4 Trading Post Way Medford Lakes, New Jersey 08055 HARD REPORT' August 21, 1987 Issue #42 411111111111609-654-7272 FRONTRUNNERS PINK FLOYD JOHN COUGAR "LEARNING TO FLY" MELLENCAMP Though the originals have dissolved into "Us and Them", this triumphant John's evolution from return makes it obvious makeout artist to political the world's big enough for activist is now complete- Pink and Floyd. and the single's unquestionably the hottest Columbia Mercury thing on the street. THE CARS SQUEEZE "DOOR TO DOOR" "HOURGLASS" "You Are The Girl" pops What your musical up with a #3 HH debut S menu really needs is a and 100+ heavy ee squeaky clean little reports-but the real quirkburger of a tune, AOR action is album and that's where based, Jackson. Squeeze aims to pleeze. Eleiii A&M RUSH THE BRANDOS "FORCE TEN" "HONOR AMONG THIEVES" j The band that has ten You should have known a platinum Lp's without masterpiece like ever having a top ten "Gettysburg" wasn't a single still doesn't have fluke. Could the Brandos one!! And ain't it great!! be CCR's heirs apparent? We think so. Mer I Relativity NEW PLAY PRIORITIES... RECORD OF THE WEEK Loverboy "Wildside", Neil Young "Too Lonely", AEROSMITH "Dude (Looks Like A Lady)" The Northern Pikes, "Things I Do For Money", Two pages of raves, 122 OTB adds, 23 Top Marc Jordan "This Independence", and Echo & the 5 phone reports and a #16 debut-and we're ready to call this one of '87's biggest Bunnymen, "Lips Like Sugar"....INSIDE! comebacks. CHARTSTARS HEADLINES MOST ADDED THE CASTLE AT DISNEYWORLD 1. The Cars "You Are The Girl" Elektra 127 2. Aerosmith "Dude (Looks Like A Lady)" Geffen 122 3. Melvin James "Why Won't You Stay" M CA 41 THE INDUSTRY'S NEWSPAPER 4. Whitesnake "Is This Love" Geffen 27 AND KOJAN THE BARBARIAN BIGGEST MOVERS Cutting Crew "I've Been In Love Before" (94-62) 32 RICH SCHMIDT WINDHAM HILL NAIL. Whitesnake "Is This Love" (79-52) 27 Melvin James "Why Won't You Stay" (58-36) 22 Outfield "Bangin' On My Heart" (98-79) 19 NEW OWNERS AT WIBA INCREASE INDEX Loverboy "Notorious" 27 DAWN HOOD'S TALK WITH JOHN HIATT Insiders "Ghost On The Bach" 25 Grateful Dead "Hell In A Bucket" 21 WHITE LION'S VITO IN Bryan Adams "Victim Of Love" 21 INCREASES CHRIS BLACK'S INTERVIEW Copyright 1987 © The Hard Report, Inc Honor Among Thieves Already on at: WNEW WBCN WWDC KFOG KTXQWLLZ WYNF 91X KLOL WHCN KILO WRCN KZEL WOUR WAQX KXRX KJET WRXK WHFS WDHA WZEW WKFM WOXY WZYR KZOQ WKLC WMRY WGLU KMBY KDXR WKGR KTYD WBYR WEQX WKXL WMDK WWWV WXRC KATP WTOS KRCK WBRUKJOT WMGM KFMU KTAO KEZE WNGZ and more... On Relativity records, cassettes, and compact discs. , 1987 Relativity Records. Inc. HARD REPORTMore On The Picks... Pink Floyd, "Learning To Fly", Columbia.... Let's faceJohn Cougar Mellencamp, "The Lonesome it. When you reunite Gilmour, Ezrin, and the whole original crew- Jubilee", Mercury.... John's evolution from the prototype -down to the engineers and tekkies, you're gonna get a legit Pink glampunk into a million selling spokesperson for agrarian reform Floyd record. Between Waters and Gilmour, the band always is one of Rock's great Horatio Alger stories. And at the heart of did offer two relatively distinct accents. So let's just consider this the matter is the man's genuine concern for other human beings the Gilmour -influenced piece.It's properly mysterious, a little as demonstrated by both his outside charitable efforts and the droll --and most of all distinct. Same as it ever was. And astone and texture of his recorded works. What's also interesting mysterious and exciting as a new Floyd tune is, the media mag- is the balance he's managed to strike between social conscious- nification inherent in the twin tours makes this track all the more ness and your basic backseat boogie. But on this project, the battle of the sexes takes a decidedly secondary role. As Bob Guc- special. cione, Jr., so adroitly put it in "Spin", "'Scarecrow' is politically outspoken and generally serious but contains tracks like The Cars, "Door To Door", Elektra.... As we said in our 'R.O.C.K. in the U.S.A.' and 'The Kind Of Fella I Am' that buoy it, write-up last week, the band has scoring big with that first soft like cork. They are safe and unrevealing." But there is no cork single down to an exact science --and they'd be fools not to do on "The Lonesome Jubilee". This is definitely music of the com- it. Just as you'd