Top 10 Alert!
Song#: 1289 Date: 12/18/1982
Debut: 40
Peak: 2
Weeks: 21
Genre: Soft Rock, Country Crossover, Adult Contemporary
Pop Bits: In 1980, Seger scored his first #1 album with "Against the Wind." It would end up being a 5-times platinum, two-time Grammy winning LP that featured three Top 20 hits including the #5 title track. After a live album release, the band readied their next studio recording titled "The Distance." This first single became a multi-format hit reaching #2 at pop for four weeks, #1 AC, and #15 country. It would be Seger's biggest hit to-date. Oddly, the major success of the single didn't really boost album sales. After six multi-platinum albums, "The Distance" would peak at #5 and only reach platinum level. That certainly doesn't make the album a failure, but it was a definite drop in sales and signaled that Seger may be on the waning side of his peak period. (Note: Seger is one of the last major artists to keep his music off of streaming services, YouTube and even iTunes. He recently gave in on iTunes and allowed a few of his album to be sold on the service, but streaming is still a no-go. There are some live performances that are not blocked on YouTube like the above. It'll have to do for now.)
ReduxReview: I find it odd that this would end up being one of Seger's biggest hits, yet I rarely hear it anywhere. It's a great offering from Rodney Crowell (see below) that fit Seger perfectly. I loved it back in the day and bought the single. I'd have to say it was the song that swayed me into being a Seger fan. So for that, I'm grateful. However, for me the song has lost a little of its luster and I'm not so enamored with it as I was back then.
ReduxRating: 7/10
Trivia: Seger wrote a good chunk of his charting singles, but this big hit was actually a remake. Country star Rodney Crowell wrote this song and included it on his self-titled 1981 LP. The tune was not released as a single. A month before Seger's version was issued, singer Mac Davis covered it on his album "Forty 82." Again, it was not chosen for single release.
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I also find it strange that it's one of Bob Seger's biggest hits but rarely gets played anywhere and didn't even appear on his first Greatest Hits CD, that's how I also feel about "Shakedown" and "Tryin' To Live My Life Without You".
ReplyDeleteMy guess is that they left it off the first GH because it needed more upbeat tunes and it wasn't one that Seger wrote. At least it made it on the second volume.
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