re: Where does Huey Lewis and The News rank all time?

In '87, Huey released Fore!, their most accomplished album. I think their undisputed masterpiece is "Hip To Be Square". A song so catchy, most people probably don't listen to the lyrics. But they should, because it's not just about the pleasures of conformity and the importance of trends. It's also a personal statement about the band itself.

Their early work was a little too new wave for my tastes, but when Sports came out in '83, I think they really came into their own, commercially and artistically. The whole album has a clear, crisp sound, and a new sheen of consummate professionalism that really gives the songs a big boost.

He's been compared to Elvis Costello, but I think Huey has a far more bitter, cynical sense of humor.

In '87, Huey released Fore, their most accomplished album. I think their undisputed masterpiece is "Hip to be Square", a song so catchy, most people probably don't listen to the lyrics. But they should, because it's not just about the pleasures of conformity, and the importance of trends, it's also a personal statement about the band itself.

Mario Cipollina, younger brother of guitar god John Cipollina, used to play bass for Huey, so there's that. Otherwise ... besides the one song, they never made an impact on me. Would rank them pretty low on any list of the best bands of the 80's.

Solid, workmanlike, unpretentious.

Behind Morris Day and the Time

I was sad that they opened up for Jimmy Buffet (who is horrible - absolutely fricking horrible) and nobody went inside from their tailgating to see him, me included (I have to go for my GF's corporate event - it's easily going to become my absolute least favorite day of the year.... especially now that I can't drink. An entire day of shitty music, sugary drinks and crap beer (or for me, no beer).

I peeked inside and there was maybe 1500 people in there listening to a dude who is 1000 times the musician as Jimmy Buffet. There were probably 30,000 at the dumbass Buffet show, all came in as he took the stage.

Huey's a criminally underrated harmonica player, the rest were adequate at their instruments but will never be mistaken for the best band of any era. MTV made these guys and they owe their economic rewards to that corporation otherwise they'd be regarded as a "dinosaur" group like the J. Geils Band in the early 80s.