Why did bands like Mr. Mister, Glass Tiger and The Cutting Crew drop of the radar so quickly ?

Actually 'Turn Back The Clock' is a damn fine album

 

Tears For Fears checks both boxes, at least with The Hurting (which, imo, has a hell of a lot more depth than Neil Peart's fantasy flights).

Btw, I'm a big fan of Rush as well.

 

The did get a James Bond song though!

 

The main reason Take On Me was such a hit was because of it's groundbreaking video.

 

This. It always bothers me that people never consider that there is a whole world outside out of their specific market and that "one hit wonders" in your market or genre can be huge stars with large hit catalogs everywhere else. The advent of the internet and the ability to search out an acts discography across the world and genre charts should have put an end to that, but it really hasn't.

 

Oatsdad is correct about a group's inability to create a successful follow up hit song/album and then fading out. You can find the same situation in other decades. In the 90's you songs like What's Going On (4 Non Blondes), Breakfast at Tiffanies, She's So High, How Bizarre and several others who scored a hit (or semi-hit) and then couldn't follow it up with another hit. These acts had a brief time in the spotlight and then they faded out.

Scott

 

To be fair I have all these cds mentioned I will give you the run down
Mr Mister started with I Wear A Face which was good but it sounded
like a lot music in 83 84. Then came Welcome To The Real World.
Which Had numerous hits as some have mentioned..
There highest selling album. Go On was described as more organic sound
as richard page put it.. Sadly it was all digital recorded it and it sounded hollow
I bought the Japanese pressed it sounds better but I'm still holding out for
cherry pop remaster. Mr Mister made there best cd which was Pull..
Which largely unheard of because it was never released because it was too
different just some demo's got out which I have one.. excellent by the way
The officially released version is too loud and added too much.

Cutting Crew it's true Broadcast was greatest selling cd The Scattering was
good but dark cd if you by cherry pop remasters it will tell you why.
Compus Mentus was released in 92 virgin had no faith in it
and did not promote it much the songs are more dark and hard hitting..
It's not everybodys cup of tea. Nick Van Edde released a couple sole cds
Grinning souls back in 2004 which I like very much.
And Adding To Favorites is pure dreck. don't buy...

Glass Tiger is good even to the last cd but they bailed because of grunge.
they still tour even Alan Frew had a stroke last year..
I just wished they could make another cd after all this time
it does seem rather lazy.

 

More this than anything. They didn't go much further after it.

Ed

 

Yup! Which I admit surprised me - even back in 1986 or early 1987 when it was announced they'd do the theme, it was clear they weren't gonna be a pop powerhouse in the US.

Perhaps the producers cared less about US and more about the rest of the world.

They also were willing to try out theoretical "up and comers" back then - Sheena Easton had only had a couple of US hits when she got the Bond theme, too...

I think that definitely helped, but I think "TOM" is simply a good song, too.

I liked "Sun Never Shines on TV" but it's not as "radio-friendly" - kinda melodramatic, and not something that really sounds like a pop hit...

 

There is more lyrical depth to some Tears for Fears songs than there is to the entire Rush catalog, IMO.

 

Toto are a musical powerhouse and I'm of the opinion that's the reason why they still pull audiences. An amazing and severely underrated band that doesn't deserve it's reputation.

 

I can't believe the brush-off A-Ha is getting in previous posts. TOM's video did help it, but imo that doesn't diminish the song's quality. They only got better afterwards, save for the label-pleasing Touchy single.

 

As a young Canadian kid at the time, the Canadian music scene from 1983 to the early 90's meant so much to me. Bands like Platinum Blonde, Honeymoon Suite, Haywire and Glass Tiger really resonated with me. I enjoyed all the music they released. It was such a same that the 3rd Glass Tiger album "Simple Mission", my favourite from them didn't go over so well. They adopted a heavier sound for the album and it featured some great songs - Animal Heart, Blinded, The Rhythm Of Your Love and My Town (featuring Rod Stewart) to name a few.

 

I think the pivotal point for a-ha in the US was the failure of "Cry Wolf" to hit the Top 40 early in 1987 (it peaked at No. 50). Scoundrel Days (their second album) is brilliant, and it had a few potential US hits on it (well, at least two: "Cry Wolf" and "I've Been Losing You"). If "Cry Wolf" had cracked the Top 40, it would have kept a-ha on the radar enough in the US for perhaps "I've Been Losing You" (and then "The Living Daylights", later in 1987) to also hit the Top 40, and a-ha would have had a tenuous foothold on US radio and at MTV. But because "Cry Wolf" fell short, they and the Scoundrel Days album just fell off the map, and that was that for them in the US. The next album (Stay On These Roads) had hit potential too ("Touchy!" and the title song, a really nice ballad), and the following album had a nice, accessible rendition of "Crying In The Rain" which could in theory have been a hit in 1991.

 

To be frank, the name "Mr. Mister" didn't help either. It's such a "pop trash" name. It tells us nothing about them. It's just a cutesy name. Pages makes far more sense.

Ed

 

It's almost like they wanted to be as bland as possible. At least the Hooters... well, they called themselves the Hooters.

 

Well that's a bit of an overstatement if I ever heard one.

 

Chilliwack?

 

This was Mr Mister's 1987 leadoff single from the "Go On" album. It only got to #27. Not hard to see why, lack of hooks and a strong chorus. Good, innovative video though.

 

I decided to look this up, just for fun. On the week "Take On Me" debuted on the Hot 100 at an unimpressive No. 91 (July 13 1985), the video was in 'Breakout Rotation' on MTV's playlist (and had been for seven weeks). The week it hit the Top 40 (August 24) it was still in 'Medium Rotation' at MTV. MTV moved it into 'Active Rotation' the following week, and then (finally!) Heavy Rotation on September 7 (its 15th week on MTV's playlist). It was then No. 21 on the Hot 100 (up from No. 28). So, chart geek stuff out of the way (sorry for that), my reading is that MTV certainly were onto the song first, and I suspect its airing of the video (in 'Breakout Rotation') for 7 weeks acted as a platform for the song to become a hit at radio. But once it was on the Hot 100, the song seemed to become a hit on its own merits, and by the time MTV placed the song in heavy rotation it was already a smash hit at radio and retail. So I would say the video was decisive in the song becoming a hit, but who knows if radio would have pursued it if not the video. I think the fact it had been a No. 1 hit in the UK and Europe would have prompted radio in the US to at least look at it, and I'd like to think it would have been a hit even if it had a run-of-the-mill video because it is such a brilliant pop song.

 

Well, no one would know an "overstatement" like a fan of Rush lyrics, so I'll acquiesce to your knowledge on this count, I suppose.

 

This is one of my all time favorites.

 

I always wondered why this didn't hit huge. Bruce Fairbairn's production is spot-on for it's time, Dee's vocal feels good, and the guitar work is stellar - especially in the verses.

Ed

 

If you needed 5 videos to describe the 80s to someone, this would be a good one to include.

 

Heck yes it is!!