be nuts not to take full advantage, which it ap- mon man --but even the working stiff's got Friday night to look pears most of you are. Witness the tune's #3 debut behind 155 - forward to. And when it rolls around, "Cherry Bomb", "Rudy Toot station close-out play, over 100 of which list heavy rotation. And Toot" and "Hot Dogs" are what he'll be punching up down at while most of our reporters are chomping at the bit for some- Mabel's. thing with a little more bite, there are plenty of folks like KRQR's John McRae who says, "I was expecting a pure pop washout and instead I got something that I'm not afraid to power nextSqueeze. "Hourglass", A&M.... Difford and Tilbrook week." Or as Slats at WHTQ put it, "The Cars aren't GONNA remind me of what happens when two scrappy brothers wind up have a hit with 'Girl' -- THEY'VE ALREADY GOT ONE!!".... And in the same classroom. Try as they might, they simply cannot now that the album's here you can make everybody happy! and will not behave. Sure, they could sequester themselves in a "Strap Me In", "Wound Up On You" and "Double Trouble" are practice studio and write standard pop hooks, and undoubtedly where to start come up with a real radio doozie. But then they'd be Crowded Rush, "Force Ten", Mercury.... And just as the Cars House, right? Instead, the group continues to mine their lode of unpredictable rhythms, sly and subtle double entendres, and come standard equipped as mid -tempo female monsters out of sideshow melodies --all backed up by world class musicianship. the box, Rush again fires first with one for their fans. And as the Your audience has a right to have a little fun, too --and this cool bio sez, they're unmatched when it comes to album sales based little change of pace could be just the ticket to tall calls. Already on AOR play. So why should they lead off with a glopped up popon KFOG, WHCN, KBCO, WBAB, WBCN, WIOQ and DC101. confection? Fkn right, Man. Besides, they're bound to cut loose with a serious Top 10 crossover sooner or later, and the forthcoming single with Aimee Mann could do it.Think how The Brandos. "Honor Among Thieves", many rock acts CHR has co-oped since "Power Windows" came Relativity.... Haven't heard "Gettysburg" yet? Then you've out. Make the artist exclusive count while you can, mates. missed the best track from a new band on an indie label this year- -and at the rate Ican't stop rewinding, one of my very favorite RECORD OF THE WEEK tracks from anybody, period. It's just that magic combination of gripping lyrics,killer harmonies and laser accurate guitar Aerosmith, "Dude (Looks Like A Lady)". Geffen.... punctuation that I know will slay the audience. Whoda thunk a Man Alive!! You don't have to hear it to add it --just read the sheet! song about the Civil War by a band on Relativity would make a We ran down about two pages of nothing but killer comments -- run for the roses --but mark our words, the Brandos will stand as with 122 first -week adds, a strong #16 debut, and 23 instant Top one of this year's biggest and brightest new acts in six months. 5 phone reports --including #1 requests at KPOI, WKLC, WNEW, Need further proof of their genius?Listen to "Honor Among KYYS, WRXK, KMJX and WDIZ, as well as #2 calls at KAZY, Thieves", "Nothing To Fear", "Walking On The Water-and you'll WZZO, KLOL, KILT, WYNF and WGTR. And that's about as big have a hard time taking it off your turntable. a blastoff as any major Dude could ask for. NEW THIS WEEK Loverboy. "Wildside", Columbia.... Adds mean a lot, north, and it's about time we got around to importing the best but increases mean more --and in just the second week Lover - of that ilk. Just take a look at Don Berns' playlist at CFNY or boy streaks to #1 in our Increase Index with 27 play -ups. The Andy Frost at CILQ. There's tons of stuff you never heard of, and early phones look great, too, with WAAF, WKDF, KDJK, KAZY, you can bet it's not April Wine sideways. Now those smart folks WGLU, WBLM and KPOI already into Top 5 territory. 15 more at Virgin, ever anxious to scoop their buddies stateside, have adds gives it 136 to date, with 38 heavy, six power --and a 22- gone on a fishing expedition to the Great White Zone --and 15* Hard Hundred move. WLNZ's Rick Van Gil bottom lines it, hooked a lunker. And we're not talking Plen and Naumann's sal- "The single has really put more interest back into the group.