Los Lobos - Will the Wolf Survive?

Los Lobos were an unlikely and underrated success story in the 1980s.  The group's roots date back to 1973, and they were originally named Los Lobos del Este de Los Angeles (the wolves of East Los Angeles.)  The band's name came from a 1977 National Geographic article, "Where Can the Wolf Survive?" making the group perhaps the only rock act named after a story in Nat Geo.

Their music blended traditional rock with country and Tex-Mex influences, creating a unique sound that became critically acclaimed.  Unfortunately, major commercial success proved to be elusive - they only had three charting singles, two of which broke the top 40 (although their cover of "La Bamba" hit #1 in 1987.)

"Will the Wolf Survive?" is a lovely piece of songwriting, and shows the sophistication of Los Lobos.  Rock, country, and Latin American sounds seem to effortlessly fuse together.  The lyrics use the metaphor of a wolf, trying to find his place in a modern world, to illuminate the status of immigrants. In our view it is poetic and evocative.

The single, "Will the Wolf Survive?" peaked at #78 on the singles charts, while the album How Will the Wolf Survive reached #47.

Los Lobos remains together (with most of their original members) as of this writing.

Cool trivia fact:  Rolling Stone rated How Will the Wolf Survive as the 30th best album of the 1980s (and at #431 on their list of the greatest albums ever)

Chris Isaak - Don't Make Me Dream About You

Although Chris Isaak has only landed one top 40 single ("Wicked Game"), he has built a solid career on an updated Roy Orbison-influenced sound.  This is no small feat, as rockabilly artists in general haven't exactly been burning up the charts over the past few decades.

Isaak released his first album in 1985, but his breakthrough came on his third album, 1989's Heart Shaped World.  That album peaked at #7 on the charts and went triple platinum, led by the previously mentioned "Wicked Game."  Interestingly, that song was not an immediate hit, but gained momentum following its inclusion in David Lynch's 1990 movie, Wild At Heart.  Additionally, the heavily played video (featuring a topless Helena Christensen) probably didn't hurt.

After Heart Shaped World, Isaak saw his mainstream success fade, but has retained a loyal following.  He continues to perform and record (and dabble in acting) to the present day.

For the blog, we skipped the overplayed "Wicked Game" and opted for the less well known "Don't Make Me Dream About You."  The black and white video is stylistically similar to "Wicked Game" and seems well suited for Isaak's music.  The song is a bit more uptempo and is, we believe, a good representation of the Isaak rockabilly sound.

The Fabulous Thunderbirds - Tuff Enuff

While the Fabulous Thunderbirds 1986 album Tuff Enough was a commercial success, many fans and critics were disappointed by the record.  It's not as though Tuff Enough was a bad LP, but it represented a different, more commercial direction for the roadhouse blues band.

The Fabulous Thunderbirds were founded in 1974 and came out of the Austin, Texas blues scene.  Led by singer Kim Wilson and guitarist Jimmy Vaughan (the older brother of Stevie Ray), they released their first album, Girls Go Wild in 1979.  Three additional  strong blues albums followed through 1982, which were generally well reviewed by critics, but they did not become huge commercial successes.

That changed with Tuff Enough.  The album rose to #13 on the album charts and featured the two highest charting hits of the band's long career -- the title cut (which went to #10) and "Wrap It Up," which reached #50.  (Yes, that makes the Fabulous Thunderbirds an official one hit wonder).

Truth be told, the video for "Tuff Enough" is pretty cheesy.  It features stripper/construction workers doing their thing, while the band plays and occasionally interacts with them.  It was not a high point of 1980s videos.  It did, however, generate some airplay, so we suppose that it did its job.

The band saw steadily declining record sales through the 1980s and in 1989 Jimmy left the group to work with his brother.  The band continues to soldier on the the present day, with Kim Wilson as the only constant member.

Cool trivia fact:  Dave Edmunds produced the Tuff Enough album.

Dave Edmunds - Slipping Away

Dave Edmunds was a key part of the late 1970s and early 1980s British rockabilly scene, and his work (with Nick Lowe) in Rockpile particularly stands out.  However, both before and after Rockpile, Edmunds played and recorded his version of 1960s influenced rock and roll.

Edmunds was born in Cardiff, Wales and played in a series of bands before launching a solo career in 1970(!)  That year, his cover of "I Hear You Knocking" became a #1 hit in the UK (#4 in the U.S.).  Edmunds also became a notable producer, which led to a working relationship with Nick Lowe.  While legal issues prevented the use of the Rockpile name (Edmunds and Lowe were signed to two different labels), most of their work from 1976 through 1981 was as Rockpile (with Billy Bremner on guitar and Terry Williams on drums).  Ironically, the one 'official' Rockpile LP came at the end of this period.

"Slipping Away" is off Edmunds' 1983 Information LP, which was released after Rockpile broke up.  The song would go on to become a top 40 hit for him (barely), reaching #39 on the charts, while album rose to #51.  We suspect that some of this success was due to the video, which received a bit of airplay on MTV back in the day.

Edmunds remains active in the music industry to the present day, although his work has been less frequent since the early 1990s.

Cool trivia fact:  "Slipping Away" was written and produced by Jeff Lynne (of ELO fame).

