38 Special: So Caught Up In You: great or the greatest?

fucking love it booya

My first ever actual rock concert, these guys. "What If I'd Been the One" was the song for me.

Ned, so awesome! My first was Molly Hatchet, we have a bond.

'Hold On Loosely" has been in my head for DAYS now.

"What If I'd Been The One" gets the nod for me too, though this song rules.

Weird, I had a dream about this song just last night. Why are any of dreams with pre-cognitive content invariably about trivial shit?

supposed to read "all of my dreams"

Oh yeah, and the song is pretty great...esp. the descending bit in the verses.

good example of a band that progressed to the point of rendering their first big hit obselete...("Rockin' Into The Night" in this case)...

In the South in the early 80s these guys were ubiquitous to the point of nausea. Watered down Lynyrd Skynyrd sell out pop music it was. And, to be completely gratuitously snarky, one of the ugliest bands of all time. But, but, on re-listen 25 year later, ok, it's not the Allmans or Skynyrd, but maybe it's not so bad.

Except must continue to disagree about the video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXQDWuitMZc). It remains unequivocally weak even for the early 80s. I remember hating the stupid dancing and the guy, isn't he so funny, with all the tatoos.

I have very LOW standards for rock videos. The awfulness seems to be the charm. But then I'm watching it only a couple of times and have no history with the band other than hearing it over a loudsystem and thinking how good it sounds.

I think the key to most music is never being in a position where someone else always has control over the stereo. Music isn't meant as a personal insult, but if you work somewhere where they pipe in the same music over and over, it sure can feel like it. I still feel as if the entire Billy Joel catalog was designed to make me angry. I worked with a guy who wouldn't give it a rest and instead of converting his co-workers he ruined any chance of any appreciation.

38 special were racist cause a) they were southern and b) didn't incorporate disco beats into this song

lol actually i think "so caught up in you" and "hold on loosely" are two of the best singles ever

Any love for another Skynryd-kin band-Blackfoot on these boards? Those guys could slay 38 Special.

doesn't Ricky Medlock play for Skynyrd these days?

yes-Blackfoot had a nice run in the late '70s, then got poppy and it was all downhill

Very classic. Off-topic, but I love "Second Chance" too (my weakness for "Every Breath You Take" chords, etc).

>>Watered down Lynyrd Skynyrd sell out pop music it was.

Put "Caught Up In You" and "If I'd Been The One" on a mixtape, sandwich "Go Your Own Way" by Fleetwood Mac in between the two, and you'll realize that those 38 Special songs have little to do w/ Skynyrd, or southern rock in general. "Sell out" is in the ear of the behearer, but those are a couple extremely well-crafted hits.

"Rockin' Into The Night" was a catchy Skynyrd/Hatchet powerchord anthem, and no one remembers it. They completely changed their sound after that. My theory is that they saw how well the Cars were doing, and got some bright ideas about a bold new direction.

Great. Now I'm going to have "Rockin' Into The Night" in my head all day.

my theory is that they had sex...(not with each other, mind, but who really knows?)...and realized that songs about chicks were way more meaningful than played-out rawk slogans...

dude like skynyrd wasn't knee deep in poon, get real

Donnie Van Zandt, .38 Special's lead singer, is the brother of Ronnie, the deceased and sainted lead singer from Skynyrd. When .38 Special was getting started they (or the label marketing dept) pushed the Skynyrd connection pretty hard.

Anyway I can hear that their singles are well-crafted & more Top 40 by intention than Skynyrd ever was. In fact that was probably part why I disliked .38 Special so much. I was looking for & expecting to hear something more hard-edged. The overexposure didn't help either. And in the psychology of high school they became a band it was cool to hate. Thanks for the memories....

also

This should have been a poll

I vote "greatest"

ahhhh one more

It's good but I like "Hold on Loosely" better. But these songs meant for radio. I think if I actually owned them, they would lose their charm.

Here is that Amie vs Sister Golden Hair thread.

here

It's good but I like "Hold on Loosely" better. But these songs meant for radio. I think if I actually owned them, they would lose their charm.

among the otmest posts ever

I recently picked up for dirt cheap these guys' greatest hits, and it's a solidly good listen. I got it mostly for "If I'd Been The One" which hits a lot of "it's weird being eight years old and hearing 1982-era pop like this and "Hello" and "Against All Odds"" triggers for me: I can't get enough of this era for that reason, but I'm not sure that translates into greatness for anyone else.

this song came on the radio today and it was like the greatest thing ever

power pop kids should love this song

what if i'd been the one is such a killer example of the 80s epic-rock sound done right.

so so good.

I talk about that show I saw back then here. Aka, Ned discovers what pot smells like...

I think we all need to just slow down and take a good long look at this video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zg21Rkew874

I have never seen this video.
Pretty brilliant imo.

didn't know they had two drummers tbh

I bet those two drum kits really sounded great in a tiny little bar like that.

I'm an admittedly middling guitar player, but the chord changes to this song are a. baffling to me and b. insanely great. I just had to go look up a guitar tab for it. o_O

love this song so much.

38 special were racist cause a) they were southern and b) didn't incorporate disco beats into this song

― m coleman, Tuesday, October 16, 2007 5:58 AM (3 years ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

I think I may agree with this.

Well, thank God for Exile then.

greatest song ever written

by contrast "Little Sheba" is an abomination

"fun" fact: the singer on "Little Sheba", Max Carl, is currently the singer for (what passes for) Grand Funk Railroad these days

No mention on this thread of their other great single, "Fantasy Girl," which imo has some of their best guitar work!

Also, not for nothing were all of those singles co-written by Survivor founder Jim Peterik. Dude had an ear for hooks.

yeah that's a good song. I like Don Barnes' singing a lot; it verges on keening and that gives the songs their new-wavey urgency imo (since the arrangements aren't especially new-wavey).

I guess today was the day my subconscious decided to pay attention to the lyrics of "Rockin' Into the Night" and well.

I found a sweet Madonna
With a Bible in her hand

She's waitin', anticipatin'
For someone to save her soul

Well, I ain't no new Messiah
But I'm close enough for Rock 'n' Roll

"What's that old southern rock song about the singer claiming not to be the new Jesus?"

"Do what now?"

"Oh, wait, here it is. It's 'Rockin' Into the Night".

"close enough for rock n' roll" is great

It's not something to publicize, but I made a Jim Peterik playlist on Spotify, just to see what would happen.

It's basically the audio equivalent of this gif, but

https://i.imgur.com/ekWTHdi.gif

I did get that Don Barnes clarity this morning.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TiMgWYWBJVI

there is apparently no song on earth that can survive being covered by an artist operating in this exact genre

Just glad it's not a ska version.

let's form The 38 Specials and make it happen

XP How did Less Than Jake not do that?

let's form The 38 Specials

that's some ska & awe right there.

https://i.imgur.com/eNSXs8A.png

this song is so great

tbf the only lyrics i can recall are the title and ‘little girl’ which isn’t too promising, but still

Omg I actually kind of like that We The Kings cover posted up thread. It sounds like The Rubinoos.

This is great too:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvGbfgw_gzg

I saw them back in the early 80s, at the state fairgrounds. What I remember most clearly is that the two drummers played exactly the same parts all the way through the show.

Mr Veg always sings his deliberate misheard lyric over the chorus

AUNT BEE IT’S TRUE
( irl =and baby it’s true)

In his head canon it’s a love song sung by Andy Griffith to Aunt Bee 😂

i was automatically sent TOUR DE FORCE (on LP) because i didn't return the card to columbia house in time

joke's on them, tho, because i sent it back

You were all "I want you back where you belong!"