Dave's Music Hall of Fame: Album Inductees (February 2023)

The Top ‘80s Rock Albums Originally posted 2/22/2023. January 22, 2019 marked the 10-year anniversary of the DMDB blog. To honor that, Dave’s Music Database announced its own Hall of Fame. This month marks the seventeenth group of album inductees. Eight of the ten albums here are taken from the top classic rock albums of all time list. Previous ‘80s rock albums to be inducted were Dire Straits’ Brothers in Arms, Bruce Springsteen’s Born in the U.S.A., and U2’s The Joshua Tree. See the full list of album inductees here.

Bon Jovi Slippery When Wet (1986) Inducted February 2023 as “Top ‘80s Rock Albums.”

This rock band from New Jersey reached platinum status with their first two albums they didn’t exactly set the world on fire. Their third album, Slippery When Wet, proved Bon Jovi weren’t just another “hair band” when it topped the charts and sold 28 million copies worldwide, thanks to #1 hits “You Give Love a Bad Name” and “Livin’ on a Prayer.” Billboard named it the album of the year. Read more.

Def Leppard Pyromania (1983) Inducted February 2023 as “Top ‘80s Rock Albums.”

With their third album, Pyromania, Def Leppard leapt into the mainstream thanks to MTV and radio ready to embrace the band’s glam-metal style on surprise hits such as “Photograph,” “Rock of Ages,” and “Foolin’.” The band went a long way in crafting the look and sound of hair bands but proved to have more cred than the almost-comic-book-like characterization of their peers. The album sold 10 million copies in the U.S. alone. Read more.

Def Leppard Hysteria (1987) Inducted February 2023 as “Top ‘80s Rock Albums.”

It took four years for Def Leppard to release a follow-up to Pyromania, a seemingly impossible task. The band rose to the challenge with a metal version of Michael Jackson’s Thriller: the album launched seven singles, including the chart-topping “Love Bites” and #2 hit “Pour Some Sugar on Me.” The album reached #1 in the U.S. and UK on its way toward 22 million in sales worldwide. Read more.

Peter Gabriel So (1986) Inducted February 2023 as “Top ‘80s Rock Albums.”

After his departure from the progressive-rock group Genesis in 1975, Peter Gabriel embarked on a solo career that looked to be artier than it would be commercial. His first four albums produced only one top-40 hit so no one expected the pop sensation of So. The lead single, “Sledgehammer,” was a #1 hit, helped tremendously by a video celebrated as one of the best of all time. That and a slew of album rock and pop hits, including the top-40 “In Your Eyes” and top-10 “Big Time,” propelled the album to 12 million in sales worldwide. Read more.

Journey Escape (1981) Inducted February 2023 as “Top ‘80s Rock Albums.”

Journey became a significant arena rock band in the late ‘70s, but found their commercial peak in 1981 with Escape. The album produced top-10 hits “Who’s Crying Now,” “Open Arms,” and “Don’t Stop Believin’,” the latter of which became the most-streamed song of the ‘80s thanks to its revival via iconic TV and movie features. The album reached #1 in the U.S., where it sold nine million copies. Read more.

The Police Synchronicity (1983) Inducted February 2023 as “Top ‘80s Rock Albums.”

New wave trio The Police only released five albums but saved their best for last. Synchronicity spent a monstrous 17 weeks atop the Billboard album chart, thanks to #1 hit “Every Breath You Take” (the most-played song in radio history) and top-10 hits “King of Pain” and “Wrapped Around Your Finger.” The Grammy Hall of Fame inductee has sold 20 million copies worldwide. Read more.

REO Speedwagon Hi Infidelity (1981) Inducted February 2023 as “Top ‘80s Rock Albums.”

REO followed a similar trajectory as Journey by building up a reputation as an arena rock band in the ’70s thanks to a stable of classic rock favorites. Then in the early ‘80s, they released their biggest album, Hi Infidelity, fueled by #1 hit “Keep on Lovin’ You” and top-5 hit “Take It on the Run.” The album spent 15 weeks atop the Billboard album chart and sold ten million copies in the U.S. Read more.

