"Change" by John Waite

English singer and songwriter John Waite has seen the upper echelons of the Top 100 in three different capacities: as a member of The Babys in the late 70s and early 80s, as a solo artist in the 80s, and as a member of the supergroup Bad English as the 80s turned into the 90s. Waite returned to making solo records, but his final chart appearance was back in 1995 when "How Did I Get By Without You?" stalled at #89.

Waite's biggest hit as a solo artist is the 80s classic, "Missing You," which spent one week at #1 in 1984. Strangely, Waite never saw the Top 10 again as a solo artist and in fact only breached the Top 40 twice more: "Tears" went to #37 in 1984 and "Every Step Of The Way" went to #25 in 1985.

"Change" is one of several tunes Waite performed that graced movie soundtracks. This great song only reached #54 in 1985, thanks to being featured in the movie Vision Quest. The song, penned by Holly Knight, originally appeared on his debut solo record, 1982's "Ignition."

"Straight To Your Heart" by Bad English

Bad English is a reunion of sorts for the classic rock outfit, The Babys, who we recently featured earlier this week. The lineup features lead singer John Waite, keyboardist Jonathan Cain (Journey), and bassist Ricky Phillips, all who played on the Babys album, "On The Edge". Rounding out Bad English were guitarist Neil Schon (Journey) and drummer Deen Castronovo (who would later join Cain and Schon in a Steve Perry-less Journey).

Their self-titled debut album was a big success, spawning the #1 smash, "When I See You Smile", and several other hits. The follow-up record was plagued by internal grumblings that the band's sound was gravitating too close to the "pop" end of the spectrum, away from the "rock" end. The band broke up before mixing of the record was complete, pretty much sealing the record's fate.

"Backlash" was the 1991 sophomore effort from supergroup Bad English.

Nevertheless, "Backlash" reached #72 on the Billboard Top 200 and its lone single almost cracked the top 40 (stalling at #42). It is one of the stronger cuts off this inconsistent album, arguably one of the catchiest rockers the band composed.

"Postcard" by The Babys

Despite a handful of minor hits in the late 70s, classic rock outfit The Babys remains generally underrated. The band "gave birth" to several notable careers in melodic rock:  lead singer John Waite had a solid solo career in the 80s and keyboardist extraordinaire Jonathan Cain (who joined the band in 1979) took to Journey. Those two plus another former member of The Babys, bassist Ricky Phillips, would hit the charts in a big way once again as Bad English in the late 80s.

The Babys released 5 studio albums in their hey day, with "On The Edge" being their last. The album marked a shift from classic rock to melodic rock more fitting to the emerging 80s sound.

"On The Edge" was released in 1980 and went to #71 on the Billboard Top 200.

"On The Edge" only generated one charting single, "Turn And Walk Away", which went to #42. Seems a fitting epitaph for the band, which broke up after this release. An unnoticed cut from this album that I thought deserved better is "Postcard" - check it out.