In 1986, the band Johnny Hates Jazz signed with Virgin records, and the following year released the single Shattered Dreams. In their native UK, the band had three more hits with I Don't Want To Be A Hero, Turn Back The Clock, and Heart of Gold, although to be honest, I only remember hearing Shattered Dreams in the US. Not long after this success, lead singer/songwriter Clark Datchler left original bandmates Calvin Hayes and Mike Nocito in 1988. He was replaced, oddly enough, by Phil Thomalley, a former bassist with The Cure [about as far away from JHJ as you could get]. The band seemed plagued with bad luck, as a month prior to the release of their second CD, there was a car accident leaving Hayes recovering for a year, which killed all momentum the band had gained. Soon they disbanded.
In 2007, Hayes and Nocito came back together, along with yet another lead vocalist, and hit the road, and they are still working. You can get the info here.
The band was also Top 40 in the US with Turn Back the Clock, They were part of that modern romance move along with bands like Spandau Ballet, Haircut 100 and ABC....but they came in pretty late in the 80's when the movement was dead. Great song - still play it all the time!
ReplyDeleteI love the 80s!
ReplyDeleteAgain, my fat fingers and the iPod Touch don't get along!
ReplyDeleteKailyn
Dude. You so need to get out of my 80s music collection.
And now reading SteveA's comment makes me want to pull out all of my stuff from the other bands he mentioned. That was so my 80s scene. Well, throw in some Oingo Boingo too.
Stephen - I love the 80's too - i am eternally stuck in it. Howard - maybe also Bryan Ferry can be added too!
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