Saturday
Jun062015
The Best Of 1985: #8
Saturday, June 6, 2015 at 12:01AM
A countdown 30 years in the making continues today with my 8th favorite video from 1985: "This Boy Needs to Rock" by Night Ranger.
Reader Comments (22)
One of those bands that gets slagged a lot (a sorta' photo-friendly version of Loverboy). I suppose it is their AOR sound or what have you. But a band that was and is consistently fun to see on stage, with a lot of hits that people can't help singing.
And this is only a few (three?) years after Gillis stepped in and did admirably on the "Speak of the Devil" tour with Ozzy, alongside Sarzo and Aldridge.
And, no matter what I think of Night Ranger, which isn't much, unfortunately, there's no denying the greatness of Brad Gilles as demonstrated here and in his stint in Ozzy.
As far as Styx goes, 2 Good Songs -- "Lady" and... Damn, gotta check...
p.s. I'll tell you who really needs to be on the rapidly approaching Def Leppard Cruise... The Darkness! Their new album ROCKS B*LLS! And check out those new videos!
I doubt the Leps will make an appearance since they had nothing out in 1985. Pyromania was 1983 and then Hysteria didn't surface until 1987. There are parameters at play here.
Therefore, I would expect to see Cruë, as "Theatre of Pain" came out in '85. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if it comes up #1, unless she wants to put the whammy on me, which wouldn't surprise me, either!
The question is who are the remaining contenders that were already in the game in '85?, since we still have a couple of slots open.
Kix
Dokken
Twisted Sister
KISS
But I'm sure Allyson has something better up her sleeve.
And some other good albums (though maybe a bit farther afield, and all perhaps suffering from a bit of the era's, ahem, sheen) came out that year: Helix ("Deep Cuts the Knife"), BOC ("Dancing in the Ruins"), Stryper ("Soldiers Under Command"), Loudness ("Crazy Nights"), Dio ("Rock n Roll Children"), Saxon ("Broken Heroes," commercial sounding, but still . . .), Y&T ("Summertime Girls," anyone?), and even Aerosmith's last stab at potentially sounding like Aerosmith (by recycling a JPP song, "Let the Music Do the Talking").
But, yes, I see the Crue and Dokken filling up the final slots.
I never really got Loudness. Just never did anything for me. BOC probably too far afield. Dio, I don't know, not Holy Diver or The Last In Line, so probably not on the radar. Saxon very underrated but don't see them making an appearance. Helix, eh, maybe, but I don't think so. I never really cared for the early Stryper stuff, I think they have made much better music lately. I could go with almost anything off of Done With Mirrors, but since this a video list, I guess "Let the Music Do The Talkin'" is the only option.
But through the prism of time, and we've all commented on this album before, IMHO, I think "DWM" is amazing just on "Let The Music Do The Talking", alone!
Read the Wikipedia page on it. Fascinating stuff! Especially Perry's opinion regarding the album.
BTW! I bought the 1st presses of the LP, the CD and the Cassette when it came out and still got 'em. This was when all the album graphics and liner notes were all reversed so you had to look at them in the mirror to make them legible.
Of course, somebody at Geffen f*cked up when they redid all the graphics, type and liner notes to make them read regularly and added their logo to the cover.
But through the prism of time, and we've all commented on this album before, IMHO, I think "DWM" is amazing just on "Let The Music Do The Talking", alone!
Read the Wikipedia page on it. Fascinating stuff! Especially Perry's opinion regarding the album.
BTW! I bought the 1st presses of the LP, the CD and the Cassette when it came out and still got 'em. This was when all the album graphics and liner notes were all reversed so you had to look at them in the mirror to make them legible.
Of course, somebody at Geffen f*cked up when they redid all the graphics, type and liner notes to make them read regularly and added their logo to the cover.