You Don't Want Me Anymore by Steel Breeze

1982 was a year of flux for top 40 music.  A lot of different types of music hit the charts that year, and many acts came and left that year.  One act that appeared for the first time was Steel Breeze, a pop-rock band out of California.  Like Magazine 60, Steel Breeze incorporated synthesizers into its sound, but while Magazine 60 had an obvious Eurodisco sound, Steel Breeze was much more an album-oriented rock group.

At first, Steel Breeze seemed destined for quick success.  Their first and eponymous album was selling well, and the video for their first single, "You Don't Want Me Anymore" was getting heavy airplay on MTV.

(Steel Breeze peaked at #50 on Billboard's Top LPs and Tape Chart. Album ℗1982 RCA Records. Photo courtesy Amazon.com.)

"You Don't Want Me Anymore" started very strongly, debuting on Billboard's Hot 100 at #67, making it the highest debuting song for the week ending August 28, 1982.  Rather surprisingly, given the amount of airplay it received, it only peaked at #16 the week of November 13 and stayed there for two weeks before falling from there.  (It did better in what Billboard then called their Rock Top Tracks chart, peaking at #9.)  All in all, the song was on the Hot 100 for a respectable 20 weeks, though that was not quite enough to make it one of Billboard's hot 100 songs for the year.  (Interestingly enough, it did rank #100 on American Top 40's year-end countdown.*)

Steel Breeze followed "You Don't Want Me Anymore" up with one more top 40 song (which peaked at #30) before disappearing from view altogether.  No further albums or singles from Steel Breeze ever charted after early 1983, and the group has largely disappeared from radio since then.  (I personally have actually heard "You Don't Want Me Anymore" on the radio once or twice, though it was during a local station's spotlight of 1982 ("Nine great songs from one year!"); they certainly don't have this song in their regular rotation.)  In my opinion, this song deserved better.

* While American Top 40 used the Billboard Hot 100 as its exclusive source until November 1991, it did not always use Billboard's Hot 100 for its year-end countdowns for some reason. 

Don Quichotte (No Estan Aqui) by Magazine 60

During the post-disco years, a lot of synthpop bands popped up, many Europe-based.  One such band was Magazine 60, a French band which is known in America--if it is known here at all--for exactly one song, "Don Quichotte (No Estan Aqui)".

"Don Quichotte", you might have noticed, is the French name of Don Quixote, the literary hero brought to life by Miguel de Cervantes.  Why someone would try to call Don Quixote, or Don Quichotte, on the phone (which is exactly what happens in this song), is not explained, but that seems to be almost the entirety of the English portion of the song (the remainder is in Spanish).  And yet, the tune itself is quite catchy, which is probably why the song got airplay in the mid-80s.

"Don Quichotte (No Estan Aqui)", a 1984 single, appeared on Magazine 60's 1985 album Costa del Sol, which was, for whatever reason, not released in the US until 1987, which was well after the song had come and gone.  The album itself is apparently so forgotten that not only does Amazon not stock it, but no one is even selling a used copy on Amazon as of this writing.

(Costa del Sol never charted in the US.  Album ℗1985 CBS Records.)

"Don Quichotte (No Estan Aqui)" got its start in the US, as one might expect, on the Dance charts in 1985 before finally entering Billboard's Hot 100 the week ending May 10, 1986.  It peaked at #56 the week ending June 21.  Surprisingly, for its rather low peak position, it lasted 11 weeks on the Hot 100 before falling off.

Since its original chart run, the song has appeared on a few internet disco streams and has gotten, from what I can tell, a grand total of two spins on the 20 years of my favorite celebration of the obscure, "Crap From the Past", but for the most part, "Don Quichotte" is long forgotten. 

The Way I Want To Touch You by Captain & Tennille

I don't know about anyone else, but I was disappointed to hear that Toni Tennille filed for divorce from Daryl "Captain" Dragon a couple of weeks ago.  (And then I was further disappointed to see that most of the responses to this news was "they're still alive???")  As a child of the 70s, and specifically, a child whose mother listened to a radio station whose format was called "middle of the road" back then (but would have been called adult contemporary now), I heard quite a bit of music from Captain & Tennille.

Or, to be more precise, I heard two songs by Captain & Tennille a lot.  And so, I'm sure, did a lot of you, and they were the same two songs:  "Love Will Keep Us Together" (a title which lent itself to, well, one joke repeated 1000x last week after the divorce announcement came out) and "Do That To Me One More Time" (which lent itself to a joke which was slightly more clever, only used by one person), but I never heard any of their other hits, or at least I never heard them played as recurrents for years after their original release, and I was young enough not to remember their original chart runs.

I don't even remember "Muskrat Love" when it hit the charts.

And no, I am not putting it on this blog.  You want it, click the link and buy it yourself.  That might qualify as a song that was quite fairly forgotten.

But I digress.

A few years ago, I was able to purchase Captain & Tennille's debut album, also called Love Will Keep Us Together, on vinyl for a couple of dollars.  I didn't buy it for the title track; I bought it for the song that is thought of as the second hit from the album (though it was actually released first), "The Way I Want To Touch You".

