The Design Of A Decade Pt 1: Devil Horns To The Sky!

The future is the past. The past is the future. Chickenfoot keeps arena rock alive in 2009!

The first decade of the 21st Century is almost over, makes me feel like I'm Buck Rogers living in this space age of microwave ovens and high definition sunglasses. And with any landmark of time there must be Best Of lists because hell, if you can't list things you like in an arbitrary order then why have an internet? So this is my list, in order of genre, of my favorite CDs of the past ten years. I wish I could say every album on my list is a flawless gem but I'm old, most new music (even by old artists) don't hit me like that. This is part 1 of a series that I'm naming after a Janet Jackson album because as she would say, what have you done for me lately?

We're at the stage of life for 70's / 80's rock bands to discover that sadly rock and roll does not come with a pension plan. As a result these groups keep chugging along on the road to make dough for their IRA. Or maybe they just plain love what they're doing and meant it all those years ago when they gave interviews saying "I'll play live til I die whether it's to 20,000 people or just one guy in the room." In any case, these road warriors hit the stage to rock out annually and occasionally release new material to keep things fresh. Here's my favorite Arena rock releases of recent past.

Rock The Half Sold Out Arena!

My favorite of all music genres headed up by my favorite band, Journey. The 21st Century era of this group will forever be in dispute because for some Journey begins and ends with Steve Perry. Though Perry is my all time favorite singer, I was a fan of the band as a whole which included Jon Cain, Neal Schon and Ross Valory and was happy to see them continue. Arrival (2001) is the best of the bunch with Steve Augeri on the mic, Journey rocked hard on cuts like "Higher Place", "To Be Alive Again" or the strutting "I Got A Reason". Naturally this had to be offset by soft soaring ballads such as "Lifetime Of Dreams" or "Signs Of Life". Only the "When You Love A Woman" rewrite "All The Way" feels like a misstep although it isn't bad. Augeri allowed the group to rock its hardest since the Escape / Frontiers era. After drafting Arnel Pineda a year ago, the bay area band recorded Revelations (2008) which brought back some needed soulfulness to the vocals (Augeri was a better rock belter, Pineda a better crooner). The strong mix of rockers and ballads continued with the high flying "Change For The Better" offset by the soft "Turn Down The World Tonight".

Recent Journey tour mates Heart and Cheap Trick both had good albums to back up their noise. Heart delivered Jupiter's Darling (2004) that found middle ground between their Zepified 70's persona and slick 80's model. Meanwhile, the Tricksters have spent decades trying to recapture their early magic with hit and miss results. On 2006's Rockford they hit the right balance of catchy power pop brilliance and power chord thunder.

Other early 80's survivor Loverboy strapped on the head bandanna one more time for Just Getting Started (2007). One of the few successful attempts to meld modern sensibility into an established 80's rock sound. The fired up title track has plenty of Loverboy's famous freewheeling fun, the bluesy "One Of Them Days" swings and the power ballad "The One That Got Away" is first class.

Shagadelic

The Hair Metal bands of the 80's have some renewed interest thanks to the Guitar Hero / Rock Band phenomenon. Still, no one is willing to reproduce their classic spandex pants with wall of hair look. Instead they opt for leather pants and a shaggy shoulder length hair cut that says "Hey, I'm old and won't look out of place shopping at Wal Mart but still know how to rawk!"

It took a band not from that era to hand down the truest (and at same time mocking) expression of this maligned art form: The Darkness. They came out of nowhere to throw down "I Believe In A Thing Called Love" establishing a heady mix of Queen and hair band euphoria. Their album Permission To Land (2003) backs up their hit tune with other material that is silly and playful in its excess. Too bad drugs and a delayed follow up caused them to crash and burn.

Whitesnake proved David Coverdale could still howl in the still of the night with the excellent Good To Be Bad (2008). Copying your own hits over again usually seems lame, in the hands of a master like Coverdale remakes of "Slow and Easy" or "Is This Love" (titled "Good To Be Bad" and "All I Want All I Need" respectively) are downright inspired. I got to see them live just before Coverdale's voice gave out, he rawked!

Marketing king Jon Bon Jovi spent much of this decade serving up streamlined pop rock to the masses with success. Although I liked the hit songs he's had lately, as a full album statement the disc I liked the most was the hitless Bounce (2002). I wish I could say this was a great album, it's just pretty good, yet as an album it blends the faster and slower material evenly and cleanly. Plus I love that title song.

