Songoftheday 5/17/14 - A very simple statement a very simple crime, a lot of grief reflecting in how we spend our time...

The Motels - "Shame"
from the album Shock (1985)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #21
Weeks in the Top-40: 7

Today's Song of the Day is by the California-based new wave group the Motels, whose second album earned them a couple of top-40 hits with "Suddenly Last Summer" and "Remember The Nights". In 1985, the band released their fifth album Shock, with producer Richie Zito (Eddie Money, Toni Basil) replacing Val Garay behind the decks. The first single off the record, "Shame", written by lead singer Martha Davis, was a little less moody than their previous work...

"Shame" became the Motels' fourth and so far last top-40 pop hit in America in September of 1985. The single had its biggest success on rock radio, peaking at #10 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart, while climbing to #14 on the Dance Club Play list. Internationally, the song was a top-40 hit in both Australia and Canada, their second-biggest hit after their pre-American-fame single "Control" went to #4 there in 1979.

Davis would disband the Motels in 1987, embarking on a solo career that nabbed her a minor pop hit with "Don't Tell Me The Time" (#80), and a minor rock hit with "Just Like You". She would briefly reunite with her original bandmates in 2007 after an appearance on the Bands Reunited trainwreck of a series on VH1, then went back her newer musicians as basically a solo backing band.

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In 2007, that reunited band cut an acoustic version of "Shame" for their Clean, Modern, and Reasonable album...

Up tomorrow: Midwest wheeled rockers put out an adage.