Clockwise from left: Greg Sotebeer, Paul Hartwig, Dale Goulett, Jerry Brunskill, Erik Newman
Many thanks to Lorraine D. for ID'ing the guys!

Background music is "The Way" by Fastball... okay, so it ain't Limited Warranty, but YOU try finding ANYTHING about Limited Warranty on-line, much less in real life! :P

Ah, Limited Warranty... another one of those 80's pop groups with so much potential, and never given a chance... I say that because these guys had one album and that was it...

And it was a shame, too, because they were "Star Search" winners! In 1985, they won the category for best new group... other people who've won "Star Search," even those who didn't, have gone on to much bigger and better things... Rosie O'Donnell, Aaliyah, Britney Spears, Sawyer Brown, and Sam Harris, to name a few... why, oh why, couldn't have Limited Warranty? :(

LW originated in Minneapolis... at a time when Minneapolis counjured up thoughts of Prince and the Revolution, Jesse Johnson, the Time, and Apollonia 6, the Limited Warranty sound was synth-punctuated 80's pop... every week that they were on "Star Search," my toes were tapping... they were a five-piece band with two lead singers... here is the line-up from the inside cover of their 1986 self-titled debut on Atco Records:

Erik Newman: guitars
Greg Sotebeer: lead vocals and bass guitar
Dale Goulett: lead vocals and guitars
Paul Hartwig: keyboards and vocals
Jerry Brunskill: drums and vocals

I know that these names don't mean a thing to y'all, but these are the names that go with the faces on the title graphic (and they are cute faces indeed!)... I really thought that they would go places after being on "Star Search," especially since their first single, "Victory Line," hit the Billboard charts at #79 with a bullet (such a debut usually results in Top 20 chart position the following week)... but Atlantic Records, parent company of Atco, was too caught up in promoting pop metal bands to care about Limited Warranty... this was by no means Atco's stance; they were behind LW all the way, but big bad Atlantic called all the shots... >(

LW's debut album didn't make a dent on the Billboard Top 50 (as far as I knew), and it ended up in bargain bins and used music bins all over... I bought my copy of the LW album used on tape years after the group had faded from the scene... I still listen to it as often as I can, and I wish that it had been released as a CD...

The songs on the Limited Warranty debut album were:

Side One
"Last To Know"
"Hit You From Behind"
"This Is Serious"
"Beat Down The Door"
"Yesterday's News"

Side Two
"Victory Line" (this one is my favorite)
"One Of A Kind"
"Never Enough"
"Domestic 17"
"You Can Buy"

Thanks to Ed S., I've learned that there was an LW album after Limited Warranty... it was called Domestic 7, and included the following songs:

Side One
"Mr. Know It All"
"The Rain Fell"
"The Storm"

Side Two
"The Man In The Can"
"Carousel"
"Samaritan World"

Needless to say, I do not have a copy of Domestic 7, and I'd be very interested in knowing where I might find a copy...

Lately, I've found that I'm not the only one who remembers Limited Warranty... according to Greg Sotebeer (thank you!), there are other mentions of LW on-line, including The Unofficial Homepage of Limited Warranty... it's an excellent resource for info, pics, and multimedia (thanks also to Darla H. for the link to this site)... if anyone else has pics/links/info to contribute, please send 'em to me at maisonfoxychan@msn.com... of course, info from the LW guys themselves is ALWAYS appreciated (thanks again Greg!)...

UPDATE: (10/18/00) Many thanks to Lorraine D. and Greg Sotebeer for the info on the current whereabouts of the LW guys!

Greg Sotebeer flew airplanes after LW disbanded and started up a Minneapolis-area ISP with a friend 7 years ago... the company has become quite big in the Minnesota/Wisconsin area, and will be selling out to a larger company soon... Greg is married, with one daughter...

Erik Newman was in a band called Holiday Ranch, which released 2 albums during their 7-year run... Greg did all the bass work for the 2 albums... married two years ago, Erik currently has a marketing business with his brother...

Jerry Brunskill and Dale Goulett have a successful business in Minneapolis doing soundbites and jingles... it is called Wow and Flutter... they are responsible for the music on the quick yellow-and-black ads that air between segments on ABC (dum-DUM-dum-dum)... Jerry is divorced, Dale is married with two kids... Jerry has also done the music for TV shows "She Spies" and "The Next Great Champ"...

Paul Hartwig also has a music studio... his focus is more on films as opposed to jingles... he has always been one of Greg's best friends, and they occasionally work together, even racing sailboats on Lake Minnetonka in the summer... Paul is living happily with his wife and two children...

Once again, many thanks to Greg Sotebeer for sharing this info!

Thanks for dropping in!

Limited Warranty | Pseudo Echo | New Monkees | Jason Donovan


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