Bob Seger: A Retrospective, 1968-2011

Bob Seger A Retrospective: 1968-2011

Overview: Rock singer/songwriter born Robert Clark Seger on 5/6/1945 in Detroit, Michigan. Has sold more than 51 million records worldwide. Songs have been covered by Brooks & Dunn, Cher, Waylon Jennings, Keb’ Mo’, Kid Rock, Barry Manilow, Martina McBride, Metallica, Bette Midler, The Pointer Sisters, Rod Stewart, Tina Turner, Conway Twitty, and Dottie West. His 1994 Greatest Hits album has been a continuous presence on either the Billboard Top 200 Albums or Catalog Albums charts since its release and was named the #1 Catalog Album of the Decade (2000-2010). On the Web: BobSeger.com (official site) Facebook Wikipedia

Awards:

Compilations: G1 Greatest Hits (1976-1994, released 1994) G2 Greatest Hits 2 (1975-2003, released 2003) U Ultimate Hits: Rock and Roll Never Forgets (1968-2011, released 2011) Under each album snapshot, songs featured on the anthologies are noted. If the song charted, the date of the song’s release or first chart appearance and its chart peaks are noted in parentheses. Click for codes to charts.

Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Man (aka “The Bob Seger System”) (1968): Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Man (9/68, 17 US, 22 CB, 10 GR, 16 HR, 7 CL, 18 CN, 13 DF U

Beautiful Loser (1975): Beautiful Loser (5/24/75, 7 CL, 9 DF) G2, U * Katmandu (8/8/75, 43 US, 45 CB, 34 GR, 48 HR, 7 CL, 57 CN, 20 DF) G2, U Travelin’ Man (7 CL, 14 DF) U * * The versions of “Beautiful Loser” and “Travelin’ Man” on Ultimate Hits are actually live versions from the Live Bullet album.

Live Bullet (live, 1976): Turn the Page (live) (11/77, 1 CL, 1 DF) G1, U

Night Moves (1976): Night Moves (12/4/76, 4 US, 6 CB, 7 GR, 5 HR, 4 RR, 1 CL, 45 UK, 5 CN, 25 AU, 4 DF) G1, U Mainstreet (4/23/77, 24 US, 19 CB, 18 GR, 32 HR, 23 RR, 5 CL, 1 CN, 11 DF) G1, U Rock and Roll Never Forgets (7/9/77, 41 US, 50 CB, 57 HR, 5 CL, 13 DF) G2, U The Fire Down Below (6 CL, 25 DF) G2, U Sunspot Baby (13 CL, 28 DF) G2 Click for DMDB album page.

Stranger in Town (1978): Still the Same (5/12/78, 4 US, 4 CB, 1 GR, 5 HR, 2 RR, 27 AC, 2 CL, 4 CN, 23 AU, 9 DF) G1, U Hollywood Nights (8/12/78, 12 US, 13 CB, 10 GR, 15 HR, 10 RR, 3 CL, 42 UK, 12 CN, 52 AU, 13 DF) G1, U We’ve Got Tonight (10/28/78, 13 US, 11 CB, 12 GR, 11 HR, 9 RR, 29 AC, 5 CL, 22 UK, 9 CN, 31 AU, 8 DF) G1, U Old Time Rock and Roll (4/7/79, 28 US, 34 CB, 33 GR, 40 HR, 1 CL, 31 CN, 3 AU, 1 DF) G1, U Click for DMDB album page.

Against the Wind (1980): Fire Lake (2/22/80, 6 US, 6 CB, 2 GR, 5 HR, 31 AC, 2 CL, 3 CN, 13 DF) G2, U Against the Wind (4/25/80, 5 US, 8 CB, 3 GR, 9 HR, 3 RR, 8 AC, 3 CL, 6 CN, 92 AU, 4 DF) G1, U You’ll Accomp’ny Me (7/25/80, 14 US, 20 CB, 13 GR, 19 HR, 8 RR, 17 AC, 6 CL, 8 CN, 9 DF) G1, U Her Strut (4 CL, 13 DF) G2, U Click for DMDB album page.

Nine Tonight (live, 1981): Tryin’ to Live My Life Without You (live) (9/11/81, 5 US, 8 CB, 4 GR, 7 HR, 5 RR, 2 AR, 11 CN, 15 DF) G2, U

The Distance (1982): Shame on the Moon (12/17/82, 2 US, 5 CB, 1 GR, 1 RR, 1 AC, 8 CN, 11 DF) G2, U Roll Me Away (1/15/83, 27 US, 28 CB, 18 GR, 19 RR, 13 AR, 13 DF) G1, U

Like a Rock (1986): Like a Rock (4/19/86, 12 US, 15 CB, 18 GR, 17 RR, 21 AC, 1 AR, 33 CN, 74 AU, 7 DF) G1, U

The Fire Inside (1991): The Fire Inside (9/21/91, 45 AC, 35 CN, 37 DF) G1 New Coat of Paint G2

Greatest Hits Bob Seger

Released: October 25, 1994 Recorded: 1976-1994 Peak: 8 US, 6 UK, 5 CN, 5 AU, 8 DF Sales (in millions): 10.0 US, 0.1 UK, 12.1 world (includes US and UK) Genre: classic rock Rating: 4.155 out of 5.00 (average of 9 ratings)

Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

Tracks: (1) Roll Me Away (2) Night Moves (3) Turn the Page (live) (4) You’ll Accompn’y Me (5) Hollywood Nights (6) Still the Same (7) Old Time Rock and Roll (8) We’ve Got Tonite (9) Against the Wind (10) Mainstreet (11) The Fire Inside (12) Like a Rock (13) C’est La Vie (14) In Your Time Total Running Time: 61:54 Tracks Not on Previously Noted Albums: C’est La Vie (29 DF) G1 In Your Time (25 CN) G1

