Saxiest hits!

August 1, 2011 11:04 PM

I have a problem. I've lately been addicted to the most cheesy, lame, overdramatic sax-heavy songs of the '70 and '80s. Help me find more.

Though there's been arguments that I'm silly for indulging myself like this, I can't help but love a wailing, overdramatic sax solo/instrumental. The only trouble is my selection is limited. That's where you all come in.

I want to know your favorite, over the top hits of the day. If you need reference, here's the kind of stuff I'm looking for.

posted by this one is danny to Media & Arts (29 answers total)

cheesy? lame? you mean, you want recordings like "Who Can It Be Now", by Men At Work, not like "Waiting On A Friend" by the Stones?
posted by thelonius at 11:11 PM on August 1, 2011

To explicitly identify your example links for the folks who won't click them, (and because I thought "Baker Street!" before I clicked through to More Inside), you linked to "You Belong to the City," "Baker Street," "Careless Whisper," and "Harden my Heart" as the stuff you're looking for.

Does it have to have started out as saxy, saxy music, or is the John Tesh Project's Sax by the Fire sufficient to set your boat afloat?
posted by mumkin at 11:38 PM on August 1, 2011 [1 favorite]

I seem to remember there being a sax in In The City, but I can't listen to check
posted by Lovecraft In Brooklyn at 11:44 PM on August 1, 2011

Best answer: Maneater - Hall and Oates

Smooth Operator - Sade (cheese factor is debatable)

Never Tear Us Apart - INXS

Urgent - Foreigner

Rio - Duran Duran

Only the Lonely - The Motels


For some brilliant cinematic cheese involving saxophones, check out The Lost Boys and St. Elmo's Fire.

Thank you for the 'Careless Whisper' earworm.
posted by corey flood at 12:19 AM on August 2, 2011 [1 favorite]

obvious, but Pink Floyd's Money.

less obvious, but Us and Them
posted by mannequito at 12:37 AM on August 2, 2011

On the cinematic cheese front, An Unmarried Woman is almost worth watching simply for how over-the-top 70s-esque much of the score is. See here and here.

Also, this may make you regret mentioning Careless Whisper. Enjoy.
posted by thisjax at 1:02 AM on August 2, 2011

Candy Dulfer

"Lily was here"
"Sax-a-go-go"
"pick up the pieces"

etc.etc. :)
posted by alchemist at 1:31 AM on August 2, 2011

Here are a few although I would not classify any of these songs as cheesy or lame, except for 'Don't Answer Me', which is a bit overdramatic for my tastes

Al Stewart - Year of the Cat
Alan Parsons Project - Don't Answer Me

and two by Styx

Why Me
She cares
posted by carlsdad at 2:21 AM on August 2, 2011

Not the cheesiest out there, but probably overdramatic enough: Anthony Thistlethwaite's sax for The Waterboys - see for example A Girl Called Johnny, The Whole of the Moon, Don't Bang the Drum.
posted by misteraitch at 2:25 AM on August 2, 2011

'Year Of The Cat' also takes us into the land of flute rock, which is off topic
posted by thelonius at 2:36 AM on August 2, 2011

A friend (and fellow mefite) also had this affliction recently, so I'll say the same thing to you that I said to her:

"You Belong to the City" by Glenn Frey.
posted by Diag at 2:43 AM on August 2, 2011

That was not Glenn Frey's first pop excursion to Saxville -- try The One You Love.
posted by JanetLand at 2:59 AM on August 2, 2011 [1 favorite]

Boomtown Rats 'Rat trap'
posted by monkey closet at 3:53 AM on August 2, 2011

I'm brain-dead at the moment and my connection is painfully slow so I can't check if you've mentioned it in your post, but this Clarence Clemons song fits your criteria.
posted by malibustacey9999 at 4:15 AM on August 2, 2011 [1 favorite]

Best answer: I Wonder Why by Curtis Stigers is so full of cheesy sax that I feel compelled to mention it even though it was released in 1991 and doesn't quite meet your 70s/80s criteria.
posted by whatideserve at 5:31 AM on August 2, 2011

Hazel O'Connor - Will You? for sleazy cheesy.

Also, strictly less pure sax but I bet you'll love this.
posted by dirm at 6:05 AM on August 2, 2011 [2 favorites]

Maybe Bob Seger's 'Turn the Page'?
posted by box at 6:41 AM on August 2, 2011

This list would be incomplete without a tip o' the hat to Sexy Sax Man!
posted by bunji at 6:42 AM on August 2, 2011 [1 favorite]

Sade's entire Diamond Life album might fit the bill. It's really, really great...and somewhat cheesy.
posted by Holygrail2 at 7:03 AM on August 2, 2011

"Rise" by Herb Alpert is the quintessential saxy 70's song.
posted by heatvision at 7:03 AM on August 2, 2011

Best answer: How about something a little more contemporary?
Gayngs - The Gaudy Side of Town
posted by Vhanudux at 7:11 AM on August 2, 2011

Did I mention I love cheesy 80's music?

"Glamorous Life" by Sheila E
"What You Need" by INXS
"True" by Spandau Ballet
"Caribbean Queen" by Billy Ocean
"The Heat is On" by Glenn Frey
"Dance Hall Days" by Wang Chung
"Young Americans" by David Bowie
"If You Leave" by OMD
"Roll with It" by Steve Winwood
"Endless Summer Nights" by Richard Marx
"Lost in Emotion" by Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam
"Never Surrender" by Corey Hart
"It Must Be Love" by Madness
"Captain of Her Heart" by Double
"Back in Time" and "Heart of Rock N' Roll" by Huey Lewis & the News
"Electric Blue" by Icehouse
posted by heatvision at 7:50 AM on August 2, 2011 [1 favorite]

Oh yeah, and after he first went solo, Sting teamed up with Branford Marsalis, so his first few albums are quite sax heavy. Check 'em out.
posted by heatvision at 7:51 AM on August 2, 2011

'Through the Barricades' - Spandau Ballet, terribly earnest but still cheese-tastic.
posted by freya_lamb at 8:27 AM on August 2, 2011

dirm: "Also, strictly less pure sax but I bet you'll love this."

I can categorically state that if you like the way horns sound, you will not be disappointed in dirm's link.
posted by ob1quixote at 9:09 AM on August 2, 2011

You might get some ideas from this goofy 80's sax solos website. They're not all sax all the way through, but there sure are a lot of them and they're organized by year!
posted by fussbudget at 10:51 AM on August 2, 2011 [1 favorite]

Big D'oh! My apologies for not clicking your link.
posted by fussbudget at 10:52 AM on August 2, 2011

Response by poster: Thank you everyone! Especially big thanks to the people showing me that its not all 70s and 80s, and for giving me an image of sweaty ol' Tim Cappello in The Lost Boys that will be lurking in the corners of my brain for the rest of my life.
posted by this one is danny at 11:24 AM on August 2, 2011 [1 favorite]

There is awesomely cheezy Clarence Clemmons sax all over Lady Gaga's Born This Way.
This Sisters of Mercy B-Side features the elusive goth sax.
posted by andrewzipp at 1:23 PM on August 2, 2011 [1 favorite]