I debated whether to bring Mutt into it. He destroyed Foreigner. He has worked on a few albums I liked, though.
It is on the whole probable that we continually dream, but that consciousness makes such a noise that we do not hear it. Carl Jung.
I never could get enough. It was like ear candy with a tinge of heaviness.
Loud, fun, hooks out the wazoo.
Normally I like deep lyrics, but Leppard is just a bunch of fun stuff without meaning. You can dismiss it until you sort of sit in awe of the sheer volume of great material they amassed.
Def Leppard is why I listen to music.
Pour Some Sugar grated on me for awhile, so I know what you mean about their peak. It took me twenty years of not hearing it to really appreciate it.
What did he do with John Cougar? I don't remember, and I'm searching but can't find it.
Personally, I liked what he did with AC/DC and The Cars, although "Heartbeat City" wasn't my favorite Cars album it was good (better than the two that came before it--probably my 3rd favorite after their debut and Candy-O,) but most of his stuff seemed too homogenized for me.
But taste in music often comes down to context. My favorite AC/DC album is "Back in Black" because I listened to it repeatedly at a particularly memorable time in my life.
My disappointment with Foreigner 4 is also largely contextual. I graduated from high school in 1980, and to me that album represented the beginning of the decline of rock n roll, the sanding down of rock's rough edges. It paved the way for the ascendance of hair bands and, eventually, the marginalization of edgy, original music.
It is on the whole probable that we continually dream, but that consciousness makes such a noise that we do not hear it. Carl Jung.
I love the context here. Being a little younger I have often wondered where Foghat, Boston and Foreigner turned into Crue, Poison and Leppard and I know the answer can't all be laid at the feet of Van Halen. Addidng Foreigner 4 to the mix along with Third Stage makes sense.
What if this is as good as it gets?
While, like many, I prefer the first two Foreigner albums, imho, Foreigner 4 isn't drastically different than 1979's Head Games. Maybe it is just me, but I see no correlation at all between Foreigner 4 and the advent of Big Hair Rock.
I still enjoy all Lou Gramm era Foreigner material and feel that Head Games and Inside Information are underrated.
Whatever you do, do your best to not allow the struggles of life to interfere with the pleasures of living.
It starts with the intro music to "Waiting".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wln6NX0V4AQ
And voila, no more rough edges.
It is on the whole probable that we continually dream, but that consciousness makes such a noise that we do not hear it. Carl Jung.
While I didn't care for this song or the band's other Lite F.M specials: "I Want To Know What Love Is" and "I Don't Want To Live Without You" - surprisingly, all of which also received heavy AOR radio airplay, the aforementioned tracks were anomalies.
There were/are plenty of rough edged sounding 80's Foreigner tracks contained within the 4, Agent Provocateur, and Inside Information albums.
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Whatever you do, do your best to not allow the struggles of life to interfere with the pleasures of living.
So to my question, is there anything other than the once thriving Hollywood Strip that helped usher in Hair Rock? When did American rock-n-roll switch from power chords and big muscle to over-production and big hair? Side question, was Van Halen the last of the great rock bands or the first of the hair bands?
I understand that there probably aren't cut-and-dry answers, but I would love to read what happened in the rock world from '78-'85 from the RZ perspective. For my 10th birthday I received the first three "rock" albums I ever owned and I asked for all three: Billy Joel's The Innocent Man, Van Halen's 1984 and Quiet Riot's Metal Health. Everything before that is a blur that I try to put back in order, buy it's as clear as an impressionist painting. Everything since then I understand through the lenses of my reality.
What if this is as good as it gets?
I will toss this out there. I want my MTV. Music videos.
Bang your Head! Wake the Dead! I played that album to death.
Both. With David Lee they rocked. With Sammy Hagar they hairbanded. IMO.Side question, was Van Halen the last of the great rock bands or the first of the hair bands?
Last edited by texasdave; 04-03-2013 at 12:59 PM.
What if this is as good as it gets?
So to my question, is there anything other than the once thriving Hollywood Strip that helped usher in Hair Rock?Yup. That was a major factor.I will toss this out there. I want my MTV. Music videos.
You definitely cannot put this on Van Hagar or Van Halen, for that matter. Right off of the top of my head, Sammy Hagar (Standing Hampton), Night Ranger (Dawn Patrol), Def Leppard (Pyromania) and the aforementioned Quiet Riot were all doing the Big Hair thing before Van Hagar / Van Halen's 1984 , which dabbled in the Glam Rock style. There is a drastic difference is styles between "1984" and 1982's "Diver Down".While I would like to agree with that, looking back at 1984, with spandex, Aquanet, and keyboards I don't think you can put this all on Van Hagar.
See, I never bought in to the theory that traditional Power American Rock was marginalized by Big Hair alone in the 80's. It just seemed that way because, throwing out the Big Hair dominated MTV factor, Progressive Rock, aided by a resurgence of Bands like Rush, Genesis and Triumph, was also very big at the time. So was Arena Rock - not the same as Big Hair Rock - especially when bands like .38 Special and REO Speedwagon started moving in that direction. And it isn't as if Traditional Power Rock wasn't a presence then -at least from an AOR radio standpoint - either.When did American rock-n-roll switch from power chords and big muscle to over-production and big hair?
I don't blame Big Hair Rock for pushing traditional Van Halen -type Rock to the sidleines anymore than I blame Grunge or Alternative Rock for the flurry of AOR stations switching to a Classic Rock format.
For the record, Grunge did effectively remove Big Hair Rock from the forefront. And Rap Rock/Metal effectively forced the hand of AOR stations, resulting in many a switch to Classic Rock. I don't believe that either are even up for debate.
Last edited by Revering4Blue; 04-03-2013 at 08:29 PM.
Whatever you do, do your best to not allow the struggles of life to interfere with the pleasures of living.
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