"If This Is It," "I Want a New Drug," "Workin' for a Livin'"!
These are all songs by Huey Lewis, all really ubiquitous at a time in pop culture's history when the visual medium combined with the three-minute rock song in pretty cool new ways. Yes, I'm talking about the '80s, and I'm talking about my youth as well.
Growing up in the U.S. and in the 1980s, you couldn't turn on MTV or get in your parent's car or stroll by someone's boom box on the beach without hearing a Huey Lewis, Bruce or a Mellencamp tune.
You also couldn't go to the movies (or later, turn on cable television) without hearing a Huey Lewis tune either.
That's just how it was.
Though his faithful band, The News, may look slightly different than they did in their 80s heyday, Mr. Lewis dropped by Morning Joe today to remind us he's still out there touring (currently with Joe Cocker) and discuss the demographics of his current fan base. New York Magazine's John Heilemann also gets him talking about the eighties and what it was like making his first video and his abiding love of baseball.
"We do anthems," Lewis says of performing at baseball games.
So let's do this, tell us your favorite songs by Mr. Lewis and his estimable The News.
I'd probably rank mine as follows (This may be the most important list I've ever made in my life):
5. Hip to Be Square tied with Doing It All For My Baby
Check out the interview: