Day 352: Huey Lewis & the News – Fore!
Today, I’m filling in another gap in my music knowledge. I pretty much only know about Huey Lewis & the News from the monologue in American Psycho, as well as obviously having heard “The Power of Love” — I say heard, but what I mean is that I’ve drunkenly belted it out on the Playstation 2 karaoke competition game of yesteryears called SingStar, I’m really showing my age here. But this is another big band that has passed me by, I know sweet diddly about them, so let’s listen to Fore!
Album cover courtesy of Chrysalis Records
Huey Lewis & the News was formed in 1979 in San Francisco by Huey Lewis and his backing band the News. Huey Lewis started off as the singer of a pub rock group called the Clovers, who later played on Elvis Costello’s albums My Aim Is True without him. After Clover, Huey Lewis got together with members of Van Morrison’s backing band Soundhole. They adopted the name Huey Lewis & The American Express but abandoned it pretty quickly for the obvious reasons, and settled on Huey Lewis & the News instead.
They released their first two albums to not much fanfare, but their third album Sports went number one in 1983. Then, their popularity found new levels in 1985 when their song “The Power of Love” was featured on the soundtrack of Back to the Future. Fore! was released after they’d made a name for themselves in 1986 as their fourth studio album.
This was one of those where I just don’t have that much to say about it – to me, it’s just fine. It’s a bit too adult contemporary pop rock to suit my tastes, which reads as music you hear in commercials to me. I mean come on, listen to “Stuck With You” and tell me it’s not perfect for a jaunty breakfast cereal ad. I’m not saying it’s bad by any means, but to me, it’s bland.
I don’t think there’s a way to say this without it sounding like a much bigger diss than it is, but making this the favourite band of a Wall Street mass murderer in American Psycho just makes a whole lot of sense. The music reminds me of Audioslave in a way, as I said that Audioslave is car commercial rock that’s so perfect it’s kind of boring – it feels like it’s good on paper and it’s skilled, but there’s nothing about it that’s gripping to me.
If I was in the ‘80s, geeked out on pharmaceuticals and shimmying my shoulder pads at the clubs, maybe this would feel like just the ticket. But listening to it on the sofa in 2026, I’m not getting much out of it – it’s just too glossy and competent. But let’s face it, “Hip To Be Square” is undeniably a bit of a banger. I’m giving Fore! a 5.5/10.