The Hooters got their start with their independently released album
Amore. It cost $12,000 to record. The album sold over 100,000 copies, mostly in the
Philadelphia area, and led to their major label record deal with
Columbia Records in 1984.
Amore introduced early versions of four songs: "
All You Zombies," "Hanging on a Heartbeat," "Fightin' on the Same Side," and "Blood from a Stone," which would reappear in different versions on later albums. An even earlier studio recording of "Fightin' on the Same Side" and a live recording of "All You Zombies" had previously been released as singles in 1981 and 1982, respectively, on the small
indie label Eighty Percent Records. In 2001, 18 years after its original release on
LP album and cassette,
Amore was made available on
compact disc and included two
cover versions as bonus tracks:
the Beatles' "
Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" from June 15, 1986, at
A Conspiracy of Hope, a benefit concert on behalf of
Amnesty International at
Giants Stadium in
East Rutherford, New Jersey, and
the Skatalites' "Man in the Street," a live
demo from the first Hooters recording session in 1980, which was also the band's first song to be played on the radio. ==Critical reception==