yet again, defend the indefensible: LIONEL RICHIE

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because "hello" just came on the radio, the song really sucked, and bad memories of "hello"'s really bad video came back to mind. though lionel richie never actually made a good video, did he? i mean, "dancing on the ceiling"? "all night long"?

― Tad (llamasfur), Tuesday, 8 July 2003 22:02 (twenty-two years ago)

the commodores were OK, but i don't think lionel wrote "brickhouse" or did he?

― Tad (llamasfur), Tuesday, 8 July 2003 22:03 (twenty-two years ago)

WTF?! The video to "Hello"?! WTF?! "Sucked"?!

― Cozen (Cozen), Tuesday, 8 July 2003 22:04 (twenty-two years ago)

yeah it did. and i hate blind people too!

― Tad (llamasfur), Tuesday, 8 July 2003 22:04 (twenty-two years ago)

It sucked.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 8 July 2003 22:06 (twenty-two years ago)

but was it that much worse than "dancing on the ceiling"? or "say you, say me"? "say you, say me" looked like something the stage guys at my high school musical would do!

― Tad (llamasfur), Tuesday, 8 July 2003 22:08 (twenty-two years ago)

Wait, wait, "sucked"?

― Cozen (Cozen), Tuesday, 8 July 2003 22:09 (twenty-two years ago)

if this is a quibble over verb tense ... then "sucks" will work just as well as "sucked."

― Tad (llamasfur), Tuesday, 8 July 2003 22:10 (twenty-two years ago)

Hmmmmmm. I don't think I can find any semblance of pity, empathy, kindness or good will in my heart from Mr.Richie. As far as I'm concerned, he banished himself into the Pantheon of the Indefensibly Damned the nanosecond he gave the camera that robust thumbs-up in the video for "We Are the World." May the earth which feeds him soon consume him.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Tuesday, 8 July 2003 22:12 (twenty-two years ago)

good will in my heart from Mr.Richie.

That should be "for," of course....though I doubt he has any for me either.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Tuesday, 8 July 2003 22:14 (twenty-two years ago)

You could give his solo greatest hits record to your grandmother for christmas and not get kicked out of the family.

― Mike Taylor (mjt), Tuesday, 8 July 2003 22:15 (twenty-two years ago)

OUTRAGEOUS!

― James Blount (James Blount), Tuesday, 8 July 2003 22:15 (twenty-two years ago)

Someone will have to remind me next time that video is on that it is "sucking". Haha, "sucking", my ass.

― Cozen (Cozen), Tuesday, 8 July 2003 22:16 (twenty-two years ago)

Alex, you're so predictable.

Lionel Richie is totally defensible, if only for "You Are" off his first solo record and everything the Commodores ever did while he was in the band. Come on, even you have a soft spot for "Easy," don't you?

― J (Jay), Tuesday, 8 July 2003 22:16 (twenty-two years ago)

I got nothing but love for people who connect the dots between r&b and country. that said - learn to block a punch lionel!

― James Blount (James Blount), Tuesday, 8 July 2003 22:17 (twenty-two years ago)

Come on, even you have a soft spot for "Easy," don't you?

Faith No More's rendition, maybe. I don't know. Sure, there are worse charactes than Lionel Richie out there, I suppose. "All Night Long" is a bit of a headache, though, you must admit.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Tuesday, 8 July 2003 22:18 (twenty-two years ago)

plus fifth grade me owes 40% of the action he got to "Hello" and "You're the Inspiration", so Richie and Cetera will always have get a warm welcome from me.

― James Blount (James Blount), Tuesday, 8 July 2003 22:18 (twenty-two years ago)

have get

― James Blount (James Blount), Tuesday, 8 July 2003 22:18 (twenty-two years ago)

HAVE GET!

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Tuesday, 8 July 2003 22:19 (twenty-two years ago)

Can't Slow Down is an excellent album, and the video for "All Night Long (All Night)"--very important, that parenthetical "(All Night)"--is excellent both as a time capsule (i.e. the clothes) and as a way of promulgating Lionel's guy-next-door-who-wants-to-unite-the-world vibe. Also, once when I was DJ'ing in Tracer Hand's basement I followed P!nk's "Get the Party Started" with "All Night Long (All Night)"--again, that parenthetical "(All Night)" is what makes that title for me--and it rocked the motherfucking house. So for that alone he and it would be classic.

"Say You, Say Me," on the other hand, sucks the big one.

