song of the day – “A Love Bizarre” | SHEILA E. featuring PRINCE | 1985.

More and more lately, I keep coming back to these Classic Rock and these retro radio stations playing “80s and More,” and how they are limiting themselves to the same songs by the same artists that every other station like them always plays.  They always tout variety, and yet, the song(s) remain the same.  And, not in a great Led Zeppelin way either.  And in turn, I’ve been thinking about songs they are not playing, and SHOULD BE playing already.  Damn.

Is it really more, or just the same?

Somewhere in the space and time of radio, some “professional” programmer or programming “team” for a collective of similar radio stations thought that it would be brilliant to play the same select group of artists within a six-hour span, maybe even longer. 

Using an “80s and more” station out of Boston as an example, on Tuesday, December 10th, the same artists are repeated a number of times in just a short six-hour span.  Aerosmith was played three times (understandable since they’re from Boston, but still, is hearing Aerosmith on the same radio station once every two hours necessary?), two Elton John songs were played in an hour, and multiple (male) artists were played twice: Men At Work, The Police, Queen, Billy Joel, Journey, Michael Jackson, Foreigner, Hall & Oates, and fucking Bon Jovi, the band who killed New Wave back in 1986 when “You Give Love A Bad Name” hit No. 1 on the BILLBOARD Hot 100 (I half joke about that, but it’s true.).

During that same six-hour span, women were represented just nine times, and though all are awesome, the songs are by the same handful of female (or female-driven) artists they always play in heavy rotation: Scandal, Eurythmics, Joan Jett & The Blackhearts, Pat Benatar, Heart, The Bangles, and three of the same 70s Fleetwood Mac songs everyone plays (did they forget about all of their sweet work in the 80s?  Or “Tusk” from 1979?  Now THAT would kick ass, and would be branching out!).

Radio programmers! Play this song already, dammit!

While Michael Jackson was played a couple times, I didn’t see any other Soul or R&B artists from the 80s OR MORE OR ANY played at all.  No Aretha?  No Donna Summer (from Boston)?  No Blondie?  No Sheila E.?

Sheila E. performing live, 1978.

Sheila E. turns 62 today (December 12), and by the time she branched out on her own in 1983, she had already worked with music R&B and Pop royalty, including the likes of Lionel Richie, Marvin Gaye, Herbie Hancock, Diana Ross, and she was even a member of The George Duke Band for a few years.

In 1978, the year Prince released his debut album, FOR YOU, he also met Sheila E. (full name Sheila Escovedo) at a concert where she was performing with her father, percussionist Pete Escovedo.  Six years later, 1984 would prove to be a huge year for both of them. 

They teamed up during the PURPLE RAIN recording sessions and sang together on the B-side of “Let’s Go Crazy,” the highly memorable (not to mention one of the best B-sides ever), “Erotic City.”

One of THE BEST (and certainly naughtiest) B-sides EVER.

Working with Prince gave Sheila E. a huge boost to her own career, and just a couple of weeks before the release of PURPLE RAIN, she released her own debut album, THE GLAMOROUS LIFE, which would eventually be certified Gold.  Prince co-produced the album with Sheila E., and wrote the album’s title track, a huge Top 10 hit around the globe.  She also opened for Prince on his PURPLE RAIN tour (THAT would have been a concert to see!).

In late August 1985, Sheila E. released her second album, ROMANCE 1600, again co-produced with Prince (and on Prince’s Warner Bros. imprint, Paisley Park).  By late January 1986, ROMANCE 1600 became another Gold-certified album here in America for Sheila E. 

Fast forward to November 1985, and the funky first single from the album, “A Love Bizarre,” co-written by Prince and Sheila E., and featuring Prince on guitar, bass guitar and backing vocals, was released.  A month earlier, the song was featured in the film, KRUSH GROOVE, starring Sheila E., Run-D.M.C., Beastie Boys, LL Cool J, Kurtis Blow, The Fat Boys, New Edition, Rick Rubin and Blair Underwood (who you would later see in TV shows like L.A. LAW and SEX AND THE CITY, and many other films in his long acting career).

Most of the music video for “A Love Bizarre” was taken from the film, and the 3:46 single version was whittled down from the album’s epic 12-minute version.

