Hidden Treasures - Killer Songs

Some songs are killer and some are killers.

Do you recall a time when a great band who was on great run released a song that made nearly everyone scracth their head? This week were looking at songs that killed a bands momentum, or in some cases their career!

Lets start off with a video version of what I'm talking about this week. In the case of Billy Squire's Rock Me Tonite, it wasnt that the song was bad, it was the video.

The song ranks as Billy's highest charting U.S. single, peaking at number 15 on the Billboard Hot 100 and hitting the Top 10 on the Cash Box singles chart. It also returned him to #1 on the Top Rock Tracks chart in August 1984. Despite its major success, the single is sometimes associated with the end of Squier's career as a singles artist due to the music video, often described as one of the worst ever. Many viewers who saw it thought Squier was gay, or on drugs. It was directed by Kenny Ortega, the third director to be considered for the job. He had offered to make it despite reservations from the record label and Squier's management so MTV could air it as a World Premiere Video on the date Squier and his label had originally promised them. Squier's concert ticket sales immediately suffered, and he later fired his managers. He has accused Ortega of deceiving him and altering his original concept, which Ortega denies.

Heres 4 more...

PLAYLIST --> http://www.podsnack.com/CA69EFD9E8C/a1klo8al

	April Wine Power Play 1982 1 - If You See Kay NSFW because Jon is reading something into this... Having just released two blockbuster albums in a row (the second of which contained the highest charting single of their career, "Just between You and Me"), April Wine was riding high in the early '80s. So it was quite surprising when their hot streak came to a screeching halt with the release of 1983's terribly humdrum Power Play. If only this mediocrity could have been blamed on a change of musical direction, new personnel, or another mysterious force of nature, but the album simply lacks good songs and perhaps musical mastermind Myles Goodwyn had simply run out of creative steam. Not that the album is a complete wash-out, as the band manages to pull it together on a few mid-paced rockers like "Anything You want, You got It" and "Enough Is Enough." But even these are performed with muted enthusiasm and most fans will want to give this record a miss.
	Peter Frampton I'm In You 1977 2 - I'm In You It was almost inevitable that I'm in You would be thought of as a letdown no matter now good it was. Following up to one of the biggest selling albums of the decade, Peter Frampton faced a virtually impossible task, made even more difficult by the fact that in the two years since he'd cut any new material, he had evolved musically away from some of the sounds on Frampton Comes Alive. The result was mostly a surprisingly laid-back album steeped in lyricism and craftsmanship, particularly in its use of multiple overdubs even on the harder rocking numbers. From the opening bars of "I'm in You," dominated by the sound of the piano (played by Frampton) and an ARP synthesizer-generated string section, rather than a guitar, it was clear that Frampton was exploring new sides of his music.
	Van Halen III 1998 3 - Without You According to the party line, Van Halen ditched Sammy because they wanted to try new musical and lyrical approaches that Hagar was reluctant to pursue. And it is true that Van Halen III makes a slight break from his dunderheaded party rock, but that's a difference that only hardcore fans will be able to hear. Less tired but no more inspired than Balance, Van Halen III suffers from the same problems as Hagar-era Van Halen -- limp riffs, weak melodies, and plodding, colorless rhythms. On top of that, there are layers of pretensions, from portentous lyrics to segmented song structures that don't sound all that different from "Poundcake." Evidently, the group wanted to prove that it could still rock more than it wanted to stretch its musical muscle.
	Styx Kilroy Was Here 1983 4 - Mr. Roboto Although Dennis De Young's concept about man being replaced by robots in the near future failed to get off the ground, Kilroy Was Here still harbored two of the band's best singles. "Don't Let It End" almost captures the same endearing qualities as their number one hit, "Babe," did four years earlier, peaking at number six, and the synthesized novelty of "Mr. Roboto" went all the way to number three, accompanied by a lively and rather extravagant Dennis De Young at the helm. It was the song's mechanically spoken chorus and slight disco beat that made it Styx's fifth Top Ten single up to that point, overshadowing the rest of the album's tracks. Pretentious, weakly composed, and rhythmically anemic, songs like "Cold War," "Heavy Metal Poisoning," and "Double Life" couldn't even keep the album's main idea interesting, solidifying the fact that Styx's forte was singles, not conceptual pieces. The saxophone playing from Steve Eison gathers some redemption, cropping up here and there, but even some decent guitar work from Shaw and Young can't save the rest of the album.

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Permalink Reply by Jon on February 17, 2015 at 11:11am

Good thing Mr. Gowan came around and resuscitated Styx!!!!

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Permalink Reply by Scott on February 17, 2015 at 11:17am

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Permalink Reply by Jon on February 18, 2015 at 7:34am

Why wasn't there a warning about that first song? That song could be deemed offensive, luckily I was wearing headphones as it was playing.

Yeah, that April Wine album was a letdown. Thankfully, the album after this, "Animal Grace", was a solid album. Sadly, the album after THAT, "Walking Through Fire", was horrible. Thankfully they took some time off and were back with "Attitude" and then came others that I have (except for the Mansion one), which weren't horrible, but it was time for them to go.

I like that Frampton song, always wanted to get that album, but he's just to damn sexy.

And then there's VHIII. What could be said that hasn't been said before? This song isn't bad, but the album as a whole isn't good which makes this song not too good.

As for Styx, thankfully Mr. Gowan came around and resuscitated Styx!!!!

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Permalink Reply by Scott on February 18, 2015 at 7:46am

April Wines Back To The Mansion release is quite good.. I own it and have posted a couple tracks from it in the past. I actually like Power Play, true its not a solid follow up to Nature of the Beast but it has stood the test of time as several tracks still are quite good...

I am also a pretty big Frampton fan, sexy or not, and I like his catalog all except for When All The Pieces Fit, that one isn't very good at all...

VHIII - agreed and as for your continued Gowan worship?