(Love Will Keep Us Together peaked at #2 on the Billboard Top LPs & Tape chart.  Album ℗1974 A&M Records.  Photo courtesy Amazon.com.)

As related in the August 16, 1975 issue of Billboard, "The Way I Want To Touch You" was originally just a regional hit on the west coast (not hitting the Hot 100, from what I can tell) after Mr. Dragon and Ms. Tennille spent $250 to have 500 records pressed of the song; they sent them to radio stations themselves.  The modest success the song had got them their contract with A&M Records, and after "Love Will Keep Us Together" hit #1 (eventually becoming the #1 song of 1975), A&M re-released "The Way I Want To Touch You".

The song entered the Hot 100 (finally) the week ending September 27, 1975.  It eventually topped the Adult Contemporary chart (called the "Top 50 Easy Listening" chart at the time) in November (right around the time Mr. Dragon and Ms. Tennille were getting married) and made it to #4 on the Hot 100, peaking the week of November 29.  According to the always-flaky Billboard.com, it spent 17 weeks on the Hot 100, which seems rather short for such a successful song.  Also, due to the timing of its peak sales, the song missed the year-end charts for both 1975 and 1976.

And so, after its run, the song was basically never heard again, at least by me, until I spent time in Dallas listening to a non-commercial station that was, at the time, running an all-70s format.  And then, I heard it a lot, which speaks to the music library available to a radio station run by a high school, I suppose.  Other than that station, though, no other "classic hits" station I know of has played it, well, ever.

As for the Captain & Tennille, they remained mainstays on the pop charts until a sudden disappearance in 1980 (just after "Do That To Me One More Time" became their second #1 hit) when their record company at the time, Casablanca Records, collapsed.  Of course, they continued to perform with success well after that, but their hit record career was done.

It's sad that their divorce is what inspired me to post this song, but it's a good reminder of the many good songs they released in their heyday.  Perhaps it might even inspire some classic hits station somewhere to add this one to its rotation.

Remembering George Duke

During the long, unplanned hiatus this blog took, George Duke passed away.  As I understand it, George Duke was primarily a jazz musician, though he occasionally branched over to pop music and R&B.  Most online bios of him will point to his work with Jean-Luc Ponty and Frank Zappa as helping to establish his name in the industry, so that gives you an idea of the diversity of his musical styles. 

George Duke had a very long discography spanning several decades; he also appeared on many other artists's albums (such as, for example, Michael Jackson's Off the Wall) and produced records for even more artists (including, for example, Deniece Williams's hit "Let's Hear It For the Boy", as well as the previously-mentioned-on-this-blog "I Can't Wait").  And yet, after all that, I would imagine most people do not remember him (or never heard of him in the first place).  Surprisingly, in such a long and successful career, Mr. Duke only reached Billboard's Hot 100 three times.

The first of the three songs to hit the Hot 100 was the title track of his 1977 album Reach For It, an album that would have been classified at the time as funk.

(Reach For It peaked at #25 on the Billboard Top LPs & Tape chart.  Album ©1977 Epic/CBS Records.  Photo courtesy Amazon.com.)

"Reach For It" entered the Hot 100 the week ending December 31, 1977 (which means its first week on the chart was not covered by Billboard, which had published a year-end double issue the week before, and instead, "Reach For It" first appeared in the issue dated January 7, 1978).  It peaked at #54 the week ending February 4 before falling off the charts completely just two weeks later.  It stayed on the Hot 100 for seven weeks.

In 1981, George Duke collaborated with another well-known jazz musician, Stanley Clarke, to release a mostly jazz album entitled, appropriately enough, The Clarke/Duke Project.  It was successful enough to top the Billboard's Jazz LPs chart in August of that year.

(The Clarke/Duke Project peaked at #33 on the Billboard Top LPs & Tape chart.  Album ©1981 Epic/CBS Records.  Photo courtesy Amazon.com.)

The first single from the album, entitled "Sweet Baby", didn't really match the jazz feel of the rest of the album; in fact, it was a slower, ballad-type piece that, apparently, was what people in 1981 wanted while they waited for the post-disco identity crisis in top 40 radio to abate.  "Sweet Baby" entered the Hot 100 the week of May 2, 1981 and peaked at #19 the week of August 1, 1981.  It spent 19 weeks overall on the chart.

George Duke's final Hot 100 entry came not too long afterward from his next album, Dream On.

(Dream On peaked at #48 on the Billboard Top LPs & Tape chart.  Album ©1982 Epic/CBS Records.  Photo courtesy Amazon.com.)

That album's first single, "Shine On", was certainly funkier than "Sweet Baby", so it fit well with some of Mr. Duke's contemporaries (Multiple Amazon reviewers compared the sound of Dream On to Earth, Wind & Fire's sound.)  "Shine On" debuted on the Hot 100 at #85 the week ending February 20, 1982 and peaked at #41 the week ending April 10 before, again, falling off the chart entirely just two weeks after peaking.  During its short nine-week run, though, it got fairly good airplay, if the airchecks from 1982 that I have are any indication.

