the late '80s re-release craze

[NoWayNoCC]

I thought a remix of in the air tonight was released in 1988?

I remember a very irritating remix, but I don't know when it was made. "In The Air Tonight" had been re-released around 1984, but I don't think it charted in that release.

 

[Mid West Clubber]

The rhythmic dance remix of in the air tonight was released in 88 as is called the 88 remix... I liked it better than the dark and drab original......

 

[firepoint525]

I thought a remix of in the air tonight was released in 1988?

I remember a very irritating remix, but I don't know when it was made. "In The Air Tonight" had been re-released around 1984, but I don't think it charted in that release.

I don't think "In the Air Tonight" was re-released (at least, not as a single) in 1984. It was, however, included in the Miami Vice soundtrack album that was released that year, in conjunction with the debut of the television show. I remember that airplay for the song ramped up sharply about that time. I remember being in a record store in Jackson, Tennessee, and they played "In the Air Tonight" over and over and over again! And a station in Murray, Kentucky, played it continuously for an entire weekend when "stunting" for a format change. I was already sick of the song from the repetitious airplay in that record store (and I was only in there about 10 minutes!), and have been sick of it ever since!

 

[firepoint525]

The rhythmic dance remix of in the air tonight was released in 88 as is called the 88 remix... I liked it better than the dark and drab original......

Interestingly enough, I like that one, too, even though I am sick and tired of the original.

 

[ixnay]

[L]et's face it, if the record company thinks it can get 6 singles out of a disc, they're going to ride that artist as far as they can until the public loses interest

Even without the artist's consent, can they do it, if they have him/her/them under contract? I guess it all depends on the contract.

ixnay

 

[firepoint525]

[L]et's face it, if the record company thinks it can get 6 singles out of a disc, they're going to ride that artist as far as they can until the public loses interest

Even without the artist's consent, can they do it, if they have him/her/them under contract? I guess it all depends on the contract.
ixnay

I remember Springsteen specifically saying that he did not want any more singles released from Born in the USA after "My Hometown" had run its course. This was early 1986, and the album was nearly two years old by that time! Still, I thought that "Darlington County" would have made a great single, and I was disappointed that it was never released as one. Springsteen could have taken the record of "most singles from one album" away from Michael Jackson by merely releasing an eighth single, regardless of how it performed on the charts!

 

[hornet61]

Billy Vera's "At THis Moment" from #79 in '81 .....to #1 in '86.

I am surpised that "Day-O" and "Jump In The Line (Shake Shake Senora)" both by Harry Belafonte were not re-releashed in the 80's on the strength of BEETLEJUICE,BEETLEJUICE,.......stop there can't say it three times.

 

[firepoint525]

Billy Vera's "At THis Moment" from #79 in '81 .....to #1 in '86.
I am surpised that "Day-O" and "Jump In The Line (Shake Shake Senora)" both by Harry Belafonte were not re-releashed in the 80's on the strength of BEETLEJUICE,BEETLEJUICE,.......stop there can't say it three times.

Don't give them any ideas! I'm still sick of "What a Wonderful World"!

 

[AckDX]

Modern English "I melt with you" Released 1982 and then again in late 1989/1990.

 

[firepoint525]

Modern English "I melt with you" Released 1982 and then again in late 1989/1990.

Didn't make much of an impact on the charts either time.

 

[ixnay]

always felt like "You Can Call Me Al" was sort of "forced" on us by radio.

I feel the same way about two songs from this millenium: Kelly Clarkson's "At a Moment Like This" ("Miss Independent" and "Break Away" I like better) and the remake of "Drift Away" by its composer (I forget his name) with Dobie Gray guest starring. I like Gray's solo version from 1973 better.

ixnay

 

[firepoint525]

I feel the same way about two songs from this millenium: Kelly Clarkson's "At a Moment Like This" ("Miss Independent" and "Break Away" I like better) and the remake of "Drift Away" by its composer (I forget his name) with Dobie Gray guest starring. I like Gray's solo version from 1973 better.
ixnay

Uncle Kracker was the one who did the remake of "Drift Away." I agree, the original is better.

