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. Jeannette and Pete Sears wrote a song for the album called “One More Innocent”, though it was rejected for its political lyrics. (More from Wikipedia)
Pete Sears of the Sons of Fred moved to San Francisco after he was asked to be a founding member of Jefferson Starship as bass guitarist and keyboardist. Sears played with the band from 1974 to 1984 and was also on the debut album by Starship, Knee Deep in the Hoopla (1985). As of 2014, Sears sometimes appears as a guest musician at Jefferson Starship concerts. Pete Sears also played with Hot Tuna from 1992 to 2001.
(March 2014/2)
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When Paul Kantner left Jefferson Starship in 1984, this last remaining founding member of Jefferson Airplane settled out of court with the other bandmembers that any use of the terms “Jefferson” or “Airplane” was forbidden unless all members of Jefferson Airplane, Inc. agreed. (You could tell that it wasn’t the 1960’s anymore when there is such a thing as “Jefferson Airplane, Inc.”). As a result, the 1985 album Knee Deep in the Hoopla was released under the name Starship. This band had more of a pop sound than either Jefferson Airplane or Jefferson Starship but was also the most successful: The first two tracks on the album, “We Built this City” and “Sara” hit Number One on the Billboard singles charts; and a third Number One, “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now” came out in 1987. When Grace Slick left the band for good in 1988, the last tie to Jefferson Airplane was severed.
(June 2014)
