Which is the worst of these bands that I HATED in high school and still kind of do? Mike and the Mechanics, Cutting Crew, The Outfield, or Mr. Mister??

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how could you hate 'your love'?

keythhtyek, Sunday, 14 August 2011 17:26 (fourteen years ago)

could never get past his voice, song is so american rawk, ponderously telegraphs every last hook and riff

dell (del), Sunday, 14 August 2011 17:29 (fourteen years ago)

i think you will find a lot of love for the outfield here.

keythhtyek, Sunday, 14 August 2011 17:32 (fourteen years ago)

Only band i recognize from these ones is the outfield and im only acquainted with their two hits. 'Your love' is one of those few classic rock songs that still hasnt burnt out its initial appeal for me.

◦ ⃝◦ ⃝◦ ⃝◦ ⃝◦ ⃝◦ ⃝◦ ⃝◦ ⃝◦ ⃝◦ ⃝◦ ⃝ (Moka), Sunday, 14 August 2011 17:41 (fourteen years ago)

seems like the hooters should have been included too.

keythhtyek, Sunday, 14 August 2011 17:45 (fourteen years ago)

If we're judging only by these promo pics, they are all winners to me.

billstevejim, Sunday, 14 August 2011 17:47 (fourteen years ago)

Silent Running & All I Need is a Miracle are ok, but not the kind of stuff I can listen to all the time.

billstevejim, Sunday, 14 August 2011 17:48 (fourteen years ago)

I always forget that Cutting Crew isn't the name of a hip hop act.

Inevitable stupid samba mix (chap), Sunday, 14 August 2011 17:57 (fourteen years ago)

seems like the hooters should have been included too.

Philly Boy Roy to thread.

There was a hair salon near where I grew up called Cutting Crew. If they were true to their inspiration, I'm sure it was Westmoreland County's top dispenser of bleached, feathered hairstyles.

International Waters, Sunday, 14 August 2011 18:03 (fourteen years ago)

aw, dem hooters

dell (del), Sunday, 14 August 2011 18:04 (fourteen years ago)

what are today's equivalent to these bands? do they exist?

keythhtyek, Sunday, 14 August 2011 18:14 (fourteen years ago)

Mr. Mister weren't even a band -- they were a lead singer and a bunch of synthesized instruments.

Let us also not forget: two #1 singles, another top ten, and a #1 album. Boy, they faded quickly.

a 'catch-all', almost humorous, 'Jeez' quality (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 14 August 2011 18:29 (fourteen years ago)

Outfield Play Deep is surprisingly solid from start to finish

a lil weezy goes a long way (will), Sunday, 14 August 2011 18:32 (fourteen years ago)

how is this not a poll?

king of torts (strongo hulkington's ghost dad), Sunday, 14 August 2011 18:36 (fourteen years ago)

i'm gonna go with the outfield because i have unfortunate childhood associations with all these other bands.

king of torts (strongo hulkington's ghost dad), Sunday, 14 August 2011 18:37 (fourteen years ago)

Outfield Play Deep is surprisingly solid from start to finish

I came in here to post this - it's basically "Your Love" over and over again, I'm actually surprised they're known as a one-hit wonder. Can't really vouch for the rest of their stuff though.

frogbs, Sunday, 14 August 2011 18:39 (fourteen years ago)

how is this not a poll?

dunno what i was thinking. guess the outfield would have taken it pretty easily, though

dell (del), Sunday, 14 August 2011 18:50 (fourteen years ago)

as "best", i mean.

yeah, shoulda done a poll to learn who is most loathed

dell (del), Sunday, 14 August 2011 18:51 (fourteen years ago)

The Outfield are not a one hit wonder though.

a 'catch-all', almost humorous, 'Jeez' quality (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 14 August 2011 19:10 (fourteen years ago)

No idea about The Outfield. The rest are all OK. Not essential, but not horrible either.

Hongroe (Geir Hongro), Sunday, 14 August 2011 22:05 (fourteen years ago)

Mr. Mister is the best of all these bands because I wore all my best jelly bracelets and put blue mascara in my hair and went to see them at the Delaware State Fair in 1986.

ilx poster and keen dairy observer (Jenny), Sunday, 14 August 2011 22:11 (fourteen years ago)

Cutting Crew is second best because that song is ridiculously fun to sing. The Outfield is okay because according to Wikipedia, their name is convolutedly derrivative of The Warriors. Therefore by process of elimination, Mike and the Mechanics is the worst.

ilx poster and keen dairy observer (Jenny), Sunday, 14 August 2011 22:16 (fourteen years ago)

HTH

ilx poster and keen dairy observer (Jenny), Sunday, 14 August 2011 22:16 (fourteen years ago)

None of these bands were as bad as Johnny Hates Jazz, Wet Wet Wet, Cats Can Fly, etc. "Broken Wings" still sounds really great.

