I remember in 1985 when Ready For The World came out.I love their debut album.Anybody remember jams like "Oh Sheila","Ceramic Girl","Digital Display","Tonight" and "Slide Over"? My personal favorite was the album's last track,the haunting "I'm The One Who Loves You". Their music was slammin,but it's obvious who their biggest influences were...lol...

In 1986,I was even more impressed with their second album 'Long Time Comin'.Remember the songs "Mary Goes Round" and "Do You Get Enough"? Sounds like '1999'-era Prince.

I recall Sheila E. once saying that,when she first heard "Oh Sheila" on the radio,she thought it was Prince doing a song about her! Do you think these guys were a little TOO influenced by Prince and his Minneapolis Sound?

The Attack Of The Clones? May, right?

Hehehe.

Not only that, Ready for the world, has a greatest hits album!


Um, excuse me. A Greatest Album? Ready for the.....?

Greatest Hits? Don't get me wrong, I liked the band a lot back then, but they don't have 5 legit hits, so where did this greatest hits shit come from. Unlike Bobby (King of R&B) Brown, RFTW should not have a greatest hits album, and neither should the following:

UTFO
Carmen Electra
Tone Loc
10,000 Maniacs
The Weather Girls
The Fixx
Tears for Fears(those was some ugly as dudes man)
Terrence Trent D'arby
UB40


ô¿ô

Actually,RFTW had enough hits to fill up a compilation...


"Tonight"(1985)
"Deep Inside Your Love"(1985)
"Oh Sheila"(1985)
"Digital Display"(1985)
"Slide Over"(1985)
"Ceramic Girl"(1985)
"Love You Down"(1986)
"Mary Goes 'Round"(1986)
"Long Time Coming"(1986)
"Here I Am"(1986)
"My Girly"(1988)
"Gently"(1988)
"Straight Down To Business"(1991)

All of those songs were the singles from their four albums,and several of them ("Oh Sheila" and "Love You Down") were huge pop hits,too.And,if you wanna add a rare track,you can throw in their contribution to the 1987 movie 'Beverly Hills Cop 2',a funky jam called "36 Lovers"

Speaking of bands from the 80s,last night on the radio I heard The Jets' 1987 hit "You Got It All".Do you guys remember that one? That song was da shit back in the day!!

"Don't you know,don't you know,You Got It All over him,you got me over him....there's just you,you must have been heaven sent,hearing me call you when out on a limb...cause you're all that he's not,just look what I got,cause you got it all over him..."

(Reaching for my Jets Greatest Hits CD...lol...)
[This message was edited Tue Apr 23 6:29:54 PDT 2002 by DavidEye]

LOL!!! The jets live up here in Mpls, I just to have a crush on the keyboard playing sister(The tall one), by the way, The rest of the band was Ugly!!!!!

ô¿ô

There is a Prince connection with The Jets.Both acts come from Minnesota,as you pointed out.Prince was a huge fan and he offered them the song "Neon Telephone" for their second album.They rejected the song,but he still allowed them to film their "I Do You" video at Paisley Park.

They were a fun act.Too bad they only lasted a few albums.

I own the RFTW greatest hits album. If I'm not mistaken, they have two greatest hits cds out there. Billy, the first UTFO cd was slammin. I have that at home along with their second cd. Do you remember "Burning Bed." 'She burned ya Willy, she burned ya."

I rememeber in March 1986,I went to a concert featuring...

Ready For The Jets
The Jets
Doug E.Fresh & Slick Rick

It was actually a cool show:)

DavidEye said:

Ready for the Jets????

ô¿ô

RFTW was the bomb back in the 80's.

I remember when I saw Jesse Johnson live, Sheila E. was a special guest. She came out, like she always does (fine as wine) playing her percussion, and the crowd was goin' wild! She grabbed the mic and began chanting/singing "Oh Sheila", the crowd roared...and Jesse went 2 his mic and said, "Oh no, no, no...we ain't having none of that...those boys stole our sound!" LMAO!!

If I remember correctly RFTW was from San Diego, but they definately were inspired by Prince and the MN sound.