― M Matos (M Matos), Tuesday, 8 July 2003 22:20 (twenty-two years ago)

You are all insane All Night Long is a total peach of a record and redeems the man's career completely... also he looks a bit like like Colonel Gadaffi and that makes me smile

― Dave Stelfox (Dave Stelfox), Tuesday, 8 July 2003 22:21 (twenty-two years ago)

i forgot all about the OUTRAGEOUS! thing and mr richie, though

― Tad (llamasfur), Tuesday, 8 July 2003 22:21 (twenty-two years ago)

... and the video to "Hello" is amazing!

― Dave Starfox (Cozen), Tuesday, 8 July 2003 22:22 (twenty-two years ago)

mr. stelfox, that "colonel qadaffi" remark is almost as good as yer riffing on "geir cologne," yessongs and the norwegian fjords!

― Tad (llamasfur), Tuesday, 8 July 2003 22:22 (twenty-two years ago)

matos + stelfox = great minds thinking alike almost simultaneously!

i often play all night long at the end of dj sets with no irony whatsoever! it's a bloody good record

― Dave Stelfox (Dave Stelfox), Tuesday, 8 July 2003 22:23 (twenty-two years ago)

I always found it very very bizarre how he was huge - HUGE (he beat Prince and Brooooce at the grammys, and as much as that's indefensible aesthetically, saleswise/hitwise Can't Slow Down was in Purple Rain/Born in the USA 's league) - and then he just disappeared for like ten years.

― James Blount (James Blount), Tuesday, 8 July 2003 22:23 (twenty-two years ago)

see also the Pointer Sisters

― M Matos (M Matos), Tuesday, 8 July 2003 22:24 (twenty-two years ago)

He was on Fame Academy, last year.

― Cozen (Cozen), Tuesday, 8 July 2003 22:24 (twenty-two years ago)

I think maybe the Pointer Sisters split up / had drama though

― James Blount (James Blount), Tuesday, 8 July 2003 22:24 (twenty-two years ago)

Pointer Sister : 80s :: En Vogue : 90s

― James Blount (James Blount), Tuesday, 8 July 2003 22:25 (twenty-two years ago)

Didn't he collaborate with Rob Zombie recently for something?

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Tuesday, 8 July 2003 22:25 (twenty-two years ago)

a friend of mine works in video production and we had the idea of making a new video for all night long (all night) (parentheses for (matos)!) using footage of the colonel ages ago - i still so want to do it!

― Dave Stelfox (Dave Stelfox), Tuesday, 8 July 2003 22:25 (twenty-two years ago)

Didn't he collaborate with Rob Zombie recently for something?

All Night Of The Living Dead Long (All Night)

― Dave Stelfox (Dave Stelfox), Tuesday, 8 July 2003 22:26 (twenty-two years ago)

yer on a role tonight, mr. stelfox

― Tad (llamasfur), Tuesday, 8 July 2003 22:27 (twenty-two years ago)

he is!

― James Blount (James Blount), Tuesday, 8 July 2003 22:28 (twenty-two years ago)

those parentheses might be my favorite redundant-yet-so-so-right titular aspect this side of the James Brown catalogue!

― M Matos (M Matos), Tuesday, 8 July 2003 22:28 (twenty-two years ago)

http://webpages.charter.net/cmvenuti/images/lr.jpg

― Chris V. (Chris V), Tuesday, 8 July 2003 22:31 (twenty-two years ago)

(i never really knew about them, but if you say they're important)

― (Dave Stelfox) (Dave Stelfox), Tuesday, 8 July 2003 22:32 (twenty-two years ago)

joking apart though i do love that record, cheesy as hell but fun and a great tune - glad you're here matos

― Dave Stelfox (Dave Stelfox), Tuesday, 8 July 2003 22:34 (twenty-two years ago)

I knew Chris V would be along eventually! Mr. Force MD's would HAVE to get in on this one!

― M Matos (M Matos), Tuesday, 8 July 2003 22:36 (twenty-two years ago)

The bassplayer in the "Dancing on the Ceiling" video had a Yamaha BX-1 bass, and so did I at the time. Further Affiant sayeth not.

― Colin Meeder (Mert), Tuesday, 8 July 2003 22:37 (twenty-two years ago)

My high school band teacher luuuuvvved Lionel Richie. He used to lecture me and my friends about how we should stop listening to Prince because he sucked but Lionel Richie was a genius and he's the one people would still be listening to in 20 years, etc. He even wrote a band arrangement for "All Night Long" and made us play it during the halftime show at football games. I especially hated this, because as a lowly freshman in the percussion session, I was relegated to playing cymbals, and during "All Night Long" I had to hold a cymbal up for one of the snare drummers to play the song's fake-calypso pattern on. Holding a cymbal in the air for 3 1/2 minutes in sub-35-degree weather while someone bangs away on it is, in case you were wondering, totally completely DUD.

