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Holy sh*t!  I didnt know he was a part of a band that had a hit in 1976!  damn!  

and the songs name is "Ah! Leah!" I messed it up
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Quoting:
Jaggerz-- "The Rapper"

Wild Cherry-- "Play That Funky Music", however, he was not a "member" of this band, he was brought in to play guitar and sing backing vocals.


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Quoting:
You are correct in that ONE of his OHW's was "Ah, Leah!" in 1980, recording as "Donnie Iris and the Cruisers".  That recording was a milestone in production, with over 60 layers of sound.  At the time he was thought to be the "next big thing" in rock, but alas, Britneyesque fame did not follow. :'( End Quote

Iris was hardly a "one-hit wonder" while w/ his own band, the Cruisers, in the early to mid '80s. In fact, his second album, 1981's King Cool, spawned multiple hits ("Sweet Merilee", "Love is Like a Rock", and "My Girl"). Heck, "Love is Like a Rock" was just as big as "Ah! Leah!". But unfortunately, current oldies (or "classic rock") radio has turned Iris into the "one-hit wonder" that you perceive him to be, by only ever playing "Ah! Leah!" nowadays. The same can also be said of Rick Springfield w/ "Jessie's Girl", and many other artists of that era. Sad, but true... :-(

Besides, if what you said was really true of Iris's time w/ the Cruisers, how do you explain the fact that he currently has a 12-track "greatest hits" CD available here in the U.S. (which I happen to have myself)? ???

Were The Jaggerz essentially a "one-hit wonder" band? Yes, I'll buy that, even though they managed a couple of very minor follow-up hits to "The Rapper". As for Wild Cherry, they actually had multiple hits as well (all prior to Iris joining), and also currently have a "hits" CD available here in the U.S. (yep, have that one, too). But if you truly want to add another "one-hit wonder" group that he was a member of to the list, it would be Cellarful of Noise, w/ "Samantha (What You Gonna Do?)"...

Quoting:
Wild Cherry-- "Play That Funky Music", however, he was not a "member" of this band, he was brought in to play guitar and sing backing vocals. End Quote

Actually, Iris was indeed a full-fledged member of Wild Cherry on their fourth and final album, 1979's Only the Wild Survive. I have all four WC albums on cassette myself - great stuff! :-) But you're right, he hadn't yet arrived when they scored big w/ "Play That Funky Music" in the Summer of '76...

Quoting:




Besides, if what you said was really true of Iris's time w/ the Cruisers, how do you explain the fact that he currently has a 12-track "greatest hits" CD available here in the U.S. (which I happen to have myself)? ???


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Soft cell, Cinderella, Great White, Dexeys midnight runners, Nick Gilder, and the Capris all have greatest hits albums,, but they really didnt have many hits either......Cinderela and the Capris had the most...with 2 each

Quoting:
Iris was hardly a "one-hit wonder" while w/ his own band, the Cruisers, in the early to mid '80s. In fact, his second album, 1981's King Cool, spawned multiple hits ("Sweet Merilee", "Love is Like a Rock", and "My Girl"). Heck, "Love is Like a Rock" was just as big as "Ah! Leah!". But unfortunately, current oldies (or "classic rock") radio has turned Iris into the "one-hit wonder" that you perceive him to be, by only ever playing "Ah! Leah!" nowadays. The same can also be said of Rick Springfield w/ "Jessie's Girl", and many other artists of that era. Sad, but true... :-(

Besides, if what you said was really true of Iris's time w/ the Cruisers, how do you explain the fact that he currently has a 12-track "greatest hits" CD available here in the U.S. (which I happen to have myself)? ???
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Anyone with 12 songs in their repertoire and/or a contractural obligation to fill can have a greatest hits package.  Even Aerosmith has a few Aerostiffs on their numerous G.H. packages...  While I personally dislike the term "hit" being based on a upper 40 chart position of the POP chart, it is a sad fact that is is a measuring stick of the industry.  Additionally, "Classic Rock" and "Classic Hits" formats are not the same.  Classic ROCK stations are more true to the old AOR format, which was focused on album CUTS; Classic HITs base their format on established top-40 pop hits. I spent most of my career doing AOR & classic rock so luckily, I played more than just "Ah! Leah!", but even if you hear that song on a Classic HITs station, you're lucky.  Although I don't have my reference books with me at this writing, I'm pretty sure that "Ah! Leah" got into the lower 30s, and was his only appearance on the American Top-40 pop chart.  Please, correct me if I'm wrong on that.

