Is the Outfield a One Hit Wonder Band?
The Outfield was an English rock band based in London, England and achieved success during the mid 80s. They’re best known for their hit single “Your Love”, with the lineup of guitarist John Spinks, vocalist and bassist Tony Lewis and drummer Alan Jackman.
Despite little success in their homeland, Britain, they had much better luck overseas in the US. They began recording during the early 80s and released their first album, Play Deep, in 1985 through Columbia Records. The album reached No. 9 on the Billboard 200 list, followed by achieving triple Platinum in the US. Their single “Your Love” reached No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100 as well as No. 7 on the Mainstream rock chart, which later became their signature song.
While “Your Love” will always be their best song, there has been much question going around of whether or not The Outfield is considered a one hit wonder band. While it is debatable, here’s what I think.
Is The Outfield a One Hit Wonder Band?
Being an active band for over 30 years with numerous successful songs, including Play Deep, Bangin’ and Voices of Babylon they are certainly NOT a one hit wonder band. Songs like “Say It Isn’t So”, “Since You’ve Been Gone”, “All the Love in the World” and “Talk to Me” are still popular. They may not be Bon Jovi popular, but I still rock out to them in the car.
Here are some of their more popular songs:
1. “Say It Isn’t So”
This was the band’s debut single from their first album, Play Deep, and is a catchy pop rock song that hit the top 20 of the mainstream rock charts and flowed well into their big hit song, “Your Love”. This love song is about a guy who refuses to believe his partner is messing around with other guys. He sees all the signs and fears that he’s cheating on her, heartbroken if she is. But he’s not strong enough to let her go, so he tells her to “say it isn’t so” that she’s not messing around and she does love him. Because without her “I can’t go on”.
Now how common is this, right? Just about everyone has been in this situation at some point or another, be it a guy or girl. We don’t want to believe it, but the truth hurts.
2. “Since You’ve Been Gone”
“Since You’ve Been Gone” is one of my favorite songs released in May 1987 from their second studio song, Bangin’ also released on Columbia Records. The song hit No. 11 on Billboard’s Album Rock Tracks chart and No. 31 on the Billboard Hot 100. Albeit, it was the best-performing single from Bangin’.
The music video was filmed at the Beckton Gas Works outside of London and the damage from the buildings was already there prior to the shooting. This location was also used during the filming of the movie Full Metal Jacket.
3. “All the Love in the World”
“All the Love in the World” was the third single from The Outfield’s debut album, Play Deep. It was right after “Your Love” and was released in May 1986. It hit No. 14 on the Billboard Album Rock Tracks chart and No. 19 on the Billboard Hot 100.
This song is about a guy, who is probably in a long-distance relationship, and spends all his time thinking about this girl. Through his letters, he’s sending his love, pouring his heart out to someone on the other side of the world. But the letters he’s receiving in return aren’t enough for him. He wants to be with her in person.
4. “Talk to Me”
“Talk to Me” was the ninth song from The Outfield’s first and best album, Play Deep and is also currently No. 5 on The Outfield’s top list of songs. It may not have hit the top charts as a single, but it’s included in the album that reached No.9 on the Billboard 200 list and hit triple Platinum the US. That’s still success to me.
The song is about a guy who looks forward to nothing else than the night to come so he can talk to his love who (I think) has passed away. He’s not able to talk to her during the day, however, he can pour his heart out to her at night, avoiding the truth that he is really just talking to himself. But when he thinks he hears her, he grows increasingly addicted to his “special” time with someone who is not really there.
5. “No Surrender”
“No Surrender” is the third song from The Outfield’s second album, Bangin’. Like “Talk to Me”, it didn’t reach any major charts, however, it did get some attention from MTV as well as the radio.
This song is about a guy whose girlfriend breaks up with her, but he refuses to let her go, hence the “no surrender”. He digs for the feelings that’s she’s suppressing, playing on those emotions for her to stay with him. He thinks back to their experiences together and ultimately refuses to let them go.
The Commercial Success of The Outfield
So you see, The Outfield is not a one-hit wonder band; they have various songs, including singles, that have made the top charts. Again, they may not be as popular as Billy Idol per se, but they did well in the 80s.
One thing I have noticed about their songs, other than being catchy, is that they all relate to everyday life. They don’t talk about any fake fairytale story, but describe the feeling of each situation in a way that just about everyone can relate to.
History of The Outfield
The band started out with the bassist/singer Tony Lewis, guitarist/keyboardist and songwriter John Spinks and drummer Alan Jackman. They played together in the late 70s in a pop band called Sirius B. After rehearsing and singing at local gig, they weren’t part of the punk rock craze that was popular in England during the 80s.
But their hard work did land them a deal with Columbia/CBS Records in 1984. Spinks first chose the name “Baseball Boys from a teen gang called “The Baseball Furies” in the movie The Warriors, a movie that he recently saw. He joked he used the name “just to be outrageous”, although the record company did like it.
At first, they got a very “American-sounding” reputation and signed in the US after playing just a few months in England. Their manager, an American who lived in England at the time, wanted to change the name, since he thought “Baseball Boys” was too tacky and “tongue-in-cheek”. Spinks said, “The Outfield was the most left-wing kind of thing we liked.”
Spinks was also a baseball and association baseball fan, but claimed the group “didn’t know what an outfield was” until they visited one in the US.
After releasing their first and best album, they went on to release Bangin’ (1987), Voices of Babylon (1989), Diamond Days (1990) and Rockeye (1992), with the near Top 40 hit, “Winning It All”. This song was played into exhaustion during NBC’s NBA Finals coverage, NBA Superstars series, the 1992 Summer Olympics, Chicago Bulls championship ring ceremonies and the film The Mighty Ducks.
After the mid 90s, The Outfield returned home, playing low-key gigs at a local pub, where much of the audience had no idea they had sold millions of records in the US. Again, the band remained unsuccessful, so they came out with a fan-club-only release called It Ain’t Over and went on tour again. In 1999 they released another album called Extra Innings, which was an odds-and-ends compilation of new and older, unreleased songs.
In 2004, the band came out with Any Time Now, which was a studio album through Tower Records and re-released in March 2006 through Sidewinder Records. In 2009, their new band manager, Brent Bitner, announced that they would be launching their official Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and MySpace pages.
In March 2011, Replay was released, recorded in various studios in south England that included production work at the Abbey Road Studios.
In 2013, “Your Love” was rerecorded to be incorporated into DJ Morgan Page’s reworking of the song, which was released in the summer of that year. While the credit was supposed to go to Page, the single was listed as featuring The Outfield.
While their peak performances were during the mid 80s, The Outfield continued to play until the death of John Spinks in 2014. At 60 years old, passed away from lung cancer.
The lead singer/bassist would then take a few years off until he came back with a solo album Out of the Darkness, which was released on June 29, 2018 through Madison Records with the help of his wife Carol.
On October 20, 2020, Tony Lewis suddenly passed away unexpectedly at his home close to London.
What Do You Think?
Do you still think The Outfield is a one hit wonder band, or do you think their other songs are enough to say otherwise? Which songs, other than “Your Love” did you like from The Outfield? I’d love to hear your opinion in the comments below!
