I like the little backwards tape vocal thing at the beginning. The drums are big and really shine in the bridge. There's actually some good bass playing going on here too.
The chorus overwhelms all of that, for better or worse. This isn't the worst song in the world, but it's hard to make an argument for it being a good song.
But Nobody's Fool is at least a 7. What a chorus.
funny story, I saw Steve Miller live at Jones Beach in 94 (or maybe 95). was a big fan of the Fly Like an Eagle stuff, the Greatest Hits album with the horse on it, etc. The show was awesome. He played everything. His harmonica player was perhaps the best I've ever seen. Great energy, beautiful night to see a concert, great weed, etc.
about 2/3 of the way through the show he played this song, and I didn't even know it was his song! I said to my group, wait, Steve Miller wrote this turd?
I don't think it has zero redeeming qualities, the chorus is a pretty good lyric hook. And it's not like Jungle Love is some masterpiece. But it certainly stuck out like a sore thumb in a set full of classics.
Oh man. This version of Bad Company was my first ever concert. Damn Yankees opened. LOL.
I was always a big fan of Howe and Bad Company's pop-rock albums with him... sure they were corny but always liked them more than the Cant Get Enough-era stuff. Something about this guy's voice and delivery really hit the right spot with me. I loved those big ballads... "This Could Be the One" "Walk Through Fire" "Holy Water" etc... great times listening to these records... excellent driving music RIP
it's bad but a lot of "old school" rap has that sing songy "My name is _____ and I'm here to say" quality that sounds fairly corny to our modern ears so I'm not going to say it's any worse than anything else from that era.
i'm with you. I honestly think it's more dumb than anything else. I get why it's important, but the whole track seems to exist to showcase the rapping, which is bad and honestly kinda hard to listen to. the music is tight, and decent, but nothing really great.
1) You Can Tune a Piano, but You Can't Tuna Fish is a TERRIBLE name for an album
2) this song's big draw is the chorus, but the pre-chorus really sets it up, and is the low key MVP of the song. going into the chorus after the solo wouldn't work, that pre-chorus is right there to bring you back into the song's fold. a robust prechorus is what separates REO's version of the powerballad and as a result it becomes the evolutionary bridge from the 70s powerballad before we meet the hair-metal powerballad of the 80s.
3) happy to see Last American Virgin in the bonus beats
"Cool sounding sample, bad rapping" is a tale as old as time, however "new" this song is.
personally I find it distracting while the singing is going on under the rapping, they should save the singing sample for the breaks between verses, so it hits harded.
but what do i know?
this makes more sense than it being a failure of the song. Was the video released before it came out as a single? I remember everyone's minds being blown by it.
I'd only ever heard the KWS version of this song. What a trip.
Agree that the KC version is pretty much delivered without any urgency or conviction. I do like the organ sound however. 3/10
I had no idea Donna Summer did "This Time I Know it's For Real" - I only ever heard it on Waldbaum's radio while stocking shelves. Good song, though.
this song? I read the whole article, and half way through the comments, and it's still going. how long is this terrible song???
You're way too hard on "Oh No". That's a great, understated song. Those achy background "oh no"s really hit me in the gut.
Maybe I just saw The Last American Virgin too many times. Back in High School I was obsessed with a girl who was crazy about that movie and all the sappy love ballads on that soundtrack - Keep On Lovin' You, Just Once, When I Find You, Open Arms, etc. I tirelessly wandered the malls on Westchester looking for a copy of the soundtrachk to buy this girl for her birthday. Of course, this was the 80s and once something was out of print, it was out of print. Especially in the burbs.
Years later I found a copy of the movie on DVD and re-watched it only to find out how pathetic the main character is and how deeply depressing the movie actually is. But the soundtrack is a great little slice of 80s pop music.
I love, love, love this record and always will. Corgan's "Corganism" aside, that original SP run produced some truly timeless and magical music, and this is a great coda to it. at the time it came out I was coming to the "end of an era" type time in my own life, and it was the perfect soundtrack to it.
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