Bringing a rock anthem to CHR for the first time

[westlife]

Despite its enduring popularity over the years, it's an interesting fact that the anthemic rock ballad "Desperado" has never placed on the Billboard Hot 100 chart -- initally because the Eagles never released it as a single, and later on since no one has covered it with much success.

Sony-BMG could have a chance at changing this, if they chose to release a track from "Face To Face", the recent #1 U.K. album by Westlife. Obviously I am biased in their favor, as they're one of my favorite pop music groups (hence my screen name here), but still, I wouldn't be writing this if their version of "Desperado" didn't blow me away the first time I heard it. The other tracks on the album are excellent as well, but I think this one would have the widest appeal to American listeners, and could potentially gain airplay on everything from Soft AC to CHR/Pop radio, and perhaps even Country radio with a remix.

At first I thought it might be too mellow for CHR, but as D.H.T. recently proved, even a very mellow cover of an old pop/rock ballad can become a bona fide CHR hit. So why not Westlife's verison of "Desperado"? Here's a 1:30 sample of the core of the song for you all to review:

<a target="_blank" href=http://mysite.verizon.net/tekel/despclip.mp3>Westlife - Desperado (clip)</a> [[192 kbps stereo]]
from the #1 U.K. album "Face To Face", released 10/31/2005

<P ID="signature">______________

"This is the New York Emergency Broadcast System satellite channel. They took the crosstown bus."</P>

 

[JeremyAndrews]

> Despite its enduring popularity over the years, it's an
> interesting fact that the anthemic rock ballad "Desperado"
> has never placed on the Billboard Hot 100 chart -- initally
> because the Eagles never released it as a single, and later
> on since no one has covered it with much success.
>
> Sony-BMG could have a chance at changing this, if they chose
> to release a track from "Face To Face", the recent #1 U.K.
> album by Westlife. Obviously I am biased in their favor, as
> they're one of my favorite pop music groups (hence my screen
> name here), but still, I wouldn't be writing this if their
> version of "Desperado" didn't blow me away the first time I
> heard it. The other tracks on the album are excellent as
> well, but I think this one would have the widest appeal to
> American listeners, and could potentially gain airplay on
> everything from Soft AC to CHR/Pop radio, and perhaps even
> Country radio with a remix.
>
> At first I thought it might be too mellow for CHR, but as
> D.H.T. recently proved, even a very mellow cover of an old
> pop/rock ballad can become a bona fide CHR hit. So why not
> Westlife's verison of "Desperado"? Here's a 1:30 sample of
> the core of the song for you all to review:
>
> Westlife - Desperado (clip) [[192 kbps stereo]]
> from the #1 U.K. album "Face To Face", released 10/31/2005
>
From the clip, its better then the original in my opinion.

I just can't STAND the Eagles. Especially Hotel California.<P ID="signature">______________

AIM: JeremyA1069</P>

 

[westlife]

> I just can't STAND the Eagles. Especially Hotel California.

The Eagles were fantastic in their own time, but their new live version of "Hotel California" is difficult to sit through, despite its popularity on AC radio. It's actually the second live version of that song which they've released for radio airplay; the first was during their first comeback in 1994.

<P ID="signature">______________

"This is the New York Emergency Broadcast System satellite channel. They took the crosstown bus."</P>

 

[CHRles]

>
> I just can't STAND the Eagles. Especially Hotel California.
>
WHAT??!! One of the greatest Pop/Rock songs of all time. Do you like Kansas "Dust In The Wind" or "California Dreamin" by Mamas & The Papas?

No offense bro, but I can't believe you can stand to listen to that bubblegum crap by Aaron Carter, but you can't listen to The Eagles?