“A Love Bizarre” debuted on the BILLBOARD Hot 100 in mid-November 1985 at No. 84.  After a slow start, “A Love Bizarre” reached the Top 40 in the last week of 1985, and after a steady 16-week climb up the Hot 100, it spent a week at No. 11 in early March 1986.  After 23 weeks, “A Love Bizarre” fell off the chart in mid-April 1986.  It was one of the biggest hits of 1986 here in America.

Around the globe, “A Love Bizarre” found some not-so-bizarre love from Germany and The Netherlands, reaching the Top 10.  It also hit No. 14 in Austria, No. 16 in Switzerland, No. 20 in Canada, and charted in the U.K. as well.  It spent two weeks at No. 1 on BILLBOARD’s Dance chart, and was her biggest hit on BILLBOARD’s R&B chart, reaching No. 2.

NERDY FUN FACT: In 1987, the late New Age / World singer and guitarist, Michael Hedges, released his much-heralded live album, LIVE ON THE DOUBLE PLANET, and on that album was a spirited acoustic cover of “A Love Bizarre,” performed live in the Spring of 1987 at the University of Maine at Orono, just about 90 minutes north of where I’m typing this.  At the beginning of the song he sings, “A, B… A, B, C, D… Sheila E!”  It was a frequent covers favorite played during the 20-year-plus run of my 80s radio show, STUCK IN THE 80s, and remains as one of my all-time favorite cover songs.

Though Sheila E. never had another big hit, it doesn’t mean she hasn’t been busy.  She appeared in four total movies, toured with Prince on his SIGN “O” THE TIMES and LOVESEXY tours (when she was briefly engaged to Prince during this time), has released eight albums between 1984 and 2017, performed as a member of the “All-Starrs” for three tours as part of Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band, played percussion on Phil Collins’ cover of Cyndi Lauper’s “True Colors,” and a few years later, played percussion on the Maurice Williams classic, “Stay,” for Cyndi’s brilliant 2003 album of standards,  AT LAST.  She has also provided percussion and/or drums for many motion pictures, including MAN OF STEEL and BATMAN V SUPERMAN.

Sheila E. and Prince, late 80s.

Sheila E. and Prince occasionally got together to perform over the years, and in 2016, following his sad death in April of that year, she released a new song in honor of Prince, called “Girl Meets Boy.”

A 2016 tribute song for Prince.

I still love hearing “The Glamorous Life” on the radio 35 years later, though it’s not played as much as it should be.  But, it’s certainly played more than “A Love Bizarre,” which to this day is highly-regarded as Sheila E.’s signature tune, and yet I NEVER hear it on the radio. 

For those “professional” 80s and retro programmers out there, what in THE H-E-double hockey sticks are you doing?!  What are you waiting for?  I love that Barry Scott’s long-running program, THE LOST 45s, brings some of these big hits, most of which sadly remain lost and forgotten, back to the radio with his wonderful show, but until I can finally get that programmer job I’ve always wanted, radio programmers need to please please please show Sheila E. some birthday love and highly regard “A Love Bizarre.”  Not only does it kick much ass, but NOT showing this song any love IS truly bizarre.

Happy Birthday, Sheila E.!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56gpwl6cohc

song of the day – “It Must Be Love” | MADNESS | 1983.

When it comes to music, anyone who’s known me for any period of time knows my love for terrestrial radio, 80s music and my stance on (real) one-hit wonders.  Being a singles chart nerd here in America for 40 years (most of my life), I classify a (real) one-hit wonder as an act who has reached the BILLBOARD Hot 100 only once.  Throughout the three-and-a-half year history of this blog, I’ve often featured (real) one-hit wonders of the 80s, and I’ll feature another one soon.  There were nearly 500 of them; it will take awhile. 

But, as much as I’ve loved radio for the past 40 years, there are aspects of radio I’ve never cared for.  As outlined in one of my very first blog posts back in 2016 (“wouldn’t it be good,” after the 1984 song by (real) one-hit wonder, Nik Kershaw, https://foreveryoung80s.wordpress.com/2016/02/02/wouldnt-it-be-good/), I hit upon this very subject of radio stations and media outlets like VH1 “determining” what songs are worth remembering, and what songs get left behind, despite any imprint the songs that got left behind may have had on the singles chart.

10 years ago, VH1 did a bullshit show on the “Greatest One-Hit Wonders Of The 80s,” and if memory serves me right, nearly 75% of the list was inaccurate.  In response to this list, I put together a show called “Why I Wasn’t A One-Hit Wonder” on my STUCK IN THE 80s radio program. 

