There are a few bands from the 80s that I view differently in hindsight than I did at the time. Like Hall And Oates I never really paid much attention to. They were fine at the time but now in hindsight I find I have a much better appreciation for. The same goes for Huey Lewis and the News. By the time the band released the 10 million selling album Sports in 1983, the band had actually been together for over 10 years. Huey and keyboard player Sean Hooper originally joined the band Clover in 1972 in San Francisco before moving to the UK after a local show with Nick Lowe. A move that would find themselves the backing band on Elvis Costello’s debut album My Aim Is True. in 1978 the two returned and joined up with the band Sound Hole also from the Bay area and after a few name changes and some personnel shifts ended up recording their first album as Huey Lewis and the News in 1980. It is an album that sounds like every song could have been on the Fast Times at Ridgemount High soundtrack. That’s not a slight – it just has a very specific 1980 sound. Their second album Picture This from 1982 is a bit more varied in style and contained the hit single Do You Believe In Love. Both of these albums are pretty solid light rock/pop fare but it is clear from both that they were a very tight band, and knew how to write a good hook even if the albums didn’t really get much attention. Listen to them and you will totally see the progression to 1983’s Sports album. This one was absolutely massive, spawning four hit singles in I Want A New Drug, The Heart Of Rock And Roll, If This Is It and Heart And Soul. Walking On A Thin Line and Bad Is Bad also got some significant airplay. It was their videos that really thrust Huey and his Newsies into the mainstream spotlight. They are all fun lighthearted videos and Huey cast himself well as the goofy underdog which fit the music and was an easy win with fans. He was super easy to like. Plus the red and black outfits were pretty a awesome look.
Sports was a great album as was the follow up Fore! which had the hit singles Jacob’s Ladder, Stuck With You and Hip To Be Square. They are the only two I have on vinyl. Before that album though he had two other big hits with the singles Back In Time and The Power Of Love from the Back To The Future soundtrack. All of this music is absolutely emblematic of the mid 80’s. it is light fun pop music with great videos and it all feels good. If one wanted to stereotype the mid 1980’s look and mood Huey Lewis and the News might be a solid contender. That’s not to say they were in any way reflective of all music at the time – I mean at the same time were albums like Rain Dogs and Lifes Rich Pageant, and Black Celebration and Songs From The Big Chair and Master Of Puppets and a thousand other albums as varied as one could imagine.
I think with Huey Lewis, despite being hugely successfully at this time, the nature of his music made it easy to overlook or maybe even unfairly dismiss as somewhat insignificant. It might just be how I viewed it at the time as well. I was into a weird mix of stuff at the time, from old Progressive Rock to Springsteen and The Who to Tears For Fears and Simple Minds. It was all high school hormones and MTV/Much Music videos. There was so much going on that age. Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it!
So even after his perceived best before date Huey continued to release some great music. Small World in 1988, Hard At Play in 1991 saw the band gradually move towards a more R&B style which was solidified in the Four Chords and Several Years Ago album from 1994 of R&B Standards. Plan B from 2001 and Soulsville from 2010 are also great later period stylized albums. They were and continued to be a pretty classy, highly talented band who became icons of the 1980s and then decided to forge their own path without compromising quality or integrity. Check out any of these albums. Randomly select any song and you will very likely not be disappointed. Plus Huey has an amazing voice on every song, every album. I’ve gone from almost barely paying attention to him at the time to having a great deal of respect for him/them as musicians.
After 10 years without releasing an album and almost 20 since their last one with new material, the band decided to record some new material that had made its way into their live sets. While working on the album, however, Huey was diagnosed with Meniere’s Disease which is an inner ear disorder that can cause extreme dizziness and hearing loss. It effectively put an end to their touring and recording. So with only 7 songs completed they decided to release what they had under the title “Weather” on February 14 2020, just as Covid really started to impact the world. Check it out if you want to feel good and have 26 minutes to spare in the middle of a pandemic – it is a very good album/EP. Let’s hope he recovers enough to continue to tour and record in the future.
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