Quoting:
Thanks NewRo.  The gospel according to Whitburn is always good enough for me...  :)
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Me too. That book is the Bible of pop music. Well, except for the book that chronicles every Hot 100 chart week-by-week and that WILL be mine soon.

Quoting:
Donnie Iris never got higher than #25 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart as a solo artist according to Joel Whitburn's reference book. Here's the rundown as listed:

1. "My Girl" - Debuted 5/1/82 - Peaked at #25
2. "Love is Like a Rock" - Debuted 2/13/82 - Peaked at #37
3. "Ah! Leah!" - Debuted 2/7/81 - Peaked at #29

And there you have it.
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Would anyone disagree that in the long run, "Ah, Leah" has the most staying power and is probably his most remembered tune?  :D



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Absolutely. Chart position doesn't always mean what they imply it means. It has a lot to do with how the singles around one song were selling at the time. Modern English's "I Melt with You" and Eddie Money's "Running Back" both peaked at #78 in the U.S. but which one do you still hear most often? Unless you ARE Eddie Money, I'd be willing to bet it's Modern English.

It's all relative and stuff. :)

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Unless you ARE Eddie Money,


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shoot, my cover is blown  ;D

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Soft cell, Cinderella, Great White, Dexeys midnight runners, Nick Gilder, and the Capris all have greatest hits albums,, but they really didnt have many hits either......Cinderela and the Capris had the most...with 2 each
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I think you'd find a lot of disagreement on these boards w/ both Cinderella and Great White. Cinderella charted 8 pop & 12 AOR hits here in the U.S., and Great White racked up 6 pop & 13 AOR hits of their own. So in both cases, that sounds like enough to warrant demand for a "Best of..." or "Greatest Hits" collection to me! (And since the record cos. are in business to make $$$, can you really blame them for wanting to ca$h in?) And speaking for myself, I don't know how old you are, but I was in my late teens/early 20s when both bands were at their peak in the mid to late '80s, and I certainly remember hearing more than one or two songs by them on the radio (and MTV) at the time! Heck, I even went & saw Cinderella open up for Bon Jovi on the latter's Slippery When Wet tour in '87...

Soft Cell, Dexy's Midnight Runners, & Nick Gilder all have hits collections available here in the U.S. for the simple fact that while it's true all 3 were essentially "one-hit wonders" Stateside, they scored many additional hits in their home countries (U.K., U.K., and Canada, respectively) - many of which should've been hits here, too, but for whatever reason, weren't! So rather than go through the costly task of re-issuing those artists' entire catalog on CD (which they realize they wouldn't be able to turn a profit on), their respective labels have made available the "hits" collections you're referring to...

As for The Capris, well, they were admittedly a little before my time, lol...

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Anyone with 12 songs in their repertoire and/or a contractural obligation to fill can have a greatest hits package. End Quote

True on the latter, but the "hits" collection in this case - titled 20th Century Masters: The Millennium Collection - was released in 2001, 17 years after DI had left MCA (now part of Universal, of course). So it was not a contractually obligated release. As for an artist merely having "12 songs in their repertoire", I suppose that would be possible if the artist in question actually owned the recordings. But again, in the case of DI, the rights to all of the tunes he recorded in the early to mid '80s for MCA still belong to MCA/Universal at this time...

Quoting:Even Aerosmith has a few Aerostiffs on their numerous G.H. packages...  While I personally dislike the term "hit" being based on a upper 40 chart position of the POP chart, it is a sad fact that is is a measuring stick of the industry. End Quote

Agreed on the last part, but when you take into consideration the thousands of other singles (and songs) that don't make any kind of charts in any given year, I think it's fair to call any song that peaks at #40 a "moderate hit", or one that gets to, say, #99, a "minor hit". And certainly, both weeks charted (at pop) and crossover to other radio formats factor in to just how "big" a hit a specific song can be termed as well...