Not long after my “Why I Wasn’t A One-Hit Wonder” program aired in October 2009, I had the honor of interviewing the voice of The English Beat and General Public, Dave Wakeling (whose hit 1993 cover of The Staples Singers’ “I’ll Take You There” appeared on the show), we talked about this very topic, and I asked Dave if it bothered him that General Public, according to VH1, was referred to as a one-hit wonder (General Public was ranked No. 77 on VH1’s list, because of “Tenderness”):

“[VH1] asked me to be involved in that, and I sent them a list of [our] hits, and I was like, ‘Sadly, we can’t be involved in a one-hit wonder [show], can we?’  So, I told him that I thought they were barking up the wrong tree, and beating a dead horse, and it seems to be something, I think it stems more from VH1 than anything else, to try and marginalize or even ridicule the 80s somehow, and most of the people working on those damn programs weren’t even there; with their young sarcastic tones.  I put the guy in his place, frankly.  And, I said, ‘Even if I was a one-hit wonder, it’d be one more than you, mate, wouldn’t it?!’  Or, as my dad used to say, ‘Better to have been a has been than a never-bleeding wozzer!’”

My god, I love sharing that story.  It’s fucking beautiful, and it’s nice to know there are artists like Dave Wakeling who appreciate similar views of what does and does not determine a (real) one-hit wonder.  I imagine Barry Scott, legendary host of the long-running radio show, THE LOST 45s, would tend to agree.

Take another successful British act, Madness (on that 2009 VH1 list at No. 28, with “Our House”).  Between 1979 and 2008, the Ska/Popsters hailing from the Camden Town part of London) reached the Top 40 of the U.K. singles chart 29 times with 26 songs, with 15 songs reaching the Top 10 (one of them in two different chart runs; I’ll come onto that in a bit), and one No. 1 song – “House Of Fun,” which spent two weeks at No. 1 in the Spring of 1982.

Over here in America, Madness wasn’t as popular, but still managed to hit the BILLBOARD Hot 100 three times: “Our House,” which went to No. 7 in the Summer of 1983, “It Must Be Love,” and “The Sun And The Rain,” which reached No. 72 in early 1984.  In fact, “Our House” was part of a chart-setting record on the BILLBOARD Hot 100.  On the chart dated July 16, 1983, British acts shattered an 18-year-old record, by placing HALF of the Top 40 songs on the Hot 100 that week (the original 1965 record was 14).  And, out of those 20 songs on that July 16, 1983 chart, seven of the Top 10 songs that week were by Brits.  “Our House” was No. 8.  Absolutely impressive.  The Second British Invasion was in full swing, and Madness was a part of that.

The original 1981 U.K. single release of “It Must Be Love.”

In late November 1981, Madness (then featuring seven members) released a gorgeous stand-alone single called “It Must Be Love,” which later appeared on their No. 1 U.K. compilation, COMPLETE MADNESS, in April 1982.  “It Must Be Love” is actually a cover of a soulful, mainly-acoustic Pop song by British singer / songwriter / musician / poet, Labi Siffre.  It reached No. 14 in the U.K. in 1971.

10 years after the original, the Madness version of “It Must Be Love” reached No. 4 on the U.K. singles chart, becoming their eighth-consecutive Top 10 hit there.  In 1983, in an attempt to get the U.S. further interested in Madness after the No. 7 Hot 100 success of “Our House,” Geffen Records released a compilation with some of their more popular U.K. songs released from 1979 through 1982 (oddly enough, one of their most-famous songs, “One Step Beyond…” was not represented).  Though the compilation was well-reviewed, had some success on the BILLBOARD album chart, and I happily bought the album, it sadly did not have the effect the band was hoping for.

However, the success of “Our House” in America did not stop the success of Madness here.  While still in the Top 40 with “Our House,” “It Must Be Love” debuted on the BILLBOARD Hot 100 in late August 1983 at No. 85.  About a month later, “It Must Be Love” became the second American Top 40 single by Madness.  It spent five weeks in the Top 40, peaking at No. 33 for two of those weeks in October 1983.  Madness would reach the Hot 100 one more time, in early 1984 with the aforementioned “The Sun And The Rain.” 