It's A Long Way To The Top If You Want To Rock And Roll

Two bands that were virtual outlaws in their hey day compared to where they landed now are AC/DC and Metallica. AC/DC were shunned as being "Satanic" and represented all that was "evil" in rock music during the late 70's and early 80's. Raunchy sexism hammered down with a heavy guitar riff and a jolt of humor made them easy targets for God fearing parents wrath. How weird is it now, nearly 30 years later, you can buy AC/DC memorabilia at department stores and see little kids decked out in the Aussie band's branded merchandise? Times have changed making AC/DC classics like "Let Me Put My Love Into You" or "Let's Get It Up" tame by comparison.

AC/DC didn't do a whole lot the last ten years to necessarily earn this boon, though they did turn in the enjoyable Black Ice (2008). Black Ice had some catchy stuff such as the slick "Wheels" or the menacing title tune. I'd like to say 2000's Stiff Upper Lip was great as that was the disc that got me into the band beyond a casual interest. Just can't say that because too much of the CD has songs stuck in the same groove making it repetitive.

Metallica is another band that rocked so hard they couldn't get any recognition from mainstream media for the first third of their career. They managed to hit it big on their own terms initially, since the mid 90's they have continuously watered down their image to ensure lasting popularity. Even if it reeked of career move-itis, last year's Death Magnetic was the bay area thrashers throwback to basics CD. Lengthy songs, pummeling rhythms, spiraling solos and dog bark vocals came back with a vengeance. Admittedly some of Death Magnetic rings hollow, still I'll take this over most of what the band has done the last fifteen years any day. I have no favorite individual songs from this disc, I like it as a whole.

Oh Yeah!

The last CD I have under this style is 2009's Chickenfoot. The supergroup made up of half of Van Hagar (Michael Anthony, Sammy Hagar), guitar god Joe Satriani and funky drummer Chad Smith cranked out shameless hard rock. Playing to their strengths, straightforward AOR performed with inspiration produces an adrenaline fueled feeling of power. Would have been nice if the songs were a touch better, what is here is good enough anyway.

That's a wrap on part one of this series, think I'll tackle the 90's stars next. Until next time, same Bat time, same Bat channel!

Turn It Loose

Yesterday we went down to the Santa Cruz Boardwalk where we belong to have fun and catch the 6:30 performance of the one, the only, Loverboy! Or Lovermen. Or Graying Lovermen in the case of some of them. It was a fairly big crowd that assembled for this free show (there was a second show at 8:30) as they appeared on the Boardwalk for the first time. Even with the cooling weather, there were enough people around to keep the temperature warm and the band perform on a stage set on the beach was awesome.

The set list:

Synth intro - Notorious - Lucky Ones - Take Me To The Top / Riders Of The Storm - I'm Alive - Hot Girls In Love - Turn Me Loose - Working For The Weekend

I saw Loverboy in 1986 and saw they were a band that thrived in a live setting. With all of the surviving original members intact, that has not changed as they plowed through their 45 minute set with gusto. It kicked off with Doug Johnson doing a bit of synthesizer while the announcer welcomed the band as he peeled off a number of swerving licks that sounded like perfect 1981. The brief solo allowed the other band members to take the stage and led into one of only two songs performed to date past 1983, "Notorious".

"Notorious", a barreling jam co-written with Bon Jovi, got the party started and each band member got a brief solo in place of the extended harmonica part on the recorded version. It immediately brought the energy up and established that they have not lost their chops. Drummer Matt Frenette remains a demon on the skins as he pounded through this bar band rocker.

They dipped into some of their arena sized funk for "Lucky Ones", I got a kick out of watching keyboardist Johnson in the verses where all he had to do was press one keyboard periodically to create a splashing woosh sound. Later in the song he whipped out more classic shiny synthesizer cascades recalling those sweaty arenas from their hey day. It was also cool to see the sign language interpreter lady on the side of the stage groove as she signed lyrics like "Every Mother's nightmare, every school boy's dream" or "With a beautiful girl everything's prearranged."

The band went with more from the Get Lucky album by kicking into the slow burning "Take Me To The Top". Lead singer Mike Reno showed that while he has aged, his voice hasn't (or style, dude still wears a headband). His voice still had the youthful edge and elastic range of two decades ago. Guitarist Paul Dean was a live wire throughout the show, changing up riffs and fills from the recorded version to give the band a dirtier feel. And Johnson took advantage of the midsection to show off his saxophone skills as well as a jazzy breakdown on the keys. Then surprisingly the jazz section shifted into part of The Doors "Riders Of The Storm". It played perfectly on the sandy beach with the ocean water lapping on the shore.

