Phil Collins, Elton John, and Gloria Estefan dominated Adult Contemporary radio back in the 1980s and '90s, yet have disappeared from modern radio. Seemingly, the only time you ever hear them is at the grocery store or your local CVS. This blog remembers the music, the stories and the quirky characters from my days working in Adult Contemporary radio.
Tuesday, February 16, 2016
Rod Stewart - "This"
Rod Stewart: musical icon who created dozens of hit songs beginning in 1971......buuuuuut started to phone it in around 1990. For the better part of the past 25 years, Rod has recycled old Motown hits, dusted off Christmas songs, and rehashed American standards all the while Adult Contemporary radio stations have gobbled them up faster than you can say "It's The Same Old Song". That's my problem with Rod Stewart and for people paying good money to hear him sing "What A Wonderful World". While Rod tends to be on the receiving end of quite a few punches on this blog, I do recognize his strengths and applaud his talent. All this to say that Rod's "phone it in" period between 1990 and 2016 is not void of any decent original material. In fact, there are quite a few really good songs during that span. Even though Rod's Spanner in the Works album was a commercial disappointment, it produced such a simple yet beautiful song called "This" in 1995. It only charted as high as #119, yet should have been promoted much more than duds such as "Leave Virginia Alone". "This" is nearly extinct on YouTube, but I did unearth one of two copies. Enjoy.