X - Hungry Wolf

Although they were not the first LA punk band, X quickly became the standard-bearer for the California punk scene.  The band's literate, dangerous lyrics and unique punk meets rockabilly sound earned them rave reviews and a loyal following but never translated to mainstream success.  Perhaps that is part of their charm, through their lack of success says more about rock radio and the listening audience than it does about X.  It is easy to describe a band as ahead of their time and few truly were, but X fits the bill.

The group came together in the late 1970s and was made up of transplants from all over the U.S. -- John Doe (bass and vocals, born John Duchac from Baltimore), Exene Cervenka (vocals, born Christine Cervenkova from Tampa), Billy Zoom (guitars, born Ty Kindell from Illinois) and D.J. Bonebrake (drums, from California and using his real name -- Donald James Bonebrake).

X released two spectacular early 1980s independent albums (both of which made Rolling Stone's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time) before signing a major label deal with Elektra.  Their Elektra debut, 1982's Under the Big Black Sun was just as strong, in your author's opinion.  The LP opened with "Hungry Wolf," and the video picked up some airplay on MTV back in the day.  In spite of this, the album peaked at #76, and the single did not chart.

After Under the Big Black Sun, X slowly shifted their sound, trying for greater commercial success.  These changes did not pan out and guitarist Billy Zoom left the band in 1986, supposedly frustrated by the lack of success.  Amazingly, X has remained together through the years, albeit with several extended breaks.  While the group has not recorded any new material since 1993, they continue to perform to the present day (with Billy Zoom, as of this writing).

Cool trivia fact:  Ray Manzarek (The Doors) produced X's first four albums.

Cool trivia fact #2:  John Doe and Exene were an item, and were married from 1980 - 85.

Billy Burnette - In Just a Heartbeat

The son and nephew of rock and roll performers (Dorsey and Johnny Burnette of the Rock and Roll Trio), Billy has spent his entire life as a musician.  By the time he graduated from high school, he was working full time in both rockabilly and country bands, and released three albums in the 1970s.

"In Just a Heartbeat" was the second single from Burnette's self-titled 1980 LP (in true Peter Gabriel style, it was his third eponymous album).  Neither the single nor the album charted, and we don't believe that the video received much in the way of airplay, as MTV wasn't launched until the following year.

Burnette would go on to have some success in country music, before joining Fleetwood Mac as Lindsey Buckingham's replacement in 1987.  He left the band in 1991 (although he has sporadically worked with them since then) and returned to his country and rockabilly roots.

Cool trivia fact:  Billy Burnette is the cousin of Rocky Burnette (below; the January 23, 2012 post).  Rocky is the son of Johnny while Billy is the son of Dorsey.

Rocky Burnette - Tired of Toein' the Line

Rocky Burnette (given name: Jonathan), was the son of early rocker Johnny Burnette.  Johnny wrote "You're Sixteen," later made famous by Ringo Starr, and ran in the same circles as Elvis Presley and Carl Perkins.  He was tragically killed in a boating accident in 1964.

Years later, Rocky joined the family business, and wrote updated rockabilly songs, in the same genre as his dad had in the 1950s and early 1960s.  Rocky is best known for "Tired of Toein' the Line," the 1980 single from the 1979 album Son of Rock'n'Roll.  The song was a huge hit, peaking at #8, while the album hit #53.  Although Rocky never had another big hit, he has remained a working musician, to this day, in fact.

"Tired of Toein' the Line (nice apostrophe) is a catchy song, but it appears that Rocky and his friends completely lost their minds when it came time for the video shoot.  To be fair, early 80s videos were something of an afterthought, as MTV didn't even launch until 1981 (and didn't really gain traction until 1982).  Even so, the chicks in shiny pantsuits energetically pretending to play instruments ... including trombone (yes, really), while Rocky sings with his shirt open, wearing his best Ted Nugent sunglasses ... well, the video scores high on the cheesy / WTF scale.  It might even be so bad that it's good, but you'll have to be the judge of that.

Cool trivia fact:  Rocky would go on to work with Dwight Twilley in the 1990s ... who is also on the blog for a different cheesy video.  Go figure.

Dwight Twilley - Girls

Mixing rockabilly, country and British Invasion pop, Tulsa-born Dwight Twilley does not fit neatly into one music segment.  Combine this with nearly unbelievable bad luck throughout his career (including plane crashes, bribery scandals, and O.J. Simpson) and his lack of real success is understandable.

In spite of these issues, Twilley had two top 40 hits -- 1975's "I'm on Fire" (as the Dwight Twilley Band) and 1984's "Girls," from Twilley's solo album called Jungle.  Coincidentally, both singles peaked at #17 on the charts.

The "Girls" video is a Porkies tribute, and there even is an R-rated version with nudity (FYI, the version here is PGish).  The video shoot was co-funded by The Playboy Channel, and featured Bunnies.  We believe that at the time Playboy was looking to create R-rated videos for its own music video show.  As an aside, we originally saw this video on the old USA Network show Nightflight, a truly great TV show that mixed videos, interviews, concert footage and indy films.

The video is great, cheesy fun, complete with male and female shower scenes, and features the coolest full uniform football player pretending to play guitar solo scene ever.  (Yes, really).

Cool trivia fact:  Tom Petty sings backup vocals on "Girls" -- he and Twilley were on the same label and became friends in the late 1970s.