Greg Kihn, Who Scored Hits With ‘Jeopardy’ and ‘The Breakup Song,’ Dead at 75

Rolling Stone ^ | 8/15/2024 | Andy Greene

[WeaslesRippedMyFlesh]

Eighties hitmaker Greg Kihn, best remembered for his early MTV-era smashes “The Breakup Song (They Don’t Write ‘Em)” and “Jeopardy,” died Tuesday at age 75. The cause was complications of Alzheimer’s disease.

Kihn started his career as a folksy singer-songwriter in his hometown of Baltimore, but moved to San Francisco in the early 1970s where he formed the Greg Kihn Band alongside guitarist Robbie Dunbar, bassist Steve Wright, and drummer Larry Lynch. They released five albums on the indie label Beserkley Records that attracted little public attraction despite strong reviews and their reputation as a killer live act.

“The rap is, why hasn’t Greg Kihn made it yet,” he asked Rolling Stone in 1980. “I don’t know and I don’t care….I’ve given up worrying about ascending to the throne. That’s the kind of nonmusical thing that could hold a band back. Right now, though, I’d like a crack at AM [radio].”

That crack came the following year when “The Breakup Song (They Don’t Write ‘Em),” written by Kihn and Wright, reached Number 15 on the Hot 100. “I never really finished the lyrics to ‘The Breakup Song,” Kihn told Rolling Stone in 1983. “The ah ah ah‘s in the song were just filler – I intended to write words later. Then I played it for the band, and they said, ‘Wow, those are the deepest words you ever wrote.’ I tried to be cool and act like I’d planned it, but in reality, I had no idea. It took me three weeks to write a song about that. Now it takes five minutes.”

[snip]

[gnickgnack2]

Liked ‘em both, but my favorite was Remember.

Was surprised recently to find autographed pix I had taken of him. Didn’t remember seeing his act twice.

[DIRTYSECRET]

Liked him

[smokingfrog]

Lips