And I saw Lionel this morning -- they were playing VH-1 at the laundromat again, and that "I Love '80s" series was on, this one focusing (or "focussing," as they say in The New Yorker) on 1985. Lionel introduced a snippet highlighting the best "Makeout Songs" of the year (which fortunately did not include a Lionel Richie song). He sounded like a man anxious to get paid.

― JesseFox (JesseFox), Tuesday, 8 July 2003 22:38 (twenty-two years ago)

He even wrote a band arrangement for "All Night Long" and made us play it during the halftime show at football games.

i would kill for a recording of this... i have a yorkshire colliery band version of louie louie and it's one of my all time faves ever

― Dave Stelfox (Dave Stelfox), Tuesday, 8 July 2003 22:41 (twenty-two years ago)

that long ass a capella intro to "Love Will Conquer All" (??? maybe) is something wonderful

― James Blount (James Blount), Tuesday, 8 July 2003 22:41 (twenty-two years ago)

Dave - search out that comp of high school bands playing funk (and wings) hits of the seventies dj shadow put out a few years back

― James Blount (James Blount), Tuesday, 8 July 2003 22:43 (twenty-two years ago)

what? email me details - can't believe i've missed out on that

― Dave Stelfox (Dave Stelfox), Tuesday, 8 July 2003 22:44 (twenty-two years ago)

a toast to the boogie!

― James Blount (James Blount), Tuesday, 8 July 2003 22:45 (twenty-two years ago)

outraged - OUTRAGEd! - there's not a Cliff Nobles cover!

― James Blount (James Blount), Tuesday, 8 July 2003 22:49 (twenty-two years ago)

He used to lecture me and my friends about how we should stop listening to Prince because he sucked but Lionel Richie was a genius and he's the one people would still be listening to in 20 years, etc.

Sorta reminds me of what that shill Dave Marsh said about "Penny Lover" vs. the Smiths. Moron.

I had the first two albums and enjoyed them very much in them early eighties but I can only remember the singles now and have no inclination to revisit his music further. And sorry, Mr. Stelfox, but the "Hello" video just defines ultracheese.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 8 July 2003 23:06 (twenty-two years ago)

what about what Marsh said about the Replacements vs. the Time? (except people still listen to both now! or at least I do and hope everyone else does too though the Time's catalogue being out of print doesn't really help there now does it)

― M Matos (M Matos), Tuesday, 8 July 2003 23:09 (twenty-two years ago)

Skipping 137 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

Oh fuck, that movie! What is that from?

― that karate douche (╓abies), Sunday, 21 December 2008 14:40 (seventeen years ago)

That comedy video is funny, but I seriously hope you are not saying Lionel Richie has no soul....

― u s steel, Sunday, 21 December 2008 14:41 (seventeen years ago)

What I'm saying is that LR in the Commodores >>> LR solo. I suppose that LR solo is more bland, more mainstream.

(xpost) "Amazon Women on the Moon"

― snoball, Sunday, 21 December 2008 14:44 (seventeen years ago)

Amazon Women On the Moon! That was it.

Wasn't that scene longer, or...? I swear I remember bits with David Allen Grier at a piano.

― that karate douche (╓abies), Sunday, 21 December 2008 14:46 (seventeen years ago)

Defence closed.

― derelict, Sunday, 21 December 2008 16:19 (seventeen years ago)

yay, an excuse to spread this around

http://www.zshare.net/audio/530744696af27b2f/

― Telephone thing, Sunday, 21 December 2008 18:40 (seventeen years ago)

i didnt realise this many ppl hated all night long! you guys are crazy

― t_g, Sunday, 21 December 2008 21:33 (seventeen years ago)

Bimble Lionel Richie is the actual 80s that you yearn for. Without him your main area of interest is a vast empty soundless sea.

― J0hn D., Sunday, 21 December 2008 21:45 (seventeen years ago)

ilx is rarely as easy as sunday morning

― Giorgio Moderator (PappaWheelie V), Sunday, 21 December 2008 23:28 (seventeen years ago)

b... b... but that's because many ILXors work on the nightshift

― snoball, Sunday, 21 December 2008 23:33 (seventeen years ago)

(and before anyone points it out, I know that LR left the Commodores years before Nightshift was released)

― snoball, Sunday, 21 December 2008 23:37 (seventeen years ago)

four years pass...

the video for "Hello" is so hilariously awesome/bizarre that it permanently burned into my memory, despite only watching it once.

Can't Slow Down is a surprisingly solid album and "Stuck on You" is a genuinely moving and excellent country ballad.