With the tempo slowed down Reno introduced a new song, the upbeat "I'm Alive". I thought it was pretty good but needed a slightly stronger chorus to really get people going. Still, Reno was able to work the crowd to get into it.

Displaying their arena rock veteran status, Reno then did the classic divide-the-audience-by-seating-or-gender-shout-out (in this case gender) before kicking into a barn burning "Hot Girls In Love". Paul Dean tore it up on this one as the crowd bounced beach balls adding to the party atmosphere.

While "Turn Me Loose" has been a popular song of theirs, it seems to have become bigger post 80's because it got a huge reaction from the audience. Bassist Ken Sinnaeve dug into the funky bass line as the crowd sang along with the lyrics. Loved the awesome headless bass!

Citing that the Boardwalk wanted to keep their sets shorter than normal, Loverboy drummer Matt Frenette hit the cowbell three times to launch into "Working For The Weekend". Their best known song, the audience (which included me) of course went nuts.

And that was the end of the show. Great pictures courtesy of my wife the Bunny who did a great job, particularly since I mis-identified Paul Dean early on (I didn't know there were two grey haired guys in the band). I've got to give a shout out to Loverboy, at a stage where a lot of bands don't have original members and phone in their performances they stand out. Not only is this group 4/5ths of the originals, they play like a band that enjoys live performance. They interact with the crowd, have full commitment to what they're doing and aren't afraid to rock out. This was part of a great trip we took together to Santa Cruz. If you have a chance to see Loverboy, I definitely recommend it.

Mr Mike AOR Project 1985

It's the roar of the crowd: Arena Rock's commercial slickness and focused energy became attractive to movies and aging rockers who wanted to meet mass appeal.

1985 was the year AOR went Hollywood, movie soundtracks and classic rockers hit the arena rock scene hard. The Iron Eagle soundtrack spawned a slew of Arena Rock classics, so much I purposely limited the number of songs on these CDs because it was dominating the whole thing. So, not included are Queen's "One Vision", Adrenalin's "Sign of the Gypsy" and Eric Martin's "These Are The Good Times". On top of that was the classic Rocky IV soundtrack, giving us another shot of John Cafferty and Survivor genius. Following '84's Footloose soundtrack, Arena Rockers were finding a lot of work playing over a film's ending credits or getting cut into that most famous of 80's film fads, The Montage. At the same time, Rock legends from the 60's like Mick Jagger and Eric Clapton jumped in too choosing slicker sonics to blend with the times. Arena Rock was still big business and everyone wanted in.

Disc 1:

Heart - What About Love

The Wilson sisters kicked off their new deal with Capitol records by releasing a nice shiny epic power ballad. Few on the planet can wail like Ann Wilson.

Fiona - Talk to Me

The smoky voiced chanteuse will forever be the person Demi Moore lip sync'd to in No Small Affair to me, though she is probably better known for acting opposite Bob Dylan in his big screen flick. Fiona tried every trick in the book to achieve fame to no avail, which is shocking because if a duet with Kip Winger called "You're Sexing Me" can't get you attention then what can?

David Lee Roth - California Girls

Diamond Dave rocked out the Beach Boys classic to the tune of random shouts and windmill kicks, giving him the delusion that he could do it all on his own. If only I could get a DeLorean and go back in time to stop him.

Alan Parsons Project - Days Are Numbers (The Traveller)

Wistful is not an adjective that comes up much in Arena rock, the pomp rockers get all teary eyed over the magic Traveller man. Travel on you questing spirit!

Loudness - Crazy Night

The Japanese Metal Gods tried the American market for a little while, I couldn't get a good copy of the excellent "Let it Go" so I went with another good tune from them.

Robert Tepper - No Easy Way Out

Just think, without Robert Tepper then Rocky might never have jumped into his Porsche to drive away his regrets and fears over Apollo Creed's death. Drago!

Supertramp - Cannonball

Who needs Roger Hodgson? Oh yeah, Supertramp does. The first single sans Hodgson was a sleek piece of jazz rock that sounds oddly close to the James Bond theme towards the end.

Bryan Adams - Heaven

Forgotten fact about this song: it was released as part of a soundtrack for a movie where Christopher Atkins (Blue Lagoon) is a male stripper in a relationship with his teacher Lesley Ann Warren. A Night in Heaven I think it was called. Or if it was made today, it would be titled Another Day at School.