 

[hornet61]

[L]et's face it, if the record company thinks it can get 6 singles out of a disc, they're going to ride that artist as far as they can until the public loses interest

Even without the artist's consent, can they do it, if they have him/her/them under contract? I guess it all depends on the contract.

ixnay

The Dance craze of the 80's created by MTV, Dance Clubs and the emergence of ..star DJ's created a need for extended dance re-mixxs of most hits, the labels used these new creative DJ's to come up with Beat Re-mixx's, Foreign language re-mixx's, Rock re-mixxs, Line dance re-mixx's, etc...most were pretty darn good. Guys Like Jelly Bean Benitez and Frankie Knuckles...created some classic re-mixxs of their contemporaries such as Madonna, Kool and the Gang etc , and also sampling older music for contemporary acts such as "jive Bunny" ( a fictitious group name used to release these sampled pieces ). Then Rap artists started with the extended releases such as Sugarhill gang(Rappers Delight) and Curtis Blow(The Breaks). This accounts for some of the re-release craze.

 

[rageradio]

That song has been in rotation longer than deserves. Sorry never got on the "red red wine" bandwagon. Could never see why people though it was such a great song

 

[CHRles]

Billy Vera's "At THis Moment" from #79 in '81 .....to #1 in '86.

I am surpised that "Day-O" and "Jump In The Line (Shake Shake Senora)" both by Harry Belafonte were not re-releashed in the 80's on the strength of BEETLEJUICE,BEETLEJUICE,.......stop there can't say it three times.

"Day O" got a lot of airplay on 104.7 KZZP Phoenix, even making it into the station's Top 5.

 

[ChrisInMI]

I believe the re-release of "At This Moment" was spurred by its use in one of the popular TV sitcoms at the time (I think "Family Ties"). That brings to mind another famous example of how a TV show helped a previously low-charting record become a #1 hit... "General Hospital"'s use of Patti Austin & James Ingram's "Baby, Come To Me."

Bruce Hornsby re-released his first chart single, "Every Little Kiss," which originally peaked at #72, after "The Way It Is" had brought him to #1. The slightly remixed re-release hit the top 20. Same deal with Paula Abdul's "(It's Just) The Way That You Love Me" (though that re-release wasn't a remix). Steve Winwood charted with two remixed re-releases of early '80s flops - "Valerie" and "Talking Back To The Night" - in the late '80s; the former was a top 10 hit.

Also in the '70s, there was the case of Olivia Newton-John's "I Honestly Love You." Originally a #1 for two weeks in the fall of 1974, the original hit version was re-released for some reason in 1977 and made the top 50 - thus becoming a bigger hit than the new music she had out at the time. "I Honestly Love You" made the Hot 100 a THIRD time in 1998, although that was a new version produced by (I think) David Foster and with Babyface on background vocals. In the U.K., the original version had also been re-released in 1983 to promote a TV-advertised hits compilation.

 

[firepoint525]

That song has been in rotation longer than deserves. Sorry never got on the "red red wine" bandwagon. Could never see why people though it was such a great song

I would agree, except that taken in context of what was happening on radio in 1988, it was actually considered a breath of fresh air. Radio was playing the umpteenth hit singles from about a dozen albums that were by then over a year old. Of course, after "Red Red Wine" (re)broke, then they started reissuing more "near miss" oldies from the earlier '80s, until the public grew tired of that fad, too. And again, after about a year of warmed over stuff, the reissues began to fail to even match the peak positions from their earlier chart runs. "What About Me?" anyone?

 

[firepoint525]

Bruce Hornsby re-released his first chart single, "Every Little Kiss," which originally peaked at #72, after "The Way It Is" had brought him to #1.  The slightly remixed re-release hit the top 20.  Same deal with Paula Abdul's "(It's Just) The Way That You Love Me" (though that re-release wasn't a remix).  Steve Winwood charted with two remixed re-releases of early '80s flops - "Valerie" and "Talking Back To The Night" - in the late '80s; the former was a top 10 hit.

Wasn't one of Abdul's early hits actually a b-side of one of her earlier flops, like "Knocked Out" or something?

Hornsby's "remix" was actually an edit, if memory serves.

 

[RMarino]

In the early '90s, our Hot AC station Mix 96 in Tampa pounded the heck out of "Lights" by Journey. I could never figure out why except that maybe the PD Mason Dixon maybe wanted to be known for starting another re-release craze. Did this song see a revival in any other markets around that time?

Another one that suddenly entered heavy rotation on Mix 96 at that time was "Paradise By The Dashboard Light" by Meatloaf, but I remember this song caught on in other markets too.

 

[firepoint525]

When I was working at my first station (a very small one!), I brought a record from home and basically donated it to the station. I played it enough that I actually got a request for it! That was the closest that I ever came to engineering my own "re-release craze"! 8)