U.S. Billboard Hot 100 Peak Position No. 50
Backstory: This rock band best known for their wacky original novelty songs, covers, and parodies, among with basic non-funny rock tunes, was formed in Ipswich, Massachusetts in the mid 70's. In 1979, they released a parody of the Talking Heads "Psycho Killer" called "Psycho Chicken". In fact they even made the original version of the Dr. Demento classic tune, "Life Sucks, Then You Die" later in 1985 off of their great World Dance Party album on the independent PVC Records label. In 1980, they released their first hit single off of their album Sold Out on EMI America Records called, "It's A Night For Beautiful Girls". It peaked at No. 67. A year later, they released this cover of the Roy Orbison No. 1 classic from 1961, where it peaked right smack dab in the middle of the Hot 100, becoming their second and last hit song. They still perform regularly to this day, and a humorous book called Psycho Chicken and Other Foolish Tales was even written about them by author Mike Girard, and it was released in 2010. They're definitely an interesting group that you should totally check out.
The Review: This is an absolutely great and faithful rendition of the Roy Orbison classic. Should've been a Top 30 hit. While the cover version doesn't really add anything new or more, it is still a brilliant short and sweet listen. Wish I owned the single.
Final rating: 9/10
And as always, don't forget to comment down your opinion on this tune below.
I loved "Psycho Chicken" but had no idea who recorded it. And this cover of "Running Scared" is great, too. I know "Life Sucks, Then You Die," too, but I didn't associate it with any band. Great find!
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