Mick Jagger - Just Another Night

The Stones front man shaked and shimmied as hard as he could to make this song fly. He nearly succeeds as he pushed this to the Top 20. Sorry Mick, you really need Keith to make this stuff work.

Motley Crue - Home Sweet Home

Before it was American Idol's kiss off song, the Crue took power balladry to new heights on this jam which saw them switch from Satanic leather to spandex and scarves. No longer shouting at the devil, they're all sensitive and missing home.

Dokken - In My Dreams

Dokken still rhymes with rockin', their best heavy harmony topped off with George Lynch's blazing guitar. In the early 90's this song was remade as a dance track by a Disney group called The Party.

Starship - We Built This City

Stiff, mechanical, dopey and cheesy: everything I love! The Starship hit warp speed with this idiotic yet insanely memorable smash. I even had the twelve inch back then which consisted of five minutes of the drum machine pattern going over and over again followed by the regular song.

Marillion - Kayleigh

They didn't make much of a splash in the U.S., Marillion was a well respected British prog band who hit the European charts with this pop cut.

Survivor - The Search is Over

It's like Cats with rockers, Survivor croon their dramatic tale that made the list of VH1's Awesomely Bad Love Songs just because it's about finding true love after dating a lot of women.

The Hooters - And We Danced

Philadelphia's eccentric pop rockers were named after an actual musical instrument, not what you might think (get your mind out of the gutter!). For some reason this band has a knack for writing hits for female singers, case in point - Cyndi Lauper's "Time After Time" and Joan Osbourne's "One of Us" (you know, the what if God was on the bus song).

Fortune - Dearborn Station

One of the lost bands of AOR, Fortune released a classic Arena rock disc in '85 and was virtually ignored for their trouble. Not so, ahem, fortunate.

Van Zant - I'm A Fighter

Before reviving Lynyrd Skynyrd, Johnny Van Zant took a shot at making a name for himself and made a little bit of headway with a two fisted rockers and ballads approach.

Disc 2:

Asia - Go

The last sort of hit for the British Prog AOR group, "Go" is like listening to Manheim Steamroller with Barry Manilow on lead vocals. That sounds awful, but it's really good. At least to me.

Magnum - On A Storyteller's Night

Germany likes to rock and Magnum serves up a bright shiny anthem that builds from a ballad to straight ahead rock. Combined with Asia, they serve up a special kind of cheese that can only come from Europe.

Tina Turner - Better Be Good To Me

Half the fun is listening to Turner's raspy insistent delivery, at it's core "Good to Me" is classic Arena rock dressed up in Adult Contemporary garb. The other part of the fun is listening to my wife's great Tina Turner imitation :)

REO Speedwagon - Can't Fight This Feeling

Along with Survivor, '85 was a big year for finding love right under your nose. Was it social commentary as the 60's spirit of unmarried sex combined with the wave of conservatism created a culture where it was expected to sleep around before getting married? Nope, just coinkidink. This song added some much needed miles to the Speedwagon's career as it shot to #1 on the Pop charts.

Joe Lynn Turner - Endlessly

Ex-Rainbow singer JoLT powered his solo debut with this magnificent moody ballad. I got to see JoLT live when he opened for Pat Benatar a year later, thought it was funny his tour shirts stressed JoLT with a lightning bolt because there was a caffeine heavy soda at the same time with a similar logo. Ah, that soda got me through many a college final.

Huey Lewis and the News - The Power of Love

Maybe a little too bar band to be true Arena Rock, nonetheless Huey Lewis and the News made a dent in the Pop Rock scene. This song gave Michael J Fox the power to skateboard his heart out in Back to the Future.

Mr. Mister - Broken Wings

Singer / Bassist / Songwriter Martin Page turned down a shot at replacing Peter Cetera in Chicago because he had faith in his own band. For one year he was right, Mr. Mister hit the top of the charts twice. Then after that it looked like he totally made the wrong choice as Mr. Mister decended into oblivion.

Eric Clapton - She's Waiting

Slowhand's hook up with Phil Collins produced some of his biggest AOR moments, "She's Waiting" was one of his best of Clap's 80's phase. Though I've always had a soft spot for that Miller beer remake of "After Midnight".

Michael McDonald - No Lookin' Back

Yes, there were occasional moments where Mikey McD would sing lead instead of background vocals. "No Lookin' Back" was McD's attempt to get out of R&B pop purgatory, an attempt that failed but still gave us a nice piece of soulful AOR.

Loverboy - Lovin Every Minute Of It

Written by Mutt Lange, it looks like Def Leppard, sounds like Def Leppard, but it's not. It's not Def Lep, it's Canada's Loverboy droppin' the New Wave to take their shot at full on Arena Rock.

