Great page.

I am a 28 year old guy from Germany.
This might be the forum to ask an inane question.

I would simply like a brief assessment of any knowledgeable 80s music person about the Greg Kihn band. I expect the type to respond would be early-mid 30s, and listened to the radio alot.
Did they make a dent in the public consciousness? Outside of Jeopardy, and Breakup song (which remains a classic) they had a slew of albums and singles, most which got airplay but fell short of the top 40. Anybody remember any other songs on the radio? For answers I will be greatful. They had great tunes, above all in the late 70's. For me it had all the ingredients of great pop.

WOW! I AM IMPRESSED! WITH THIS DETAILLED EMAIL I HAVE FOUND THE KIND OF INSIDE SCOOP I HAVE AWAITED. MANY THANKS!

I grew up in Vancouver B.C and moved to Germany in 1995. I am an absolute Greg Kihn band fanatic like nobody else I know. Beeing such, I have bought everything they did and didn't put out. I have researched them to no end, therefore have memorized their chartings.
If I had been 6 years older and lived in the California area, I could have provided the information you gave me. We were the true pop music fans, buying albums, listening to the radio attentively, and interested in the latest news.

I got heavily into Greg Kihn in 1986, when I actually shelled out full price for Love and Rock and Roll (all his other albums were already being deleted at discount prices. That was another odd aspect, that literally ALL his albums one time or another made it in the discount bins!).
The single Love and Rock and Roll got played twice on the radio and died without a trace. I would reckon the album sold even less than his stellar first album, which didn't chart also.

However even though Greg Kihn band was very underrated, a few knowledgeable people I have met recall most of his singles. And I nearly flipped out when I heard "Remember" (1978-one of his best) on U.S a.m radio in 1992! I thought only his 2 hits ever got played. Around that time, in 1992, Vancouver disk jockeys were trying to get rid of guys like Greg Kihn. I would plead with them to play Breakup song, at 2 a.m! I was getting a bit sad, that Greg Kihn was almost totally wiped out of the public consciousness. Luckily the song wouldn't die and a few years later got a bit more airplay (thanks to the listeners, not the deejays) the airplay has remained steady to this day. It is a classic song. That is a great feat - to have a song peak at n. 15 on the charts, and still get airplay 20 years later. Especially when you think of all the other past hits that are buried six feet under!

Jeopardy hasn't fared as well, although it was the big hit. I heard it a bit in Germany, but last time was 4 years ago.
I just received a couple of live concert videotapes from German t.V/rockfestival in 1978 and 1984. THe 1984 is much better than I thought it would. Professional and inspired.
However by 1986 it is evident that Greg ruined his voice, he didn't take care of it. Although it works well for his great blues-roots album of 1994 "Mutiny".

My question to others remain such:

THESE WERE SINGLES OR AOR TRACKS FROM THE GREG KIHN BAND: DOES ANYBODY REMEMBER THEM BRIEFLY? EITHER ON RADIO, VIDEO, OR FROM A FRIENDS PARTY?

REMEMBER (1978)
SORRY (1978)
RENDEZVOUS (1979)
ANNA BELLE LEE (1980)
GIRL MOST LIKELy (1981)
VALERIE (1981)
CANT STOP HURTIN MYSELF (1981)
HAPPY MAN (1982)
TESTIFY (1982)
EVERY LOVE SONG (1982)
LOVE NEVER FAILS (1983)
SOMEDAY (1983)
TEAR THAT CITY DOWN (1983)
REUNITED (1984)
ROCK (1984)
CHERI BABY (1984)
BOYS WONT LEAVE THE GIRLS ALONE (1985)
LOVE AND ROCK AND ROLL (1986)
WILD IN LOVE WITH YOU (1986)

I am really curious about peoples memory. For instance, if anyone knows the song "Ghost of a texas ladies man" (1992) from Concrete blonde - the song made number 101 on the charts, yet still got decent FM airplay. Enough people would remember that, maybe some when hearing the tune again. Therefore I wonder about the Greg Kihn bands singles that floated around the top 100. They were catchy and memorable enough, even a fair bit of people remember "Remember" even though it made number 103. The song was too great.

ANOTHER QUESTION I HAVE WAITED YEARS:

1) How many albums did the Greg Kihn band sell of their albums? Their first 5, I would reckon between 100,000 and 350,000 worldwide (after their rereleases in the 80s). However I have no information about the 80s albums.

Anyone have a rough guess? I would say Rockihnroll 400,000 worldwide, Kihnspiracy 500,000, Kihntagious 150,000, Citizen Kihn 140,000 and Love and Rock and Roll 25,000. I would be curious how far off the mark I would be.

I AM SICKLY DESPERATE FOR RESPONSES, PLEASE RESPOND EVEN IF IT IS VERY BRIEF!

: Great page.

: I am a 28 year old guy from Germany.
: This might be the forum to ask an inane
: question.

: I would simply like a brief assessment of any
: knowledgeable 80s music person about the
: Greg Kihn band. I expect the type to respond
: would be early-mid 30s, and listened to the
: radio alot.
: Did they make a dent in the public
: consciousness? Outside of Jeopardy, and
: Breakup song (which remains a classic) they
: had a slew of albums and singles, most which
: got airplay but fell short of the top 40.
: Anybody remember any other songs on the
: radio? For answers I will be greatful. They
: had great tunes, above all in the late 70's.
: For me it had all the ingredients of great
: pop.

Okay, I'm an American, "early-mid 30s", who listened to a LOT of "Top 40" radio in the early to mid '80s, and thus grew up on GK's music. I have all of his albums from the '70s and '80s on cassette (along w/ about 10,000 others)...

My first exposure to GK's music was in the Summer of '81, when his classic, "The Breakup Song", hit radio. At that time, I didn't know who the artist was; I just knew it was a killer tune, and I cranked the radio whenever it came on! It did get a moderate amount of airplay, at least in California (where I lived at the time)...

The next time I heard GK was in the Winter of '83, when "Jeopardy" stormed the charts. I loved that song, so later that Summer, I decided to make his "Kihnspiracy" album one of my first music purchases. (1983 was the year I first started buying music, and finally got my own stereo system!) "Jeopardy" of course got tremendous airplay on the radio, as did its accompanying video on MTV. It was about that time that I finally learned he was the same guy who'd also done that "They Don't Write 'Em" song I'd loved on the radio a couple years earlier, so I slowly began picking up his previous albums as well - grabbing "Rockihnroll" first, of course...

I remember when his follow-up album, "Kihntagious", hit stores in the Spring of '84, its lead single, "Reunited", got a smidgen of airplay in Cali. A shame, as I thought it was a great tune, and deserved much better! (It died at a paltry #101 on the pop chart here in the U.S. - quite a surprise after the top 5 showing of "Jeopardy" the previous year!) I don't recall ever seeing the "Reunited" video on MTV. Still, I ran out and bought the album anyway...

Later that year, he of course left Beserkley (his long-time home), and signed w/ the EMI America label. That gave him a brief career boost - I remember when "Lucky", the lead single from "Citizen Kihn", came out in the Winter of '85, it got a moderate amount of airplay on the radio, along w/ the video on MTV. I quickly bought that album, too, and thought perhaps he was back on track...

But then when his 1986 album, "Love and Rock and Roll", basically bombed (heard nothing on the radio and saw nothing on MTV off of that one), I knew things were pretty much over. And sure enough, that was his last album of new material until well into the '90s...

I remained a fan, however, and two years ago, in the Summer of '99, when I found out GK was going to be playing an outdoor gig here in the New York City area (opening for another '80s band, Survivor), I jumped at the chance, as I'd never seen him live before. He played roughly a 60-minute set, mainly performing stuff from his '70s and '80s days. Overall, it was a very good show, although his voice did sound a bit rough, but I'm sure the extreme heat and humidity we had here on that August day played a part! After the gig, he came out and happily signed autographs and chatted w/ the dozen or so people who wanted to meet him - including myself. I got to speak w/ him for a couple of minutes, and one of the first things he asked me was, "What'd you think? Did it sound okay? Was it a good show?", sounding very unsure of his performance! I told him I thought it was great, and was glad I finally had a chance to see him perform live after being a fan for almost 20 years! I then had him sign my "Kihnsolidation" cassette for me - I'm happy to say he was a very cool and down-to-earth guy...

Unfortunately, when you say "Greg Kihn" nowadays, it's true that most folks here in the States only think of "Jeopardy", and if you actually play them "The Breakup Song", they'll usually say, "Oh yeah, I remember that one, too." But beyond those two, forget about it! Like you said, he definitely had a LOT of other great tunes, that for whatever reason, just didn't make it! He did fare a bit better on the AOR chart here in the U.S., w/ "Testify" and "Reunited" both making the top 10, and several others making the lower reaches. But man, that riff in "The Breakup Song" is definitely classic (and I've always been pissed that the entire song is less than three minutes long, LOL!) - too bad they just don't write 'em like that anymore...

: Okay, I'm an American, "early-mid
: 30s", who listened to a LOT of
: "Top 40" radio in the early to mid
: '80s, and thus grew up on GK's music. I have
: all of his albums from the '70s and '80s on
: cassette (along w/ about 10,000 others)...

