Okay, I will admit it--John Waite was the cause of another of those
"Gods, I'm unobservant" moments for me. I knew him from his solo
mega-hit "Missing You," and I knew Bad English from their song "When I
See You Smile," but it took me a truly embarrassing amount of time to
make the connection between them and realize that it was the same man
singing on both songs. 
Fortunately, I did eventually put two and two together, thanks to a
nudge in the right direction from (wait for it...) VH-1 Classic. And,
in fact, after seeing the videos for two more Bad English songs
("Forget Me Not" and "Heaven Is A 4-Letter Word") I started to get
really interested in this band. I bought the two CDs they put out, and
I have to say that it's a pity the group didn't last any longer than
that, because they did some great stuff together. I've heard people
complain about "When I See You Smile," claiming that it's too syrupy
or sentimental or whatever, but it's not exactly typical of the band,
either; there's a lot of stuff on both Bad
English and Backlash
that rocks pretty hard. And while most of the songs are credited to
multiple authors, I suspect that John Waite himself was responsible
for a good chunk of the lyrics--and if that truly is the case, then I
have to give a metaphorical tip of the hat to the man for coming up
with some of the most poetic sexual euphemisms that I've ever heard on
a rock record! 
I have to admit, though, that John himself is one of the main reasons
I like Bad English as much as I do. No one can deny that he's a
talented man, but I think he has a lot of sex appeal, as well. I mean,
have you ever heard him talk? I hadn't until recently, and dear
Gods--that not-quite-Scottish accent of his just sent me swooning from
the get-go. Then there's those smoldering eyes, and one can't forget
all that utterly gorgeous, dark red hair... I confess that I drool so
much over Bad English videos almost solely because he looked soooooo
hot with long hair. 
And on top of everything else, he played bass for a while, though I'm
given to understand that he gave it up to concentrate on singing when
his first band, The Babys, broke up...
), and on top of everything else, I'm pretty certain that he, ah, does all his own stunts, so to speak... that was one lucky girl... 
)
