Songoftheday 9/30/12 - We are alone as two different people can be...

The Little River Band - "The Other Guy"
from the album Greatest Hits (1982)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #11 (three weeks)
Weeks in the top-40: 13

Today's Song of the Day is by the Australian rock group Little River Band, with the first single released after ditching lead singer Glenn Shorrock for John Farnham. The LRB was formed in the mid-70s from members of other Aussie bands, and their first single, "Curiosity Killed The Cat", made the top-20 Down Under, while another cut from their debut, the epic "It's A Long Way There", scored them a top-40 hit in America. In another couple of years, they managed to top the Australian chart and make the US top-20 with "Help Is On The Way". They finally got their huge American top-10 hit the next year with "Reminiscing", their biggest to date.

By 1982, the band had released their sixth studio album, Time Exposure, which scored them three top-20 hits, including lead singer Glenn Shorrock's last (for then), "Man On Your Mind". He was replaced by John Farnham, a singer already well known in his homeland, with two #1 hits to his name. At the end of '82 the band released a greatest hits set with two new songs. "The Other Guy", written by guitarist Graham Goble, was selected as the single release, and possibly as a tongue-in-cheek reference to the lineup change...

"The Other Guy" frustratingly peaked right below the top-10 in America for three weeks, though it did manage to reach #6 on the adult-contemporary (soft-rock) chart. It also went to #18 in Australia.

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In 1988, country singer and Star Search winner David Slater had a #30 country hit (his biggest) with his faithful cover of the song...

Up tomorrow: a Heartbreaker carjacks from Logan's Run.