: My first exposure to GK's music was in the
: Summer of '81, when his classic, "The
: Breakup Song", hit radio. At that time,
: I didn't know who the artist was; I just
: knew it was a killer tune, and I cranked the
: radio whenever it came on! It did get a
: moderate amount of airplay, at least in
: California (where I lived at the time)...

: The next time I heard GK was in the Winter of
: '83, when "Jeopardy" stormed the
: charts. I loved that song, so later that
: Summer, I decided to make his
: "Kihnspiracy" album one of my
: first music purchases. (1983 was the year I
: first started buying music, and finally got
: my own stereo system!) "Jeopardy"
: of course got tremendous airplay on the
: radio, as did its accompanying video on MTV.
: It was about that time that I finally
: learned he was the same guy who'd also done
: that "They Don't Write 'Em" song
: I'd loved on the radio a couple years
: earlier, so I slowly began picking up his
: previous albums as well - grabbing
: "Rockihnroll" first, of course...
:

: I remember when his follow-up album,
: "Kihntagious", hit stores in the
: Spring of '84, its lead single,
: "Reunited", got a smidgen of
: airplay in Cali. A shame, as I thought it
: was a great tune, and deserved much better!
: (It died at a paltry #101 on the pop chart
: here in the U.S. - quite a surprise after
: the top 5 showing of "Jeopardy"
: the previous year!) I don't recall ever
: seeing the "Reunited" video on
: MTV. Still, I ran out and bought the album
: anyway...

: Later that year, he of course left Beserkley
: (his long-time home), and signed w/ the EMI
: America label. That gave him a brief career
: boost - I remember when "Lucky",
: the lead single from "Citizen
: Kihn", came out in the Winter of '85,
: it got a moderate amount of airplay on the
: radio, along w/ the video on MTV. I quickly
: bought that album, too, and thought perhaps
: he was back on track...

: But then when his 1986 album, "Love and
: Rock and Roll", basically bombed (heard
: nothing on the radio and saw nothing on MTV
: off of that one), I knew things were pretty
: much over. And sure enough, that was his
: last album of new material until well into
: the '90s...

: I remained a fan, however, and two years ago,
: in the Summer of '99, when I found out GK
: was going to be playing an outdoor gig here
: in the New York City area (opening for
: another '80s band, Survivor), I jumped at
: the chance, as I'd never seen him live
: before. He played roughly a 60-minute set,
: mainly performing stuff from his '70s and
: '80s days. Overall, it was a very good show,
: although his voice did sound a bit rough,
: but I'm sure the extreme heat and humidity
: we had here on that August day played a
: part! After the gig, he came out and happily
: signed autographs and chatted w/ the dozen
: or so people who wanted to meet him -
: including myself. I got to speak w/ him for
: a couple of minutes, and one of the first
: things he asked me was, "What'd you
: think? Did it sound okay? Was it a good
: show?", sounding very unsure of his
: performance! I told him I thought it was
: great, and was glad I finally had a chance
: to see him perform live after being a fan
: for almost 20 years! I then had him sign my
: "Kihnsolidation" cassette for me -
: I'm happy to say he was a very cool and
: down-to-earth guy...

: Unfortunately, when you say "Greg
: Kihn" nowadays, it's true that most
: folks here in the States only think of
: "Jeopardy", and if you actually
: play them "The Breakup Song",
: they'll usually say, "Oh yeah, I
: remember that one, too." But beyond
: those two, forget about it! Like you
: said, he definitely had a LOT of other great
: tunes, that for whatever reason, just didn't
: make it! He did fare a bit better on the AOR
: chart here in the U.S., w/
: "Testify" and "Reunited"
: both making the top 10, and several others
: making the lower reaches. But man, that riff
: in "The Breakup Song" is
: definitely classic (and I've always been
: pissed that the entire song is less than
: three minutes long, LOL!) - too bad they
: just don't write 'em like that anymore...

Greg Kihn and Survivor on the same bill. Wish I had been there! I, too, have very fond memories of listening to Greg Kihn on the radio. The last I heard, he was a DJ in California. Survivor was one of my favorite bands during the eighties especially their Rocky anthems. A bit of trivia: Can anyone name the eighties movie that included the Survivor song "Moment of Truth" blaring over the closing credits?

: Greg Kihn and Survivor on the same bill. Wish I
: had been there! I, too, have very fond
: memories of listening to Greg Kihn on the
: radio. The last I heard, he was a DJ in
: California. Survivor was one of my favorite
: bands during the eighties especially their
: Rocky anthems. A bit of trivia: Can anyone
: name the eighties movie that included the
: Survivor song "Moment of Truth"
: blaring over the closing credits?

I'll bite: Was it Karate Kid?

John