 

[JeremyAndrews]

> >
> > I just can't STAND the Eagles. Especially Hotel
> California.
> >
> WHAT??!! One of the greatest Pop/Rock songs of all time. Do
> you like Kansas "Dust In The Wind" or "California Dreamin"
> by Mamas & The Papas?
>
> No offense bro, but I can't believe you can stand to listen
> to that bubblegum crap by Aaron Carter, but you can't listen
> to The Eagles?
>
I love Dust In The Wind and California Dreamin

but I HATE and I will repeat I HATE the Eagles especially Hotel California. ESPECIALLY Hotel California (Live) I'd rather sit and listen to Regional Mexican music all day long then Hotel California (Live) There are a lot better rock anthems from the 70s then Hotel California. Same goes for Live versions of songs (Cheap Trick - I Want You To Want Me is an example)

On a side note, I like Don Henley solo. I have 2 of his albums on tape and they're overall good.

As for Aaron Carter, I'm not a fan. I do like some of the songs he put out however. They're good in their own way.<P ID="signature">______________

AIM: JeremyA1069</P>

 

[westlife]

> but I HATE and I will repeat I HATE the Eagles especially
> Hotel California. ESPECIALLY Hotel California (Live) I'd
> rather sit and listen to Regional Mexican music all day long
> then Hotel California (Live) There are a lot better rock
> anthems from the 70s then Hotel California. Same goes for
> Live versions of songs (Cheap Trick - I Want You To Want Me
> is an example)

Westlife did a cover of Barry Manilow's "Mandy", too, if that's more of your liking. In fact, it was a #1 U.K. hit, and was the 2003 U.K. Record Of The Year. They also had ROTY back in 1999 with the original version of "Flying Without Wings" -- later covered by American Idol winner Ruben Studdard.

> As for Aaron Carter, I'm not a fan. I do like some of the
> songs he put out however. They're good in their own way.

Jesse McCartney is cuter and has a better voice, IMO. It's hard to beat "Beautiful Soul" when it comes to catchy pop songs -- except if you're Westlife, of course.

<P ID="signature">______________

"This is the New York Emergency Broadcast System satellite channel. They took the crosstown bus."</P>

 

[JeremyAndrews]

> > but I HATE and I will repeat I HATE the Eagles especially
> > Hotel California. ESPECIALLY Hotel California (Live) I'd
> > rather sit and listen to Regional Mexican music all day
> long
> > then Hotel California (Live) There are a lot better rock
> > anthems from the 70s then Hotel California. Same goes for
> > Live versions of songs (Cheap Trick - I Want You To Want
> Me
> > is an example)
>
> Westlife did a cover of Barry Manilow's "Mandy", too, if
> that's more of your liking. In fact, it was a #1 U.K. hit,
> and was the 2003 U.K. Record Of The Year. They also had
> ROTY back in 1999 with the original version of "Flying
> Without Wings" -- later covered by American Idol winner
> Ruben Studdard.

Love Barry Manilow's Mandy. Haven't heard Westlife's cover yet.
>
> > As for Aaron Carter, I'm not a fan. I do like some of the
> > songs he put out however. They're good in their own way.
>
> Jesse McCartney is cuter and has a better voice, IMO. It's
> hard to beat "Beautiful Soul" when it comes to catchy pop
> songs -- except if you're Westlife, of course.
>

Jesse McCartney's cuteness has nothing to do with me and his songs since I am not into same sex. But I was listening to Radio Disney in summer 2004 (several months before it even showed up on CHR) and I thought it was a great song and would go good on CHR.

