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the late '80s re-release craze

firepoint525 said:
Wasn't one of Abdul's early hits actually a b-side of one of her earlier flops, like "Knocked Out" or something?
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"Cold Hearted" was the B side of "Straight Up", though I think it was re-worked somewhat when it was re-issued in the summer of '89. One version had the double-tracked pseudo-rap over the bridge, the other did not.
 
firepoint525 said:
When I was working at my first station (a very small one!), I brought a record from home and basically donated it to the station. I played it enough that I actually got a request for it! :) That was the closest that I ever came to engineering my own "re-release craze"! 8)
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What was the record.......
 
hornet61 said:
firepoint525 said:
When I was working at my first station (a very small one!), I brought a record from home and basically donated it to the station. I played it enough that I actually got a request for it! :) That was the closest that I ever came to engineering my own "re-release craze"! 8)
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What was the record.......
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It was a Cotton Ivy 45. "Cotton" Ivy was (and maybe still is) a country humorist in west Tennessee. He did not sing. This was a spoken record. I bought it at a record store somewhere back then and figured that it would fit the format of the extremely small station that I was working for at the time. I don't even remember the titles of the tracks on this 45, only that I played both sides of it. One side was a touching father and son tribute, and that was the one that I received the request for. The other side was something a little more light-hearted and humorous, the kind of stuff that he was known for. He also later served in the Tennessee legislature, and as agriculture secretary under governor McWherter (a couple of governors ago, for you non-Tennesseans reading this). I'm guessing that he is retired by now, if he is even still alive. I remember him making a couple of appearances on the old TNN (Nashville Network). I'm sure that you could google him and find out anything else that you might want to know, although I have probably already told you more than you wanted to know. This record probably wouldn't fit the format of most modern country stations, but this station was very small, so I figured that they would have no problem with it. And I figured (evidently correctly) that the listeners would enjoy it, because this was, after all, the area where he was from. And I was already familiar with Cotton Ivy, so I knew what to expect. His son (maybe the son mentioned in the record!) was a year behind me in high school. Cotton Ivy was similar in style to Jerry Clower.
 
firepoint525 said:
When I was working at my first station (a very small one!), I brought a record from home and basically donated it to the station. I played it enough that I actually got a request for it! :) That was the closest that I ever came to engineering my own "re-release craze"! 8)
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Haha, very good. Same kinda thing happened to me too. It was the mid '90s and I took a liking to the rarely played '70s hit "Oh Babe, What Would You Say" by Hurricane Smith. Spun it a few times and soon OTHER shows were getting requests for it. It was probably just one guy calling different shows to request it, but still it was kinda cool. ;D
 
RMarino said:
In the early '90s, our Hot AC station Mix 96 in Tampa pounded the heck out of "Lights" by Journey. I could never figure out why except that maybe the PD Mason Dixon maybe wanted to be known for starting another re-release craze. Did this song see a revival in any other markets around that time?
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I remember this happening on a station here in Jackson (coincidentally, called Mix 96). I don't think it was a re-release though.

Tell me this: Wasn't Savage Garden's "To the Moon and Back" re-released? It was a follow-up to "I Want You" and didn't do very well. It got some resurgence after "Truly Madly Deeply" ran its course.
 
Mid West Clubber said:
The rhythmic dance remix of in the air tonight was released in 88 as is called the 88 remix... I liked it better than the dark and drab original......
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I gotta admit I like it better than the original. Maybe because it sounded fresher. I never a remake existed until WYOY played it in the late 90s.

Speaking of remixes, "December 1963 (Oh What A Night)" got new life when John Garabedian remixed it on Open House Party. But was it ever re-released as a single?
 
firepoint525 said:
the golden boy said:
Speaking of remixes, "December 1963 (Oh What A Night)" got new life when John Garabedian remixed it on Open House Party. But was it ever re-released as a single?
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Yes, it charted at #14 in the fall of 1994.
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No wonder Star*94 WSTR and Power 92 KKFR were all over this song at that time.
 
