Queensrÿche “Silent Lucidity” charted

Silent Lucidity Queensrÿche

Writer(s): Chris DeGarmo (see lyrics here) Released: February 1991 First Charted: January 26, 1991 Peak: 9 US, 15 CB, 13 GR, 15 RR, 11 AR, 18 UK, 7 CN, 1 DF (Click for codes to singles charts.) Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 54.4 video, 67.09 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: The progressive heavy metal band Queensrÿche formed in 1982 in Bellevue, Wasington. After two gold albums, the band’s third release, Operation: Mindcrime was a platinum-selling concept album buoyed by the album rock hits “Eyes of a Stranger” and “I Don’t Believe in Love.” Still, the band had yet to crack the top 40 in the United States with one of their albums. That changed with 1990’s Empire, a triple-platinum release which reached #7 on the album chart. At first it appeared it would follow a similar trajectory as its predecessor. “Empire” and “Best I Can” were both top 30 hits on the album rock chart, but didn’t dent the Billboard Hot 100. However, the album’s third single, “Silent Lucidity,” propelled the band into new territory. Not only did it top the album rock chart, but it became the band’s first (and, so far, only) Hot 100 hit – climbling all the way to the top 10. The power ballad was sung by the band’s lead singer, Geoff Tate, with an emotive quality that recalled Pink Floyd’s “Comfortably Numb.” It was written by the band’s guitarist Chris DeGarmo, who wrote or co-wrote most of the songs on Empire. He was inspired by the book Creative Dreaming, which explains how to tap into one’s subconscious mind. SF Tate said that even though he didn’t write it, “I love that song. I think it’s a beautiful, beautiful piece.” SF The song was a departure from the band’s more metal leanings, even incorporating cello. It was built on vocals and acoustic guitar with other instrumentation only being added in the last week the band worked on the record. The producer, Peter Collins, initially didn’t want to release it because he didn’t think it was developed enough. SF The song received Grammy nominations for Best Rock Song and Best Rock Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group. Resources: DMDB encyclopedia entry for Queensrÿche SF Songfacts WK Wikipedia Related Links: First posted 12/22/2022.

Guns N’ Roses “Paradise City” charted

Paradise City Guns N’ Roses

Writer(s): Slash, Axl Rose, Izzy Stradlin, Duff McKagan, Steven Adler (see lyrics here) Released: November 30, 1988 First Charted: January 14, 1989 Peak: 5 BB, 4 CB, 9 GR, 4 RR, 14 AR, 6 UK, 10 CN, 48 AU, 15 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): -- US, 1.2 UK, 1.59 world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 821.89 video, 1038.08 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: Guns N’ Roses formed in 1985 in Los Angeles, California. 1987’s Appetite for Destruction became the best-selling debut album in U.S. history, selling 18 million copies. It has sold around 30 million copies worldwide. It wasn’t an overnight success, however. The band didn’t really take off until “Sweet Child O’ Mine” hit #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 – more than a year after the album’s release. Then “Welcome to the Jungle” was re-released and hit the top 10. The album had seemingly run its course by then since the group released GN’R Lies, a collection of four new songs and the group’s four-song EP Live Like a Suicide. However, after reaching the top-ten a third time with the power ballad “Patience,”Guns N’ Roses dipped back into the Appetite album for “Paradise City,” which became the album’s third top-ten hit. Slash, the lead guitarist for the band, says the song was written in the back of a rental van. The group were returning from a gig in San Francisco and playing acoustic guitarist. Slash came up with the intro and Duff McKagan and Izzy Stradlin joined in. After Slash started humming a melody, singer Axl Rose chimed in wit the line, “Take me down to the paradise city.” Slash responded with the line “Where the grass is green and the girls are pretty.” WK According to McKagan, the song grew out of one of their first rehearsals and some lyrics from one of his notebooks. SF Verses about “the rough life on the streets” were inspired by Los Angeles, but “the chorus was based on Axl Rose’s memories of the Midwest, with images of green grass, innocence and possibility.” SF Resources: SF Songfacts WK Wikipedia Related Links: First posted 4/10/2024.

