10 Most Rocking Huey Lewis And The News Songs

Carl Lender, CC BY-SA 3.0 <http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/>, via Wikimedia Commons

At the core of Huey Lewis and the News was a pure rock and roll band, a group of talented musicians who combined tight playing with unforgettable songs. MTV certainly helped turn them into superstars in the 1980s, and Huey Lewis had the kind of movie-star charisma that worked perfectly on television, but the music is what made the whole thing last. They were not just a band with good looks; they had the chops to back it up.

From sharp original rockers to covers that reached back into rhythm and blues, doo-wop, and early rock and roll, Huey Lewis and the News always sounded like musicians who loved the music they were playing. Their biggest years produced an incredible run of radio hits, but some of their toughest tracks also came from deeper cuts and later albums. These ten selections celebrate the rocking side of a band that could make polished pop records without ever losing its bar-band soul.

# 10 – Buzz Buzz Buzz – Picture This

“Buzz Buzz Buzz” closes Huey Lewis and the News’ 1982 album Picture This with a direct salute to the early rock and roll that helped shape the band. John Gray and Bobby Day wrote the song, and the Hollywood Flames turned it into a hit in 1957. The News keep the doo-wop spirit intact while adding a tougher rhythm section, guitar, saxophone, and Lewis’ unmistakable voice. It never sounds like a museum piece because the band attacks the song with the same energy they brought to their originals. Coming at the end of an album that also includes “Do You Believe in Love” and “Workin’ for a Livin’,” it reveals just how deep their roots ran. This is a fun little rocker that sounds like six guys remembering exactly why they wanted to be in a band.

# 9 – Pretty Girls Everywhere – Weather

It was really nice to get a new Huey Lewis and the News album in 2020. It did not disappoint. “Pretty Girls Everywhere” appears on Weather, the band’s first album of new original material in nearly two decades, although this particular song reaches back to Eugene Church’s 1958 rhythm and blues hit. Lewis and the band deliver a bright, loose performance that fits naturally alongside the older covers they’ve recorded throughout their career. Johnny Colla, Bill Gibson, Sean Hopper, John Pierce, and the expanded band keep the groove moving while Lewis sounds completely at home in the material. After all those years, the News still knew how to take an old song and make it feel like it belonged at one of their own shows.

# 8 – Good Morning Little School Girl – Four Chords & Several Years Ago

“Good Morning Little School Girl” comes from the band’s 1994 album Four Chords & Several Years Ago, a full record devoted to the rhythm and blues, doo-wop, and early rock and roll that helped form their sound. The song goes back to Sonny Boy Williamson’s 1937 blues recording and had already been covered by generations of rock and blues musicians before the News took it on. Huey Lewis brings plenty of harmonica to the performance, while Johnny Colla, Chris Hayes, Mario Cipollina, Bill Gibson, and Sean Hopper give the track a tight, muscular backing. The band does not try to modernize the song into something slicker than it needs to be. Instead, they play it like musicians who understand exactly where this music sits in the history of everything they later became. It is one of the clearest examples of the News paying respect to their roots while still sounding like themselves.

# 7 – Jacob’s Ladder – Fore!

“Jacob’s Ladder” opens Fore! and immediately gives the album more bite than anyone expecting only polished pop might have anticipated. Bruce Hornsby and his brother John Hornsby wrote the song, and Huey Lewis had an arrangement in mind while working with Bruce before Hornsby suggested that the News record it themselves. The lyric uses religious imagery to push back against shallow evangelism while keeping its focus on getting through life one day at a time. The band turns that idea into a hard-driving track with Chris Hayes’ guitar, Mario Cipollina’s bass, Bill Gibson’s drums, and Lewis’ vocal all pushing in the same direction. Released as a single in 1987, “Jacob’s Ladder” reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming the band’s third and final chart-topper there. It is thoughtful, tough, and still one of the strongest album openers they ever recorded.

Read More: 1989’s Best Rock Albums

# 6 – I Want A New Drug – Sports

Sports by Huey Lewis & The News (1983-01-01)

“I Want a New Drug” is one of the songs that turned Sports into a monster. Written by Huey Lewis and Chris Hayes, the track combines a sharp guitar riff, keyboards, horns, and a pounding rhythm section with one of Lewis’ funniest and most memorable vocal ideas. The song is really about wanting a love that feels right without all the bad side effects, which gives the title its joke and its hook at the same time. Released as the second single from Sports in 1984, it reached number six on the Billboard Hot 100 and also topped the dance chart. The News produced the track themselves, just as they produced the rest of Sports. This one has the polish of a huge 1980s hit, but underneath it is a band playing a very tight rock and roll groove.

