80’s at 8: January 9, 2023- The Cars & Cheap Trick
The first track in tonight’s 80’s at 8 is from The Cars’ 1981 album Shake It Up. It is a power ballad about the breakup of a relationship titled “Since You’re Gone.” It is one of my favorite Cars tunes.
When I was around 14 years old I remember the video of the song used to play a lot on HBO’s Video Juke Box. Video Jukebox would play during the breaks between movies or shows on HBO back then. It was released as the second single from Shake It Up, it reached # 24 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Chart and # 41 on the Billboard Hot 100.
“Since You’re Gone” has been praised by many music critics. AllMusic critic Donald Guarisco described the song as “a solid showcase for a strong balance between forward-thinking sounds and classic songwriting, using a high-tech arrangement and new wave irony to breathe new life into the power ballad”, going on to call it “a solid fusion of rock ballad bombast and new wave futurism that charted just outside the pop chart Top 40. Music critic Jim Bohen describes the line “Since you’re gone everything’s in perfect tense” as an example of Rick Ocasek’s “literate wit.”
Greg Prato, also of AllMusic, said “the melancholic “Since You’re Gone” remains one of Ocasek’s best-ever tales of heartbreak”.The music video received a lot of play on HBO’s Video Juke Box, TBS’s Night Tracks, and MTV.
You can check out the Music Video for Since You’re Gone by The Cars here:
The second track in tonight’s 80’s at 8 is from the year 1985, It was the lead single from Cheap Trick’s Standing on the Edge Album, titled “Tonight It’s You.” It was released as a single and a remixed and edited version of the LP version of “Tonight It’s You” was created. It was written by Rick Nielsen, Robin Zander, Jon Brant, and Mark Radice, and produced by Jack Douglas.
Jack Douglas was known for producing Patti Smith, New York Dolls, Yoko Ono, and many more. He produced three successful albums for Aerosmith. Tonight It’s You Reached # 8 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Chart and # 44 on the Billboard Hot 100. The album reached #35 on the Billboard 200 Album Chart and remained on the charts for 18 weeks.
The album saw Cheap Trick return to their standard hard-rocking sound. Producer Jack Douglas backed out of the mixing process for the album due to legal issues he was having with Yoko Ono. Mixer Tony Platt was called in, and as a result, keyboards and electronic drums were featured more prominently than the band and Douglas had intended.
The music video received heavy airplay on MTV, you can check out the Music Video for Tonight It’s You by Cheap Trick here: