The Cretones

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The Cretones were a Los Angeles based new wave and power pop group in the early 1980s. Led by singer/guitarist & former Eddie Boy Band member Mark Goldenberg, who also wrote the bulk of The Cretones' material, the group had a strong sense of melody and a lyrical wit that placed them a cut above most of their new wave peers.

They had one single which charted on the Billboard Magazine Hot 100: "Real Love" in the spring of 1980, which was from their first album "Thin Red Line". The song "Empty Heart" from their second album "Snap Snap" was their only other song to receive significant airplay on album rock stations, but it did not chart as a single.

They are perhaps best known as the group which provided four of the songs covered by Linda Ronstadt on her 1980 new wave album, Mad Love. Although Ronstadt's covers of The Cretones' songs lacked the edge & angst of the band's original versions, her softer approach did serve to highlight Mark Goldenberg's tuneful melodies.

After the band broke up, Mark Goldenberg went on to write the song "Automatic" for the Pointer Sisters which was a hit in 1984. He later toured with artists such as Peter Frampton and Chris Isaak, and had moderate success as a new-age instrumental artist in Japan. Since 1994 he has been lead guitarist for Jackson Browne. Cretones members Steve Beers and Peter Bernstein helped produce and compose the score to the TV show 21 Jump Street.