Read More: 1989’s Best Rock Albums

# 5 – Couple Days Off – Hard At Play

“Couple Days Off” is Huey Lewis and the News turning the desire to escape work for a little while into a full-speed rock anthem. The song appeared on the 1991 album Hard at Play, a record that arrived after the band’s enormous 1980s run but still found them playing with plenty of muscle. The guitar attack and hard beat give Lewis exactly the setting he needs to sell a lyric about being worn down and needing a break. Released as a single, “Couple Days Off” reached number 11 on the Billboard Hot 100. That chart showing proved the band could still compete on pop radio even as the musical landscape was beginning to change around them. More importantly for this list, the song simply rocks from the opening seconds to the finish.

Read More: 1991’s Best Rock Albums

# 4 – The Heart Of Rock & Roll – Sports

“The Heart of Rock & Roll” opens Sports with a beat that sounds like the title itself. Huey Lewis and Johnny Colla wrote the song after the band played Cleveland and saw firsthand why the city had such a reputation as a rock and roll town. The finished track expands that idea into a celebration of live music in cities across America, driven by Bill Gibson’s drums, Mario Cipollina’s bass, Chris Hayes’ guitar, Sean Hopper’s keyboards, and Colla’s saxophone. Released as the third single from Sports, it reached number six on the Billboard Hot 100. The production is clean, but the backbeat keeps the record from ever feeling too polished. If any song explains why this band belongs on a list of real rock and roll groups, this is probably the one.

Read More: 1984’s Best Rock Albums

# 3 – The Power Of Love – Back to the Future: Music from the Motion Picture Soundtrack

“The Power of Love” became inseparable from Back to the Future, but it works just as well without the movie in sight. Huey Lewis, Chris Hayes, and Johnny Colla wrote the song before the film was shot, so the lyrics don’t depend on plot details or character names. The track features one of the band’s biggest guitar sounds, with a huge chorus and a rhythm section that keeps everything moving underneath. Released in 1985, “The Power of Love” became Huey Lewis and the News’ first number one single on the Billboard Hot 100. It was also nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song. The movie made the song part of 1980s culture, but the record had enough power to stand on its own.

Read More: 1985’s Best Rock Albums

# 2 – Hip To Be Square – Fore!

“Hip to Be Square” is one of those songs that sounds simple until you really listen to how much is going on inside the arrangement. Bill Gibson, Sean Hopper, and Huey Lewis wrote the track, turning the idea of settling into conventional adult life into a joke catchy enough for millions to sing along to. Gibson’s drums, Hopper’s keyboards, Chris Hayes’ guitar, Johnny Colla’s rhythm work, and Mario Cipollina’s bass give the song a hard, precise pulse. Members of the San Francisco 49ers, including Joe Montana, Ronnie Lott, Dwight Clark, and Riki Ellison, joined the backing vocals. Released from Fore! in 1986, the single reached number three on the Billboard Hot 100. Beneath all the humor and clean-cut image is a very tight rock band hitting every beat exactly where it belongs.

# 1 – TIE – Heart And Soul – Sports / Workin’ For A Livin’ – Picture This

Heart and Soul: “Heart and Soul” gave Huey Lewis and the News the breakthrough they needed when it became the first single from Sports in 1983. Mike Chapman and Nicky Chinn wrote the song, but the News made the record sound completely their own through Chris Hayes’ guitar, the band’s tight rhythm section, and Lewis’ punchy vocal. The track reached number eight on the Billboard Hot 100 and number one on the rock chart. It also earned the group a Grammy nomination for Rock Vocal, Group. The performance has the polish that would define the Sports era, but the guitars and rhythm section hit hard enough to keep it rooted in rock. This is the sound of the band becoming huge without sanding off everything that made them exciting.

Workin’ for a Livin’: “Workin’ for a Livin’” comes from Picture This, and this is the song that may best capture the blue-collar side of Huey Lewis and the News. Lewis and Chris Hayes wrote it, turning everyday jobs and financial pressure into a fast, funny rock and roll song that the band could tear through onstage. The original single reached number 41 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 20 on the rock chart, but its importance to the band went far beyond those numbers. Bill Gibson later said the group ended shows with it for much of their career and considered it one of their signature songs. Lewis’ harmonica gives the track another burst of personality on top of the driving guitar and rhythm section. Tying this with “Heart and Soul” at number one gives both sides of the band their due, the polished hitmakers and the working rock and roll group underneath.