Keep track of the songs thru the week and then Friday listen to call and name their common theme to win free lunch at Jersey Mike’s ($25)
When this song came out in 1987, this singer might have been considered a has-been. Though he had been a star in the ‘70s--first with a group of teen idols called the Raspberries and then as a solo artist--he’d been floundering throughout the ‘80s. He decided to sing and produce [today’s song] for that “little movie" “Dirty Dancing", which was one of the smartest moves he’s ever made.
The movie was one of the sleeper smashes of the year. The sound track, which includes several oldies, had been on top of the Billboard magazine pop album chart for weeks and weeks, partly thanks to two singles--the Bill Medley-Jennifer Warnes duet "(I’ve Had) the Time of My Life,” which went to No. 1 on the pop chart, and today’s song, which peaked at number 4 in 1987.
“When I got the call to do a song for the sound track for this little movie that I was told was called ‘Dancing Dirty,’ (later renamed to Dirty Dancing) I wasn’t that wild about the idea,” recalled today’s singer. “Probably no one would ever see it. What good would it do? But I said: ‘What the hell. . . I’ve got nothing better to do.’ ”
Today’s song is one of those irresistible songs loaded with hooks, but when today’s singer first heard it on the rough demonstration tape, there was a lot he wanted to change. “There was stuff on it I wanted to fix up,” The first thing he wanted to do was alter the tempo. “It was too slow,” he said. But speeding it up was impossible because a dance sequence had already been filmed.
“Unfortunately, I was locked into that tempo,” he said. But he was able to make some adjustments, including adding a heavy guitar touch “to juice it up.” I couldn’t change it and make it sound like a different record. I changed what I could--to give the song some guts.” Good thing too, because it KIIIIIIND of worked as it was....
Like many young artists, he was lured into a music career partly for a chance to savor fame and glory. “When I was getting started in this business, I had serious complexes from being this short, skinny, serious guy in high school,” he said. “The girls went for the jocks, not guys like me. I needed girls to scream over me.”
But after years of playing the reckless rock star, he says he has finally calmed down. “How many drugs can you abuse? How much can you drink? You stop after a while because you get tired of it and you know your body can’t take much more abuse.”
He says he’s now more serious and practical. To him, the music business really is just a business. “Forget the fame and glory,” he said. “That’s kid stuff. Fools fall into that trap. You get your fill of it and get beyond it. Now I want the money. That’s what’s really important now.”
Eric Carmen...Hungry Eyes...I Know That Song!