The Power Station - Some Like It Hot

Driven by what I consider to be the single greatest drum performance of the Reagan Presidency, the late Tony Thompson gave the renegade Duran Durannies (John and Andy Taylor) something to dance about. And the cool sophistication of Robert Palmer didn't hurt either.

Heart - Never

This delicious chunk of wiry Arena Rock (Neevverrr! Never Run away...) was a huge smash not just for its catchiness. Nancy Wilson bouncing, writhing and kicking throughout the vid clip in tight spandex was a key selling point for millions.

Mike and the Mechanics - Silent Running

Okay, I never did figure out if this song went to a movie or not. The video made it seem like it belonged to a movie about aliens or something. Either way, Paul Carrack backed by Genesis' Mike Rutherford made a sleek proposition for high tech mystery.

Rush - The Big Money

The egghead hard rockers railed against THE MAN with this textured swipe at Corporate greed.

Y&T - Summertime Girls

Same old story: Long running Bay Area hard rock outfit sells out to pure cheese for MTV airplay. "Mean Streak" this is not. And yet I cannot resist it's sub-Hagar charm.

King Kobra - Iron Eagle (Never Say Die)

Damn right you never say die, this is America!

The Cars - Tonight She Comes

Little did we know at the time that this would be the last Cars hit to have any real impact. Ric Ocasek's offhand delivery distinguishes this synth heavy hit.

And Cut! That's a wrap people, see you in 1986.

Artist Spotlight - Loverboy

I never noticed until now how much actor John C Reilly resembled Paul Dean (l.) - can we expect a Will Farrell / John C Reilly parody of Loverboy soon?

When I read the news on Melodicrock that Loverboy is going to be inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame next year, I felt the need to show my appreciation of the 80's Arena Rockers. Mike Reno, Paul Dean, Matt Frenette, Doug Johnson and Scott Smith made up a healthy part of my listening diet in high school. Because in that decade it was fashionable to throw on a big headband and wear matching black leather outfits with your friends. Actually, the group's image or insult inducing name wasn't what I listened to them for, Loverboy was a straight up Pop Rock unit with touches of New Wave and a bit of gusto. And now, the career of one of Canada's finest - Loverboy!

Loverboy (1980)

One of the first records I ever bought, the quintet's debut album was one I didn't think much of at the time. I thought the sound was muddy and the songwriting not quite as "clean" (meaning they tended to get a little rawer and darker than their later albums). And the album art was confusing, the front cover looked Punk yet the band photos on the back looked Brady Bunch. Back then I played exactly three songs from this record: the fun-kay Turn Me Loose, the mid tempo fist pumper The Kid Is Hot Tonite and the automatically dated Lady of the 80's (because I wanted a lady of the 80's of course. Oh Justine Bateman, where are you now? Mallory! Sha la la la...). Their upbeat anthemic sound with Reno's strong vocals (although he always seemed to enunciate like a guy with marbles in his mouth to me) was a huge draw for me. A few years ago I picked up a Loverboy comp that had "Prissy Prissy" and "Little Girl" on it, I found that I now liked those attitude driven rockers as well. Careerwise, this record got the band's career off to a good start and sold well.

Get Lucky (1981)

For a few months, Loverboy captured the sound all of America wanted - barrelling Pop Rock feel good tunes with swerving New Wave synth hooks. The first single Working for the Weekend became a Rock standard, leaving people like me going off the deep end and wanting more cow bell. "Weekend"s impact drove Get Lucky to Platinum sales and was one of the best selling records of 1982. I was also hooked on the slower jams Take Me To The Top and When It's Over, both rendered with cool passion. The semi ironic Lucky Ones had some 'tude and the Bryan Adams penned Jump (not the Van Halen song) added more rockin' fun. Even the record's off moments worked. The ridiculous street cred posturing of Gangs in the Street shoots for drama but finds the funny instead. And Emotional is a rip of the Stone's Respectable. Nonetheless, Get Lucky was a benchmark of greatness in my book. And the toe tapping It's Your Life is in a class by itself, keyboardist Doug Johnson shines on this album.