Not listened to much of his output aside from this album; "Say You, Say Me" is garishly 80s and I really don't need to hear "Endless Love" ever again...

― arctic mindbath (President of the People's Republic of Antarctica), Monday, 10 June 2013 01:03 (twelve years ago)

Re: "Endless Love," I always felt that Lionel was put to better use in another teen romance of the era

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZuVH5LcEZj0

― Public Brooding Closet (cryptosicko), Monday, 10 June 2013 01:12 (twelve years ago)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZuVH5LcEZj0

― Public Brooding Closet (cryptosicko), Monday, 10 June 2013 01:12 (twelve years ago)

Can't Slow Down is a surprisingly solid album and "Stuck on You" is a genuinely moving and excellent country ballad.

"surprisingly"

― A deeper shade of lol (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 10 June 2013 01:14 (twelve years ago)

well, as I've said, I'm not particularly familiar with his catalog, so when I looked at the tracklisting, the only songs I recognized were "All Night Long", "Running with the Night" and "Hello". I didn't know about the other very good songs.

― arctic mindbath (President of the People's Republic of Antarctica), Monday, 10 June 2013 02:33 (twelve years ago)

"Stuck On You" and "Penny Lover" hold up, don't they?

― A deeper shade of lol (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 10 June 2013 02:36 (twelve years ago)

hell yes.

― arctic mindbath (President of the People's Republic of Antarctica), Monday, 10 June 2013 02:41 (twelve years ago)

Last American Virgin has a great soundtrack, iirc.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/b/ba/The_Last_American_Virgin_movie_poster.jpg/220px-The_Last_American_Virgin_movie_poster.jpg

― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 10 June 2013 04:16 (twelve years ago)

Side 1
"Teen Angel Eyes" - Tommy Tutone (3:30)
"De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da" - The Police (4:07)
"Whip It" - Devo (2:38)
"When I Find You" - Phil Seymour (5:13)
"Better Luck Next Time" - Oingo Boingo (3:30)
Side 2
"Are You Ready for the Sex Girls?" - Gleaming Spires (4:00)
"Since You're Gone" - The Cars (3:30)
"I Know What Boys Like" - The Waitresses (3:14)
"Airwaves" - The Fortune Band (3:46)
"I Will Follow" - U2 (3:34)
In addition to this, the film contains a compendium of other 1980s radio hits:
"Oh No" - The Commodores
"Open Arms" - Journey
"Keep on Loving You" - REO Speedwagon
"Just Once" - James Ingram
"That's the Way (I Like It)" - KC and the Sunshine Band
"Love Action (I Believe in Love)" - The Human League
"Shake It Up" - The Cars
"Besame Mucho & Granada"- Los Fabulosos 3 Paraguayos
"It Aint Easy Comin' Down" - Charlene
"Zero Hour" - The Plimsouls
"In the Flesh" - Blondie
"España Cani" - The Dancing Brass

― Josh in Chicago, Monday, 10 June 2013 04:17 (twelve years ago)

Love 'running with the night'. What are the original lyrics that tracer is referring too tho?

― So: The Answers (or something), Monday, 10 June 2013 11:07 (twelve years ago)

"Say You, Say Me" is hideously 80s.

― arctic mindbath (President of the People's Republic of Antarctica), Monday, 10 June 2013 19:26 (twelve years ago)

I've already said that upthread, but I was listening to it again and it bears repeating.

― arctic mindbath (President of the People's Republic of Antarctica), Monday, 10 June 2013 19:26 (twelve years ago)

so listen to it again

― A deeper shade of lol (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 10 June 2013 19:49 (twelve years ago)

"hideously 80s" = my aesthetic now basically

― emo canon in twee major (BradNelson), Monday, 10 June 2013 20:12 (twelve years ago)

I'll defend Hello -- it's got a great melody, the singing is full of pathos, and although some of the lyrics are a little too cheesy for their own good, there are a couple of subtle things that really capture the loserish longing of a guy too afraid to even talk to the object of his affection, especially "Hello, is it me you're looking for?" The kind of almost magical thinking that a guy in his position can resort to -- he's never even made himself apparent to her, yet he imagines that she might be looking for him. He doesn't actually have the slightest idea who she is or what she's like, yet he has almost creepily constructed elaborate fantasies about her (I say "almost" creepily, because it's the kind of thing I think most guys engage in at some point in their lives).

― i don't even have an internet (Hurting 2), Tuesday, 11 June 2013 01:16 (twelve years ago)

two years pass...

This week has been Lionel Richie week in my work, Greatest Hits playing every morning so far - it was George Benson the week before - I'm not the biggest fan but the guy is undoubtedly a class songwriter.