Rush Moving Pictures (1980) Inducted February 2023 as “Top ‘80s Rock Albums.”

Rush’s best-selling album saw them embrace the ‘80s by finding a way to integrate new wave synths into their brand of progressive rock that had earned them a loyal following throughout the ‘70s. “Tom Sawyer,” “Limelight,” and “Red Barchetta” all became classic rock favorites and concert staples. AllMusic.com’s Greg Prato called it “one of the greatest hard rock albums of all time.” Read more.

Van Halen 1984 (1984) Inducted February 2023 as “Top ‘80s Rock Albums.”

Like may of their peers on this list, Van Halen built a classic rock following in the ‘70s that culminated with a commercial peak in the ‘80s. Known for Eddie Van Halen’s guitar prowess, the metal quartet found a way to mix synthesizers into the mix without losing their core audience. Coupled with lead singer David Lee Roth’s stage presence that was made for MTV, the band’s song “Jump” became a #1 hit that lifted parent album 1984 to more than 16 million in sales worldwide. Read more.

ZZ Top Eliminator (1983) Inducted February 2023 as “Top ‘80s Rock Albums.”

ZZ Top’s best-selling album was another case of an iconic rock band embracing the synthesizer-driven sound of the early ‘80s with the inescapable presence of MTV. Although they didn’t exactly look video-worthy, the Texas blues-rock trio figured out how to sell themselves with videos like “Legs” and “Sharp Dressed Man” that focused on scantily-clad women and fast cars. As drummer Frank Beard said, the were “a lot better looking than we were.” Read more.

REO Speedwagon “Keep on Loving You” hit #1

Keep on Loving You REO Speedwagon

Writer(s): Kevin Cronin (see lyrics here) Released: November 4, 1980 First Charted: November 29, 1980 Peak: 11 US, 11 CB, 11 HR, 2 RR, 1 CL, 9 AR, 7 UK, 2 CN, 3 AU, 1 DF (Click for codes to singles charts.) Sales (in millions): 2.0 US, 0.2 UK, 2.2 world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 80.8 video, 217.45 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: “For at least a few years in the early ’80s, REO Speedwagon became quite possibly the biggest rock band in America.” SG They formed in 1967 and built a following during the ‘70s from constant touring, but hadn’t become a real chart threat, having peaked with the “radio-rock nugget ‘Time for Me to Fly’” SG at a mere #56. According to Kevin Cronin, the band’s lead singer, the group “didn’t know the Billboard charts from a cookbook.” FB “Keep on Loving You” “changed everything for REO Speedwagon, and for power balladry in general.” SG It “made effective use of that formula: Slow build, enormous crashing melodramatic chorus, triumphantly blazing guitar solo, quick coda.” SG As Cronin said, “I realized that you can take a ballad and put the energy there…It doesn’t have to be fast and loud.” FB Cronin wrote the song after finding out his wife had cheated on him before they were married. In the song, he is “clearly bitter about what’s happened, but he pledges to remain with this woman anyway.” SG He called it, “the most painful song I ever wrote.” SF He and his wife divorced a few years later. Cronin shared how couples told him “it was the first dance at their wedding or its ‘their song’…My first thought is always, ‘Wait. Did you listen to the verses of the song?” SF It is a “rough song” SG but it “became a slow-dance anthem because of the chorus, which is the part of the song that everyone actually remembers.” SG “Cronin might be pouring his heart out on the long first verse, but he almost seems to be killing time before the monster hook, the lighters-up moment.” SG The band didn’t want to record the piano-based song because it was too soft but it worked once Gary Richrath’s “big, crashing guitar chords lent [it] weight and force.” SG “Cronin’s pinched and reedy voice gets bigger and more robust as the song keeps going. Underneath him, the backing vocals sound like a choir. The pianos gleam. The guitar solo wails. It’s all very sharp and precise and professional – a cheap-seats rocker that just barely pierces your consciousness when it plays over in-store speakers in a Walgreens.” SG Resources: FB Fred Bronson (2003). The Billboard Book of Number One Hits (5th edition). Billboard Books: New York, NY. Page 539. SF Songfacts SG Stereogum (4/27/2020). “The Number Ones” by Tom Breihan WK Wikipedia Related Links: First posted 6/29/2022; last updated 10/28/2022.

