I’m hoping that the weather forecast will be correct and that today will see the beginning of a spell of less extreme weather. But the temperatures we have endured for the past week did give me an idea for today’s theme: songs with hot or heat in the title seemed to be a good idea! As I’m not a fan of hot weather this is a good way for me to cope with it and get some enjoyment from it. Back in Tuesday Tunes 81 I posted a set of songs which offered a protest against the way we are treating our world. The ever hotter weather conditions we are enduring are part of the climate change which is one of the effects of that mismanagement. None of these songs is actually anything to do with that: they just have hot or heat in their titles, but it does no harm to remind ourselves of what we are doing, and what our politicians – many of whom are in the pay of vested interests that work against climate change efforts – are doing nothing about.

Sermon over, let’s get on with some music. This seems as good a place as any to begin:

I’m sure most will know Glenn Frey’s song The Heat Is On from it being featured in the Beverley Hills Cop movie, and I found this nice video of images from the movie to play for you. As Glenn’s record company is notoriously unforgiving in its approach to official videos being shared I’m hoping that this will avoid any copyright issues: fingers crossed! This song was released as a single in December 1984, to coincide with the movie opening in the US. It reached #2 in the US and #12 in the UK, his equal highest solo US chart placing and by a distance his most successful in the UK. I’ve always rather liked this, even if the movie does have rather too much of Eddie Murphy doing his usual OTT act for my liking – I’ve always preferred him in Trading Places, but then that movie did have the twin attractions of Jamie Lee Curtis to commend it. The song has appeared on the movie soundtrack and on compilation albums but was never on one of Glenn’s studio records.

Another heat song for you next:

This is also from the Eighties – not a decade I often visit! Asia were a UK prog rock supergroup, formed by former members of King Crimson, Yes, and Emerson, Lake And Palmer. Heat Of The Moment was the opening track on their debut album, Asia, released in March 1982, which gave the band instant success. I bought the album and played it a lot at the time, less so since then. The album topped the charts in the US, but had to make do with a peak of #11 in the UK. This track was released the following month as the lead single from the album, and got to #4 in the US. It only reached #46 here in the UK, though: I guess we saw them as an albums band, given its members’ track records. Their 1983 follow up Alpha went to #5 in the UK and #6 in the US, but after that sales fell sharply: I guess the title of this was somewhat prescient for them!

This next one is the final heat song, before I turn my attention to hot. I couldn’t leave out this pop classic, could I:

Martha Reeves wasn’t an original member of the Vandellas, but took over lead vocal duties in 1962, resulting in the group being renamed Martha And The Vandellas. Heatwave was released in July 1963 and was their first big hit, reaching #4 in the US, and #1 on their R&B chart. I was a little surprised to see that it didn’t make the UK charts, as the song is very familiar to me: their big breakthrough here came the following year with Dancing In The Street. This one was written by the famed Holland-Dozier-Holland team, and bears all of their hallmarks. It was the opening – and title – track of the group’s second album, which was released in September 1963 but wasn’t a huge seller, only getting to #125 in the US.

Those of you who know how much I like my rock music might have been expecting me to play this one. I didn’t want to disappoint you:

A great live performance and, as someone has remarked in the YouTube comments, especially impressive that Lou Gramm sang that while chewing gum. Hot Blooded was the lead single for Foreigner’s second album Double Vision. Both were released in June 1978: the album reached #3 in the US and #32 in the UK, the single also went to #3 in the US but only made #42 here. At that time my now ex-wife had a work colleague whose friend worked for the conglomerate that included Atlantic Records, Foreigner’s label, and we used to get albums at her staff discount rates. We acquired several that way, and this, and its predecessor, were at her recommendation: she told my ex “try this, I think Clive will like it.” She was right! And as half of the band were Brits it would have been unpatriotic not to try it, wouldn’t it? It also felt good to have been in the know at the beginning, before the band’s mega chart hits Waiting For A Girl Like You and I Want to Know What Love Is came along and gave them a whole new audience.

Turning now to a band that was hugely successful in the UK and many other countries, but less so in the US. I’ve said it before, but I think you guys missed out:

T. Rex began as Tyrannosaurus Rex, and were known here for an early series of albums with mythical themes, which performed respectably in our charts and gave them a few lower ranked hit singles, but their big breakthrough came in 1970 with the abbreviation of their name and their hit single, Ride A White Swan, which got to #2 here (#76 in the US) and began an incredible spell of four UK #2 hits and 4 #1s in less than three years. Hot Love was their next single, released in February 1971, and gave them the first of those #1s, though it only reached #72 in the US. The track was only released as a single, though it has since been on many compilation albums and was included on a re-release of their September 1971 album Electric Warrior. Marc Bolan, who led the band and wrote their songs, was much adored by fans, particularly the female ones, and T.Rex were part of the soundtrack to my uni days. Marc came to a tragic end, when he died after his girlfriend crashed their car into a tree. I remember it well: he was just two weeks away from his 30th birthday, and his death occurred on my 24th. We had been out for a meal, and turned on the tv news when we got home: that rather dampened my celebration.

I’ve remarked before how much of a huge Led Zeppelin fan I am, so I couldn’t pass up the chance to play one of their songs. How many of you know this one, though:

Hot Dog was a track on In Through the Out Door, the eighth and final studio album by the band. It was recorded in three weeks in November and December 1978 at ABBA’s studio in Stockholm, and was released in August 1979. It was the last album released before drummer John Bonham died in 1980, leading the group to disband. And before you tell me that there was another album after this one – Coda – I don’t really count that, as it was a compilation of songs recorded while Bonzo was still alive but hadn’t previously been released. So there! Needless to say, the album was the usual big success, reaching #1 in the US, the UK, Canada and New Zealand, #2 in Japan and #3 in Australia, and has to date sold somewhere around 8m copies worldwide.

Another of my longstanding favourite bands next. Although this is a long way from being their biggest hit it is another of those songs I couldn’t leave out:

She Was Hot was a track on the Rolling Stones’ seventeenth album, Undercover, which was released in November 1983, and peaked at #3 in the UK and #4 in the US. It isn’t remembered as one of their best albums – a view held by Mick Jagger, and he should know! – but I’ve always liked this song, and the video is great! This was released as a single in January 1984, but its performance reflected the view of the album as a whole, only making #42 in the UK and #44 in the US. Wikipedia describes the video as ‘memorable,’ which I think is fair! The actress giving the stunning performance is Anita Morris, known at the time for her theatre roles, and it was directed by Julien Temple, father of the delectable Juno, who has made some stunning screen appearances of her own – probably best known recently for her role in Ted Lasso.

I’m closing today with a song by the irrepressible John Fogerty:

This was originally on his fifth solo album, Blue Moon Swamp, which was released in May 1997 and got to #37 in the US and #182 in the UK. Hot Rod Heart was released as a single but didn’t chart. The video comes from 2020, when John and his kids (and dog) came together for a series of videos of some of his wonderful back catalogue, under the banner of Fogerty’s Factory. They released roughly one a week for several months, and they were all as good as this one. Do look them up if you haven’t seen them before. They were released in November 2020 in an album of that name, which made #63 in the US. Highly recommended, though I think they work best with the videos, which are charming and a lot of fun.

That’s all for this week. Today has dawned dull and overcast, and we actually had some rain yesterday – for about three minutes! Hopefully the current spell of endurance will shortly be over, then it will just be a case of counting the days till the next one. And there are still people out there who don’t believe the evidence and the science. Morons! See you again soon 😊