Another song that was a hit the second time around was Boy Krazy's "That What Love Can Do". Was originally released in 1991 and went nowhere on the charts. Was remixed by a mix DJ at KQKS/Denver in 1992, which was picked up by Open House Party. Went to #1 on R&R's Top 40 Radio Airplay Monitor chart on the second try in 1993 and #18 on Billboard's Hot 100 chart.

Robyn
 
Two more re-releases I thought of from the early 90s are "Hard To Handle" by the Black Crowes and "Home Sweet Home" by Motley Crue. "Hard To Handle" had a comeback after "She Talks To Angels" ran its course, but this time it had a brass section that wasn't in the song the first time around. I don't know what the deal was with "Home Sweet Home" coming back.
 
Not related but what about "Bizarre Love Triangle" by New Order. Was released in 1986, Wasn't a hit. Was released in 1994 and was a massive hit. Mainly on Hot-AC/ Top 40 stations. Ever since its 1995 chart performence the song has been hammered to death. Mainly by Hot-AC stations.
 
Boy Krazy's song, did that have an incredible hit sound? It sounded like a can't miss hit, and it did hit. Speaking of re-releases, Rock Around The Clock by Bill Haley from 1955 was re-released in 1974! Because of the show Happy Days.
 
What I really wanted to know was why? What did they do that was so "outside the box"?
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The rumor was programmers were sick of the "crap" that" was being released by the record companies at the time. Major market programmers decided to go back and play these songs.
 
musiconradio.com said:
What I really wanted to know was why? What did they do that was so "outside the box"?
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The rumor was programmers were sick of the "crap" that" was being released by the record companies at the time. Major market programmers decided to go back and play these songs.
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Well, thanks, but my question was answered on page five of this thread four years ago!

http://radiodiscussions.com/smf/index.php?topic=120341.40
 
ChrisInMI said:
Did Nik Kershaw's "Wouldn't It Be Good" (from 1984 originally) have a re-release in 1989? Not long ago I was listening to an aircheck of the 1989 year-end countdown from WLOL in Minneapolis/St. Paul and that song was listed (albeit only somewhere in the 90s). If it was re-released, it didn't make the Hot 100 the second time around (having only hit #46 the first time).

I think "that station in Phoenix" was also responsible for Bryan Adams' "Heaven" eventually becoming a #1 pop hit. The song was first issued to AOR stations in early 1984 from the soundtrack of A NIGHT IN HEAVEN but some Top 40s in Canada also played it at the time (i.e. CFUN in Vancouver). Later in 1984 Adams' album RECKLESS came out and I believe Guy Zapoleon was the one who was responsible for starting the ball on the song's success at CHR radio and eventually reaching #1 on the Hot 100.

In the U.K. reissues were actually a very common occurrence in the '80s and '90s (not sure if that still holds true today), and many times the reissue charted as high as, if not higher than, the original release. Here's one late '80s example: Elton John's "Healing Hands" failed to make the top 40 in the U.K. on its original release in 1989 but then a few months later the song was reissued as a double A-side with "Sacrifice" and shot to #1. In the U.S. both songs hit the top 20 (but individually, not collectively) and "Healing Hands" was also a #1 Adult Contemporary hit.
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Appologies for opening up an old thread, but Heaven was released twice in Canada. Once in 1983 and then again in 1985. I couldn't understand why that happened. Even the DJ's on Edmonton's 630 CHED would make cracks on air about it being a hit twice in 2 years.
 
mimo said:
Appologies for opening up an old thread, but Heaven was released twice in Canada. Once in 1983 and then again in 1985. I couldn't understand why that happened. Even the DJ's on Edmonton's 630 CHED would make cracks on air about it being a hit twice in 2 years.
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I remember it getting some airplay here stateside in early '84, but I don't really believe that it was a "hit" here at the time. But when it became a bona fide hit in '85, that probably explains why I was tired of it by then. Seemed like it had been played nearly continuously for over a year!
 
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