REO Speedwagon’s Hi Infidelity was released: November 21, 1980

Hi Infidelity REO Speedwagon

Released: November 21, 1980 Peak: 115 US, 6 UK, 2 CN, 6 AU, 14 DF Sales (in millions): 10.0 US, 0.06 UK, 13.40 world (includes US and UK) Genre: arena rock

Tracks: Song Title (date of single release, chart peaks) Click for codes to charts. Don’t Let Him Go (3/21/81, 24 BB, 11 AR) Keep on Loving You (11/29/80, 1 BB, 9 AR, 7 UK, platinum) Follow My Heart In Your Letter (8/8/81, 20 BB, 26 AC) Take It on the Run (3/21/81, 5 BB, 6 AR, 19 UK, gold) Tough Guys (3/21/81, 25 AR) Out of Season (3/28/81, 59 AR) Shakin’ It Loose Someone Tonight I Wish You Were There Total Running Time: 34:55 The Players: Kevin Cronin (vocals, guitar, piano) Gary Richrath (guitar) Neal Doughty (keyboards) Bruce Hall (bass) Alan Gratzer (drums)

Rating: 3.893 out of 5.00 (average of 21 ratings) Quotable: “If you need proof why arena rock was giant, this is it…This is really arena rock’s Blood on the Tracks.” – Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Album: “If you need proof why arena rock was giant, this is it.” AMG REO Speedwagon could arguably be credited with bringing arena rock to its pinnacle. They “had been slogging it out in the arenas of the U.S.” AMG for nearly a decade, “building up a sizeable audience because they could deliver live.” AMG This was much the same story for the band’s peers like Styx, Journey, and Foreigner. The difference is that all those bands had landed a couple top ten albums. The highest REO ever previously reached was #29. Then, in 1981, all four bands topped the album charts. However, REO got their first “with this incredibly mainstream collection of power ballads and economic hard rock.” RO They did it with a fifteen-week chart-topper which sold more than 9 million copies in the U.S. This was “a record that not just summarized their strengths, but captured everything that was good about arena rock. This is the sound of the stadiums in that netherworld between giants like Zeppelin and MTV’s slick, video-ready anthems.” AMG “The band’s strongest attribute is its inconspicuous nature. You never see it coming. Kevin Cronin has a serviceable voice and Gary Richrath is a solid if unspectacular lead player” RO “but there’s a real urgency to the songs and the performances.” AMG Keep on Loving You set “the pattern for the power ballads that would take many a hard rock band to the top of the charts throughout the ‘80s.” RO That song “and the surging Take It on the Run…define their era.” AMG There’s also “the Bo Diddley-inspired opener, Don’t Let Him Go” AMG and other radio-friendly songs like “the sun-kissed ‘60s homage In Your Letter, and Tough Guys.” AMG “What’s really great about these songs is not just the sheen of professionalism that makes them addictive to listen to, but there’s a real strain of pathos that runs through these songs – the album’s title isn't just a clever pun, but a description of the tortured romantic relationships that populate this record’s songs. This is really arena rock’s Blood on the Tracks, albeit by a group of guys instead of a singular vision, but that makes it more affecting, as well as a killer slice of ear candy.” AMG

Resources and Related Links: DMDB encyclopedia entry for REO Speedwagon STE Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide RO Rob O’Connor, Amazon.com WK Wikipedia First posted 10/6/2010; last updated 11/17/2023.

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