I'll go with The Outfield based on the sound in my head - annoying vocal, too much compression in the mix. Surprised to learn this band is British.

Kent Burt, Sunday, 14 August 2011 23:27 (fourteen years ago)

you're so full of wrong: "Shattered Dreams" is more powerful than anything these deadbeats made!

a 'catch-all', almost humorous, 'Jeez' quality (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 14 August 2011 23:29 (fourteen years ago)

what are today's equivalent to these bands? do they exist?

Pressing question that needs an answer stat.

Also, what genre are these bands? AOR? Pomp pop? The porridge Goldilocks forgot she chose?

Kevin John Bozelka, Sunday, 14 August 2011 23:52 (fourteen years ago)

It's a tie between The Outfield and Mr. Mister.

I Just Died In Your Arms and Silent Running (On Dangerous Ground) are quite good.

Super Villains With Drum Machines (MintIce), Monday, 15 August 2011 00:57 (fourteen years ago)

oh man! "I Just Died..." is probably the worst sung and recorded song in history.

a 'catch-all', almost humorous, 'Jeez' quality (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 15 August 2011 00:58 (fourteen years ago)

By the way, I used to think Broken Wings was by Mike and the Mechanics. I have no idea why.

Super Villains With Drum Machines (MintIce), Monday, 15 August 2011 00:58 (fourteen years ago)

"she's lovin' by proxy" -- well, DUH, I would too if she had to fuck you!

a 'catch-all', almost humorous, 'Jeez' quality (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 15 August 2011 00:58 (fourteen years ago)

Outfield "wins" this for me.

L.P. Hovercraft (WmC), Monday, 15 August 2011 01:06 (fourteen years ago)

Mike & The Mechanics - Mike Rutherford was also in Genesis
Mr Mister - drummer anded up in King Crimson
Cutting Crew - singer later auditioned for Genesis, but lost out to that dork from Stiltskin

So The Outfield are the worst for having no prog credentials whatsoever. Not that I've heard them, being British.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\etc (Matt #2), Monday, 15 August 2011 01:57 (fourteen years ago)

"Broken Wings" is totally sleeves-rolled-up classic.

Pheeel, Monday, 15 August 2011 07:58 (fourteen years ago)

'Over My Shoulder' and 'Silent Running' are two of my least favourite songs ever so I'm voting Mike & the Mechanics. I don't think I've ever heard The Outfield.

Gavin, Leeds, Monday, 15 August 2011 09:00 (fourteen years ago)

Never heard of The Outfield either, listening to 'Your Love' now, it could have been created in a laboratory as the ultimate 80s American soft rock single (except for the middle eight where it inexplicably goes all Police). And they're British!

ledge, Monday, 15 August 2011 10:31 (fourteen years ago)

I also have never heard of The Outfield, I guess they must be one of those British acts that were better known in America.

The Eyeball Of Hull (Colonel Poo), Monday, 15 August 2011 10:35 (fourteen years ago)

I was getting Mr Mister and Mr Big confused and wondering why no-one was praising "To Be With You" ITT.

Tim F, Monday, 15 August 2011 10:48 (fourteen years ago)

Can't imagine ever being in a situation where I would wonder that.

ledge, Monday, 15 August 2011 10:59 (fourteen years ago)

idk Alfred "I just died in your arms tonight/it must have been something you said" replicates the coked-up-and-young-in-a-nightclub feeling with a weirdly elliptical gravity

pathos of the unwarranted encore (underrated aerosmith bootlegs I have owned), Monday, 15 August 2011 11:01 (fourteen years ago)

None of these bands were as bad as Johnny Hates Jazz, Wet Wet Wet, Cats Can Fly, etc

Johnny Hates Jazz were much better than any of them. "Turn Back The Clock" was one of the best albums of 1988.

Hongroe (Geir Hongro), Monday, 15 August 2011 11:03 (fourteen years ago)

OK, not much better than Mike + The Mechanics, who - even though not by any means as good as Genesis - had their moments.

Hongroe (Geir Hongro), Monday, 15 August 2011 11:04 (fourteen years ago)

i had the cutting crew album on on record, i was a 11 y/o top 40 fan

ice cr?m, Monday, 15 August 2011 11:14 (fourteen years ago)

Frank Sinatra famously liked "Johnny Hates Jazz", well, maybe only their name.

