1980 isn’t necessarily considered one of the all-time great years in music, not in the way that 1956, 1967, 1971 or 1991 are. There is a reason for this - and that is that during those years there was an earth-moving paradigm shift in what defines popular music. In 1956 rock was born; 1967 was the summer of love; in 1971 we experienced the post-Beatles birth of AOR; and 1991 saw the onset of the grunge movement. However, as initial impression proves to be misleading, 1980 was something of a watershed year, generating a number of all-time classics in all manners of musical styles. A lot of this was reverberation from punk, and not just from the movement splitting into arty post-punk and poppy new wave. Popular music was at a crossroads and bands who tried to amalgamate a myriad of sounds into an undefined hybrid-genre found it difficult to capitalize on their very own successes.
Popular music from 1980 carries a certain non-directional distinction. Certainly some songs defined that year, but as music matured and genres were refined those very bands became victims of their own success. Enter "This Beat Goes On/Switchin' To Glide" by The Kings.
First the facts:
- "This Beat Goes On/Switchin' To Glide" has surpassed the Canadian platinum mark in all-time sales. That's 100,000+ records sold.
- "This Beat Goes On/Switchin' To Glide" remains a staple on classic rock radio all across North America.
- The Kings were voted as Most Promising Artists in Cashbox Magazine in 1980.
- The Kings were nominated for a Canadian Juno Award as Best New Artist in 1980.
- The Kings opened for acts Jeff Beck, Bob Seger and Eric Clapton.
- When he was younger, lead singer David Diamond looked eerily similar to actor John Cusack. (okay that's opinion)
Clearly the band was talented. During 1980, their rising commercial fortunes culminated in an appearance on Dick Clark's "American Bandstand", and a co-headlining gig at Toronto's Heatwave festival in August, sharing the stage with the B-52s, The Clash, Elvis Costello, The Pretenders, Rockpile and The Talking Heads.
History Lesson
The Kings were formed in Vancouver, British Columbia and Oakville, Ontario, Canada. Original members were David Diamond, lead vocals, bass guitar and songwriter, Sonny Keyes, vocals, keyboards and songwriter, Max Styles, drums, and Mister Zero, guitar and songwriter. They were originally known as Whistleking and in fact won a Super Sessions contest on Canadian radio with the song "Turn Your Face To The Wall." After being rejected by every label in Canada, Whistleking changed their name to The Kings, went to Nimbus 9 Recording Studio in Toronto and a chance encounter with legendary producer Bob Ezrin was an enormous break for the band.
In a career as a music and entertainment producer that has, as of 2010, spanned 40 years, Bob Ezrin has worked on recordings with artists including: Alice Cooper, KISS, Pink Floyd, Lou Reed, Hanoi Rocks, Roberta Flack, Peter Gabriel, Dr. John, Nils Lofgren, Kansas, Rod Stewart, Berlin, Nine Inch Nails, The Jayhawks, 30 Seconds to Mars, The Darkness, Jane's Addiction, Julian Lennon and The Deftones among many others. He is a member of the Canadian Music Hall Of Fame. He had just finished producing Pink Floyd's "The Wall" album when he decided to work with The Kings.
Ezrin liked what he heard of The Kings, developed a teacher/student relationship with the band and chose to take a chance on an unknown entity by producing, mixing and mastering their debut release "The Kings Are Here".
The Hit: "This Beat Goes On/Switching To Glide"
The opening riff to "This Beat Goes On" came to David Diamond during a sound check one evening and stayed with him. One can compare the simplicity of this riff to the piano intro of "Louie, Louie" written by Bob Berry. Like the Berry hit, Diamond's riff provides the entire basis of the song. Keyes mirrored the riff on his synthesizer and the song is musically based upon that guitar/keyboard interplay and is absolutely infectious. Mr. Zero wrote the lyrics. The product was far from finished, however.
Most people associate one-hit wonder with overnight success. The history of this song suggests otherwise. The segue was added next (in fact the band members refer to the entire song as "The Segue"), but the flow was just not there. Some advice from Ezrin, and a few chord changes by Diamond yielded more of a Big Beat sound. Diamond laid down another lick for "Switchin' To Glide" and based on perhaps one of the greatest lines of all time, "Nothing matters but the weekend from a Tuesday point of view,", a number one hit was born. At a demo for Elektra Records the song immediately impressed studio execs and employees alike and the band was signed to a worldwide deal.
I first heard the song in 1980 as a teenager in Chicago on WLS-AM 89. It was the party anthem of that summer, our generation's "Louie, Louie." I was kind enough to get an e-mail from John Picard, aka, Mr. Zero, who gave me a little insight about the WLS debut of the song.
"You mention WLS, quick story, we were in New York City at the Elektra office when they got word WLS had added "This Beat Goes On/Switchin' To Glide." They went nuts, broke out the booze, we were these green hicks from Toronto, 'huh? wha? Free booze! Sure!' Little did we know the massive strength of WLS. That put us on just about every major station in every major market in the US."
