Fore! Explained

Fore!
Type:studio
Artist:Huey Lewis and the News
Cover:Fore! Huey Lewis.png
Released:August 20, 1986
Recorded:1985–1986
Studio:Studio D Recording and The Plant, Sausalito, California; Fantasy Studios, Berkeley, California.
Length:37:53
Label:Chrysalis
Producer:Huey Lewis and the News
Prev Title:Sports
Prev Year:1983
Next Title:Small World
Next Year:1988

Fore! is the fourth studio album by American rock band Huey Lewis and the News, released on August 20, 1986. The album was a commercial success, peaking at number one on the Billboard 200 and went on to score five top-ten Billboard Hot 100 singles, including the number-one hits "Stuck with You" and "Jacob's Ladder". The album was certified three-times platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America.

Music and lyrics

"Jacob's Ladder" was originally meant for a Bruce Hornsby album that Huey Lewis was producing.[1] Hornsby did not like the arrangement his band played, and it was given to Lewis.

"Doing It All for My Baby" was written by Mike Duke and Phil Cody. Duke wrote the song and then recorded vocals himself (the band playing backing parts and instruments), with the intention of getting a record contract for his own solo career.[2] When that plan fell through, Lewis decided to record a version with his own vocals for the album.

Lewis stated he originally wrote the lyrics for "Hip to Be Square" in a third person perspective, "He used to be a renegade..." He referenced the book Bobos in Paradise in describing the song's inspiration, explaining that the song was about the "phenomenon where people from the '60s started to drop back in, cut their hair, work out, that kind of crap, but they kept their bohemian tastes. ... bourgeois bohemians." Lewis later modified the lyrics to be in the first person as he believed it would enhance the joke, but stated this had unintentionally led to the interpretation of the song as an "anthem for square people".[3] [4]

According to Lewis, the album track "Forest for the Trees" was written for and about kids struggling with life issues as an uplifting message for them.[5] Lewis based it off the letters he received from young fans at the time who would talk about how important his music was to them.

"The Power of Love", originally from the soundtrack of the 1985 film Back to the Future, is included as a bonus track on international editions of the album. The song was the band's first chart-topper on the Billboard Hot 100. The critical reception of the album was mixed with Glenn O'Brien in Spin noting that 'what saves it for me is that songs are good songs. And Huey still sings with heart and soul'.[6]

Album cover

The wall that Lewis and the members of the band stand against on the album's cover is a wall from Tamalpais High School in Mill Valley, California. Band members Bill Gibson, Sean Hopper and Mario Cipollina went to this school together.

In popular culture

The album is referenced in the film American Psycho. The main character Patrick Bateman, while talking to one of his potential victims, gives a review of the album, discussing the band's viewpoint, intent, and how specifically the song "Hip to Be Square" espouses "the pleasures of conformity" but with a catchy 1980s beat, going on to state it is "the group's most accomplished album".

Track listing

International edition

Personnel

Huey Lewis and the News

Additional personnel

Production

Charts

Weekly charts

Chart (1986)Peak
position
Australian Albums (Kent Music Report)[7] 3
Belgian Albums (BEA)[8] 16
Canadian Albums (RPM)[9] 1
European Top 100 Albums[10] 11
Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)[11] 7
Icelandic Albums (Tónlist)[12] 7
Japanese Albums (Oricon)[13] 1
Portuguese Albums (Musica & Som)12
UK Albums (OCC)[14] 8
Zimbabwean Albums (ZIMA)[15] 6

Year-end charts

Chart (1986)Position
Canadian Albums Chart (RPM)[16] 11
New Zealand Albums Chart[17] 46
Norwegian Albums Chart (Høst Period)[18] 10
Swiss Albums Chart[19] 25
UK Albums Chart[20] 29
Chart (1987)Position
Canadian Albums Chart (RPM)[21] 36
New Zealand Albums Chart[22] 48
UK Albums Chart[23] 92
US Billboard 200[24] 7

