The Definitive 1000 Songs Of All Time 1955 to 2005: Number 998

Friday, July 28, 2006

Number 998 - Nick Lowe

Number 998

Nick Lowe

"Cruel To Be Kind"

(1979)
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Genre:Pop Rock

Cruel To Be Kind (1979) - UK #12

Im sort of embarrassed i know nothing about this guy, other than i know his name from somewhere. I think the song is quite catchy even for its age. I did learn this however........

"As the leader of the seminal pub rockers Brinsley Schwarz, a producer, and a solo artist, Nick Lowe held considerable influence over the development of punk rock. With the Brinsleys, Lowe began a back-to-basics movement that flowered into punk rock in the late '70s. As the house producer for Stiff, he recorded many seminal records by the likes of the Damned, Elvis Costello and the Pretenders. His rough, ragged production style earned him the nickname "Basher" and also established the amateurish, D.I.Y. aesthetics of punk. Despite his massive influence on punk rock, Lowe never really was a punk rocker. Lowe was concerned with bringing back the tradition of three-minute pop singles and hard-driving rock & roll, but he subverted his melodic songcraft with a nasty sense of humor. His early solo singles and albums Jesus of Cool and Labour of Lust overflowed with hooks, bizarre jokes, and an infectious energy that made them some of the most acclaimed pop records of the new wave era. As new wave began to fade away in the early '80s, Lowe began to explore roots rock, eventually becoming a full-fledged country-rocker in the '90s. While he never had another hit after 1980's "Cruel to Be Kind," his records found a devoted cult audience and often were critically praised."
See! i can be a world of information when cornered *pats Google*

For Elvis Costello see Number 876

What does Rolling Stone think of Nick Lowe?

When the great wave of punk broke on American shores in the late '70s, it swept with it more conventional, pop-oriented songsters who had been pining for a second shot at the British Invasion. Nick Lowe, who had played bass and wrote and sung most of the songs in the pub rock band Brinsley Schwarz, was ready to break big. But by the time Columbia released Lowe's first solo album in the U.S., its title had changed from Jesus of Cool to Pure Pop for Now People, and the cover, a mosaic of six portraits of Nick the Pop Chameleon, had been altered to give him a tie sporting the stars and stripes. ~ [Source:Rolling Stone 2004]

Rolling Stone Top 500 Songs ranked this song at (Nope they hated it) and the Album ranked at Number (Nope, doesn't even know its out yet)

This song has a crowbarred rating of 37.6 out 108