My fave tune from them was "Tonight" and "Slide Over". Used 2 make out with my girlfriend 2 those. As far as fast jams, it had 2 b "Digital Display".

RFTW is probably the most BLATANT Prince copy-cat that's ever existed-

from the "1999"-influnced drum machine usage
to their synths-as-horns techniques
to the Prince-like grunts & groans & vocal stylings of lead singer

Melvin "Jheri-curl Gigolo Number 1" Riley..


For a "funk pop" band, they were alright..
I actually saw them in concert- twice-
BUT WAIT-
I worked in a record store & I got FREE tickets to both shows!!!!! I DIDN'T PAY to see RFTW!
I wanna make that clear!

We could SMELL the jheri-curl juice from the 5th row!

After the show, we had to towel off, after having had our (involuntary) jheri-curl showers..


Actually, they were a pretty good group of musicians (I did like that 1 song, "Ceramic Girl")..
but when the "80s pop/funk" wave died in about '87, RFTW had to see the writing on the wall. I also think Keith "whiner" Sweat's 1st single "I want her" his singing voice really imitated Prince, I think that helped him get going..

Going back in the other direction, I remember a song called "Something About You" from a singer named Ebonee Webb & this song, "Something About You" sounded A LOT like "Head"- dude sang the song in a falsetto voice, the keyboard & synth lines where VERY similar to the key & synth lines in the chorus of "Head"..
It was too obvious.
If somebody copied P like that now, he'd have to be all over that person..


But, as we all know..
CREAM usually rises to the top..
The rest of it, well, you know what direction it goes in..


Still, we should all get used to the fact that today & probably for at least the next 10 years, A LOT of musicians & singers & "performers" are all going to either copy or be directly influenced by P's groundbreaking, mostly superb work of the late 70s & early-to-mid- 80s. Those exposed to P's music when they were small children or teens have been exposed to, well, you know.. the BEST P stuff..


Anyway, to finish..
everyone raise your jheri-curl activator spray
in tribute to those polished pop Prince perpetrators
Ready For The World

They sho 'nuf was slick while they lasted..

Ready For the World is my guilty pleasure! Y'all know they have a new album? LOL

I too thought that "Oh Sheila" was a Prince song when I first heard it. If you look it up on Kazaa or Morpheus a lot of the ones listed say that they are by Prince...so I guess its a common mistake!!

*****

speaking of groups. do you guys remember force md's?

June7 said:

Actually,Ready For The World were from Flint,Michigan.

misschestylarue said:

Yeah,I remember them.Their 1984 hit "Tears" is a favorite of mine.

DavidEye said:

I guess I don't remember correctly, LOL!

Still, I was in San Diego at the time of their highest popularity and much ado was made regarding some kinda San Diego connection...I guess that's why I always thought they were from there.

My favorite RFTW songs...


***"Digital Display"---This was da jam!! "I never had a girl before,with much of a figure,so excuse me if I start to play with your Digital Display".Arguably their finest moment,this single kicked ass back then!

***"I'm The One Who Loves You"---The last track on their first album,this was a haunting song with a weird stop-go beat that made it impossible to dance to...lol...nevertheless,it's an intoxicating track that borrows ALOT from Prince's 1982-83 period.

***"Ceramic Girl"---another highlight of the debut album.

***"Slide Over"---Everyone was going crazy over the first single "Tonight",but imo,this is the superior track.It's a sexy slow jam with suggestive lyrics.

***"Baby(Let Me Love You)"---I remember a critic likening this song to "Little Red Corvette" and there are similariites.The lyrics aren't that great,but musically,this song is fantastic! The percussion effects,the haunting synths,the multi-tracked lead vocals make this a gem.

***"In My Room"---another sexy slow jam that sizzles

***"Mary Goes 'Round"---Sounding like '1999'-era Prince,this is still a great track."Waiting in my Porsche,I really thought you'd be there soon/I guess I shoulda known,you'd be in everyone's room". (THAT sounds like a classic Prince line to me....lol...)

***"Some People Don't Care"---Their funkiest jam of all!!! WHY,WHY,WHY wasn't this released as a single??!!

***"Do You Get Enough?"---Another Prince-sounding jam