Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. CXCV--The Romantics: What I Like About You

It's back to my adopted home city for another in a long line of bands from the Motor City who have put their stamp on pop music.

The Romantics formed in 1977 right here in Detroit, Michigan, and played their first show on Valentine's Day opening for the New MC5 (not to be confused with the old MC5, who could really kick out the jams, motherfuckers!).  Over the next decade they would have a fair amount of success, especially in 1983 when they had a top 20 album and a top five single (the not particularly good, "Talking in Your Sleep"--there was a lot of hit and miss in the new wave era).  While they won't be entering the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame any time soon, they were voted into the Michigan Rock and Roll Legends Hall of Fame in 2011 (shit you not, had absolutely no clue such a place existed and I've lived in Michigan for 17 years now).  Through the years they have released 6 LPs (the last in 2003), two EPs, and one live album, and have toured regularly.  While they have appeared in somewhere near a million different incarnations (only a slight exaggeration) since their inception, thanks to two hit singles they are still together and performing to this day.  I've said it before and I'll say it again, playing music for a living can be a great gig with a little luck and a knack for writing an arresting tune.

"What I Like About You" was the first single released from their rather inventively named debut album The Romantics in 1980 (egads, has it been that long?).  The song would go on to reach #49 (with a bullet!) on the Billboard Hot 100, though it would reach #2 on the Australian charts (so many cool kids in Australia...).  The song would actually become a much bigger part of the pop music lexicon in the late 80's when it was used as the background music for a series of Budweiser commercials.  As some famous pop singer once said, whatever gets you through the night....

"What I Like About You" is the type of song that music critics probably hate and fans of pop music anthems adore.  It's little more than a I'm Cray-Cray-Crazy For You Baby song, but it is otherworldly catchy and absolutely chock full of musical goodies.  Right from the beginning with the in unison screaming of "Hey" (featured throughout) and the "Uh-uhs" through the hand claps, and all of it backed by some fine jangly guitars.  There's a nice instrumental break in the middle that closes with some hyperkinetic harmonica (and emaycee always loves him some harmonica), before the band breaks into the final verse, closing with the lead singer whispering "That's what I like about you" repeatedly before the hand claps return to bring us to the end.  And once again all the little pieces come together to make an unforgettable single for a pop lovin' doofus like me.

Lyric Sheet:  "What I like about you/You keep me warm at night/Never wanna let you go/Know you make me feel all right, yeah..."

Enjoy:

Fuck Donald Trump,
emaycee