The landscape of 1985 was a unique time in music. Rap had become mainstream, new wave had taken over but was also on its way out at this point, rock and roll was shifting to hair metal, Prince was making movies, and Michael Jackson's Thriller was the biggest album of all time. Competition on the Billboard was coming from every direction.
Among all of this, Loverboy wasn't faring well. The band had taken a consider drop in sales with their 1983 released Keep It Up, and this was only going to continue with 1985's Lovin' Every Minute Of It. While it spawned multiple Billboard Hot 100 hits, which included the title track, which peaked at number nine, Dangerous (sixty-five), This Could Be The Night (ten), and Lead A Double Life (sixty-eight), the album itself would move less units then its predecessor.
Much like I said yesterday, selling four-times platinum is no small feat. For those of you who don't know, one platinum certification is a million albums. However, when your previous two records sold seven million each across Canada and the USA, your label starts to take notice. Especially when your latest album does even less, which is what Lovin' Every Minute Of It did. It would "only" go platinum in Canada and two-times platinum in the USA. Again, that's a lot, but not in comparison to previous success.
Perhaps at this point I'm listening to too much Loverboy back-to-back, and the fatigue is setting in at this point. I listened to their first two albums on day one, and their third and fourth on another. Or maybe the quality of their albums really is taking a nosedive.
Whatever it is, I'm definitely noticing that as I keep going through their discography that each subsequent record is less and less appealing. Even the title track, which I bought the CD for didn't really hold much of my attention. As a whole, I found my mind wandering quite a bit throughout this one.
Once again, I kept waiting in anticipation for that hidden gem to come, but it never did. The other hits were okay, but definitely not the best I've heard from Loverboy.
If there's one thing that stood out to me, it's that the band sure did embrace the MTV age. They churned out a ton of music videos between 1980 and 1985. Even better is that they released them all on a VHS titled, Any Way You Look At It, in 1986.
Moving forward, I may take a new approach to my Retro Spins. Wherein I've been going from start to finish through an 80's discography, I think I'm going to start rotating between a handful of musicians. This way I don't get bored of any one particular person, or if it truly is terrible, looking at you Martha And The Muffins, I'm not banging my head against a wall trying to get through it.
Loverboy released one final album in the decade, 1987's Wildside. Though, prior to this, they participated in the massively successful Top Gun soundtrack with their contribution, Heaven In Your Eyes. It would peak at number twelve on the Billboard Hot 100.
While you won't find the music video for Heaven In Your Eyes on the aforementioned VHS, this was included on the 2004 Collector's Edition of Top Gun. Along with that, it also includes the music videos for Kenny Loggin's Danger Zone, Berlin's Take My Breath Away, and Harold Faltermeyer and Steve Steven's Top Gun Anthem. Sadly, no video for Playing With The Boys.
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