Notes and References

  1. Web site: https://web.archive.org/web/20130831015940/http://www.hueylewisandthenews.com/wp/?page_id=1038. Question of the Week. August 25, 2013. August 31, 2013. Hueylewisandthenews.com.
  2. Web site: Huey Lewis Fan Q&A: March 23, 2014 . January 5, 2020 . March 29, 2016 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160329005041/http://www.hueylewisandthenews.com/wp/?page_id=1038 . dead .
  3. Name That Movie Mondays! (Vol. 7: Special Huey Lewis & the News edition). Mandi. Blerly. Entertainment Weekly. August 4, 2008.
  4. Web site: Graff . Gary . How Huey Lewis Overcame Commercial 'Pressure' for Massive 'Fore!' . Ultimate Classic Rock . September 22, 2021 . 3 December 2021 . en.
  5. Web site: Huey Lewis Fan Q&A: June 17, 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20191103194805/http://www.hueylewisandthenews.com/wp/?page_id=1038 . November 3, 2019 . dead . August 30, 2021.
  6. O'Brien . Glenn . December 1986 . Fore! review . . 2 . 9 . 36–7 . Google Books.
  7. Book: Kent, David. Australian Chart Book 1970–1992. Australian Chart Book, St Ives, NSW. 1993. 0-646-11917-6. Kent Music Report.
  8. Web site: Billboard Magazine. Billboard . April 8, 2017.
  9. Web site: RPM: Huey Lewis and the News (albums) . RPM Magazine . April 8, 2017 . https://web.archive.org/web/20171014084220/http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/rpm/028020-110.01-e.php?PHPSESSID=h6banu1fsvdt9pof8c4m7dun24&q1=village+people&q2=Top+Albums%2FCDs&interval=50 . October 14, 2017 . dead .
  10. Web site: Billboard . books.google.com . November 15, 1986 . 25 September 2011 . January 11, 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230111155148/https://books.google.com/books?id=UCQEAAAAMBAJ&q=paul+simon . live .
  11. Book: Pennanen, Timo . 2006 . Sisältää hitin – levyt ja esittäjät Suomen musiikkilistoilla vuodesta 1972 . 1st . Kustannusosakeyhtiö Otava . Helsinki. 978-951-1-21053-5 . 263 . fi .
  12. Web site: Tonlist Top 40 . DV . 2017-02-09.
  13. Web site: Oricon Archive – Huey Lewis and the News. Oricon. April 8, 2017.
  14. Web site: Huey Lewis and the News Chart History. Official Charts Company. April 8, 2017.
    • Zimbabwe. Kimberley, C. Zimbabwe: albums chart book. Harare: C. Kimberley, 2000
  16. Web site: The RPM Top 100 Albums of 1986. RPM. 4 February 2012. December 8, 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20151208162708/http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/rpm/028020-119.01-e.php?&file_num=nlc008388.8824&type=1&interval=20&PHPSESSID=8gtl9u7trphhliommrvt4kqlb2. live.
  17. Web site: The Top 50 Albums of 1986. 4 February 2015. March 4, 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20160304094747/http://nztop40.co.nz/chart/albums?chart=3875. live.
  18. Web site: The Top 20 Albums of Høst 1986. 4 February 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20170909234238/http://lista.vg.no/liste/topp-40-album/2/dato/1986/periode/h%C3%B8st. 9 September 2017. dead.
  19. Web site: Swiss Year-End Charts 1986 – swisscharts.com . Steffen . Hung . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20140330112427/http://swisscharts.com/year.asp?key=1986 . 2014-03-30 .
  20. Top 100 Albums . Music Week . Spotlight Publications . London, England . 25 . 24 January 1987.
  21. Web site: The RPM Top 100 Albums of 1987. RPM. 4 February 2012. December 8, 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20151208144217/http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/rpm/028020-119.01-e.php?&file_num=nlc008388.0918&type=1&interval=20&PHPSESSID=8gtl9u7trphhliommrvt4kqlb2. live.
  22. Web site: The Top 50 Albums of 1987. 4 February 2015. February 10, 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20150210184811/http://nztop40.co.nz/chart/albums?chart=3876. live.
  23. Top 100 Albums . Music Week . Spotlight Publications . London, England . 25 . 24 January 1988.
  24. Web site: Billboard 200 Albums – Year-end: 1987 . January 2, 2013 . Billboard . August 31, 2021 . March 8, 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210308184503/https://www.billboard.com/charts/year-end/1987/top-billboard-200-albums . live .

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