Spotlight on Huey Lewis & the News, a Blue-Collar, Everyman Bar Band That Used a Strong Work Ethic to Rule the '80s
Sunday December 24, 2006
There were many ways during the '80s for a band like Huey Lewis & the News to fail and, seemingly, very few advantages to help the group succeed. After all, the quintet did not benefit from the fortuitous timing or stylistic characteristics that allowed many acts to ride the coattails of the punk movement in the broad new genre designation of new wave. Nor did the boys have the slightest thing in common with the glamorous images projected by artists in synth pop or the burgeoning genre of pop metal.
Still, despite these apparent strikes against them, the Bay Area band made a significant impact on image-conscious MTV anyway, doing so by simply churning out highly accessible, mainstream pop/rock that resonated with a broad and ultimately large demographic. It's quite a success story, really, and even if Lewis & Co. suffered occasionally from a somewhat whitebread sound and image, the band deserves its due for being one of the ’80s most essential, prolific and reliably tuneful artists.
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