100 Best Albums of the Eighties

72. Marshall Crenshaw, ‘Marshall Crenshaw’

“There was such a flurry of activity at that time that I don’t actually have too many memories of making the first album,” says Marshall Crenshaw of his acclaimed debut effort, which earned him a reputation as a new master of pop-rock songcraft. “All I can remember is my co-producer, Richard Gottehrer, eating a lot of pasta and me pumping Thom Panunzio, our engineer, for stories about his days working with John Lennon.”

After all, only a few years before making his big splash, Crenshaw had been touring the United States as an ersatz John Lennon in various national companies of the successful pseudo-Fab Four musical Beatlemania. Tiring of that well-paying gig, Crenshaw decided to leave the show and work on his own music. By the summer of 1980, Crenshaw ”” who hails from the Detroit area ”” was playing his own tunes around New York City as part of a trio, with his brother Robert on drums and Chris Donato playing bass.

Crenshaw’s homemade demo caught the attention of Alan Betrock of the tiny Shake Records, who put out a twelve-inch single of “Something Gonna Happen” backed with “She Can’t Dance.” Producer Richard Gottehrer, then much in demand because of his work with the Go-Go’s, heard Crenshaw’s demo and had rockabilly singer Robert Gordon cut a number of Crenshaw’s songs. One of those covers, “Someday, Someway,” became a minor hit (reaching Number Seventy-four on the pop charts) and helped create a buzz about Crenshaw.

Before long that buzz led to a record deal with Warner Bros. Initially, Crenshaw wanted to produce his own first record, but he later agreed to bring in Gottehrer as co-producer. When Gottehrer suggested session drummer Anton Fig and bassist Will Lee for the sessions, Crenshaw insisted on sticking with his own group. “I fought to have Robert and Chris on that record,” he says, “because we’d forged a group identity and come to that point as a unit.”

There were also disagreements over what material to put on the album. “I originally didn’t want ‘Someday, Someway’ on the album,” says Crenshaw, “because I felt Robert Gordon had taken a shot with it already, and I didn’t want ‘She Can’t Dance’ on there, since it had been on our Shake single. But I gave in.”

Crenshaw and Gottehrer finished the record in five weeks at the Record Plant, in New York City ”” despite breakdowns by a steady stream of Vox amplifiers, a few of which caught fire. The final album is an alternately rousing and heartbreaking cycle of infectious pop rockers (“Cynical Girl,” “Rockin’ Around in N.Y.C.,” “She Can’t Dance”) and ballads (“Mary Anne,” “Not for Me”) ”” none of them clocking in at more than 3:07.

Critics loved the album, and it sold well. Crenshaw’s single of “Someday, Someway” briefly hit the Top Forty, peaking at Number Thirty-six.

“At the time, everyone focused on the Fifties-rock influence on my songs,” says Crenshaw. “I was widely compared to Buddy Holly ”” which is a hell of a nice compliment. But to me the real influences on that record were bands like Rockpile and Squeeze. The first album is very much a product of its time. I wasn’t trying to make my pop masterpiece, I was just trying to do a good day’s work.”