After that, George Duke never again hit the Hot 100, and those songs that did hit the chart have fallen by the wayside, never to be played on oldies, classic hits, or retro radio stations.  (Meanwhile, there's undoubtedly a station somewhere in the US playing "Tainted Love" at this exact moment.)

George Duke passed away on August 5, 2013 from chronic lymphocytic leukemia.  His official webpage lists several places where contributions can be made in his honor.

Edge of a Broken Heart *and* Cryin' by Vixen

In the late 1980s, hair bands (or glam metal, or whatever you want to call that type of music) were at the height of their popularity.  (The author here takes a moment to remember his now-departed grandfather greeting the image of, I believe, Twisted Sister on his television with "Look at them ugly girls!")  Glam metal was all over the pop charts at the time, thereby making it the perfect time for a girl group called Vixen to make it big.  And I suppose they did that, ever so briefly.

Vixen's eponymous first album, released in late 1988, should have (in my opinion, of course) been a bigger hit.  It spawned two top 40 hits, one of which, I just learned, was co-written by very popular (at the time) singer Richard Marx.

(Vixen peaked at #41 on the Billboard 200.  Album ©1988 EMI-Manhattan Records.  Photo courtesy Amazon.com.)

The debut single, "Edge of a Broken Heart" (produced and co-written by Mr. Marx), spent a respectable 21 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at #26 the week of November 19, 1988.  The follow-up, "Cryin'", peaked higher (at #22 the week of March 25, 1989) but only stayed on the Hot 100 for 13 weeks, perhaps due to its rock ballad nature.  After that, the group only barely brushed the charts with one further song before breaking up in 1991 (though they have since re-formed).

An appearance by all four of the 1988-era members of Vixen on VH1 in 2004 led to EMI's re-release of Vixen (and its followup, Rev It Up!), but this did not translate into renewed airplay for the group.  I think I may have heard "Edge of a Broken Heart" on the radio once in the 90s.  I definitely haven't heard "Cryin'" on the radio since its top 40 run.

An interesting side note:  lead singer Janet Gardner and drummer Roxy Petrucci were both born on the same month, day, and year:  March 17, 1962.  Just a little tidbit of information about a group that is now mostly (unfairly) forgotten.

Free Your Mind by En Vogue

I know, En Vogue was so popular that it seems strange to think of any of the group's smash hits being forgotten.  Of course, some of those hits still receive quite a bit of airplay now.  "Hold On", the first of their three #2 hits, still gets some play, as does "My Lovin' (You're Never Gonna Get It)", the second.  And I suppose their hit with Salt-N-Pepa, "Whatta Man", is probably still used for any number of bad morning radio show "Battle of the Sexes" games (and I've heard it played in full as well).

But think about this before you answer:  when was the last time you remember hearing "Free Your Mind" on the radio?  If you're like me, it's been a very long time.  I'm pretty sure I haven't heard this song get any airplay since the 1990s.  It really surprised me to think about that; I would have thought a song with a message like that of "Free Your Mind", speaking against prejudice, would become a recurrent hit for a while and then end up on your catch-all Jack FM type of station.  However, as far as I can tell, it never did.  Instead, it just faded away.

"Free Your Mind" was the third song from En Vogue's very successful second album, Funky Divas.  The album had already generated two top ten hits when this song was released ("My Lovin'" being one of them).

(Funky Divas peaked at #8 on the Billboard 200.  Album ©1992 East West Bros. Records.  Photo courtesy Amazon.com.)

"Free Your Mind" entered the Billboard Hot 100 the week of September 12, 1992 and peaked at #8 seven weeks later.  The song appeared on the Hot 100 for 20 weeks and was #93 for the year 1992.

En Vogue, of course, continued to have success through most of the 90s, but this song fell by the wayside.  It deserved better.

Just Like Paradise by David Lee Roth

A few years before his former (and future) band released a now-forgotten song, once and present lead singer David Lee Roth had one of his own.  He had had a few well-known hits, including a very successful remake of "California Girls", in the mid-1980s.  By the late 80s, however, his solo success was starting to dry up, at least as far as Billboard's Hot 100 was concerned.

In 1988, Mr. Roth hit the Hot 100 one last time as a solo artist with "Just Like Paradise", his highest-charting non-cover.  It was the lead single from his album Skyscraper, a fairly successful album that went platinum.

(Skyscraper peaked at #6 on the Billboard 200.  Album ©1988 Warner Bros. Records.  Photo courtesy Amazon.com.)

"Just Like Paradise" entered Billboard's Hot 100 in January 1988, peaking at #6 the week of March 12, 1988; it also peaked at #1 on Billboard's Mainstream Rock chart.  It spent a fairly short 16 weeks in the Hot 100, but it still sold well enough to place #97 in the year-end chart.

According to the always-reliable Wikipedia, "Just Like Paradise" had been considered as a potential theme song for a new TV program, "Beverly Hills 90210".  Mr. Roth's management very helpfully rejected this idea before even talking to Mr. Roth about it.  And so, instead of a ten-year run, the song fell rather quickly into obscurity, possibly due to lyrics which, honestly, are not the deepest ever heard (but then, we live in an age in which "Boom Boom Pow", which I am not linking, is considered good music).