Saturday, October 26, 2013

Greg Kihn Band - Jeopardy

The Greg Kihn Band was a solid working group that had some meaningful success in the early 1980s with three top 40 albums and three top 40 singles.  While Kihn was originally from Baltimore, he moved to San Francisco in the early 1970s to work in the music industry.  By 1976 Kihn had a band and a recording contract.

Success came slowly for the band, who played constantly as they built a following.  Their first real breakthrough was 1981's "The Breakup Song (They Don't Write 'Em)," which reached #15 on the singles chart.  However, they are probably best-known for "Jeopardy" from their 1983 Kihnspiracy LP (yes, Kihn has a thing for puns as album titles).

The wild, surreal video quickly gained traction on MTV and helped propel the song to the #2 slot on the charts (behind Michael Jackson's "Beat It").  While the song isn't spooky, the video, complete with skeletons, zombies and a giant, tentacled monster seemed like a great fit for our All Hallows Eve videos.

Although Kihn has not had a charting single since 1986, he remains active in the music industry.  He was also a DJ on KFOX in San Jose, California for 16 years (he and the station parted ways in 2012).

The Greg Kihn Band's rarer (and excellent) "Reunited" was posted on ERV in April 2014.

3 comments:

  1. Wow No Kidding That Song Went to Number 2!
    I hated (still do) this video. And I enjoy Greg Kihn.
    Power Pop Rules.
    And If You Need Another Eighties Rare Video On your List
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-l1L6I3X2xI
    -Sam

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  2. Remember Weird Al's "I Lost on Jeopardy" version?

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    Replies
    1. LOL - we do! We are somewhat amazed that Weird Al has made a career out of parodies - we actually remember him from Dr. Demento (I think that "Another One Rides the Bus" was the first song that we heard.

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