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Huey Lewis & the News "Heart of Rock & Roll"

firepoint525

firepoint525

This probably wouldn't be of any interest to those of you living in or near cities mentioned by Huey Lewis in "Heart of Rock & Roll," but for those of us in the "overlooked" cities, there were some custom mixes that contained our "left-out" towns. After I moved here to Nashville, I heard the one with the "Nashville, Knoxville" shout-out at the end. So my question is where could I find any of these custom mixes? I am particularly interested in a Memphis mix, being that I am a west-Tennessee native, but I would take the Nashville mix as well, if one exists. Anyone know where to find any of them?

I still remember Huey Lewis, when he performed at Mud Island in Memphis, was interviewed on FM 100 there, and one of the first things that he said was, "I left Memphis out of the Heart of Rock & Roll." Indeed you did, Huey!
 
As luck would have it, I am also trying to find the Memphis or Nashville versions of "High School USA" as well. Had a thread on the '50s board about that one at one time, a few years back.

Already searched youtube for Huey Lewis; no luck yet. I will keep trying.
 
I would think finding those custom mixes would be pretty near impossible to find - even at the stations that aired it originally. I was at KC101 when the song came out and we got a 15ips reel from the record company that had "Hartford...New Haven" as the custom sing.
 
I guess those custom city versions of "Heart Of Rock And Roll" were serviced to radio on tape. I remember hearing a 12" remix of the song though.
 
I live in Knoxville and very vividly remember that mix of Heart of Rock n Roll. ("Knoxville...Nashville Tennessee!"). WIMZ, which was an AOR/CHR hybrid in the 80's used to play it all the time. I've always wondered why no one in the market ever plays that version anymore. Sadly, my guess is no one kept a copy & it's gone. I haven't heard that custom mix since the 80's. (btw, I think the custom mixes of that song each contained two extra cities. There was also a version I heard on Chattanooga radio back then that had Chattanooga and Miami mentioned). Another 80s track with custom city edits was Billy Idol's Hot in the City (where he sings. "New York"). And also many stations did custom edits of Starship's We Built this City, with local dj airchecks inserted instead of the San Francisco ones.
 
BRH said:
I live in Knoxville and very vividly remember that mix of Heart of Rock n Roll. ("Knoxville...Nashville Tennessee!"). WIMZ, which was an AOR/CHR hybrid in the 80's used to play it all the time. I've always wondered why no one in the market ever plays that version anymore. Sadly, my guess is no one kept a copy & it's gone. I haven't heard that custom mix since the 80's. (btw, I think the custom mixes of that song each contained two extra cities. There was also a version I heard on Chattanooga radio back then that had Chattanooga and Miami mentioned). Another 80s track with custom city edits was Billy Idol's Hot in the City (where he sings. "New York"). And also many stations did custom edits of Starship's We Built this City, with local dj airchecks inserted instead of the San Francisco ones.
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The former WLAC-FM here in Nashville, then an AC station, played the one with the "Knoxville, Nashville" shout-outs. Indeed, living in Nashville, I wondered why the "Knoxville" shout-out, too. I should further point out that I moved here in 1992, and "Heart of Rock & Roll" was, of course, no longer a current by then, so that made hearing it with the custom shout-outs even more impressive!

I have a taped copy of the Memphis version of "We Built This City" with the (then) FM 100 midday jock doing the ad-lib near the end. A listener shouted out "FM 100!" at the end of that ad-lib. I did not tape the entire song, because I was really only interested in the FM 100 jock's custom ad-lib at the end of it.
 
Well now that it has been brought up, did "We Built This City" have any versions that had actual DJ's who gave station ID instead of the part where the generic DJ did his schtick about the metro? I'd assume that only the stations themselves could do them---whether Starship OK'd them is another story.

In south FL, Majic 1027 WMXJ used to have two custom versions of oldies:

The Rascals' "Good Lovin" had a little girl talk about Majic during the dead-air part. Also Freddy Cannon sang a whole new verse about Majic, dubbed right into "Palisades Park." Being 2013, the latter is no longer played, but maybe Lovin' still is.

cd
 
"We Built This City" had an instrumental version that gave local stations the bed they needed to make their own customized version.

Regarding "Heart Of Rock & Roll," I remember K-107 in Tulsa, Oklahoma playing a version that looped "Tulsa, Tulsa, Tuh-Tuh-Tuh-Tulsa..." and (amusingly) cut out the Oklahoma City reference. I assume they made it themselves, but I don't know that for sure.
 
WCBS-FM in New York had several versions with their jocks replacing the 610 WFRC "aircheck". The Starship (or actually their record label - RCA?) sent to stations with a bed in place of the aircheck. I remember that one station played the bed without inserting a jock.
 
In St. Louis, KHTR and KWK played a custom shout out version of "Heart...." that went "St. Louis--Champaign Illinois." WLS played a a version that included "Chicago--Kansas City."

The Pointer Sisters did a custom version of "Fire" in the lyric, "You Turn On KFI" (Los Angeles).
 
I remember different versions of Billy Idol's "Hot in The City" where his shout out to "NEW YORK!" was replaced by "Houston!" "Dallas!" etc.
 
bobperry said:
WCBS-FM in New York had several versions with their jocks replacing the 610 WFRC "aircheck". The Starship (or actually their record label - RCA?) sent to stations with a bed in place of the aircheck. I remember that one station played the bed without inserting a jock.
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I never understood why they didn't edit the KFRC guy a little tighter. He steps on the vocal for the whole world to hear everytime the record gets played.
 
I remember as a toddler hearing this song going up the interstate to my relatives when it was new. They would substitute local cities like Baltimore and Richmond for the mid-atlantic area. Anyone remember that?
 
OldNumber7 said:
I never understood why they didn't edit the KFRC guy a little tighter. He steps on the vocal for the whole world to hear everytime the record gets played.
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Chances are the band approved of it as is...

R
 
spiritof67 said:
In St. Louis, KHTR and KWK played a custom shout out version of "Heart...." that went "St. Louis--Champaign Illinois." WLS played a a version that included "Chicago--Kansas City."

The Pointer Sisters did a custom version of "Fire" in the lyric, "You Turn On KFI" (Los Angeles).
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WKSS Hartford had a customized "Heart" with a city shout-out. I was in eastern Arkansas when "Fire" was a hit and remember hearing "you turn on the radio ... W-H-B-Q ..." on WHBQ Memphis. None of the Little Rock top 40s had a customized version, IIRC.
 
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