Essential Huey Lewis Songs

10. "Back In Time" (Back To The Future soundtrack)The first of two songs taken from the first Back To The Future film, which featured Huey in a cameo role. This song also references the movie, through lines like "Please don't drive at eighty-eight." I also get a Chicago vibe with their 80's output. Like that band was too into doing ballads and downplayed the horns, with more focus on the keyboards, though they could have easily found a happy medium with songs like Huey & The News were doing.

9. "Walking On A Thin Line" (Sports)Taken from the band's biggest and most popular album, Sports, with "Walking On A Thin Line" being chosen as the fifth and final single. I was just about to type that this song sounds like it could be a Journey song, when the youtube video I was playing ended, and started up Journey's "Stone In Love." Interesting coincidence.


8. "I Want A New Drug" (Sports)Also taken from the band's third album, Sports. After listening to his albums and reading various wikipedia pages, I came across an entry about a lawsuit with Ray Parker Jr. over the "Ghostbusters" song. Apparently it's too similar to this song, so much that the film's producers even used "I Want A New Drug" as a 'placeholder' song before choosing Ray Parker Jr. to write the theme. I'd never noticed that they were similar until hearing them back to back.

7. "I Want You" (Huey Lewis & The News)This debut from Huey is much more of a straight forward rock album than his later releases, which almost put him and his band in line with Billy Joel. At least that's the impression that I get.

6. "Hip To Be Square" (Fore!)
"In '87, Huey released this... Fore!, their most accomplished album. I think their undisputed masterpiece is "Hip To Be Square", a song so catchy, most people probably don't listen to the lyrics. But they should, because it's not just about the pleasures of conformity, and the importance of trends, it's also a personal statement about the band itself."

5. "Trouble In Paradise" (Huey Lewis & The News)
When talking with my buddy Todd, he suggested checking out this song. I liked it, but all I could think about is substituting "Trouble" for "Thunder"; that short-lived Hulk Hogan TV show, Thunder In Paradise. The music to this song does sound like it could be used as an instrumental theme to some 80's sitcom, too.

4. "Do You Believe In Love" (Picture This)
A REALLY solid Top 40 pop tune from Huey Lewis & The News, which is a direction that the band seemed to shift into with each album. 

 

3. "Don't Make Me Do It" (Huey Lewis & The News)
I had never even heard this album before until a conversation with my friend Todd, when he said Huey recorded it with members of another band which was called Clover. Turns out he actually was in Clover and then later merged with another band to form his own group- Huey Lewis & The American Express. That was later dropped for fear of a lawsuit from the credit card company. So the group now christened Huey Lewis & The News recorded this debut, self-titled album, which rocks! This song was an early stand out, with it's snappy percussion, and still pops into my head months after first hearing it.

2. "Heart and Soul" (Sports)
Too good that my lame writing won't even do it justice.

1. "The Power Of Love" (Back To The Future soundtrack)
The second song taken from 1980's excellent time-travel comedy film, Back To The Future. This song doesn't have anything to do with the movie lyrically speaking, though it is featured within the film.