Cal Vid's video: Dr Hook Cover of Rolling Stone 50-Year Anniversary Sexy Eyes

Issue no. 131 of Rolling Stone magazine was published 50 years ago, on March 29, 1973, and featured Dr. Hook & The Medicine Show on the cover. Sexy Eyes by Dr. Hook (2:48) was released as a single in early 1980. The song was their last Top 10 single. From their LP Sometimes You Win, the single reached No. 5 on the US Billboard Hot 100, tying it with "Sylvia's Mother" as the highest-charting song for the band, and was certified Gold by the RIAA. Ray Sawyer is Dr. Hook & The Medicine Show's member who sang the 1973 Shel Silverstein-penned hit “The Cover of ‘Rolling Stone.'” The singer died at the age of 81 in December 2018 in Daytona Beach, Florida following a brief illness. The Alabama-born Sawyer was a member of Dr. Hook & The Medicine Show from 1969 to 1981. A few years before the band’s formation, Sawyer lost his right eye in a car accident; Sawyer wore an eyepatch that made him resemble the Peter Pan villain Captain Hook, which served as the inspiration for the Dr. Hook moniker. In 1970, Dr. Hook & The Medicine Show’s demo tapes wound up in the hands of author and songwriter Shel Silverstein, who recruited the band to become a vessel for his music: The group would turn Silverstein-written tracks like “Sylvia’s Mother” and “The Cover of ‘Rolling Stone'” into hits and released two albums of Silverstein-penned songs, 1971’s Dr. Hook and 1972’s Sloppy Seconds. Following their Silverstein partnership, the band shortened their name to Dr. Hook and enjoyed a string of hit singles in the mid-to-late-Seventies, including “Only Sixteen,” “A Little Bit More,” “Sexy Eyes” and “When You’re in Love With a Beautiful Woman,” which became a Number One hit in the United Kingdom. Bruce Springsteen also notably served as Dr. Hook’s opening act in 1973. Best Classic Bands article: Dr. Hook on ‘Cover of the Rolling Stone’: 50 Years Ago Whatever you thought of the song itself, you had to acknowledge that it was one of the greatest marketing ideas in the history of rock music: a band records a song about its burning desire to make it to the cover of Rolling Stone magazine and… ultimately achieves its goal! Genius! It wasn’t easy though. As Dr. Hook prepared its second album—also written entirely by Silverstein—it became obvious which song was the standout: “The Cover of the Rolling Stone.” Rolling Stone magazine was only five years old in 1972, as Dr. Hook looked ahead at its options, but it had already become a very big deal in the counterculture. Coverage by the magazine could boost a band’s career while being ignored or shunned would paint a rock band as too unhip for consideration. “The Cover of the Rolling Stone,” with lead vocals by Sawyer, wasn’t quite serious but neither was it parody. Regardless of how popular a band might become, the lyrics went, they were still nothing until they experienced “the thrill we’ve never known…the thrill that’ll gitcha when you get your picture on the cover of the Rollin’ Stone.” Columbia Records had argued with the band about some of the lyrical content—“We take all kinds of pills that give us all kind of thrills” and “I got a freaky ole lady name a cocaine Katy”—but the song was released as a single nonetheless, and on December 2, 1972, it had begun its climb, peaking at in Billboard the week of March 17, 1973. The gamble had paid off: Dr. Hook had staying power. While the song was ascending the singles chart, the group’s manager, Ron Haffkine, met with Rolling Stone’s editor and publisher, Jann Wenner, convincing him that the band was basically providing a radio commercial for his magazine. Wenner was persuaded and sent young reporter Cameron Crowe to interview Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show. You’ll note that although Wenner put Dr. Hook on the cover, he avoided mentioning them by name. Dr. Hook continued to find success—there were four further top 10 singles and a string of charting albums—into the early ’80s, but to many rock fans they remain best known for that one impossible feat: singing their way onto the cover of the most popular rock magazine ever created. Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show (shortened to Dr. Hook in 1975) was formed in Union City, New Jersey. The American rock band had commercial success in the 1970s with hit singles "Sylvia's Mother", "The Cover of 'Rolling Stone'" (both 1972), "Only Sixteen" (1975), "A Little Bit More" (1976), "Sharing the Night Together" (1978), "When You're in Love with a Beautiful Woman" (1979), "Better Love Next Time" (1979), and "Sexy Eyes" (1980). The band had eight years of hits in the United States. music, spanning novelty songs, acoustic ballads, and soft rock, was played on Top 40, easy listening, and country music outlets throughout the English-speaking world. The founding core of the band consisted of George Cummings, Ray Sawyer, and Billy Francis, and primary vocalist Dennis Locorriere, who initially joined as a bass player.