So the songs come in all different shapes and forms. How to Choose the Right Guitar String Gauges? Were going in, says Cronin, in a totally different way. The latter I had tickets for June 2020 but had to have my $$ credited back due to the situation. It also contains affiliate links in which we earn a fee from qualifying sales. As the story is told most often, Doughty is credited with coming up with the group's name. I thought that if I co-wrote it with someone, I had a feeling it would lose something that was really necessary for the song to happen. So on the last day of school that year, band guitarist Joe Matt called the leader and informed him that he, Gratzer and Mike Blair chose to leave and join a new one with Doughty. Can Kevin Cronin still sing? Classic Rock 105.1 relates that the Speedwagon was designed as a series of light, quick delivery vehicles a sort of precursor to today's pickups. The songs for that album had a certain cohesive nature to them. Cronin: Yeah, I think so. I was really focused on my wife, my children and my homemy children are all in high school now. Then on the day that Eric and I were supposed to co-write, I literally woke up that morning and I felt like I had the flu. Note: ClickAmericana.com features authentic historical information, and is not intended to represent current best practices on any topic, particularly with regard to health and safety, but also in terms of outdated cultural depictions and social values. (Brandon Nagy / Shutterstock), Become a Saturday Evening Post member and enjoy unlimited access. There was this girl in Chicago who Im still in touch with to this daywere still friends. ""It's R-dot-E-dot-O-dot Speed-wagon REO Speedwagon!" Theyre a partying kind of rock n roll audience. Through it, we work off each other, work things out, and improve because of it. Notably, these five band members have been together since 1989. We were just doing our best to stay normal as everything for the band was changing.. The truck was, of course, the REO Speed Wagon, though the band closed Speedwagon to one word. While single Sophisticated Lady just missed the Hot 100, the albums second track, 157 Riverside Avenue, has remained the most popular song from their debut album.. A staple of the bands live shows, its known for including solos from each member and sometimes extending for more than ten minutes over its recorded length. They performed Cant Fight This Feeling and Roll With the Changes which featured a few members from the Beach Boys, their families and Paul Shaffer for backing vocals. I think so. 50 Years Later, REO Speedwagon Keeps On Rollin' And there were some radio stations in the Midwest that were playing those songs. But for me, I usually write the song first and then I find the title in the song. REO has been recording since 1971, but the success that sent Cronin and his band members into such a culture shock came a decade later, when Hi . By Richard Sherwood, Valley News-Sun (Van Nuys, California) April 10, 1977. REO Speedwagon has recorded 16 studio albums which have sold a total of more than 40 million units. In 1923, the company sold an early recreational vehicle, called the "Motor Pullman Car". Wed always been known as a strong live band. So until their last LP, a long-overdue live set called You Get What You Play For, REO Speedwagon has carried the image of a second-rate boogie band whose most devoted fans would forget them shortly after the third-encore cheers had died away. DK: A couple years later REO released Hi Infidelity, which became your biggest album. Beginning in 1933, the Royale also featured as an option REO's semi-automatic transmission, the Self-Shifter. The REO Motor Car Company was a company based in Lansing, Michigan, which produced automobiles and trucks from 1905 to 1975. These singles were on the charts for over a year, selling over 10 million copies. My wife is an amazing person. It did land a recording contract with Epic Records back in 1971, but six years and seven albums later, its still waiting for seemingly overdue popularity, on the east and west coasts. Designed by Battle Creek, Michigan, newspaper editor J.H. Brown, the automobile included a drop-down sleeping extension, a built-in gas cooking range, and a refrigerator. I guess our problem was that we were trying to carry on like nothing had changed. REO has been recording since 1971, but the success that sent Cronin and his band members into such a culture shock came a decade later, when Hi-Infidelity stayed on top of the pop charts for nearly six months, making REO one of the hottest groups of 1981. It was great. It wasnt long before Gratzer, bassist Mike Blair, and guitarist Joe Matt decided to quit the old band and join Doughty in a new one. We know weve got to prove ourselves, says lead singer Kevin Cronin, and I cant wait to get that next album out. guitarist Gary Richrath The title line is, Cant you see, Ill always be a music man. It basically talked about my story in a song. Their next album, Wheels Are Turnin, was released two years later and included the #1 hit single Cant Fight This Feeling and three more big hits: I Do Wanna Know, One Lonely Night, and Live Every Moment. L.A. They perform about 100 dates a year. Platinum albums and radio staples soon followed, setting the stage for the release of the band's explosive Hi Infidelity which contained the . It was just that I needed to really identify where the heart and soul of this piece that I was working on was. Cronin: The first album that I made with them was an album called R.E.O./T.W.O., which was our second album. (they used periods in those days) Speedwagon had been at it for a while when the band got its first shot at performing live on national TV. REO Speedwagon performing live in 2010 (top) and 2016 (bottom). The band would continue to juxtapose rock numbers and power ballads to great success, much like contemporaries Styx and Journey. But from all appearances, REOs next studio LP really will be different and largely because of a change in the bands attitude toward making records. I try to stick with the inspiration, and keep as much of that initial burst of creativity in the song as I possibly can. Your ego gets pumped up a lot at first, but were used to it now. Earworm #24: REO Speedwagon Roll With the Changes