Can't help it but I LOVE a lot of poisoning pop music. Artists like BSB, *NSYNC, Britney, Christina, Robyn, Jennifer Paige, Spice Girls, etc helped spark the return of the dead CHR format in the late 90s. Now that CHR has less poisoning pop and has become a hip hop/rap marathon with a few rock songs thrown in the format is starting to die off again. Because its nothing that you can't hear on other stations.
<P ID="signature">______________

AIM: JeremyA1069</P>

 

[CHRles]

> > > but I HATE and I will repeat I HATE the Eagles
> especially
> > > Hotel California. ESPECIALLY Hotel California (Live) I'd
>
> > > rather sit and listen to Regional Mexican music all day
> > long
> > > then Hotel California (Live) There are a lot better rock
>
> > > anthems from the 70s then Hotel California. Same goes
> for
> > > Live versions of songs (Cheap Trick - I Want You To Want
>
> > Me
> > > is an example)
> >
> > Westlife did a cover of Barry Manilow's "Mandy", too, if
> > that's more of your liking. In fact, it was a #1 U.K.
> hit,
> > and was the 2003 U.K. Record Of The Year. They also had
> > ROTY back in 1999 with the original version of "Flying
> > Without Wings" -- later covered by American Idol winner
> > Ruben Studdard.
>
> Love Barry Manilow's Mandy. Haven't heard Westlife's cover
> yet.
> >
> > > As for Aaron Carter, I'm not a fan. I do like some of
> the
> > > songs he put out however. They're good in their own way.
>
> >
> > Jesse McCartney is cuter and has a better voice, IMO.
> It's
> > hard to beat "Beautiful Soul" when it comes to catchy pop
> > songs -- except if you're Westlife, of course.
> >
>
> Jesse McCartney's cuteness has nothing to do with me and his
> songs since I am not into same sex. But I was listening to
> Radio Disney in summer 2004 (several months before it even
> showed up on CHR) and I thought it was a great song and
> would go good on CHR.
>
> Can't help it but I LOVE a lot of poisoning pop music.
> Artists like BSB, *NSYNC, Britney, Christina, Robyn,
> Jennifer Paige, Spice Girls, etc helped spark the return of
> the dead CHR format in the late 90s. Now that CHR has less
> poisoning pop and has become a hip hop/rap marathon with a
> few rock songs thrown in the format is starting to die off
> again. Because its nothing that you can't hear on other
> stations.
>

There's nothing wrong with the occasional Teen Pop record thrown in. I just think it went a little too far in that direction in the late 90s (at least on some stations).
There's still some good Teen Pop over in the UK, like the Sugababes, Westlife as been pointed out, Mcfly, etc. There's also Amy Diamond whose big in the Scandinavian countries with "What's In It For Me", a big guilty pleasure record of mine.

I don't know if I'd consider Jennifer Paige as Teen Pop. She was a lot like Savage Garden, which is just pure Pop, but not necassarily Teen Pop

If you'll notice, CHR still plays Backstreet Boys, Ashlee or Jessica Simpson, and there's pure Pop artsts like Gwen Stefani, Shakira, Natasha Bedingfield, Ryan Cabrera, and of course Kelly Clarkson.
I really don't think the format is dying, but rather is very healthy right now. Even though the Rhythmic product is still very dominant at the moment, much of it sounds just as good on CHR/Pop as it does on CHR/Rhythmic. Good examples would be Rhianna, the Pussycat Dolls, and especially Beyonce, Nelly, and the Black Eyed Peas.

 

[westlife]

> There's still some good Teen Pop over in the UK, like the
> Sugababes, Westlife as been pointed out, Mcfly, etc. There's
> also Amy Diamond whose big in the Scandinavian countries
> with "What's In It For Me", a big guilty pleasure record of
> mine.

The guiltiest of my guilty pop music pleasures is O-Town's "Liquid Dreams". It's hard not to snicker at the lyrics, but it has a catchy melody and features the kind of layered vocal harmonies that boy-bands do best.

O-Town's music did mature signifigantly by the time of their second album, "O2". BSB's mix of rock-, pop-, and R&B-influenced songs on their new album is no surprise to me, because O-Town did the same exact thing three years ago on "O2". Unfortunately in O-Town's case, boy-bands dropped like flies from the U.S. pop music scene in 2002, and they were no exception. (Westlife's attempt at gaining U.S. radio airplay of their #1 UK hit "World Of Our Own" in the late summer of 2002 was also soundly rejected, despite praise from stations like NYC's Z-100 and LA's KIIS.)