Quoting:Additionally, "Classic Rock" and "Classic Hits" formats are not the same.  Classic ROCK stations are more true to the old AOR format, which was focused on album CUTS; Classic HITs base their format on established top-40 pop hits. I spent most of my career doing AOR & classic rock so luckily, I played more than just "Ah! Leah!", but even if you hear that song on a Classic HITs station, you're lucky. End Quote

I'm not arguing w/ you there; I agree there is a difference between the two. But I've actually heard "Ah! Leah!" on both. And by coincidence, as LyricBoy implied, in the two different areas that I've lived in over the last 10 years, I know the only DI song I ever seem to hear on the radio anymore is also "Ah! Leah!". And while I definitely turn up the radio every time I hear it, it would be nice if radio stations still played a few of the others (although I know they do in Pittsburgh, lol)... :-)

Quoting:Although I don't have my reference books with me at this writing, I'm pretty sure that "Ah! Leah" got into the lower 30s, and was his only appearance on the American Top-40 pop chart.  Please, correct me if I'm wrong on that.
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Although NewRomantic provided the short list of top 40 pop hits in his post above, IMO, it doesn't come close to telling the whole story. So here's the complete U.S. stat sheet of his years w/ the Cruisers, also courtesy of Mr. Whitburn: :)

01) "Ah! Leah!": #29 pop, #19 AOR
02) "I Can't Hear You": #47 AOR
03) "Sweet Merilee": #80 pop, #31 AOR
04) "Love is Like a Rock": #37 pop, #9 AOR
05) "The High and the Mighty": #39 AOR
06) "My Girl": #25 pop
07) "Tough World": #57 pop, #26 AOR
08 )"Do You Compute?": #64 pop, #20 AOR
09) "Injured in the Game of Love": #91 pop, #28 AOR

So IMO, to label DI a "one-hit wonder" couldn't be further from the truth! And as I said before, "Love is Like a Rock" was just as big as "Ah! Leah!". And of those 9 hits above, 7 are found on the hits CD in question - the only exceptions being "The High and the Mighty" (because its parent album is already represented by the two single releases from it), and "Injured in the Game of Love" (recorded for a label not affiliated w/ Universal). Oh, and just for the record, I highly recommend the DI hits collection to anyone looking for some great "lost" '80s music! :-)

Oh, and luckily VH-1 Classic plays several of DI's videos... ;)

Quoting:


That book is the Bible of pop music. End Quote

I, too, started w/ just the "Top 40" book, all the way back in the mid '80s. But by 1990, I'd grown way beyond it! So I replaced it w/ his Top Pop Singles book instead, which covers the entire "Top 100". A bit more expensive, but well worth it... :)

Quoting:Well, except for the book that chronicles every Hot 100 chart week-by-week and that WILL be mine soon.
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Personally, I don't find those particular week-by-week books to be of much use, so I've never bought any of 'em. (As you probably know, they cover only single decades, and even then, they're still way too pricey, IMO! Have flipped through them in bookstores before, though.) While I have many of the others, I find I get the most use out of the Top Pop Singles book mentioned above, the Pop Annual, as well as the Top Pop Albums book. Invest in those three instead... :)

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I think you'd find a lot of disagreement on these boards w/ both Cinderella and Great White. Cinderella charted 8 pop & 12 AOR hits here in the U.S., and Great White racked up 6 pop & 13 AOR hits of their own. So in both cases, that sounds like enough to warrant demand for a "Best of..." or "Greatest Hits" collection to me! (And since the record cos. are in business to make $$$, can you really blame them for wanting to ca$h in?) And speaking for myself, I don't know how old you are, but I was in my late teens/early 20s when both bands were at their peak in the mid to late '80s, and I certainly remember hearing more than one or two songs by them on the radio (and MTV) at the time! Heck, I even went & saw Cinderella open up for Bon Jovi on the latter's Slippery When Wet tour in '87...

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Yeah, you are probably right (plus I mispoke, Great White does have more than one hit I cant remember)..anyway, what I probably should have said was that Many people dont remember many songs from these groups..many of them were not hits here in the US, although they had hits with them in other countries (a really good example for this is A-ha).  But even so, a 12 track greatest hits compilation still would not be filled with the "hits" from these groups....plus, If people dont remember a song, it must not have been that great a hit, and I highly doubt they would really want to hear it.  Thats why I think that greatest hits compilations from groups such as Cinderella wont really sell well, and are completly useless unless you are a real huge Cinderella fan...Off the top of my head the only Cinderella songs I can think of are "Dont know what you got (til its gone)" and "Nobodys fool"..there definitly is another, I just cant think of its title...thats three songs..what the hell are they going to put in the other 9 tracks?  Now of course there are certain groups that I would love to see certain songs that never really charted but were great songs make it onto a greatest hits compilation ( ie Billy Joel's "Rosalindas eyes"), but I must say, Cinderella and Great White are not two of them.....