Keep It Up (1983)

While the debut album was one of the first records I had bought, the first Loverboy item I owned was a cassette of Keep It Up. It all started innocently, I was watching Friday Night Videos and saw what is only the-greatest-music-video-ever Queen of the Broken Hearts. I videotaped that thing and played it over and over in that super annoying way that teenagers do when they find something new (my brother's relentless playing of New Edition is burned in my brain. Didjya get my secret? Didjya? Didjya?) I wanted to run out into the desert to meet Hot Girls in Love and rock out in a sandstorm. Yes, in reality I would probably die of dehydration and have no survival skills and any beautiful women that live in a desert alone are probably part of a cult but I was a teenager, I didn't know that. I only knew that it looked cool.

My neighbor Mike who used to tune me into new music hated Loverboy and ridiculed drummer Matt Frenette for moving his mouth while he played. Mike would say "What is he doing? Saying the notes?" Then Circus magazine compared the ballad "It's Never Easy" to a Todd Rundgren song and he borrowed Keep It Up for a month.

Elsewhere on the tape there were a lot of nuclear fear in tracks like "Strike Zone" and "Meltdown". I used to think the funky "Passion Pit" was about an orgy (I'll say it again, I was a teenager!) My last strong feeling from this tape came a few years later, I was playing it in my car when my friend Rick started saying "Predictable. Mew-sick." over and over during "Chance of a Lifetime". Couldn't deny it, he had me there. But I still like it.

Lovin' Every Minute of It (1985)

This tape was the one I played more than any other Loverboy before it. Bruce Fairbairn had done a phenomenal job of Producing during the first three Loverboy campaigns. Guitarist Paul Dean wanted something different than the tight and slick sonics the band had before, so Judas Priest Producer Tom Allom was brought in. The keyboards were peeled back a touch, the New Wave jettisoned and a lot more guitar was added. This was Loverboy's Arena Rock heart free of any frills. The Mutt Lange written Title Track was commercialized headbanging lite establishing the format Def Leppard would use well a few years later. The Journeyish power ballad This Could Be The Night was effective and included a co-write with the Journeymeister himself, Jon Cain. Another Bryan Adams cut, the stomping Dangerous, also had an impact. For me the highlight was "Friday Night", a party hard shout out to people still working for that weekend. And the not to subtle innuendo of "Bullet in the Chamber" is classic. I wore this tape out.

I saw Loverboy live on this tour and had a blast. They were incredibly energetic and sounded fantastic. Shortly after the band would have their last big hit, Top Gun's Heaven in your Eyes.

Wildside (1987)

I covered this album in detail before so I'll be brief this time. Wildside started off promisingly with the fast paced Bon Jovi collaboration Notorious. But it quickly fell off after that. Despite the return of Bruce Fairbairn to the Producer's chair the band was admittedly tired at this point and it showed in generic songs like "Walkin On Fire" or "Hometown Hero". After three consecutive Platinum records Wildside could only go Gold illustrating the fall off. They even dropped the typewritten logo! Solo attempts followed like Paul Dean's now out of print excursion that included the excellent "Sword and Stone" while Mike Reno popped up on a Two Corey's soundtrack with "Whenever There's A Night".

Big Ones (1989)

Normally I wouldn't include a Greatest Hits in a Spotlight because it usually doesn't add anything new. Not the case here as Big Ones adds three new songs in. The single Too Hot had minimal impact but when teamed up with its counterparts "Ain't Lookin' For Love" and "For You" the group shows they were looking to reclaim some energy and glory. Almost no keyboards are in these songs leaving heavy guitar and Reno's youthful voice. Big Ones failed to recapitulate the band's career, instead it put the punctuation mark on what would be the end of their peak period.

Six (1997)

I keep meaning to get the disc but never have so I really can't say anything about it. Loverboy was pretty far off my listening radar at this point, I didn't even know this was released until years later. I will take this spot to talk about the sad event that brought Loverboy back to national attention, in 2000 bassist Scott Smith drowned in the San Francisco Bay. It was pretty big news around here, a tragic end to the a fine bassist who embodied the band's young spirit (in videos he was portrayed as the smiling playa of the group).

Just Getting Started (2007)

Nearly a decade later Loverboy recorded their most recent effort, Just Getting Started. While it would be easy to write off anything Loverboy does at this point, I downloaded this album when I was subscribing to E Music and found it to be very good. Mike Reno dominates this album as he was inspired by the end of a relationship, the songs have that famous mix of big rockers like the title track or "Lost With You" and power ballads like The One That Got Away. I played this one in my car a lot last year, a worthy slice of Pop Rock that succeeds in both modernizing their sound while staying true to their roots.

So congratulations Loverboy to your induction to the Canadian Music Hall of Fame. As they prep for the ceremony only one question remains: will it be red leather or black leather? Can't wait to hear that cow bell!