Bob Seger, The #30 Artist of the Rock Era, Part Three

 

(Continued from Part Two)

 

In 1977, Martin was struck by a car in an accident that took away his ability to walk.  David Teegarden, who had collaborated with Seger previously, replaced him in the group.  In 1978, Seger and the Silver Bullet Band released the album Stranger in Town.  Here is another of his songs about gambling, but not about one person in particular.  It's a mix of characters Bob met when he first arrived in Los Angeles, all of them who were driven overachievers. "Still The Same", hit #4.

 "Hollywood Nights", with a peak of #12, is another underrated song.  It is the effect that the bright lights of a big city has on a small-town boy.  Bob really did come up with the chorus while driving through the Hollywood hills, just as he sings in the song.

 

Bob wrote this great ballad after seeing the all-time great movie The Sting with Paul Newman and Robert Redford.  You'll remember the scene right before Redford is due to be in the makeshift gambling house to pull off the "sting" on Robert Shaw.  He meets a woman serving him in a late night diner and decides to pay her a visit after she has gotten off work.  "We've Got Tonight" reached #9 in Canada and #13 in the United States.

The album title reflects both the joy of his songs being played nationally but also the tenuous nature of being a successful musician.  He told Rolling Stone magazine it is about being a stranger in the community of success.  "I was so afraid that it was going to stop at any minute," Bob said.  "I was afraid that I had just gotten lucky..."

 

One can look throughout the Rock Era and it is difficult to find two back-to-back albums that are as fine as Night Moves and Stranger in Town.  "Old Time Rock And Roll" peaked at #28, another of The Top Unknown/Underrated Songs*.  The song was the basis for an iconic moment in film history when Tom Cruise mimed it in the great movie Risky Business.

"Old Time Rock And Roll" was named one of the Songs of the Century in 2001.

 Stranger in Town has sold over five million units in the United States alone.  Seger wrote "Till It Shines" while on vacation in Barbados.  The song contains one of countless great Seger lines:  "Deal me up another future from some brand new deck of cards."

 

Another great track is "The Famous Final Scene".  Seger's inspiration was twofold.  Lyrically, "I decided to attempt to crystalize that instant in a failed relationship," he says, "when two people realize 'Hey, this is it for us.  So now how do we get out of this room?'"  Musically, he explains what he was trying to achieve with the grandness that comes across in the song:  "I wanted to write a song that would stop the show dead with its sensitivity", Bob said about his intention with the song.  "There's always the exuberance of Rock and Roll throughout a good concert, but I wanted to write a magical, dramatic moment into the show."

In 1979, Seger co-wrote "Heartache Tonight" for the Eagles, which went to #1.  Craig Frost, formerly with Grand Funk Railroad, replaced Robbins in the Silver Bullet Band.

 

Bob released another outstanding album in 1980 with Against the Wind.  The Eagles returned the favor of Seger's work with them the previous year by singing backing vocals on the single "Fire Lake".  It is one of his favorite lyrics, about taking chances.  "Fire Lake", which Bob later said was about Silver Lake in Michigan, was written seven years before for his Beautiful Loser album but didn't quite fit with the other material.  The song became one of the top multi-format hits of the year, going to #3 in Canada and #6 in the United States.

 

Bob said the Against the Wind album is the most fulfilled he has been as a songwriter.  Seger says the title song (in an interview with Rolling Stone) "is about trying to move ahead, keeping your sanity and integrity at the same time".  "The people in that song have weathered the storm," he continued, "and it's made them much better that they've been able to do it and maintain whatever relationship."  It hit #5 in the U.S. and #6 in Canada.  Bob hesitated to use the line "I wish I didn't know what I didn't know then," thinking it to be bad grammar, but it is the best line in the song.

 

The album matched Night Moves with sales of six million in the United States alone.  Bob credits Monica Reed, wife of Alto Reed, saxophonist in the Silver Bullet Band, with realizing this song's potential.  "I thought it was just another one of my little folk songs.  She saw the romance in it," Seger told The Detroit Free Press.  The single "You'll Accomp'ny Me" made it to #8 in Canada and #14 in the United States.

 

There wasn't a "chart" back then to measure how popular album tracks were, but if there were, "Her Strut" would have dominated it.  Bob wrote it about Jane Fonda, who at the time was going before the U.S. Congress to talk about the Campaign for Economic Democracies.  "I was quite proud of her for doing that," Seger says.  "I admired her crust...for going in there and having the strength to speak her mind."

Seger strongly objects to some that say the song is sexist, and many certainly take it that way.  While he acknowledges that "it's human nature for men to love women for being sexual", Bob says he worked hard on the verses to put across the idea that this is not a sexist theme.

Seger won a Grammy Award for Best Rock Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group for the album and was nominated for Best Pop Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group for the single.  He also earned nominations for Favorite Pop/Rock Male Artist and Favorite Pop/Rock Album.  Seger also was nominated along with the other artists who contributed to the great "Urban Cowboy" Soundtrack for Best Album of Original Score Written for a Motion Picture for "Nine Tonight".

 Seger continued to shine on stage and in 1981, he released the live album Nine Tonight, which has now sold over four million copies.  The Mainstream Rock chart debuted that year, and "Tryin' To Live My Life Without You" took advantage, climbing to #2, with an overall peak of #5.

  

"Feel Like A Number" was featured in one of the year's sensational movies, Body Heat.

 

In 1982, Seger released the album The Distance.  Abbott left during recording of the album, replaced by Dawayne Bailey.  Teegarden left soon after, replaced by another Grand Funk alum, Don Brewer.  The lead single "Shame On The Moon" advanced to #2 for four weeks overall and #1 on the Adult Contemporary chart.

 

The Distance is an album about relationships and "Even Now" uses personal relationships as a metaphor for life.  It advanced to #2 on the Mainstream Rock chart and #12 Popular.

 

The third single, about a person who knows where he stands in life and is fiercely independent, pride, and determined, also received significant airplay.  Here is Seger's "Roll Me Away".

 

It is appropriate that someone from the Detroit area recorded a song about "Makin' Thunderbirds" and Seger was the perfect man to do it.

Bob was nominated for Best Rock Performance, Solo at the Grammy Awards for the album.  The Distance is approaching two million in sales.

Part Four of Bob Seger continues on Inside The Rock Era!