Raised on Radio #28- Barry Manilow
Mar. 12th, 2013 07:19 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bedsitter23The 80s were tough.
Maybe all decades are tough.
There was disco in the 70s (a trend even bands like the Rolling Stones and Kiss couldn't avoid) and awkward grunge moments in the 90s (Warrant, Poison and Motley Crue all tried to fit in with awkward albums).
The 80s were extremely tough though. There was MTV for one thing. That meant you had to be good looking (which probably explains why Christopher Cross went from multiple Grammy winning artist to obscurity in quick succession). Try to avoid the medium and it meant death for your band. Embrace the medium and make videos that are eternal bad jokes (Journey, Billy Squier).
Punk legends had it hard following the arrival of new wave (Lou Reed probably the biggest struggle, but there was Iggy Pop re-imagined as a metalhead and David Bowie setting his eye on the dance floor). Songwriters like Billy Joel and Jackson Browne embraced the decade's global attitude. Arena rock and FM rock bands were able to reach new audiences (Yes) or tick off their fans royally (Styx). Disco bands did whatever they needed to do (Kool and the Gang embracing the Funk, Lionel Ritchie breaking out on his own in a career for pop, with Donna Summer and Diana Ross doing something similar. KC ditching the Sunshine Band, and the Village People doing whatever the hell this is).
Which brings us to Barry Manilow.
Manilow was huge in the 70s, and since this is a song about music I grew up with, I should probably state although he wasn't my thing, he certainly was played often in my household. from 1978-1980, Manilow won the American Music Award for best male artist, and the late 70s gave us some of his biggest songs ("Looks like we made it", "Can't Smile Without You", "Copacabana" and "Daybreak"). Of course, today he is an Easy Listening and Broadway icon and legend.
But the 80s were rough at times. In 1982, Manilow released Here Comes the Night. At least that was what it was called in the puritanical United States.
Barry Manilow. He wants to do it with you.
Manilow in 82 wore leather jackets and would have fit right in with the urban toughs of Mean Streets or the original Rocky.
It was the beginning of the end. The album featured his last two Top 40 hits, including "Read it and Weep" (#18), a Meat Loaf song (which Jim Steinman had written), which I suppose makes sense. "Some kind of Friend" only made it to #26, but it was a huge hit on the local CHR station.
For 'Barry goes tough", it is actually better than it has the right to be; and on a station that would play Thriller and Hall & Oates, it does fit right in.
Maybe all decades are tough.
There was disco in the 70s (a trend even bands like the Rolling Stones and Kiss couldn't avoid) and awkward grunge moments in the 90s (Warrant, Poison and Motley Crue all tried to fit in with awkward albums).
The 80s were extremely tough though. There was MTV for one thing. That meant you had to be good looking (which probably explains why Christopher Cross went from multiple Grammy winning artist to obscurity in quick succession). Try to avoid the medium and it meant death for your band. Embrace the medium and make videos that are eternal bad jokes (Journey, Billy Squier).
Punk legends had it hard following the arrival of new wave (Lou Reed probably the biggest struggle, but there was Iggy Pop re-imagined as a metalhead and David Bowie setting his eye on the dance floor). Songwriters like Billy Joel and Jackson Browne embraced the decade's global attitude. Arena rock and FM rock bands were able to reach new audiences (Yes) or tick off their fans royally (Styx). Disco bands did whatever they needed to do (Kool and the Gang embracing the Funk, Lionel Ritchie breaking out on his own in a career for pop, with Donna Summer and Diana Ross doing something similar. KC ditching the Sunshine Band, and the Village People doing whatever the hell this is).
Which brings us to Barry Manilow.
Manilow was huge in the 70s, and since this is a song about music I grew up with, I should probably state although he wasn't my thing, he certainly was played often in my household. from 1978-1980, Manilow won the American Music Award for best male artist, and the late 70s gave us some of his biggest songs ("Looks like we made it", "Can't Smile Without You", "Copacabana" and "Daybreak"). Of course, today he is an Easy Listening and Broadway icon and legend.
But the 80s were rough at times. In 1982, Manilow released Here Comes the Night. At least that was what it was called in the puritanical United States.
Barry Manilow. He wants to do it with you.
Manilow in 82 wore leather jackets and would have fit right in with the urban toughs of Mean Streets or the original Rocky.
It was the beginning of the end. The album featured his last two Top 40 hits, including "Read it and Weep" (#18), a Meat Loaf song (which Jim Steinman had written), which I suppose makes sense. "Some kind of Friend" only made it to #26, but it was a huge hit on the local CHR station.
For 'Barry goes tough", it is actually better than it has the right to be; and on a station that would play Thriller and Hall & Oates, it does fit right in.