Back in the U.K., Madness continued to be successful, so much so in fact that their 1992 compilation album, DIVINE MADNESS, also reached No. 1 on the U.K. album chart, and got the band back together after a six-year break.  It also brought back reissues of three of their Top 10 hits, the most-successful reissue being “It Must Be Love,” which this time reached No. 6 on the U.K. singles chart 11 years after the original release hit No. 4.

The 1992 U.K. reissue of “It Must Be Love,” featuring a still from the music video on the cover.

Formed in 1976, Madness is still together today, with their 12th studio album, CAN’T TOUCH US NOW, released in October 2016, and their most-recent compilation, 2017’s FULL HOUSE: THE VERY BEST OF MADNESS.  Both albums were certified Silver in the U.K.

The full album cover art for 2016’s CAN’T TOUCH US NOW.

Maryhope and I have loved Madness for a long time, with “It Must Be Love” a lovely favorite we treasure.  And though the last time I heard “It Must Be Love” on terrestrial radio was either on my WMPG radio show or Maryhope’s, I’d like to think that it’s being played somewhere on the dial where Madness is not regarded as an American one-hit wonder.  And if there is such a place like that in America which exists besides the community radio confines of Portland, Maine, well, it must be love, right?

The cover art for the U.S. release of “It Must Be Love.”

“As soon as I wake up / Every night, every day / I know that it’s you I need / To take the blues away / It must be love, love, love / It must be love, love, love / Nothing more, nothing less / Love is the best…”

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

Madness, 1983.

song of the day – “Clones (We’re All)” | ALICE COOPER | 1980.

For whatever reason(s), I’ve been unintentionally lax in my FOREVER YOUNG: MY LIFE STUCK IN THE 80s blog post output so far this year.  Last year, between January 11, 2016 (my first-ever blog post), until June 1, 2016, I had written 111 blog posts.  Not bad for a first-timer.  From January 4, 2017 through today, June 1, 2017, I’ve posted less than half of that 2016 amount.  Well, that changes right now.

On June 15, 2014, Casey Kasem, host of the longtime countdown program, AMERICAN TOP 40, passed away at the age of 82.  From my first blog post (and prolly some more inbetween then and now), I explained how, in 1979, I was a geeky, lanky and somewhat lost 12-year-old living in Central Maine, had a few friends and not a lot of interest in much of anything, but at some point early that year, I discovered AMERICAN TOP 40, and was glued to it every weekend.  Not only could I hear the 40 biggest songs in the country every week, but also Casey’s cool trivia and facts about the songs and the artists, a trait I treasure to this day.  For me, the show was No. 1 with a bullet.  And still is (thanks to the re-airing of broadcasts of AT40 on iHeart Radio).

In honor of my radio hero, Casey Kasem, for the entire month of June, I will be highlighting a song each day (some days will have two songs!) that peaked in the Top 40 of the BILLBOARD Hot 100, and with every blog post, just like on AMERICAN TOP 40, the hits will get bigger with each post.  Today’s “song of the day” (June 1, 2017) will feature a song that peaked at No. 40.  On June 30, I’ll feature a “song of the day” that went all the way to No. 1. 

As Casey used to say on AT40, “And on we go!”

In the 1970s, Alice Cooper was famous for his “snake-eyes” makeup and his being “The Godfather Of Shock Rock,” from Rockin’ songs like “School’s Out,” his first hit, “I’m Eighteen” and “No More Mr. Nice Guy,” and awesome ballads like “Only Women Bleed,” “I Never Cry” and “You And Me.” 

Alice Cooper on the WELCOME TO MY NIGHTMARE tour, 1975.

It was his ballads, actually, that gave Alice Cooper his biggest hits in the 70s, which isn’t really that strange, because if you think about it, just about all of the big Rock bands of the 70s, 80s and even 90s had their biggest success with a ballad (pardon me, that should prolly read “power ballad”) – a list that includes but is not limited to Styx, Journey, Cheap Trick, Foreigner, Scorpions, Night Ranger, The Cars, Boston, REO Speedwagon, Heart, Kiss, Def Leppard, Mötley Crüe, Ozzy Osbourne, Poison, Queensrÿche, Warrant, Winger, Europe, Cinderella, Skid Row, Bad English (featuring John Waite) and Aerosmith, whose big song from the biggest film of 1998, ARMAGEDDON – “I Don’t Want To Miss A Thing” – gave the Boston band not only their first (and sole) No. 1 song, but their biggest hit in the 25 years they had been together at that point.

