Songoftheday 9/15/17 - Do you remember once upon a time when you were mine, the stars above were bright and new I pulled them down for you...
from the album The Rembrandts (1990)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #14 (one week)
Weeks in the Top-40: 9
Today's song of the day comes from the Rembrandts, a pop duo who got together in California, home of singer/guitarist Danny Wilde, who along with Phil Solem were in a power-pop band called Great Buildings in the late 70s/early 80s. After they split, Wilde had recorded a few solo albums in the later part of the decade, and had a couple of rock radio hits including "Time Runs Wild", which went to #15 in 1988. Reuniting with Solem in 1989 as The Rembrandts, they released their self-titled first album the next year, with the adult-pop nugget "Just The Way It Is, Baby" as the first single. The sardonic look at relationships brought them duo their first success, with a sound that reminds me of Squeeze and Bourgeois Tagg...
"Just The Way It Is, Baby" became the Rembrandts first American top-40 pop hit in April of 1991. The song was first a hit on rock radio, climbing to #13 on Billboard's Mainstream Rock chart, while it peaked at #12 on their Adult Contemporary (or "easy listening") radio list. Internationally, it was even a bigger hit in Europe, reaching the top ten in Germany (#6), France (#9), and Austria (#9), and got into the top-40 in Australia (#26). Their follow-up single, "Someone", stalled at #78 in the U.S., though it almost made the top-40 in Germany at #45. A third release, "Burning Timber", became a rock radio hit at #36.
(Click below to see the rest of the post)
Here's the Rembrandts appearing on Letterman to promote the single...
Lastly, the pair live in 2010...
Up tomorrow: A bunch of young soulsters are playing some spin the bottle, perhaps.
Comments