Knee Deep in the Hoopla

Knee Deep in the Hoopla
Studio album by Starship
Released	September 10, 1985
Recorded	1984–1985 at the Record Plant, Sausalito and the Music Grinder, Los Angeles
Genre	Arena rock, pop rock, AOR, melodic rock
Length	40:10
Label	Grunt/RCA
Producer	Peter Wolf, Jeremy Smith, Dennis Lambert (exec)
Starship chronology
Knee Deep in the Hoopla (1985) No Protection (1987)No Protection1987
Singles from Knee Deep in the Hoopla
"We Built This City" Released: August 1, 1985[1] "Sara" Released: December 1985 "Tomorrow Doesn't Matter Tonight" Released: 1986 "Before I Go" Released: 1986

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[2]

Knee Deep in the Hoopla is the 1985 debut album by Starship, the successor band to Jefferson Starship. It was certified platinum by the RIAA, and is best remembered for spawning the No. 1 hits "We Built This City" and "Sara"; The album's title comes from a lyric of the former.

The track "Desperate Heart," written by Michael Bolton and Randy Goodrum, also appears on Bolton's album Everybody's Crazy, released the same year. Two Grace Slick-sung tracks were recorded for but left off the album: Slick's own "Do You Remember Me?" (released on The Best of Grace Slick) and the Peter Wolf-Jeremy Smith composition "Casualty" (included as a bonus track on the 1999 remaster). Jeannette and Pete Sears wrote a song for the album called "One More Innocent," though it was rejected for its political lyrics.^[3]

Tracks

Personnel

• Mickey Thomas – vocals
• Grace Slick – vocals
• Donny Baldwin – drums, electronic drums, vocals
• Craig Chaquico – guitars
• Pete Sears – bass guitar, synth bass

Additional personnel

• Peter Wolf – keyboards
• Les Garland – DJ voice on "We Built This City"
• Peter Beckett, J. C. Crowley, Siedah Garrett, Ina Wolf – additional background vocals on "Tomorrow Doesn't Matter Tonight" and "Love Rusts"
• Kevin Dubrow – additional vocal on "Rock Myself to Sleep"
• Dave Jenkins – additional background vocal on "Desperate Heart"
• Simon Climie, Lorraine Devon, Phillip Ingram, Martin Page, Chris Sutton, Oren Waters – additional background vocals on "Love Rusts"

Production

• Peter Wolf – producer, arrangements
• Jeremy Smith – producer, engineer
• Dennis Lambert – executive producer
• Skip Johnson – production coordinator
• Bill Thompson – manager
• Bill Bottrell – mixing engineer on "We Built This City"
• Tom Size – additional engineering
• Paul Ericksen, Dana Chappelle, David Luke, Maureen Droney – assistant engineers
• Stephen Marcussen – mastering engineer
• Raess Design (Ted Raess) – art, design
• Bill Robbins – photography
• Recorded at The Plant Studios, Sausalito, CA; The Music Grinder, Los Angeles, CA
• Mixed at Fantasy Studios, Berkeley, CA
• "We Built This City" re-mixed at The Soundcastle, L. A.
• Mastered at Precision Lacquer, Los Angeles

Singles

• "We Built This City" (1985)
• "Sara" (1986)
• "Tomorrow Doesn't Matter Tonight" (1986)
• "Before I Go" (1986)

Charts

Album

Singles

References