(An interview with Pat DiNizio by former rock critic Nestor "Nasty" Aparicio. Many thanks to "Nasty," a long-time friend of the Smithereens, for allowing us to present this March, 1990 story here.)
But for the Smithereens and singer Pat DiNizio, the five-year road led right back to where it began.
For the first video from their latest album "Smithereens 11," DiNizio did not need a bar graph to see the extent of his accomplishments.
"We shot the video for 'A Girl Like You' at the Cat Club in New York " DiNizio said. "I was the janitor there when the club opened in 1981. I painted the walls before it opened, and I used to clean the place during the day and work the coat room at night. Now here we are again."
The Smithereens, a four-man rock band with New Jersey roots was never a certified rookie sensation, so it never suffered a sophomore slump.
For now, the band is just hoping for third-time lucky with " 11."
DiNizio, who serves as the band's songwriter and main spokesman, says it is just a matter of timing that will determine if this is the album that puts the Smithereens over the top.
"We haven't gotten as much advance press as I thought we would, but who knows?'" DlNizio said. "Maybe we're old news, but I think what we've got here is as good or better than anything else that we've done."
He says it is always best to be at least a little skeptical.
The Smithercens were press darlings in 1986 when they released their debut "Especially For You." Expanding off the two hits — "Blood and Roses" and ''Behind the Wall of Sleep" — the Smithereens became one of the biggest touring bands on the college circuit once "Green Thoughts" hit the shelves.
But somehow, DiNizio, guitarist Jim Babjak, Bassist Mike Mesaros and drummer Dennis Diken -- all unlikely candidates for the cover of Teen Beat -- have remained in virtual obscurity anywhere but on campuses of higher education.
"Our work is done," DiNizio said, "If it doesn't sell, sure, there will be questions asked. Are the times changing? Are audiences tastes changing? But we certainly did everything we could.
"I feel that this is some of my best work as a songwriter and we took more time with it."
DiNizio said after "Especially for You" he had a hard time coming to terms with being forced to write songs for an album.
"Our first album was a collection of greatest hits at that time written over a five-year period," DiNizio said. "It was a special album for alot of people and still is because it really did come out of left field. It didn't, and probably still doesn't, sound like anything else out there.
"I've found that I've had to write upon demand and I've had to create artificial deadlines and develop certain techniques as a songwnter," DiNizio said. "I would go years without writing songs in the early days because there was no reason to write. Who was listening?
"Now it's more of a challenge to come up with a good song like 'A Girl Like You' or 'Blue Period.' "
The latter, a lovely ballad, was brought to life when Belinda Carlisle entered the studio to record it as a duet. The band had a great experience recording "In a Lonely Place" with Suzanne Vega on "Especially For You," and DiNizio said he had written "Blue Period" for her to begin with.
"You like to work with people who are friends because they make you feel comfortable," DiNizio said. "Her producer threw the song off of her album and we were going to record it anyway. So she came in and in 35 minutes turned in a splendid vocal performance, completely shattering myths that so-called professionals have that she can't sing.
"For her to come in and do that was an amazing thing."
DiNizio said that even more amazing was his leap from "floor sweeper to unlikely rock star.
"I'm just happy to be doing this," DiNizio said. "I could be doing what I was doing before, which was anything from picking up garbage to selling women's clothing on the third floor at Macy's. I mean, when you think of all the other possible worlds out there that await you, it just doesn't matter to me if we're huge or not as long as we're given the opportunity to do what we love to do.
"No one is setting the world on fire [making money], but we're self-employed in the best sense of the word."