Rocktrospectiva: The Succesful "Nervous Night" Turns 40

Released on 6 may 1985 "Nervous Night" was the second studio album by the so-called fab Philly band The Hooters. The album features two of the band's biggest and best-known hits, "And We Danced" and "Day by Day". It also includes the minor hit "All You Zombies", which was a rerecorded version of a single that had first been released in 1982.  

Different versions of three songs on Nervous Night — "All You Zombies," "Hanging on a Heartbeat," and "Blood from a Stone" — were originally released on The Hooters' independent album release Amore in 1983.

The album got off to a slow start, the  first single, "All You Zombies," peaked at No.58 not bad for a song which actually was based about stories from the Holy Bible. Then, the band got a huge boost on July 13, 1985, when they were featured as the opening band at the American version of the Live Aid benefit concert.  Outside of Philadelphia, they were the least known band at Live Aid.  

Curiously, the promoter Bill Graham wanted The Hooters to perform at Live Aid, against the wishes of organizer Bob Geldof, who asked in an interview, "Who the fuck are The Hooters?"  Ironically, many years later, Bob Geldof ended up being the opening act for The Hooters somewhere in the world.

The second single and the album's opening song, "And We Danced," peaked at No. 21 on the Billboard Hot 100 and received heavy airplay on the MTV, indeed, The Hooters were nominated for an MTV Video Music Award for Best New Artist in a Video for “And We Danced.” 

"Day By Day," the second song, became the band's third – and highest-charting – single, and helped propel the album to a No. 12 on the Billboard 200 album chart.  And finally "Where Do The Children Go?" was the fourth single released from the album and was a collaboration between The Hooters and fellow Columbia Records label mate, Patty Smyth (of Scandal), peaked at No. 38

Other songs on the album include the rare "Don't Take My Car Out Tonight", "South Ferry Road," which was a faithful cover of Love’s 1966 hit, "She Comes In Colors," The title track, "Nervous Night," did not make it on the LP release, but it did appear on the cassette and CD versions.

The album was a landmark for the band, praising them for the excellent use of dynamics and innate talent for penning hit songs full of melodic hooks, also it had a hard-driving energy and muscular their debut album on a major record label

Nervous Night Track List: 

 

1. And We Danced

2. Day By Day

3. All You Zombies

4. Don't Take My Car Out Tonight

5. Nervous Night (CD/Cassette only)

6. Hanging On A Hearbeat

7. Where Do The Children Go

8. South Ferry Road

9. She Comes In Colors

10. Blood From A Stone