Billy Squier was an artist I discovered relatively late. Though I knew of a handful of his songs, I daresay I wouldn't have been able to tell you who sung them until stumbling across them around 2022. This would lead me to grabbing four of his six eighties' albums, and then in late 2025 filling in the remaining two. Though I owned them all, candidly, I never got around to playing them. So, it's time to rectify that.
Music began early for him. At the age of eight, he was learning the piano, but after three years, grew bored of it. His grandfather would step in and actually pay the now eleven-year-old to stick with it. Sometime thereafter, a classmate would sell Billy a guitar, leading to him forming his first band, the Reltneys, at age fourteen.
His first public appearance would occur the same year he graduated high school, 1968, forming the band, Magic Terry & the Universe. However, by the early 70's he was playing Kicks. Though his initial plan was to go to college, and become a teacher, after just a short time in school, he left for New York, and joined the band, Sidewinders.
In the mid-seventies, he joined Piper, and this would lead to his first brush with the music industry. Piper released two albums in 1977, their self-titled debut, and Can't Wait. The band was met with great critical review, with their debut being called one of the best of all time. Being managed by the same management company as Kiss also granted them the opportunity to tour and open for them. Despite this initial success, the band opted to disband, and Squier went solo, signing with Capitol Records in 1979.
His 1980 debut, The Tale Of The Tape would spend three months on the Billboard 200, peaking at one hundred sixty-nine. Though only mildly successful, it would help to jumpstart his solo career. Ruther, his song, The Big Beat, would go on to be one of the most heavily sampled among the rap community. A music video would also be produced for the track, which would eventually make its way to MTV when the channel launched in 1981.
Noteworthy were some of the personnel contributing to the recording sessions. This included future Kiss guitarist, Bruce Kulick, and Bruce Springsteen E Street alum, David Sancious, and Ernest Carter.
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The Tale Of The Tape delivers a solid rock experience. I really dig Squier's unique vocals, and frankly, he's not a bad writer either. The album delivers a slew of great tracks; The Big Beat, Rich Kid, Like I'm Lovin' You, Who's Your Boyfriend, and The Music's All Right.
If this is what Billy has to offer, then yes please. I'm only disappointed that I didn't catch on sooner. To think I would have never grabbed this album had I not come across it in a used CD shop, as it wasn't among the initial four that I purchased, nor did I have any plans to buy it. This excites me for what's to come.
To support the album, Squier headed out on tour with Alice Cooper, and upon its completion reached out to Brian May. His initial intensions were to have the Queen guitarist produce his next album. However, scheduling conflicts wouldn't allow for this to happen. Instead, May recommended Reinhold Mack, the producer who worked with Queen on their 1980 album, The Game. Mack has an impressive resume all his own and could easily have a post unto himself. Maybe we'll go a bit more into him tomorrow with 1981's Don't Say No.
As for this one, I'm highly recommending that you check out The Tale Of The Tape. If you're a fan of great rock and roll, this one could easily become your next favorite album.
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