> I don't know if I'd consider Jennifer Paige as Teen Pop. She
> was a lot like Savage Garden, which is just pure Pop, but
> not necassarily Teen Pop

"Crush" was a nice teen-pop hit from Jennifer, and as for Savage Garden, well... with lyrics like "I believe you can't control or choose your sexuality", it's not hard to see why they were more gay pop than teen pop.
<P ID="signature">______________

"This is the New York Emergency Broadcast System satellite channel. They took the crosstown bus."</P>

 

[JeremyAndrews]

> > There's still some good Teen Pop over in the UK, like the
> > Sugababes, Westlife as been pointed out, Mcfly, etc.
> There's
> > also Amy Diamond whose big in the Scandinavian countries
> > with "What's In It For Me", a big guilty pleasure record
> of
> > mine.
>
> The guiltiest of my guilty pop music pleasures is O-Town's
> "Liquid Dreams". It's hard not to snicker at the lyrics,
> but it has a catchy melody and features the kind of layered
> vocal harmonies that boy-bands do best.
>
>
>
> O-Town's music did mature signifigantly by the time of their
> second album, "O2". BSB's mix of rock-, pop-, and
> R&B-influenced songs on their new album is no surprise to
> me, because O-Town did the same exact thing three years ago
> on "O2". Unfortunately in O-Town's case, boy-bands dropped
> like flies from the U.S. pop music scene in 2002, and they
> were no exception. (Westlife's attempt at gaining U.S.
> radio airplay of their #1 UK hit "World Of Our Own" in the
> late summer of 2002 was also soundly rejected, despite
> praise from stations like NYC's Z-100 and LA's KIIS.)
>
> > I don't know if I'd consider Jennifer Paige as Teen Pop.
> She
> > was a lot like Savage Garden, which is just pure Pop, but
> > not necassarily Teen Pop
>
> "Crush" was a nice teen-pop hit from Jennifer, and as for
> Savage Garden, well... with lyrics like "I believe you can't
> control or choose your sexuality", it's not hard to see why
> they were more gay pop than teen pop.
>
LOVE Liquid Dreams. The lyrics are hilarious. All Or Nothing is pretty good too.

As for Savage Garden, remember Darren Hayes - Insatiable? The breathing noises he makes sounds like he's either masturbating or doing something while cutting the record. Nice way to attract attention to your solo attempt. I remember first hearing Truely Madly Deeply on 103.7 Milwaukee just a few hours before they flipped from Rhythmic AC to CHR in 1998.

Truely Madly Deeply
I Want You
To The Moon & Back
and a guilty pleasure The Animal Song are among my favorites.

Another group that sounds kinda similar to Savage Garden (And even more like 98 Degrees) is Blue. "Guilty" is a great song and if given more of a chance it probably would have done well in the US..<P ID="signature">______________

AIM: JeremyA1069</P>

 

[westlife]

> LOVE Liquid Dreams. The lyrics are hilarious. All Or Nothing
> is pretty good too.

"All Or Nothing" was originally pitched to Westlife, but Simon Cowell (their executive producer) turned it down, so it ended up in O-Town's hands instead. It was written by the same guys (Steve Mac & Wayne Hector) who have written and produced most of Westlife's hit ballads.

> Another group that sounds kinda similar to Savage Garden
> (And even more like 98 Degrees) is Blue. "Guilty" is a great
> song and if given more of a chance it probably would have
> done well in the US..

I only know Blue by their remake of Elton John's "Sorry Seems To Be the Hardest Word", a duet with him. Not bad, but not really spectacular, either. Elton did a better duet with BSB ("Friends Never Say Goodbye").
<P ID="signature">______________

"This is the New York Emergency Broadcast System satellite channel. They took the crosstown bus."</P>