"We are the Young" by Dan Hartman

          Hello friends! It’s time once again to revisit a great track from the past, a song that has been overlooked for far too long. Tonight, the Dial brings you Dan Hartman and his 1984 pop-rock single “We are the Young”!

“We’re the ones with the runaway eyes… we’re the ones who can improvise…”

Hartman had quite the interesting chart career. As a member of the Edgar Winter Group, he wrote and sang the 1973 rock hit “Free Ride” (US #14), and also played bass on their 1972 instrumental classic “Frankenstein”. A few years later, Dan released his solo disco classic “Instant Replay”; a US #29 hit that also reached the top of the US Dance chart in 1978. Then after releasing a few albums that garnered minimal attention, he enjoyed an MTV-fueled career comeback with his monster 1984 hit “I Can Dream about You”.

The title cut and lead single from his LP of the same name, “I Can Dream…” was also featured on the soundtrack to the cult classic film “Streets of Fire”. Hartman’s comeback tune peaked at US #6 on the Hot 100, and reached #7 and #8 on the US adult contemporary and dance charts, respectively.

This great lead-in paved the way for the follow up single “We are the Young” to be a big smash as well, but Dan’s follow up fell surprisingly short of expectations. An anthemic call to the younger generation to join together and improve the world condition, “We are…” only reached US #25 on the Hot 100, but it did earn the #1 slot on the US Dance singles chart.

“Every street is an arcade of dreams… uptown, downtown, explodin’ at the seams…”

Back in the day, I wore out my cassette of the I Can Dream about You album, not only due to the hit title cut and “We are the Young”, but also because the entire LP contains excellent mid 80s pop rock that draws from Motown, new wave, and funk. I was especially fond of “Rage to Live”, a great rocker that clocks in as the final song on side A.

“With lights and sounds and the soul parade… white and blue collar promenade.”

Unfortunately, we lost Dan on March 22, 1994 due to an AIDS related brain tumor. His final album was the posthumously released Keep The Fire Burnin’, which contained remixes of his hit songs, and covers of the aforementioned “Free Ride”, and James Brown’s 1985 hit “Living in America”, which Dan co-authored with Charlie Midnight.

While Dan was never exactly a household name, radio stations still play Free Ride, Frankenstein, and I Can Dream about You rather frequently nowadays, insuring that his musical contributions live on. I find it disappointing that “We are the Young” doesn’t get similar attention, so that’s why I’m giving Dan’s forgotten top 40 climber a shout out here on the Dial.

“We are the young… with the modern attitude… Breakin’ down the walls, breakin’ all the rules, tomorrow comes, and we might blow away… So we don’t worry about the price we pay.”