“Video killed the radio star.”
- The Buggles
A couple of days ago, in the One-Hit Wonder discussion, The Warrior by the band Scandal was referenced. It was the highest charting the band had and it came off their second album titled Warrior which was released in 1984. But, there was life before that. Scandal, was essentially, the vocalist and personality, Patty Smyth. Without her, there was nothing happening. I know this because I was paying attention, due to the debilitating crush I had on her when their first album came out in 1982. A little known fact, possibly, is that Jon Bon Jovi played guitar in the band briefly in 1983. Thankfully he left before he could ruin the whole enterprise.
Their first album, a self-titled EP, was released in 1982. It contained the song Goodbye to You, whose video was in heavy rotation on the newly launched cultural phenomenon, MTV. I was smitten with her and her vocals. She was a great rock and roll chick. Scandal broke up soon after their second album, internal strife, creative differences - you know, the usual stuff. Patty's friend, Eddie Van Halen, asked her to join his band as vocalist to replace the recently departed David Lee Roth. Eight months pregnant at the time, she declined saying, “It was just not the right time for me. I was a New Yorker. I didn't want to live in LA…and those guys were drunk and fighting all the time.”
She released four solo albums between 1987 and 1994 with some success. She had a # 2 charting hit, a duet with Don Henley called Sometimes Love Just Ain't Enough. She also had a fine cover of Tom Waits' Downtown Train that barely charted. That was three years prior to Rod Stewart crooning it for a hit. Her's was better. There's no explaining the music business
In 1997, Patty married John McEnroe. Yes, tennis player John “You cannot be serious!” McEnroe. That one. They're still married. Almost 30 years married to John McEnroe…that has to be her greatest achievement.