and Switzerland. And though his follow-up from the MIAMI VICE soundtrack, “Crockett’s Theme,” was a big hit in the U.K., Germany, Ireland, Switzerland, and Holland (where it spent four weeks at No. 1), the “Miami Vice Theme” was the only hit Jan Hammer had on the Hot 100.

With music from Jan Hammer, Glenn Frey (“Smuggler’s Blues” and the No. 2 hit, “You Belong To The City”), Phil Collins, Tina Turner and more, the first MIAMI VICE soundtrack spent 11 weeks at No. 1 on BILLBOARD’s album chart. It was the biggest TV soundtrack ever until Disney Channel’s HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL in 2006.

On top of composing the theme for MIAMI VICE and music for 90 of its 112 episodes, Jan Hammer has composed and produced music for at least 14 films, and 20 episodes for a popular early 90s British television show called CHANCER, starring Academy Award nominee Clive Owen.

Jan Hammer turned 68 this year, is still working nearly 50 years after his start in the music business. In a 2014 interview with ROLLING STONE about MIAMI VICE and the show’s 30th anniversary, Jan was asked about the show’s legacy (and that of his one American hit), and he said, “We definitely shook up the TV world. You can still feel certain aftershocks, even at this late date. [Musical] shades of it show up here and there, but it’s more of an intangible thing. I get [Google News] alerts with reviews, and they’ll say, ‘There’s this synth, and it’s very much Jan Hammer-like…’ It’s really amusing. And then I’ll go and listen to it and I’m like, ‘Yeah, they have a point’.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQDU-2qMre0

album of the week – FLOATING INTO THE NIGHT | JULEE CRUISE | 1989.

Posted on February 6, 2016 by retrogod1985

One of my many peculiarities (yes, it’s true) is that I can tell you what my favorite movie is (2004’s ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND, with Jim Carrey);what my favorite TV show is (CHEERS); my favorite band (INXS); my favorite singer (the incomparable Cyndi Lauper); and, my favorite song (Simple Minds’ 1985 gem, “Don’t You (Forget About Me),” from THE BREAKFAST CLUB; but, for whatever reason, I can’t tell you what my favorite album is.

Sure, I have many albums I consider favorites, and many of those are 80s albums I’m certain I’ll feature here at some point in the blog as “album of the week,” such as Duran Duran’s RIO, Cyndi’s SHE’S SO UNUSUAL, INXS’ SHABOOH SHOOBAH, The Hooters’ NERVOUS NIGHT and Prince’s SIGN “O” THE TIMES. But, I never got around to calling any album my favorite. It’s weird, I know, but that’s me. At the very least, I can share some of those favorites with you here. My goal is to highlight an album a week, so let’s begin.

I’ve always admired the work of Academy Award-nominated filmmaker David Lynch, although I wouldn’t call myself a huge fan. When TWIN PEAKS debuted in April 1990, some of my friends immediately fell in love with it, couldn’t stop raving about it. At the time, I couldn’t get into it. I’d love to revisit the series again before the next incarnation comes out in 2017. Maybe the second time around will do it for me. The one connection I still have to TWIN PEAKS, and have had before the show ever started, was its theme song, “Falling.”

“Falling” was co-written by David Lynch and composer Angelo Badalamenti (Lynch’s go-to film composer). The vocal version of “Falling” was by a Dream Pop singer by the name of Julee Cruise, someone I had never heard of. I’m not entirely sure of how the music of Julee Cruise entered my life – perhaps it was a cassette owned by my French roommate during the first semester I started my second bout with college in January 1990, or maybe it was the 13 watts of alternative power of the mighty WUMF, the college radio station at the University of Maine at Farmington, whose memorable slogan was, “Because it always gets worse from here…” I am sure of this, though – the music of Julee Cruise will never leave my life, her debut album in particular.

Friends and frequent collaborators – Composer Angelo Badalamenti and filmmaker David Lynch.

FLOATING INTO THE NIGHT is among the first CDs I ever purchased (as some people did in the late 80s and early 90s), and it’s still with me today. I revisit it often. David Lynch composed all of the lyrics to the 10 songs that appear on the album, and Angelo Badalamenti composed the music. And Julee Cruise provided her dreamy vocals against the lush, celestial musical backdrop. It is an infectious album, still, more than a quarter century later.

I can’t tell you how many times I fell asleep to this beautiful album, and I mean that in the highest regard. From the first notes of the album’s opener, “Floating,” I was hooked. Then there was “Falling,” the gorgeous alt-pop gem that actually reached No. 1 in Australia more than a year after its original release on FLOATING INTO THE NIGHT, no doubt due to its popularity as the vocal version of the TWINS PEAKS theme. It also reached the Top 10 in the U.K., Ireland, Norway and Sweden.

Every song on the album is incredible, but the ones that stand out for me include the playful single “Rockin’ Back Inside My Heart”; “Mysteries Of Love,” which was featured in Lynch’s 1986 film, BLUE VELVET; the quiet and amazingly haunting “Into The Night” (replete with a kick-ass unexpected surprise three-quarters of the way through); and, the album’s simple and lovely closer, “The World Spins,” whose lyrics plead, “Love, don’t go away / Come back this way / Come back and stay / Forever and ever. Please stay…” And I did stay; I did stay madly in love with this album.

Julee Cruise would work with David Lynch and Angelo Badalamenti again on an Elvis Presley cover of “Summer Kisses, Winter Tears” for the soundtrack to the 1991 Wim Wenders film, UNTIL THE END OF THE WORLD. After that, she did some acting, collaborated with artists such as Bobby McFerrin, Delirium and Moby, and released 3 more albums between 1993 and 2011.

It was her vocal presence on FLOATING INTO THE NIGHT, though, that keeps Julee Cruise close to my music heart (with many thanks to the lush collaboration with David Lynch and Angelo Badalamenti). If you don’t already own this magical album, you should pick up a physical or digital copy, and try falling asleep to it. I guaRONtee you’ll be floating into the night…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cixs8LCHwX4