Poison “Every Rose Has Its Thorn” hit #1

Every Rose Has Its Thorn Poison

Writer(s): Bret Michaels, C.C. DeVille, Bobby Dall, Rikki Rockett (see lyrics here) Released: October 12, 1988 First Charted: October 28, 1988 Peak: 13BB, 14 BA, 14 CB, 14 GR, 12 RR, 11 AR, 13 UK, 2 CN, 16 AU, 5 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 0.5 US, 0.2 UK, 0.7 world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): 1.0 radio, 70.9 video, 306.55 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: “This is the textbook rocker-dude move. You establish yourself as the king of the party, the debaucherous demon among debaucherous demons. Then, when you’ve got people on your side, you pull out the acoustic guitar and you get sensitive.” SG “Poison were one of the definitive party bands of their era, and yet their biggest hit is ‘Every Rose Has Its Thorn.’” SG In 1986, Poison released their debut album, Look What the Cat Dragged In, “an album where the sleaze is so joyous that it’s almost wholesome.” SG Lead singer “Bret Michaels doesn’t have much of a voice, but he gets over on pure David Lee Roth-style strutting showmanship.” SG The 1988 follow-up Open Up and Say… Ahh! “isn’t quite as inspired…but it’s sleek and sharp, and almost every song sounds like a hit.” SG “The anthemically cheesed-out lead single ‘Nothin’ But A Good Time’ became the band’s biggest hit yet, peaking at #6…The follow-up ‘Fallen Angel’ just missed the top 10, peaking at #12…Poison offered no indication that they were into depth at all.” SG As such, Capitol Records was understandably reluctant to release “Every Rose Has Its Thorn,” despite a slate of hair bands finding success with power ballads. As Michaels said, “We’re not trying to be AC/DC and we’re not trying to be Bob Dylan. But I have both those artists in my record collection. Why can’t I have influences from both?” FB Regarding the origins of the song, he explained that the band were playing a club in Dallas and staying in a sleazy hotel. He and drummer Ricki Rockett were talking in the laundry room and the idea for the song came to Bret. FB He “had called his girlfriend back in LA, and a man’s voice answered the phone.” SG Surprisingly, the song “isn’t a sneering, snarling woman-done-me-wrong song. Instead, Michaels simply tries to make sense of where things went wrong and of what he could’ve done differently.” SG Resources: DMDB encyclopedia entry for Poison FB Fred Bronson (2007). The Billboard Book of Number One Hits (4th edition). Billboard Books: New York, NY. Page 717. SG Stereogum (6/16/2021). “The Number Ones” by Tom Breihan First posted 2/20/2024.

Def Leppard “Photograph” charted

Photograph Def Leppard

Writer(s): Joe Elliott, Pete Willis, Rick Savage, Robert John "Mutt" Lange, Steve Clark (see lyrics here) Released: February 3, 1983 First Charted: February 5, 1983 Peak: 12 US, 13 CB, 23 GR, 16 RR, 16 AR, 66 UK, 32 CN, 4 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): -- Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 22.61 video, 67.14 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: Def Leppard formed in Sheffield, England, in 1976. Their first two albums generated three entries on the UK charts, none reaching higher than #45. 1983’s Pyromania, however, was a huge success in the United States, reaching #2 on the album chart and selling more than ten million copies. The album generated three top-40 hits and four top-10 hits on the album rock chart. Two songs, “Photograph” and “Rock of Ages,” went all the way to #1 on the latter chart. “Photograph” was the lead single from the album and the band’s first chart entry in the United States, going all the way to #12. It had “all the makings of a crossover hit,” SF owing a debt to producer Mutt Lange, who’d previously worked on the band’s High N’ Dry album as well as the blockbuster albums Back in Black by AC/DC and Foreigner 4 by Foreigner. It featured his trademark sound of big, polished guitars alongside layered vocals. “Nothing about ‘Photograph’ is second rate – this was the first time Def Leppard had finally utilized all their talent in creating a truly inescapable, infectious rock anthem.” AMG “The Marilyn Monroe-influenced lyrics are sleazy, and the vocals are filled with Joe Elliot's raw screeches.” AMG “This was the song that truly began and defined the pop-metal craze that would dominate the rock scene for the entire decade.” AMG The video – which featured a Marilyn Monroe lookalike – became a phenom on MTV, wrangling its way to the all-time champion in the network’s Friday Night Video Fights, which pitted two videos against each other every Friday night and then allowing viewers to vote for their favorite. While lead singer Joe Elliott suggested the song was also about Monroe, WK the song is really about a more generic experience about young lust in which the song’s protagonist is crazy about this girl, but all he has is a photograph to remind him of her. WK Resources: AMG All Music Guide song review by Bruce Weber SF Songfacts WK Wikipedia Related Links: First posted 12/28/2022.