It was 1980, and Rod Stewart was, by his own admission, a bit of a mess. He’d just come off the massive, glittery high of Blondes Have More Fun, an album that turned him into a disco king but also made him a prime target for critics who thought he’d sold his rock and roll soul for a pair of spandex leggings. He needed a win. He needed to prove he wasn't just the "Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?" guy.
What we got was Foolish Behaviour.
Released on November 21, 1980, this record is a fascinating, messy, and occasionally brilliant snapshot of a superstar trying to find his feet in a new decade. It’s an album often overshadowed by what came before and what followed, but if you dig into the history of Foolish Behaviour, you find a story of excess, band democracy, and a man trying to survive the transition from the 70s to the 80s.
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The Mystery of Harry the Hook
If you look at the liner notes of the original vinyl, you won’t see "Produced by Tom Dowd" or any of the big-name hitmakers Rod usually ran with. Instead, the producer credit goes to someone named Harry the Hook.
Spoiler: It’s Rod.
Actually, it was a collective effort. Rod took on the pseudonym—a cheeky nod to his ability to write a catchy melody—and co-produced the album with "The Rod Stewart Group" and Jeremy Andrew Johns. This was a huge shift. For the first time, Rod was essentially letting his touring band run the show in the studio. Jim Cregan, Gary Grainger, Phil Chen, Kevin Savigar, and the legendary Carmine Appice weren't just backing musicians; they were co-writers on almost every track.
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This democratic approach gave the album a raw, slightly unpolished feel. It lacks the slick, expensive sheen of his mid-70s hits. Honestly, that's why some people love it and others find it a bit "patchy." It sounds like a band playing in a room, which, in 1980, was a risky move when everyone else was moving toward synthesizers and drum machines.
Why Passion Still Matters
You can't talk about Foolish Behaviour without talking about "Passion." It was the lead single and, frankly, the only song from the record that truly conquered the charts, peaking at number 5 on the Billboard Hot 100.
It’s a weird song. It has this driving, almost clinical disco-rock beat (thanks to Carmine Appice’s massive bass drum sound), but it’s stripped back and colder than his previous dance hits. It felt modern. It felt like the 80s were actually happening.
The rest of the album, however, was a bit of a grab bag:
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- Better Off Dead: A lurching, Stones-y rocker that kicks things off with a punch.
- Oh God, I Wish I Was Home Tonight: This is the hidden gem. It’s a folk-rock throwback that sounds like it could have been on Gasoline Alley. It’s vulnerable, rowdy, and features some great violin work by Sid Page.
- She Won’t Dance with Me: A frantic, two-and-a-half-minute blast of energy that actually became one of the first videos played on MTV when the channel launched in 1981.
- My Girl: Not the Temptations cover. It's a sweet, soulful original that showed Rod hadn't lost his touch with a ballad.
The Excess and the Fallout
In his autobiography, Rod, Stewart is pretty blunt about this period. He blames "too many late nights, too much partying, and too many dabs of recreational cocaine" for a lack of focus during the recording sessions at The Record Plant and Cherokee Studios.
You can hear it.
There’s a sense of "anything goes" that makes the album feel a bit unfocused. Critics at the time weren't kind. They saw it as self-indulgent. They missed the tight songwriting of his early solo years. Despite the lukewarm reviews, the album still went Platinum in the US and the UK. People still wanted Rod, even if he was just "fooling around."
The Turning Point
Foolish Behaviour was a bridge. It was the end of his collaboration with that specific version of the Rod Stewart Group. By the time his next album, Tonight I'm Yours, rolled around in 1981, he had replaced most of the band, leaned harder into synth-pop, and reclaimed his spot at the top of the heap.
But looking back, there’s something more authentic about the "foolish" era. It was the last time Rod really felt like one of the boys in a rock band rather than a solo brand.
How to Listen to Foolish Behaviour Today
If you’re revisiting this record or hearing it for the first time, don't expect Every Picture Tells a Story. Expect a rock star in transition.
- Skip the hits first: Everyone knows "Passion." Start with "Oh God, I Wish I Was Home Tonight." It’s the most "real" Rod moment on the disc.
- Check out the posters: Original vinyl copies came with a massive 24" x 36" color poster. If you're a collector, that's the version you want.
- Watch the MTV history: Find the video for "She Won't Dance with Me" on YouTube. It's a time capsule of early music video aesthetics.
- Listen for the "Harry the Hook" influence: Notice the prominent drums and the raw guitar work. It's much more aggressive than his later 80s pop stuff.
The reality is that Foolish Behaviour isn't a masterpiece, but it isn't a failure either. It’s a human record made by a guy who was clearly having a lot of fun—maybe a bit too much—while trying to figure out what came next. It’s messy, loud, and quintessentially Rod.