a thread to salute the enduring awesomeness of "this beat goes on/switchin' to glide"

i always forget its by The Kings....it seems like an ELO song, I'm sure I'm not the only person that makes that mistake.

free the kings!

i mean, just look at those guys. hanging out in one of their basement rec rooms. they just want their video on youtube!

poor dudes.

(video still available on their own website.)

I'm frustrated at all of the videos being purged from YouTube, but I guess that is to be expected.

Anyway - I NEVER hear this one on classic rock radio where I live. Is it not "hard" enough?

Now that I hear it again, I can see getting tired of it really fast, much like the Cars.

Original version. I had no idea...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4aQS-yTw0x0&feature=related

holy fuck, just heard this ("switchin' to glide") for the first time (somehow, spotify radio got me there from, i think, "Long Tall Glasses" by Leo Sayer), what a kickass song! Pretty close to what I would like an imaginary Doctor Casino Band to sound like, this totally rockin' keyboard-based attack, lyrically vague but fully supportive of fist-pumping and stridency.

Appropriately, i snagged a vinyl copy of The Kings Are Here during my trip to Teronna last month.

the whole first section is a real t-rex boogie.

this is funny because their song "Unstoppable" is a really flagrant lift of "Bang a Gong" in the verse section!

Bob Ezrin production!

This song is controlling my life!

The video discussed upthread is now here: http://www.thekingsarehere.com/thisbeatswitchin.php , if I'm not mistaken. It's really very sweet. All those latter-day reunion-type state fair concerts become beautiful and determined and uplifting when they're intercut with the same dudes at like 22, on American Bandstand, unable to believe their luck. God bless 'em.

Does this song get played at 5 pm on every Friday on at least 1 classic rock station in every town in America? They are at least 15 years running on this tradition here.

It does in Cleveland!

Energy can be directed
I'm turning it UP I'm turning it dowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwn

Fucking love this song so much. It was all over the radio in 1980-81; in fact, I vividly remember it as being the first non-Beatles/Lennon song WLS-AM played after John's death (which is to say, a week after John's death -- it was wall-to-wall Beatles for days).

lunatics anonymous -- that's where i belong

i'm on a road trip right now and this was such a jam today

how . . . have i never heard this before

I only just heard it/them for the first time a year or so ago. A very 'stop in my tracks and cock my head like a dog' moment, fer shure.

Did/does it get airplay outside of Canada?

I dunno about airplay but this american has loved this song for years. Its on one of those rhino 80s comps i think?

Yeah, the second song of the pair is in one of the Just Can't Get Enough comps. You should check out the entire two-part epic if you haven't yet, Shakes.

Q: Has this song been used in an advertisement for Glide brand dental floss yet, and if not, why not?

Its been a radio staple in Michigan since it was released, but that's pretty much Canada...

Nothing matters but the weekend...
from a Tuesday point of view.

Never knew this was well-liked or even that it got any play outside Canada. Love it obv.

I'm an American (Georgia) and never once heard this on the radio - know it from some ILX recommendation years back. But I remember some high school punks in the late 90s discussing whether The Kings were punk; I thought they were saying The Kinks and they thought I was a non-punk square. So they must have had some kind of visibility somehow.

Cleveland's WNCX has, for years and years now, played this song and Springsteen's "Born to Run" every Friday at 5pm. Competing station WMMS plays the Earth Quake cover of "Friday On My Mind" and Rundgren's "Bang On The Drum."

The rest of The Kings' album is pretty great sorta New Wave, sorta power pop 80s rock, btw. My fave of the deep cuts:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ZU33au_p04

A pair of Detroit morning jocks did a parody of "Switchin' To Glide", along with a bunch of others that always seemed to be about beer. This was back in the late-70's, when the song was still a radio hit. The singer in this case had the on-air persona of a professional wrestler named Dick the Bruiser. The transition occurs at 2:35.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=207&v=A1B9ZHytLXM

Yup, I remember Run Shoes Running was also my fave when I checked out the album! I should give it another listen.

Did/does it get airplay outside of Canada?

― Police, Academy (cryptosicko), Monday, August 6, 2018 10:04 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

It was played several times a day (or at least, it seemed like it...which was fine, because it rules) on WLS in Chicago in '80-'81. But I can't remember the last time I heard it on the radio either in the midwest or northeast.

rules

you know, i saw them not too long ago in a rare visit of theirs to the states. they ruled!

they also visited wfmu:

https://wfmu.org/playlists/shows/90773