One of the most democratic tenets of rock & roll is that clean-cut and middle-class doesn't necessarily mean uncool. After all, there's a world of difference between Pat Boone and Buddy Holly, between the Lettermen and the Beach Boys, between the Osmonds and the Bee Gees. One is bland and stiff and about as appealing as Cheez Whiz, the other is high-spirited and mobile, with a sense of adventure and a slight hint of menace in its good clean fun and perfect romantic bliss.
Late 1983 didn't exactly seem a propitious time for pop cheer, however. The Top Forty was finally getting loud and funky again. Radio had already heated up with Thriller, and Born in the U.S.A. and Purple
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Rain were on the way. So when Huey Lewis and the News, a group of Bay Area buddies who looked as if they'd just showered and changed after the weekend softball game, finished their third album in 1983, even the record company had limited expectations. When
Sports did manage to muscle its way past the blockbuster competition, to the tune of over six million copies, the band's detractors dismissed it as "jock pop" for yuppies too shallow to appreciate the likes of Bruce and Prince.
But the point of Sports was that jocks could rock, too, and even if hit singles like "Heart and Soul" seemed out of place between "When Doves Cry" and "Dancing in the Dark," they also provided a senses-clearing breath of fresh air. There was something a little incongruous about the songs, and that was their magic: Huey Lewis's gravelly lead provided a gritty contrast to the blanched neo-doo-wop harmonies of the News, who played polished music with barroom-style energy. The underlying impression was that these guys had been around the block a few times, and that made their ideals of friendship (not just acquaintance) and love (not just sex) sound all the more attainable.
Fore! – the band's first album since Sports – might as well be called Sports II, because the good-time style hasn't changed a bit; the band breaks into the same honest sweat without getting too messy. Which is not to say Huey Lewis and the News deliberately try to repeat themselves. They just play the music that's inside of them, and as a result, their sound is as vibrant, as organic as ever. "Hip to Be Square" establishes the stance: "I'm working out most every day/And watching what I eat/They tell me that it's good for me/But I don't even care." In other words, they're self-aware but not self-important. If their lifestyle catches on, they're certainly willing to share it, but they'll never change just to follow a trend.
This good-natured pride permeates Fore! On "I Know What I Like," the band answers its critics – "I like things that don't change/'Cause the more something changes, the more it stays the same." "I Never Walk Alone" updates the Beach Boys' "I Get Around." Just because the boys are men now, with wives and k
