Sports

Sports
Studio album by Huey Lewis and the News
Released	September 15, 1983
Recorded	Fantasy Studios, Berkeley, California; The Plant Studios, Sausalito, California
Genre	Rock
Length	37:46
Label	Chrysalis
Producer	Huey Lewis and the News
Professional reviews
Allmusic link Robert Christgau (B+) link The Daily Vault (A-) link Rhapsody (favorable) link Rolling Stone 1984 Rolling Stone 2004 Yahoo! Music (unfavorable) link
Huey Lewis and the News chronology
Picture This (1982) Sports (1983) Fore! (1986)
Singles from Sports
"Heart and Soul" Released: 1983 "I Want a New Drug" Released: 1984 "The Heart of Rock & Roll" Released: 1984 "If This Is It" Released: 1984 "Walking on a Thin Line" Released: 1984

Sports is the third album by American rock band Huey Lewis and the News, released in 1983 (see 1983 in music). This was the album that truly made the band famous, reaching number one on the Billboard 200 on June 30, 1984, and making the band internationally known. The album has been certified 7x Platinum by the RIAA. Sports was ranked number 2 on Billboard's 1984 year-end album chart, after Michael Jackson's Thriller, and spawned four top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 and a fifth that went top 20. It also did very well internationally, with most of its singles reaching chart peaks in various countries.

The album's biggest hit, "I Want a New Drug", was certified gold with sales of 500,000 copies in 1989 and was also the center of a law suit against artist Ray Parker Jr. who was accused of plagiarizing the song for his 1984 hit "Ghostbusters". The case was eventually settled out of court for an undisclosed sum.^[1]

Another single, "The Heart of Rock & Roll", a top 10 hit for the group, was later ranked at #6 in Blender magazine's list of the "50 Worst Songs Ever", with its worst moment coming in "the second verse, when that cheeky Huey almost uses the word 'ass'".^[2]

During the band's 1984-1985 Sports tour, Huey Lewis and the News were the highest grossing touring act in America.

Track listing

1. "The Heart of Rock & Roll" (Johnny Colla, Huey Lewis) – 5:03
2. "Heart and Soul" (Mike Chapman, Nicky Chinn) – 4:13
3. "Bad Is Bad" (Alex Call, Ciambotti, Sean Hopper, H. Lewis, McFee, Schriener) – 3:48
4. "I Want a New Drug" (Chris Hayes, H. Lewis) – 4:46
5. "Walking on a Thin Line" (Andre Pessis, Kevin Wells) – 5:11
6. "Finally Found a Home" (Brown, C. Hayes, H. Lewis) – 3:43
7. "If This Is It" (J. Colla, H. Lewis) – 3:54
8. "You Crack Me Up" (Mario Cipollina, H. Lewis) – 3:42
9. "Honky Tonk Blues" (Hank Williams) – 3:26

1999 Expanded edition

A remastered "Expanded Edition" of Sports was released on June 29, 1999, and included the following session takes and live versions of their hit singles as bonus tracks.

10. "The Heart of Rock & Roll (session take)" – 5:12
11. "Walking on a Thin Line (session take)" – 5:39
12. "If This Is It (live in San Francisco, 2/21/85)" – 4:25
13. "Heart and Soul (live in San Francisco, 2/21/85)" – 4:25
14. "I Want a New Drug (live in Los Angeles, 1/15/84)" – 5:27

Personnel

• Huey Lewis - harmonica, lead vocals
• Mario Cipollina - bass, backing vocals
• Johnny Colla - guitar, saxophone, backing vocals
• Bill Gibson - percussion, drums, backing vocals
• Chris Hayes - guitar, backing vocals
• Sean Hopper - keyboard, backing vocals

Additional personnel

• John McFee - pedal steel, steel guitar

Production

• Producers: Huey Lewis & the News
• Reissue producer: Kevin Flaherty
• Engineers: Jim Gaines, Jeffrey Norman, Jesse Osborne
• Assistant engineers: Jeffrey Norman, Jesse Osborne
• Mixing: Larry Alexander, Bob Clearmountain
• Mastering: Ted Jensen
• Remastering: Bob Norberg
• Compilation: Kevin Flaherty
• Art direction: Sam Gay, Lisa Glines
• Graphic design: Bunny Zaruba
• Design: Bunny Zaruba
• Cover Photo: 2am Club in Mill Valley ^[3]

Charts

Album - Billboard (United States)

Singles - Billboard (United States)

Sports in popular culture

• The album appeared in the Futurama episode "The Luck of the Fryish" where it is noted that it has not held up to the test of time alongside the other contents of Fry's Ronco Record Vault.
• The album is critiqued by the character Patrick Bateman in both the book and film versions of American Psycho by Brett Easton Ellis. In the film, this album is when Bateman considers the band to have "really come into their own, commercially and artistically."
• In the first Back to the Future film, a poster of the album cover can be seen in Marty's bedroom (Huey himself has a cameo in the film as a judge in the Hill Valley High School band audition).

References