Greg Kihn Releases Greg Kihn Band;Best of Beserkley, ’75-’84
New Disc Features 21 Remastered Hits from the Legendary 80’s Rocker
April 1, 2012, San Francisco, CA – Legendary 80’s rocker, Greg Kihn, is proud to announce the release of his new album, Greg Kihn Band: Best of Beserkley, ’75-’84, as both hardcopy CD and digital download. Best of Beserkley, ’75-’84’s 21-tracks features 19 Greg Kihn remastered original hits drawn from Greg’s eight-of-nine full-length Beserkley Records studio albums, including The Breakup Song (They Don’t Write ‘em Like That), Jeopardy, Happy Man and Reunited, along with two tribute tracks to Bruce Springsteen (long considered one of Greg’s biggest musical influences), Rendezvous and For You.
In the late 80’s, Beserkley Records sold the original Greg Kihn Band master recordings, along with the rest of the Beserkley Records catalog. After many years of legal wranglings, Greg finally obtained the rights to release his back catalog from this seminal era of his musical career. Existing diehard and new fans who have followed Greg Kihn from the beginning of his career as a folkie/pop-rock troubadour to one of the most recognizable and popular Gold-selling video Rock Stars during MTV’s 1980’s glory years will want to add this essential compilation to their classic rock music collection.
Beserkley Records is credited as being one of the first successful American Punk Rock Indie Record Labels, established in 1973 in Berkeley, California, releasing albums by Earth Quake, Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers, The Rubinoos and the label’s biggest breakthrough artist, Greg Kihn. Beginning with his third album, Next of Kihn (1978), Greg continually ‘charted’ in America thanks to regular FM radio airplay. By 1981 Greg Kihn’s “The Breakup Song (They Don’t Write ‘Em)” from Rockihnroll (1981), broke the Top 40 and his fifth and sixth albums, Kihntinued (1982) and Kihnspiracy (1983), all reached the Top 40 on the LP charts. Greg’s 1983 single “Jeopardy” became Beserkley Records’ biggest hit, peaking on the Billboard Charts at #2, (#1 on Billboard Dance and International Charts), achieving Gold sales status for Kihnspiracy (over 500,000 units sold), and mainstream recognition. This was due, in large part, to “Jeopardy becoming one of early-MTV’s most popular music videos. “Jeopardy” featured Greg and band in a scripted play-acted scenario, with elaborate special effects, that reinvented the music video into a micro story-telling genre, influencing other elaborate and grandiose productions, such as Michael Jackson’s Thriller, and countless others.
According to Greg, “It’s said ‘if you can remember the 60’s you weren’t there,’ and now that I reflect on being a Beserkley Records recording artist almost four decades after I first signed with the label, I realize that when I try to recall those years, much has been lost in the fog of age. I mean, after all, we did refer to the label as ‘Rather Ripped Records’ after closing time… But, I digress… These songs really represent and bring back all of the best memories of my achievements and peaks of my musical career during the carefree halcyon heydays as a Beserkley Records recording artist… when everything was safe, nothing was dangerous and we were all young and immortal. I can clearly hear, feel and experience that unbridled excitement and exuberance in each track, more so now that I’ve painstakingly remastered each and every song, and I am sure you, fair listener, will, as well.”
Greg Kihn Band: Best of Beserkley, ’75-’84, released through Riot Media/Records, can be purchased through GregKihn.com, iTunes at http://itunes.gregkihn.com, Amazon.com at http://amazon.gregkihn.com and other online digital and CD music retailers.
You must be logged in to post a comment.