Comments on: 1988 Countdown #91: Eric Carmen, “Hungry Eyes”

By: wladmir pereira

wladmir pereira — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 23:17:57 +0000

qual o nome da garota do saxofone?

By: Tom Nawrocki

Tom Nawrocki — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 15:47:11 +0000

I don’t think I mentioned her in my SNL rundown, but Jennifer Warnes was on a second-season show singing “Right Time of the Night,” which was a big hit at the time. What struck me about her performance was how terrible she looked: Big glasses, bad teeth, poor fashion sense, no stage presence whatsoever.

Good singer, though.

By: gavin

gavin — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 07:18:59 +0000

I’m pretty sure I won’t have an opportunity to write about this later in the countdown, because “(I’ve Had) The Time of My Life” hit the top in 1987: man, what an odd career Jennifer Warnes had. Leading Leonard Cohen interpreter, two #1 soundtrack singles, theme song for Growing Pains.

By: Tom Nawrocki

Tom Nawrocki — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 04:14:34 +0000

The Blow Monkeys were great, but the real keeper on that soundtrack is Mickey and Sylvia’s “Love Is Strange,” which was way ahead of its time when it first came out in 1959 and still a little ahead of its time in 1988. The scene with Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey pantomiming that song is the best one in the movie.

By: gavin

gavin — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 21:48:16 +0000

You’re right; I will fix that. You are also correct that “Make Me Lose Control” wasn’t on a charting Carmen album (not even the greatest-hits in 1988, which must have been rushed out by a competing label). Reinforcing your point: “Make Me Lose Control” was a #1 single at Adult Contemporary for three weeks.

Checking my Dirty Dancing soundtrack, which is a real grab-bag, by far the oddest inclusion is the Blow Monkeys (covering a Lesley Gore tune).

By: Chris M.

Chris M. — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 18:07:11 +0000

Ew. Nicely written, but man did I not need to remember this.

One small correction/clarification — but I think it actually strengthens your overall point. Carmen’s followup hit, “Make Me Lose Control,” wasn’t from Dirty Dancing. In fact, I need to check my Billboard books when I’m back at my desk — I don’t think it was on a formal studio album at all (maybe a belatedly-promoted greatest hits).

Basically, as I recall, after “Hungry Eyes” gave him the unlikely comeback (it was, like, the third or fourth single from Dancing, which succeeded wildly beyond anyone at RCA’s imaginings), he scurried back to the studio quick-like to record a broadly soundalike followup. “Lose” isn’t a carbon-copy composition or anything, but apparently Carmen decided the key to his success was continuing to appeal to that middle-aged Poconos crowd a la Dancing; so he Cousin Brucie’d the song up, throwing on incongruous doo-wop elements and references to the sound of the radio and shit like that. And he was rewarded with an even higher Billboard placement for “Lose.” Then he disappeared again.

So basically, your point about Carmen looking like a lawyer who didn’t make partner is apt — despite Dancing’s crossover appeal to a teen-girl crowd, he decided the key to his success was appealing to aging Boomers (by the late ’80s, the first wave had just hit 40) who treasure radio shows like “The Doo-Wop Shop.” His whole mini-comeback kind of depressed me.