Quoting:

Soft Cell, Dexy's Midnight Runners, & Nick Gilder all have hits collections available here in the U.S. for the simple fact that while it's true all 3 were essentially "one-hit wonders" Stateside, they scored many additional hits in their home countries (U.K., U.K., and Canada, respectively) - many of which should've been hits here, too, but for whatever reason, weren't! So rather than go through the costly task of re-issuing those artists' entire catalog on CD (which they realize they wouldn't be able to turn a profit on), their respective labels have made available the "hits" collections you're referring to...
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Yeah, but something is wrong when I see a Soft Cell greatest hits album that doesnt feature "Tainted love".....plus, as I said before, If it wasnt a hit in the US, then why would people in the US want to hear it now when they didnt like it then?

Quoting:


As for The Capris, well, they were admittedly a little before my time, lol...
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Ah Contrar (did I spell that right)..the Capris had their biggest hit in 1984..."the Morse code of love".  They only had one other hit, 1961's "There's a moon out tonight"..they are the quintessential two-hit wonder (along with Golden Earring, who also had two hits in two seperate decades, "Radar love" in the 70s, and "Twilight zone" in the 80s)...now with two-hits, they made a greatest hits compilation (which I have!)..its got 12 songs on it, 10 of which I have either never heard, or never heard them do (they do a cover of some other doo-wop groups songs..I forget which, I dont have the CD with me)....

anyway, the Capris first hit was way before my time as well...their second hit wasnt...I was around then (granted very young, but around)

Quoting:
they are the quintessential two-hit wonder (along with Golden Earring, who also had two hits in two seperate decades, "Radar love" in the 70s, and "Twilight zone" in the 80s)...
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Au contraire, mon ami.  Golden Earring had three hits and have issued literally dozens of LPs.

Radar Love - 1974
Candy's Goin' Bad - 1974
Twilight Zone - 1982

The first two were from their AWESOME "Moontan" LP, and the last one was from their "Cut" LP.  Sometime (I think in the late 80's or early 90's) G.E. issued a greatest hits compilation, which I think was entitled "Golden Earring's Greatest Hits... The continuing Saga of Radar Love".

Amazingly, "Moontan" was the 9th album and "Cut" was the 18th album recorded by the prolific maestros.

Those guys really kicked ass for a Dutch band.  Or were they from Holland?  Someone told me they eventually moved to the Netherlands.   ;DOh Well, in any event they rocked big time. :D


Check out their official website at http://www.goldenearring.nl/index2.htm

Quoting:
True on the latter, but the "hits" collection in this case - titled 20th Century Masters: The Millennium Collection - was released in 2001, 17 years after DI had left MCA (now part of Universal, of course). So it was not a contractually obligated release. As for an artist merely having "12 songs in their repertoire", I suppose that would be possible if the artist in question actually owned the recordings. But again, in the case of DI, the rights to all of the tunes he recorded in the early to mid '80s for MCA still belong to MCA/Universal at this time...
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;)  I think you may have missed the sarcasm in my original statement regarding the criteria for releasing a greatest hits album... That aside, the D.I. G.H. CD I was referring to earlier  was "Out of the Blue" on the Seathru label in 1992, so-- my bad. Perhaps not labeled as a G.H. package, per se, but it contained previously-released material.  Often a G.H. package is released due to popular demand.

I'm curious about your AOR chart numbers... Are those from R&R?  Billboard?  I would love to have those numbers in a handy reference-book form!  

Quoting:




Those guys really kicked ass for a Dutch band.  Or were they from Holland?  Someone told me they eventually moved to the Netherlands.   ;DOh Well, in any event they rocked big time. :D



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You do realize that Holland and the Netherlands are the same country, and the people from it are Dutch, right? lol...yeah, if you said that on purpose, then just forget I said this lol  :P

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You do realize that Holland and the Netherlands are the same country, and the people from it are Dutch, right? lol...yeah, if you said that on purpose, then just forget I said this lol  :P
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Heh heh... ;D I wondered if anyone was gonna take the bait. :P

All kidding aside, Golden Earring rocked.  I'd like to see them come back with just one more extended-cut rock classic. :D

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All kidding aside, Golden Earring rocked.  I'd like to see them come back with just one more extended-cut rock classic. :D
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Oh, Id love to as well..I loved Radar Love and Twilight Zone, and granted thats all Ive heard from them, I think that they probably had some other great songs as well