― Terry Micawber (Tom D.), Wednesday, 21 October 2015 11:30 (ten years ago)

Came here to give big ups to "You Are," and see that I already did it way back in 2003. Some things never change.

― J, Wednesday, 21 October 2015 12:09 (ten years ago)

one year passes...

I'm stuck on him.

― the Rain Man of nationalism. (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 23 May 2017 02:43 (eight years ago)

I was confused about the inclusion of Nightshift before I realized you weren't restricting your Commodores considerations to only years he was a Commodore.

― Ⓓⓡ. (Johnny Fever), Tuesday, 23 May 2017 02:52 (eight years ago)

my wife's a big fan and i went with her to a gig a few years ago with fairly low expectations but tbh it's one of the best gigs i've ever been to as far as staging, pacing and frequency of hits goes

the guy puts on a hell of a show and he is massively charismatic onstage

― 🎵 it's grey pubic now, stoner blue 🎵 (bizarro gazzara), Tuesday, 23 May 2017 09:06 (eight years ago)

eleven months pass...

Lionel is classic as fuck.

― Le Baton Rose (Turrican), Tuesday, 24 April 2018 18:29 (eight years ago)

nine months pass...

What the bloody hell happens three minutes into Say You, Say Me? I mean it wasn't a great song anyway but this hot garbage won an Oscar.

― Your dad's Carlos Boozer and you keep him alive (fionnland), Saturday, 16 February 2019 13:47 (seven years ago)

three months pass...

Lionel Richie IS classic as fuck.

― recriminations from the nitpicking woke (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 30 May 2019 00:21 (six years ago)

I'd forgotten about 'Don't Wanna Lose You'! Saw the video to that quite a lot in '96, and it made the Top 20. I can still sing it in my head now even though I haven't heard it for 23 years.

― Le Baton Rose (Turrican), Thursday, 30 May 2019 01:55 (six years ago)

two years pass...

https://i.imgur.com/pn8lXBh.png

― calstars, Thursday, 17 February 2022 01:40 (four years ago)

Lionel Richie's stuff is wildly uneven to me, but I lean towards the Commodores hits. There's really not much by the post-Richie Commodores that I want to play, but I like "Night Shift" more than any of their previous hits except "Brick House."

― birdistheword, Thursday, 17 February 2022 15:59 (four years ago)

(Even though those two do not have Richie on lead vocals, he's still THE guy in that group.)

― birdistheword, Thursday, 17 February 2022 16:01 (four years ago)

"Night Shift" is a lovely neon puddle a-shimmer.

― So who you gonna call? The martini police (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 17 February 2022 16:03 (four years ago)

Even now I have to echo "Marvin... Marvin..." when I hear his name.

― Halfway there but for you, Thursday, 17 February 2022 16:11 (four years ago)

I still have no regrets about putting that song on the top of my ballot when we polled Motown a few years back.

― Les hommes de bonbons (cryptosicko), Thursday, 17 February 2022 16:57 (four years ago)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7j9iSbz0qc

― Precious, Grace, Hill & Beard LTD. (C. Grisso/McCain), Thursday, 17 February 2022 18:13 (four years ago)

^^ love this scene and movie

― So who you gonna call? The martini police (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 17 February 2022 18:18 (four years ago)

Pre-Cambrian ILM was a miserable place..

― So who you gonna call? The martini police (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 17 February 2022 18:20 (four years ago)

The most charismatic and charming man I ever interviewed. Total classic, even the soppy stuff. Somebody needs to sing about endless love, and he's the master of it.

― mike t-diva, Thursday, 17 February 2022 19:09 (four years ago)

“Hello” is a masterpiece

― calstars, Thursday, 17 February 2022 19:49 (four years ago)

"Easy" is undeniable.

― immodesty blaise (jimbeaux), Thursday, 17 February 2022 19:50 (four years ago)

Was in a supermarket last weekend and saw his face on the cover of People or similar and he pretty much looks the same these days.

― deep luminous trombone (Eazy), Friday, 18 February 2022 00:13 (four years ago)

The pulse in “Running With The Night” alone means Lionel will be forever classic

― Master of Treacle, Friday, 18 February 2022 00:19 (four years ago)

The end of the first verse of "Three Times a Lady" is my favourite Lionel Richie moment: "...I must say out loud...", goes to the discordant augmented (?) chord, and then hangs on it for an extra measure before the chorus. He knows he has you hooked, he can keep you listening through this strange chord.

― Halfway there but for you, Friday, 18 February 2022 00:48 (four years ago)

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