Retro Spins: The Romantics - The Romantics

It's the album that officially started the 1980's. Released on January 4, 1980, The Romantics album would not only serve as the band's debut, but also usher in an era of pop and new wave music like no other.

The group released the majority of their albums throughout the 80's, venturing out only briefly in 2003 with their album, 61/49. That album appears to have been well received by fans, so it's surprising to see that they've not really done much since then - Well, with the exception of attempting to sue the makers of Guitar Hero for the use of their song, What I Like About You. That lawsuit was eventually lost, with the judge stating the creators of the game had secured all the necessary approval to use it, and that the band held none of the rights. Let that be a lesson, kids. Always maintain control of your music.

As I cranked up their album, I got the immediate sense that the style would be more so reminiscent to that of the fifties, Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens type music. Early rock, if you will. It easily felt like something that could have been playing over a jukebox at the local soda shop. Not necessarily a bad thing in my book.

With that said, I didn't necessarily hear many songs that I felt were "hits". Enjoyable, but no long lasting songs. Well, with the exception of What I Like About You. Oddly enough, for how iconic that song has become to the era, it only managed to top the charts at number forty-nine in 1980. Ouch.

For being only thirty-eight minutes, the album somehow manages to feel really long. Not in a good way either. It's one of those where you're kind of like, "Come on! Get moving!" Again, it's not a bad record, it's just now all that impressive either.

Truth be told, I'm not a major fan of the band. I think I only know and like two songs from them, What I Like About You and Talking In Your Sleep. My major push to own this particular album wasn't at all driven by anything more than being curious one day as to what the first album released in 1980 was, and upon finding out it was this one, deciding the one song was worth making this a part of my collection.

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