Hard at Play is the sixth album by American rock band Huey Lewis and the News. It was released in 1991 on EMI for most of the world and Chrysalis in the UK. Hard at Play peaked at number 27 on the Billboard 200 pop albums chart and produced two top 40 singles, "Couple Days Off" and "It Hit Me Like a Hammer". Music videos were released for "It Hit Me like a Hammer", "Couple Days Off", and "He Don't Know".Hard at Play is the sixth album by American rock band Huey Lewis and the News. It was released in 1991 on EMI for most of the world and Chrysalis in the UK. Hard at Play peaked at number 27 on the Billboard 200 pop albums chart and produced two top 40 singles, "Couple Days Off" and "It Hit Me Like a Hammer". Music videos were released for "It Hit Me like a Hammer", "Couple Days Off", and "He Don't Know".false2025-11-07 21:03:07Hard at Play19911991-01-011991-01-0146PopPop Rock112695212011071a26f00-8b4e-4d7c-bf9c-aff6eb2ebd722be6ae30-d220-4419-80da-2a46813ed872d5bd766e-12f9-3510-8d56-dd1b5c82474d/media/data/media5/Music/Huey Lewis and the News/Hard at Play/folder.jpgHuey Lewis and the NewsHuey Lewis and the NewsHuey Lewis and the News is an American rock band based in San Francisco, California. They had a run of hit singles during the 1980s and early 1990s, eventually achieving 19 top ten singles across the Billboard Hot 100, Adult Contemporary, and Mainstream Rock charts. Their sound draws upon earlier pop, rhythm & blues and doo-wop artists, and their own material has been labeled as blue-eyed soul, new wave, power pop, and roots rock.
The group's first two albums were well-received, with Huey Lewis's personal charisma as a frontman gaining notice from publications such as The Washington Post, but they struggled to find a wide audience. Their most successful album, Sports, was released in 1983. The album, along with its music videos being featured on MTV, catapulted the group to worldwide fame. Their popularity significantly expanded when the song "The Power of Love" was featured in the 1985 film Back to the Future. "The Power of Love" reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song at the 58th Academy Awards. The group's 1986 album, Fore!, produced two further number-one singles in "Stuck with You" and "Jacob's Ladder". The band's other top-ten hits, all from the 1980s, include "Do You Believe in Love", "Heart and Soul", "I Want a New Drug", "The Heart of Rock & Roll", "If This Is It", "Hip to Be Square", "I Know What I Like", "Doing It All for My Baby" and "Perfect World".
The group is currently inactive as a performing and recording unit, having halted all touring and recording in 2018 after it was revealed that Lewis had Ménière's disease, an inner ear disorder. In 2020, they released Weather, which contains songs the band recorded prior to Lewis's hearing loss.