John Waite - Change

In 1982, John Waite released Ignition, his first solo album after he left The Babys (who did some really solid work in the mid to late 70s).  Produced by Neil Giraldo, Pat Benatar's guitarist/husband, the album peaked at #68 in the US charts.  It also yielded one great video -- "Change," an early story video, and a good one at that.

Waite would go on to have huge success with his next album, 1984's No Brakes, which would include the #1 hit "Missing You" and the solid but underrated "Restless Heart."  Cool trivia fact:  In the music video for "Missing You," there is a scene where a group of people are pointing to a building (around 1:17), a clear reference to the "Change" video.

"Change" was written by star songwriter Holly Knight.  Never heard of her?  She wrote:  Aerosmith's "Rag Doll," Pat Benatar's "Love is a Battlefield," Lou Gramm's "Just Between You and Me" (love that song), Scandal's "The Warrior," Animotion's "Obsession," and Tina Turner's "Better Be Good to Me," among others.  Impressive, yo.

Cool trivia fact #2: The song "Change" charted, but not in 1982.  In spite of a bunch of airplay on MTV, the song did not break the top 200.  However, it was included on the soundtrack of Vision Quest in 1985, re-released as a single, and peaked at #50.

Cool trivia fact #3:  Tina Gullickson is the actress featured in "Change."  Although she never became a huge star, she has had a successful career as a model/actress/singer.  She is currently a singer in the Coral Reefer Band (Jimmy Buffet's backup band).

[March 2015 update].  So it turns out that Holly Knight wrote this song for her band, Spider and it came out on their 1981 LP, Between the Lines.  For those keeping score at home, that makes "Change" a cover, and of course we tracked down the original (below).