Sunday, October 04, 2009

One More Vid: The Del Fuegos, "Don't Run Wild"

Late last night, after work, I was, for some now unknown reason, watching the vid for the Del Fuegos' "Don't Run Wild." Then, today, while I was out with my son out on the road for the first time for driving practice, the song came up on Little Steven's Underground Garage on my satellite radio. I had to laugh, thinking maybe it was my wish-- for him to be a lot more cautious than I was in my life.

The Boston-based Del Fuegos were one of the many great indie bands in the eighties. They consisted of brothers Dan and Warren Zanes (singer and guitarist, respectively), bassist Tom Lloyd, drummer Brent "Woody" Giessmann and keyboardist Br. Cleve.

Despite being promoted by Tom Petty and appearing in a beer commercial, they never had a huge amount of commercial fame. "Don't Run Wild" and "I Still Want You" got a good amount of airplay.

Dan Zanes has had some success doing childrens' albums and shows. He plays at the Old Town School of Folk Music, just a few blocks from my home, once a year or so. In 2007, he won a Grammy for Best Children's Album. His brother Warren went a more academic route, earning two Master's degree's and a PhD. He is currently the vice-president of education at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

"Don't Run Wild" is one of my favorite songs from the eighties. It reminds me of a particular friend from college, who, ironically, didn't run wild at all. These days, she is a suburban housewife who is married to the first guy she ever dated.

5 comments:

Churlita said...

I love the Del Fuegos. I just haven't heard them in a while. Thanks for the reintroduction.

Erik Donald France said...

VP of Education the the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame? -- now that would be a fun gig'

Never knew they were from Boston. The name was pure trickery!

lulu said...

This is one of your favorite songs from the 80s? Seriously? It's so, so, boring. It's like there's no there there.

I agree with Eric, VP of Ed at the R&R HoF would be a great gig. I've used there leson plans before and have always wanted to go to one of their summer programs for teachers.

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My family moved to Boston when I was a sophmore at UIUC. It gave me a great, exotic place to vacation on school breaks, and it provided my two younger brothers a chance to get out into the city and hear them some fantastic music. They became great fans and friends with Dan Tom and Steve (the DF's second drummer), and went to see them many weekends at the Rat, the Inn Square Men's Bar, and other dumpy Boston-area clubs.

I had the pleasure to see them on New Year's Eve 1982 (?) at the Inn Square, along with Barence Whitfield and the Savages...fantastic show, the last great DFs show I'd see.

I agree with Lulu...by the time "Don't Run Wild" was released, I thought they were deteriorating, in the great tradition of Aerosmith...I can hear the cocaine and booze sapping the snap from their crisp yet loopy rhythms. Unfortunately, I believe they were buying into the whole rock star ethos, instead of remaining true to their roots rock roots, trying to play louder, bigger and...well, we see what happened.

I'm glad Dan's been successful with the kids stuff...he's got a great website, and it seems that he's happy and healthy creating real music aimed for young'uns that can be enjoyed by adults as well. More power to him. I hear he still sees and/or plays with Tom from time to time...don't know what happened to Warren and Woody...but god bless the band who gave us "The Sound of Our Town"!