Hey, friends! Welcome back to Kyle’s Radio Dial, the blog that stays rooted in the past to uncover great tunes you haven’t heard in forever! Up on the Dial today is a top 20 single from a legendary American pop/rock act that was named after the very place they were formed in.
Boston? Nope.
Alabama? No, not those guys either…
Kansas? Nice try, but also not right.
Today the Dial tunes in a 1984 single by a band that hails from "The Windy City", that being Chicago of course, entitled "Stay the Night". Read on!
"I don’t want you to misunderstand me… I just wanna say what’s on my mind…"
The initial single pulled from the six times platinum album Chicago 17, and written by the powerhouse songwriting team of Peter Cetera and David Foster, (and also featuring Toto member and session drummer extraordinaire Jeff Porcaro), "Stay…" is a much more rock-oriented offering than the typical adult contemporary ballads that Chicago had becoming largely associated with by this time in their evolution.
Prior to the release of "Stay…", the only singles from the group that had reached the Billboard top 10 over the previous nine years had all been ballads… "If You Leave Me Now" (#1/76), "Baby, What a Big Surprise" (#4/77), and the comeback smash "Hard to Say I’m Sorry", a chart topper from 1982. In fact, you have to go all the way back to 1975, with the group’s "Old Days" (#5), to find a Top 10 Chicago hit that wasn’t a love ballad.
Even the two singles that immediately followed "Stay..." were love ballads. "Hard Habit to Break" and "You’re The Inspiration" both peaked at #3 on the pop charts in late 84 and early 85, respectively. So, even though "Stay…" was the lead single from the album, it was quickly overshadowed by the next two extracts. I don’t think the band minded though, as Chicago 17 became (and remains) the band’s best-selling album.
"No need to hit me with an attitude… because I haven’t got the time."
Now let’s talk about that crazy music video. In the clip, Peter Cetera plays a mechanic whom is stubbornly (and superhumanly) pursuing a female customer (played by Ingrid Anderson) who either truly doesn’t want him in her life (at which point, shame on Cetera for not taking a hint)… or she just enjoys sadistically toying with him like a cat playing with a mouse. Heck, maybe that’s what the two of them are into.
Automotive buffs will appreciate the classic Olds 442 muscle car, and the video also features two unusually amicable fellows in a beater pickup truck, a sequence that ends in a rather jarring day-to-night scene switch. (What… they didn’t think we would notice THAT?)
I’d also like to point out the cops that don’t stop to help Cetera after he was flung off of the girl’s car onto a highway at high speed, choosing instead to pursue the crazy lady in her muscle car! Now, granted, she committed a moving violation at the bare minimum, and possibly attempted vehicular homicide at the most severe, so it WAS their duty to try to apprehend this beautiful maniac, but for God’s sake, Peter could have broken every bone in his body! Where’s the "to protect and serve" here, fellas?
Additionally, it’s been claimed that Cetera did his own stunts for the video, and if that is true, then that’s both incredibly cool and ridiculously insane!
My final observation here is that the video’s closing scene has to be a reference point to the final scene in Twilight Zone: the Movie. Both the movie and the video’s conclusion features a sadistic character driving off with the protagonist in an ambulance. Not to mention, Ingrid’s smirk as she looks back at Cetera is reminiscent of the look Dan Aykroyd gives John Lithgow. Watch the scenes one after another, and you’ll see what I mean.
Yep, it’s definitely a memorable video to be sure, quite goofy and over-the-top, and portions of it were filmed in and around the Los Angeles River, which has been used in many films, including the famous race between Danny and Leo from Grease!
"I wanna tell you something, make it perfectly clear… we’re gonna have a very good time."
As I am a huge fan of Chicago, encompassing all of their 60s, 70s, and 80s classics, it was difficult for me to choose a forgotten hit from the band to review. So in addition to "Stay…", I’ll also give a recommendation to two songs I strongly considered for the Radio Dial spotlight this time around, "Love Me Tomorrow" (#22/82), and "Along Comes a Woman" (#13/85), both of which failed to reach the top 10, but again, are worthy Chicago recordings that rarely get played on the radio anymore. Well, I suppose I hear "Along…" two or three times a year still, but I know it’s been years since I’ve run across "Love Me…" on terrestrial radio.
So hop on in that Olds 442 for a spin with Cetera and company, and be sure to hang on tight… Ingrid is a damn lunatic behind the wheel! And be sure to periodically check back right here for more great tunes from the not so distant past. Kyle’s Radio Dial… the more you listen… the more you remember!
(And don’t mind me… since I reminded myself of them earlier, I’ll be perusing my music collection, pulling out Dial-worthy tunes by Boston, Alabama, and Kansas for later Dial spotlights!)
"Stay the night, there’s room enough here for two… stay the night… I’d like to spend it with you."
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