We Ruined REO Speedwagon

Granted, the title of this piece is more than a little heavy on hyperbole, but stick with me here.

At least give me a shot at making my point before you haul out the torches and pitch-forks, ok?

Right, moving on.

Quick, off the top of your head, what year would you guess the band REO Speedwagon formed? (No GOOGLING!)

What’s your guess? 1980? Nope.

Maybe….1977…? Nope.

Let’s see, you remember them from high school in the 80’s so maybe 1983? No, again.

REO Speedwagon was actually formed in 1968 by a handful of guys who were students at Univ of Illinois. 1968!

Any idea when their first album came out? (Admittedly, now that we’ve narrowed the timeline, this question is a bit easier than the first.)

1971. Their self-titled (or Eponymous, if you prefer) debut album came out in 1971.

First song (or single) to hit the Billboard Hot 100?

That would be ‘Ridin’ the Storm’ out that scorched all the way up to…erm…..#94 on the Billboard Charts in May of 1977. Still a long-ass way from Top 10 or #1 it should be noted.

Now, when they finally DID hit their stride in terms of mass appeal popularity, REO Speedwagon sorta got lumped in with an often-scorned genre of music derisively called “Arena Rock” by a gaggle of snooty rock critics located mainly in LA and NYC. (For whatever it’s worth, Styx and Journey were essentially the other 2 legs on the arena rock stool.)

But….BUT…..before anyone slapped a label on REO Speedwagon or their music, they were just kind of a solidly straight-forward Midwestern Boogie Rock band.

I never saw ‘em live during this pre-stardom phase of their career (too young) but I have it on good authority that, at least live in concert, REO Speedwagon was definitively TRYING to be a rock band. Not a pop band. Not a pop rock band. But a capital “R”, rock band.

Now, let’s go back to the Billboard Charts again for a moment.

‘Ridin’ the Storm Out” scrapes in at #94 in May of ’77.

“Roll With the Changes” goes to #58 in May of ’78. I mean, it’s not Black Sabbath’s “Paranoid”, or anything, but there’s some pretty ripping guitar work in this one from Gary Richrath and to my ear it’s definitely more rock than pop.

“Time for me to Fly” reaches #56 in July of ’78. And yes, the beginning of this one with the acoustic guitar out front STARTS out a bit more mellow but it’s certainly not a ballad. You could maybe make the argument that it’s slightly leaning more pop than rock but certainly not by a statistically significant amount.

So, to recap:

Band forms- 1968

First album- 1971

First chart entry- 1977

Highest charting song between 1977 and 1980- position #56

And then, along comes High Infidelity, released in Dec of 1980.

As we now know, THAT was the album that changed not only REO Speedwagon’s commercial fortunes but also the musical direction the band would take after that massively successful 9 million copies selling album.

Shortly before High Infidelity is released in Dec of 1980, the record label releases a single at the end of November as an attempt to “prime the sales pump” in advance of the forthcoming album that they feel purrrrrrty good about from a commercial and sales standpoint.

That single?

‘Keep on Loving You’ which peaks at #1 in March of 1981. REO Speedwagon’s first single to break the Top 10 and their very first #1 single.

Now, don’t get me wrong, ‘Keep on Loving’ you does have some measure of musical guts to it. Note, once again, a fairly aggro guitar solo from Gary Richrath, at least for a radio friendly pop song.

BUT, to my ear, this is sort of the point where, for better or worse, REO Speedwagon crosses over into a territory soon to be known as “power ballad” which is yet another label invented by snooty music critics far and wide.

But you know what? Critics DON’T BUY ALBUMS! Fans do.

And how did the fans respond to “Keep on Loving You”? As previously mentioned, the fans took it to #1.

So, if you’re in REO Speedwagon. You’re Kevin Cronin (main singer and songwriter). You’re the record label honcho that signed REO Speedwagon and is trying to make a buck off ‘em, what’s your takeaway after the success of ‘Keep on Loving You”?

KEEP. DOING. THINGS. LIKE. THAT.

I’m not suggesting REO Speedwagon fully abandoned rock music at that point. Not at all.

Don’t Let Him Go (#24 in Aug of ’81), Take it on the Run (#5 in May of ’81), Keep the Fire Burning (#7 in Aug of ’82) all nicely straddle the line between pop and rock even if they do lean a bit more pop than some of their earlier work.

But if you’ll allow me to indulge in a baseball analogy for a minute: Take it on the Run? That’s a double. Keep the Fire Burning? Eh- hard hit single. Don’t Let Him Go? Hit by pitch, take your base.

But a #1 single like “Keep on Loving You”? THAT is a grand-slam to win the World Series in the bottom of the 9th inning is what that is.

So, like any good hitter in baseball trying to replicate the best swing of his life, REO Speedwagon goes back to the well a couple dozen times to try and grab some more of that “Keep on Loving You” power ballad magic.

By my measuring stick, they managed to recapture it exactly one time.

In March of 1985 perhaps the definitive power ballad “Can’t Fight this Feeling Anymore” stays at the #1 position on the Billboard Hot 100 officially making it the single biggest hit of REO Speedwagon’s career.

And then, from there, it’s sorta downhill for the mighty REO Speedwagon from both a commercial and critical stand point.

These REO songs all charted after ‘Can’t Fight this Feeling Anymore’.

Live Every Moment

Variety Tonight

Love is a Rock

That Ain’t Love

Here with Me

In My Dreams

You remember any of them? Can you sing the chorus to any of those songs from memory?

Me neither.

So, to circle back to my original point, albeit in a round-about way, I was born in 1969.

That means I was 11-ish when REO Speedwagon’s High Infidelity came out.

Just sort of getting formally acquainted with the world of popular music and radio at the time while still far too young to put any real thought into concepts like “artistic credibility”, or “arena rock”, or even “power ballad” for that matter.

At least for me, at age 11-12, the transactional flow chart was pretty simple:

1. Hear song on radio

2. Do I like song- Y/N?

3. If No, wait for next song.

4. If Yes, wait for that same song to play again.

5. If I REALLY like said song, take paper route money and go buy 45 rpm single and play over and over and over and over again.

6. Lather, Rinse, Repeat

So, if, like me, you were born somewhere around 1969.

And, if, like me, you started getting into music around age 10-11-12.

Then, like me, YOU are also at least partly to blame for turning REO Speedwagon into the schlock rock, power ballad, cheese-meisters they became in the latter parts of their career because WE were the ones who voted with our ears and our paper route money to make their power ballads far and away the biggest hits of their career.

But again, we were like 11.

So, really, how bad should we feel about this?

Eh- based on my face in this picture, I’d say about…this much.

That’s about a 3 on a 10 scale. Maybe a 4.

Rest easy tonight. I’m sure REO Speedwagon is doing just fiiiiiine.