In the late 1980s there was a revival of sorts as Chicago stations WLUP and WXRT started adding the song again into rotation but it kind of fizzled out. With the number of record company mergers and industry restructuring at that time, it is no wonder that nobody from the label picked up on the revival. And that's too bad for the band, as this was at the height of the CD reissue movement.
Still, the song remains a timeless classic and a truly feel-good recollection of a great, if not lost and schizophrenic, musical era.
The Lyrics
Hey Judy, get Trudy
You said to call you up if I was feeling moody
Hey little Donna, still wanna
You said to ring you up if I was in Toronto
I have lots of friends that I can ding at any time
Can mobilize some laughs with just one call
Like a bunch of lunatics we'll act till way past dawn
Sure we'll be rockin' till our strength is gone
Yeah This Beat Goes On...and on, and on, and on
Hey ladies you crazies
Me and Zero request you in the Mercedes
And then we'll ride so zoomy inside
The sky's the limit this time I'm Switchin' to Glide
I don't give a hoot about what people have to say
I'm laughin' as I'm analyzed
Lunatics Anonymous that's where I belong
Sure cause I am one till my strength is gone
Yeah This Beat Goes On...and on, and on, and on
I have lots of friends that I can ding at any time
Can mobilize some laughs with just one call
Like a bunch of lunatics we'll act till way past dawn
Sure we'll be rockin' till our strength is gone
Yeah This Beat Goes On
Nothing matters but the weekend
From a Tuesday point of view
Like a kettle in the kitchen
I feel the steam begin to brew
Switchin' to Glide
Energy can be directed
I'm turning it up I'm turning it down
Even love can be affected
Harmony's the sweetest sound
Switching to Glide..Balancing in my head..inside of me...
taking the glide path instead.
Everybody gets the no-no
Hear it ringing in they ears
Lots of ways that you can go GO!
Look around NO disappears
Switchin' to Glide
Switchin' to Glide
Switchin' to Glide
Switchin' to Glide
Awwww yeah, Ohh,ooh I'm Switchin' to Glide
I finally found some way out of this hole you know
Out of this hole!
So What Happened To The Kings?
It may not be too difficult to ascertain as to why The Kings became a one-hit wonder. "This Beat Goes On/Switchin' To Glide" was so good and so immensely popular that any follow up is bound to be a let down. The Knack is another great example of a band that suffered a similar fate due to the popularity of their first release "My Sharona."
Also, The Kings debuted at a difficult time for music. There was no distinct sound or set definition as to what made a popular song. "This Beat Goes On/Switchin' To Glide" is a crossover synth-pop/big beat hybrid and neither of those genres really established themselves in the short term going forward though the movement had begun. Other songs on "The Kings Are Here" have an edgier, nearly post-punk feel that may have turned off fans of the Kings mega-hit. The songs are good, I might add, but sound nothing like "The Segue".
It is also important to note that their follow-up LP "Amazon Beach" did not sell very well and there was a parting of ways between the label and the band. One could argue that based on the success of the single the label could have exercised a little more patience, certainly everyone's entitled to a sophomore slump and the The Kings really had quite a bit to live up to. And let us not forget that 1980 was the birth of Music Television, and I cannot find a video that coincides with the original release of the song. Perhaps one exists, but I do not remember seeing it. If one truly does not exist, that was extreme shortsightedness on behalf of Elektra Records.
Why You Should Buy The DVD
In one phrase - ROCK MUSIC HISTORY. This is a 45-minute, "VH-1 Behind The Music" type of documentary that was self-produced by the band as a whole and John Picard specifically. I have read other reviews that rank on the band because they don't understand the concept here. The title clearly states it is an analysis of The Kings and their rapid ascension and subsequent descendency as a hit band. Beside that, there is some great insight to the development of the song, the history of the band, wonderful sound bytes, and a hilarious chapter dedicated to their first U.S. gig opening for Jeff Beck, along with tremendous archival footage. Some of the quality doesn't live up to today's standards, but it is more than passable and we are talking about thirty years of photograph and video history.
According to Picard, "It's kind of close up, focusing on the creation of 'Beat/Switchin', mainly and some history of the band. Some people have knocked it for that reason, maybe they didn't read the title. It started with the video you saw (the one above), which is way better on dvd, that took over 140 hours to edit. Under 6 minutes long, over 140 hours. I am pretty proud of that vid, and I've never seen one like it. It spans over 20 years of gigs, and that is how we'd like to be remembered, as a band onstage cranking it out."
Additionally the DVD includes another 60+ minutes of video footage and 14 other songs, including a live version of "Switchin' To Gide/Partyitis". You can read more about The Kings, and order their DVD, the CD and/or other band merchandise at their website www.thekingsarehere.com.
Oh, and by the way to any of my friends from 1980 who read me, David Diamond never says "Anna, Anna Anna". The line is "And on, And on, And on....." So there.
EDITOR'S NOTE: If anyone has an original copy of this vinyl or the 45 rpm I would love to purchase it for our offices. Contact me by posting a comment and thank you.
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