It’s a Mystery (1995): Manhattan G2

Greatest Hits 2 Bob Seger

Released: November 4, 2003 Recorded: 1975-2003 Peak: 23 US Sales (in millions): 1.0 US Genre: classic rock Rating: 3.032 out of 5.00 (average of 6 ratings)

Tracks: (1) Understanding (2) The Fire Down Below (3) Her Strut (4) Beautiful Loser (5) Sunspot Baby (6) Katmandu (7) Shame on the Moon (8) Fire Lake (9) Tryin’ to Live My Life Without You (live) (10) Shakedown (11) Manhattan (12) New Coat of Paint (13) Chances Are (14) Rock and Roll Never Forgets (15) Satisfied (16) Tomorrow Total Running Time: 67:09 Tracks Not on Previously Noted Albums: Understanding (from Teachers soundtrack) (10/13/84, 17 US, 20 CB, 19 GR, 20 RR, 7 AC, 5 AR, 38 CN, 18 DF) G2 Shakedown (from Beverly Hills Cop II soundtrack) (5/22/87, 1 US, 1 CB, 2 GR, 1 RR, 1 AR, 88 UK, 1 CN, 12 DF) G2, U Chances Are (with Martina McBride from Hope Floats soundtrack) (6/27/98, 23 AC, 40 CN, 36 DF) G2 Satisfied G2 Tomorrow G2

Face the Promise (2006): Wait for Me (7/22/06, 16 AC, 52 CW) U

Ultimate Hits: Rock and Roll Never Forgets Bob Seger

Released: November 21, 2011 Recorded: 1968-2011 Peak: 19 US, -- UK, -- CN, 5 AU Sales (in millions): 1.0 US Genre: classic rock Rating: 3.435 out of 5.00 (average of 7 ratings)

Tracks, Disc 1: (1) Old Time Rock and Roll (2) Hollywood Nights (3) Night Moves (4) Mainstreet (5) Roll Me Away (6) Turn the Page (live) (7) Her Strut (8) Still the Same (9) You’ll Accomp’ny Me (10) We’ve Got Tonight (11) Like a Rock (12) Fire Lake (13) Tryin’ to Live My Life Without You (live) Tracks, Disc 2: (1) Rock and Roll Never Forgets (2) Against the Wind (3) Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Man (4) The Fire Down Below (5) Travelin’ Man (live) (6) Beautiful Loser (live) (7) Shakedown (8) Shame on the Moon (9) Katmandu (10) The Little Drummer Boy (11) Wait for Me (12) Hey, Hey, Hey, Hey (Going Back to Birmingham) (13) Downtown Train Total Running Time: 108:06 Tracks Not on Previously Noted Albums: The Little Drummer Boy (from the various artists’ compilation A Very Special Christmas) (11/14/87, 17 DF) U Downtown Train (2/28/11, 17 AC, 34 DF) U Hey Hey Hey Hey (Going Back to Birmingham) (9/29/11, --) U

Resources and Related Links: DMDB encyclopedia entry for Bob Seger Dave’s Music Database: Acts’ Profile Pages and Best-of Lists Wikipedia page for Greatest Hits Wikipedia page for Greatest Hits 2 Wikipedia page for Ultimate Hits: Rock and Roll Never Forgets First posted 2/11/2023; last updated 2/12/2023.

Bob Seger “Old Time Rock and Roll” charted

Old Time Rock and Roll Bob Seger

Writer(s): George Jackson, Thomas E. Jones III, Chuck Crozier, Bob Seger (see lyrics here) First Charted: April 7, 1979 Peak: 28 BB, 19 BA, 34 CB, 33 GR, 40 HR, 1 CL, 31 CN, 3 AU, 1 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 2.0 US, 0.2 UK Airplay/Streaming (in millions): 2.0 radio, 157.38 video, 284.85 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: Bob Seger was born in Detroit on May 6, 1945. He released his first album, Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Man, in 1969 but his career didn’t really take off until 1976. That was his first of three consecutive top-ten albums to sell at least five million copies. The middle album of the three (Stranger in Town) was arguably the biggest with four top-40 hits – “Still the Same” (#4 BB), “Hollywood Nights” (#12 BB), “We’ve Got Tonite” (#13 BB), and “Old Time Rock and Roll” (#28 BB). Despite being the lowest charting of the four singles, “Old Time Rock and Roll” has arguably become the most iconic, possibly of all Seger’s songs. In 1983, the song soundtracked Tom Cruise’s famous dancing-in-his-underwear scene in Risky Business, giving it status as one of the top 100 movie songs of all time according to the American Film Institute. In 1996, the song ranked #2 on the The Top Jukebox Singles of All Time list by Amusement & Music Operators Association. WK Seger himself has said it is his favorite song. WK Songwriting credit has been disputed. George Jackson and Thomas Jones, who worked as songwriters at Muscle Shoals Sound Studios, sent a demo of “Old Time Rock and Roll” to Seger who often worked with the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section during studio sessions. According to Seger, he rewrote the lyrics on the verses but left the chorus in tact. However Seger didn’t take a songwriting credit on the song, which le later said was “the dumbest thing I ever did.” SF By contrast, George Stephenson of Malaco Records (where Jackson was a staff songwriter) asserts it is “Jackson’s song, and he has the tapes to prove it.” WK Cash Box called the song “a piece of infectious raucous joy.” WK Billboard said the song’s highlights are Seger’s “rough-edged vocals and the power charged instrumentation.” WK Resources: SF Songfacts WK Wikipedia Related Links: First posted 9/15/2023.