Mark G, Monday, 15 August 2011 11:24 (fourteen years ago)

I was obsessed with "I just died in your..." because it was always the soundtrack to those late night greatest hit comp commercials

dayo, Monday, 15 August 2011 11:34 (fourteen years ago)

'I Just Died In Your Arms Tonight' was banned by Radio 1 during the Gulf War

Colin Allstations (PaulTMA), Monday, 15 August 2011 11:57 (fourteen years ago)

It's impossible to come up with a preppier band name than Cutting Crew, with "cutting" as s gerund. Also, worst of this list.

The Freewheelin' Rebecca Black (Eazy), Monday, 15 August 2011 12:00 (fourteen years ago)

Contentious opinion : Cutting Crew were the band Joy Division could have been.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\etc (Matt #2), Monday, 15 August 2011 12:01 (fourteen years ago)

Outfield by far the worst of these. I still hate "Your Love" with a white-hot passion.

Axolotl with an Atlatl (Jon Lewis), Monday, 15 August 2011 15:05 (fourteen years ago)

Mike + The Mechanics takes this one. Just the fact that "The Living Years" has been played at the funeral of at least one person means the world is a worse place because of this band.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9LStRxwN7hI (Pleasant Plains), Monday, 15 August 2011 15:12 (fourteen years ago)

Don't believe PP and Gavin
And everything they tell you
Believe in me, I'm with the high command

bentelec, Monday, 15 August 2011 15:18 (fourteen years ago)

Thought of starting a thread about 80s pop with gospel choirs after hearing "The Living Years" at a supermarket.

The Freewheelin' Rebecca Black (Eazy), Monday, 15 August 2011 19:38 (fourteen years ago)

I guess I don't know whether the choir in "The Living Years" is a gospel choir or a children's choir.

The Freewheelin' Rebecca Black (Eazy), Monday, 15 August 2011 19:41 (fourteen years ago)

hought of starting a thread about 80s pop with gospel choirs after hearing "The Living Years" at a supermarket.

Go for it or I will.

a 'catch-all', almost humorous, 'Jeez' quality (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 15 August 2011 19:43 (fourteen years ago)

Children's Choirs in Pop

The Freewheelin' Rebecca Black (Eazy), Monday, 15 August 2011 19:48 (fourteen years ago)

modern equivalent = probably Train

Jamie_ATP, Monday, 15 August 2011 19:53 (fourteen years ago)

Yeah Train is pretty close. But they're not...power poppy enough? The Outfield, at least, feel like a streamlining of The Knack or whoever.

Kevin John Bozelka, Monday, 15 August 2011 20:07 (fourteen years ago)

all four suck equally

chief content officer (m coleman), Monday, 15 August 2011 21:04 (fourteen years ago)

or equally suck

chief content officer (m coleman), Monday, 15 August 2011 21:05 (fourteen years ago)

worst of these kind of has to be Mike & the Mechanics

CLUB PISCOPO (DJP), Monday, 15 August 2011 21:08 (fourteen years ago)

I mean, I flat-out love Mr. Mister and have time for "I Just Died In Your Arms Tonight" and "Your Love". M&tM easily had the most embarrassing songs here even if I have a tinge of nostalgic fondness for "The Living Years"

CLUB PISCOPO (DJP), Monday, 15 August 2011 21:09 (fourteen years ago)

Mike + the Mechanics

The Freewheelin' Rebecca Black (Eazy), Monday, 15 August 2011 21:10 (fourteen years ago)

The only one of these fools' singles that gets a C- :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XamLT4cNKv8

a 'catch-all', almost humorous, 'Jeez' quality (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 15 August 2011 21:10 (fourteen years ago)

ha I even like that one

CLUB PISCOPO (DJP), Monday, 15 August 2011 21:12 (fourteen years ago)

I love Stakeout, this song made it a cooler movie, if that's possible.

ejrason32 1 year ago 5

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9LStRxwN7hI (Pleasant Plains), Monday, 15 August 2011 21:13 (fourteen years ago)

Mr Mister were the coolest sexiest band there has ever been. And the most undervalued. Freakin' shame.

MrMisterMissy 1 year ago 8

a 'catch-all', almost humorous, 'Jeez' quality (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 15 August 2011 21:17 (fourteen years ago)

I do wonder re: what are the modern version of these bands. They don't seem to be cited by anybody as any sort of influence, the perceived space they filled of vaguely anthemic/vaguely club-leaning was long since filled by things more focused or pumped-up or the like. Their at-the-time VH1ness has long since been replaced by a different set of earnest parameters. At most maybe it was late-eighties-soundtrack-closing-credits-rock or something. Hair metal may have settled in Nashville but this subset ended up...where?

