Three years it would take Billy Squier to finish what would become his last album of the 80's, 1989's Hear & Now. Upon its release, it would be met with minimal fanfare. The artist had long since been on a steady decline, one I've talked about multiple times over the past couple of days.
Upon its release, the album would peak at number sixty-four, and mirror his previous release, "only" selling 300,000 copies. This low amount would also make it his second consecutive album to fail to reach any sales certifications.
With is would come the minor hit, Don't Say You Love Me. It would peak at fifty-eight on the Billboard Hot 100 and be his last charting single to date.
For me, Billy has been an artist that I've witnessed for myself the steady decline in quality and hits which have led him to this point. The disappointing aspect has been that as an artist he can deliver really solid rock tracks, but as time went by, they got fewer and further between. Mind you, I don't think this was a result of lack of trying, but rather a change in musical styles which perhaps couldn't keep up with the other contenders of the era.
Looking at 1984, when his popularity began to wane, it's easy to see how he could be lost among the biggest albums of the year, which included Michael Jackson's Thriller (yes, even though it was released in 1982), Bruce Springsteen's Born In The U.S.A., Huey Lewis And The News' Sports, Prince And The Revolutions' Purple Rain, and even the Footloose soundtrack. Fast forward to 1986, and he only continues to get lost among Janet Jackson's Control, Van Halen's 5150, Madonna's True Blue, Lionel Richie's Dancing On The Ceiling, Bon Jovi's Slippery When Wet, and the Top Gun soundtrack. Now sprinkle in the massive albums of 1985, a year where Billy was inactive, and you can easily see how people quickly moved on. He simply couldn't compete with the legends of those years.
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The unfortunate side to all of the above is that in listening to Hear & Now, it's really not good. I would say it's tolerable. Mediocre at best. Forgettable through and through. Definitely a flat note to go out on for the decade.
Candidly, this album wasn't worth the time I allotted to listening to it. It makes me care less for Billy Squier than I initially did, and only serves to make me glad I'm done with his 80's discography.
Billy would release three more albums in the 90's, 1991's Creatures Of Habit, 1993's Tell The Truth, and 1998's Happy Blue. Since then, he has made appearances sporadically, and celebrated milestones in his career with anniversary and remastered additions of his previous work. However, he does tend to stay quieter than most 80's artists desperate for a resurgence from nostalgia driven audiences. I suppose with a net worth of forty to fifty million dollars, he doesn't exactly need to worry about working much.
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