Well, by 1980, Alice Cooper wanted to try something new.  He ditched the makeup  and recorded the 28-minute album, FLUSH THE FASHION, with popular producer, Roy Thomas Baker, who, in the two years previous to FLUSH THE FASHION, had worked with bands like The Cars, Foreigner, Journey and Queen.

FLUSH THE FASHION had a sort of New Wave influence, and since its release, it has been hailed as a “hidden gem” in the 26 studio albums Alice has released since 1969 (his 27th, PARANORMAL, is scheduled to be released in late July 2017).  At the time of the release of FLUSH THE FASHION, though, many longtime fans were bewildered at the change in Alice’s sound.

Still, FLUSH THE FASHION became Alice Cooper’s biggest album in three years, and returned him to the Top 40 of the BILLBOARD Hot 100 for the first time in two years. 

“Clones (We’re All)” was the first single released from the album, making its debut on the Hot 100 in mid-May 1980 at No. 77, just a few weeks after the release of FLUSH THE FASHION.  “Clones” had risen to No. 51 by early June, and reached No. 40 on July 5, 1980, but, sadly like Blondie’s brilliant “Atomic” (No. 39 that week), both songs lost steam and plummeted down more than half the chart the following week after just nine weeks on the Hot 100.

NERDY AT40 FACT: To my knowledge, “Clones (We’re All)” was actually never mentioned by Casey Kasem, because on that chart dated July 5, 1980, AMERICAN TOP 40 aired a special broadcast of the “AMERICAN TOP 40 Book Of Records” that week, so “Clones” was never even played on AT40 because it was gone from the Top 40 that following week.

“Clones” did have some chart success elsewhere, reaching No. 15 in Canada, No. 36 in Australia, No. 58 in Germany, and somehow all 2 minutes and 51 seconds of “Clones” was serviced to Dance clubs, and it actually reached No. 69 on BILLBOARD’s Dance chart.

Alice Cooper, 1980.

I’m not sure exactly how “Clones,” a song about forced conformity (“I’m all alone, so are we all / We’re all clones / All are one and one are are all…”), came onto my music radar, I just really liked it.  Strangely enough, today was the first time I ever saw the music video for “Clones,” and if videos were as popular then as they would be a year or so later, and if the 13-year-old version of myself had seen Alice’s frail-looking and somewhat menacing appearance, I am not sure if I would have changed my mind about the song.  But, honestly, whatever attracted me to this odd and yet topically-interesting song still attracts me to it 37 years later.

After “Clones” and FLUSH THE FASHION, his next few albums fizzled and most of the 80s were not good to Alice Cooper.  But, by 1989, he was on a new record label and returned with a vengeance with the album TRASH, his first Platinum album since 1975, which featured the biggest hit of his career – no, not a power ballad this time – the Hard Rockin’ “Poison.”  That song was certified as a Gold single and reached No. 7 on the Hot 100, plus it reached the Top 10 in (at least) the U.K., Australia, Austria, Canada, Holland, Ireland, Norway and Sweden.  Alice Cooper was back. 

From the “Poison” music video…

In 1992, Alice appeared as himself in the highly successful and fun film adaptation of the SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE skit, WAYNE’S WORLD, where he performed at a concert and got his intellectual on about Milwaukee, Wisconsin backstage with Wayne (Mike Meyers) and Garth (Dana Carvey).  In my humble opinion, they’re all worthy.

On top of a new album release this summer (an album which features contributions from Larry Mullen of U2 and Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top, among others), Alice will be co-headlining a tour in August with Deep Purple and Edgar Winter.

You know, regardless of chart positions, I’ve always found it interesting how there’s no rhyme or reason to which songs we choose to like and keep liking and loving over the years, but when when do like and love them, those songs really matter, and will forever. 

On the opposite end of the spectrum, or the radio dial if you prefer, as much as I love radio, and loved being involved in it for the better part of 32 years (so far), you’ve gotta wonder how a commercial and/or conglomerate station determines what songs are deemed “worthy” of being played forever and what songs are left behind.  I suppose that’s been the case all along (I mean, how else can you explain two great songs dropping 53 places out of the Top 40 from one week to the next?). 