Ned Raggett, Monday, 15 August 2011 21:24 (fourteen years ago)

I want to snarkily say Brooklyn but I don't think I can defend the argument, which would be along the lines of "this + Gang of Four = DFA"

CLUB PISCOPO (DJP), Monday, 15 August 2011 21:25 (fourteen years ago)

pretty much every band featured in American Pie may be some version of this

frogbs, Monday, 15 August 2011 21:26 (fourteen years ago)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjhCEhWiKXk&ob=av2e

The Freewheelin' Rebecca Black (Eazy), Monday, 15 August 2011 21:26 (fourteen years ago)

They're all pretty brooding, though.

The Freewheelin' Rebecca Black (Eazy), Monday, 15 August 2011 21:27 (fourteen years ago)

Bruno Mars is a good one.

a 'catch-all', almost humorous, 'Jeez' quality (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 15 August 2011 21:28 (fourteen years ago)

Ned, that's a really interesting question... FWIW, I definitely think Mike & the Mechanics are clearly the worst of this shitquartet. I still like a couple of their songs, though.

Clarke B., Tuesday, 16 August 2011 02:43 (fourteen years ago)

Oh, and Johnny Hates Jazz shits on all these guys, it's true.

Clarke B., Tuesday, 16 August 2011 02:49 (fourteen years ago)

Hooters are totally in this "genre" as well; good call above. "Yeah, they were the Israelites!!!!!"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2LE0KpcP05I&ob=av2e

Clarke B., Tuesday, 16 August 2011 02:58 (fourteen years ago)

that jam was placed precisely like a block in a giant pyramid of timeless christian rock, carved with precision by alien lasers.

the girl from spirea x (f. hazel), Tuesday, 16 August 2011 03:18 (fourteen years ago)

nine years pass...

cutting crew "any colour" kind of rules???? recent discovery for me... love the guitar sound, like someone was equally influenced by Tom Scholz and The Edge, but trying to make a disco record, but with the kind of atmospheric soundscape and high male vocal everyone was going for post-Police...

also an important precursor to this stuff: Is there a name for that genre of turn-of-the-90s pop-rock with the positive vibes, huge guitar leads, and gated drums?

"one for the mockingbird" has the energy but is also kinda tiring - maybe betraying the limitations of their songwriting or their difficulty mixing up the dynamics within a song. activate the machine and it's full rhythmic steam ahead and full emotional intensity all the time. but I dig the sound.

I honk along darkened Bobo-doors (Doctor Casino), Sunday, 1 August 2021 04:59 (four years ago)

I'll check that one out. Never been a fan of "Died in Your Arms" but I do love "I've Been in Love Before". I'm a sucker for that dreamy 80s guitar lead: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMwtwd5KGaA

Vinnie, Sunday, 1 August 2021 05:12 (four years ago)

Ok "Any Colour" basically has that same lead tone. Nice tune, I may need to dig deeper

Vinnie, Sunday, 1 August 2021 05:25 (four years ago)

I didn’t know until today that Mr. Mister was half of the yacht rock group Pages

Muswell Hillbilly Elegy (President Keyes), Sunday, 1 August 2021 14:51 (four years ago)

the smiths!

xzanfar, Sunday, 1 August 2021 23:27 (four years ago)

I'd say "Welcome to the Boomtown" by David & David and Dream Academy "Life In A Northern Town" kinda have that 80s synthy digital reverb huge sound too.

The Fixx kinda had this sound a bit earlier.

earlnash, Monday, 2 August 2021 05:52 (four years ago)

wow, "Been In Love Before" sure is lush in that same mid-80s studio way. these guys were really systematically covering the bases, huh? it's a little too sleepy for me, but clearly has its fans - the youtube comments are wall to wall "ahh, this takes me back to when music was pure and bands had real talent."

I honk along darkened Bobo-doors (Doctor Casino), Monday, 2 August 2021 17:19 (four years ago)

The Fixx is a good connection, esp the slower songs like Saved By Zero and Red Skies Tonight... whereas One Thing Leads To Another feels comparatively clean and stripped-down (despite the number of little sonic flourishes tossed around)... more in the general new-wave vein. like it basically sounds like someone trying to fuse "Let's Go" and "Rock the Casbah." love that song.

I honk along darkened Bobo-doors (Doctor Casino), Monday, 2 August 2021 19:15 (four years ago)


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