I went to high school with a kid who absolutely loved Ray Parker, Jr. Most of us were huge Parliament, Cameo and Heatwave fans but he was always arguing about how great Raydio and Ray Parker, Jr. were. I was kind of hit or miss with him back then but the hits were home runs. I'm a bigger fan now than I was 40 years ago. Man, that sounds like a long time ago.

The instrumental "For Those Who Like To Groove" was the jam in my junior year. And the first Raydio album had "Jack and Jill" and "Going Thru School And Love", which are two of my favorite records from that era of my life. Raydio was instantly recognizable because the bass was effected with a wah effect that rivaled Bootsy's.

I have three of his/their albums but only a greatest hits CD and the CD doesn't have all of his good songs on it. If I recall, he was actually doing sessions with established artists when he was a teenager. I remember when he actually caused a stir when he performed "Bad Boy" and threw the lyrics "whip me, spank me" and people inferred that he was talking about masochism. Those would be the tamest lyrics in any of today's songs and not even get a blink.

The Huey Lewis lawsuit was a joke. Parker's legal team showed where the disputed riff was originally heard in M's "Pop Muzik". If I was him, I would have given M attribution via a writer's credit and let Lewis cut his own throat with the lawsuit. How the judge or jury ruled against him when it was clear that Lewis riffed the song originally is beyond me.

By the way: If you watch "Uptown Saturday Night", he's playing with a band at a picnic scene late in the movie.