I know for me, for many great shows on community stations like WMPG, and for shows like Barry Scott’s “The Lost 45s” and the (unrelated) STUCK IN THE 80s podcast based in Florida, I could never forget the amazing songs I loved from my youth and discovered into adulthood and beyond.  And I was proud to share them for nearly 21 years on my weekly STUCK IN THE 80s radio show on WMPG in Portland, Maine, and will again, because I’m sure I’m not the only one out there that feels this way. 

I love Billy Joel, but every time I hear his overrated “Big Shot,” I can’t help but cringe (The guy’s got a gajillion songs!  Play another one!).  The song jumped from No. 51 to No. 23 on the Hot 100 and stopped at No. 14 three weeks later, and yet it’s been deemed “worthy” for radio eternity by the powers that be.  Play something different, dammit!  Give me 1980’s “Sometimes A Fantasy” every day of the week and twice on Sunday (and look for it in an upcoming blog post, dammit!). 

I don’t know, after listening to commercial stations for nearly 40 years, from the big conglomerate ones to the locally-owned ones with diminutive, covfefe head GMs who think 80s Hard Rock songs should be played back-to-back with the likes of Justin Bieber and Taylor Swift, maybe it’s those programmers and radio heads who are the ones that are clones. 

As I am, unlike these sad folks, not a drone or a clone, I think the best response I can give to that is this simple but appropriate quote from Alice’s mostly-forgotten kick-ass gem from 1980:

“I just want wanna be myself / I just wanna be myself / I just wanna be myself / Be myself / Be myself…”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-q3ly1d-WGw

song of the day – “Fade Away” | BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN | 1981.

Whenever I think of “lost or forgotten” 80s singles, first I think of Barry Scott, who, for decades, has long-championed those singles from the 60s, 70s and 80s that were once hits but have been mostly forgotten by radio stations for whatever reason.  His show is, appropriately titled, THE LOST 45s.  Check it out at lost45.com. 

In a similar vein, one of the reasons I started my little 80s radio program on WMPG-FM and WMPGorg in Portland, Maine, STUCK IN THE 80s, was so I could bring back some of those songs from the 80s to the airwaves most folks don’t hear much anymore.   One of those “lost or forgotten” gems from the 80s, and today’s “song of the day,” is “Fade Away” by Bruce Springsteen.

“Fade Away” was the second single from Bruce Springsteen’s fifth studio album (and first BILLBOARD No. 1 LP), the 2-record set, THE RIVER.  Released immediately following the big success of his first Top 10 single ever, “Hungry Heart,” “Fade Away” started off strong, reaching the Top 40 of the BILLBOARD Hot 100 in just its third week (on this date – February 21 – in 1981).

But, 3 weeks later, “Fade Away” quickly reached its peak position of No. 20 on the Hot 100, and after 12 total weeks, it faded away from the chart.  Bruce wouldn’t hit the Hot 100 again for 4 years, when he rocketed in with “Dancing In The Dark.”

I’ve always wondered with certain songs why they start off so strong, and then just fade away (no pun intended).  Was “Fade Away” too slow?  Was it the subject matter of pain and lost love?  That can’t be it, because there have always been slow songs about pain and lost love.  Maybe it’s because “Fade Away” probably wasn’t supposed to be released as the second single.  In the U.K. and Europe, the album’s title track was released as the “Hungry Heart” follow-up, while in the U.S., Canada, Australia and New Zealand, it was “Fade Away.” 

Paul McCartney would go through the same thing with Columbia Records a few years later when the title track for his album, PIPES OF PEACE, was released as the A-side everywhere but North America, and it reached No. 1 in the U.K. and Ireland, while the North American A-side was “So Bad” – a good song, but it didn’t even crack the BILLBOARD Top 20 on the Hot 100, and one wonders (okay, me) if “Pipes Of Peace” would have been released here, would it have had the same success as abroad?  I think it would have; it’s an amazing song.

“Fade Away” is an amazing song, too, but whether or not it was because of its disappointing chart ranking, it wasn’t played much on the original tour for THE RIVER, and was dropped off the concert playlist completely for a long time.  Well, with the continuation of the 35th anniversary tour for THE RIVER, Bruce and the E Street Band are playing the album in its entirety, which I’m guessing (and hoping) would include “Fade Away.”  Even the E Street’s legendary Steve Van Zandt has said that “Fade Away” is one of his favorite Springsteen songs: “It’s just one of those funny, lost little gems, you know?”  Yes, I do know, Little Steven, yes I do…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WP9PHwClSfE