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| Eh, close enough. |
The Biggest Surprise: That the band that made this video/song spent a decade partying itself into rehab (with one tragic exception).
The Most Famous Line-Up: Too many to count, honestly, but here's the short list: Neal Doughty (piano/keys); Alan Gratzer (drums); Kevin Cronin (vox/rhythm guitar); Gary Richrath (lead guitar); Bruce Hall (bass/backing vocals).
What You Need to Know
It all started in the electrical engineering program at the University of Illinois, when Doughty met Gratzer and spent an afternoon jamming in their dorm basement. That happened in 1966; a decade-plus would pass before the REO Speedwagon managed a stable line-up. For example, Cronin - that's the lead singer you're picturing with them now, yes - played on their second album, R.E.O. T.W.O., but left during production of the third over proverbial creative differences. He wouldn’t return for three albums and four years, and a guy named Greg X. Volz still had to pass on the job before he got it (he decided to stick with Jesus). (Alternately, most band members agreed an inevitable coming-to-senses made it happen on Behind the Music.) Cronin was actually the band’s second vocalist: a guy named Terry Luttrell (later in Starcastle) handled vocals on REO’s very different sounding debut album, while another singer, Michael Bryan Murphy, sang on the three very different albums in between Cronin’s first and second stints with the band (well, I've only heard the one, honestly). Members would come in and out of the line-up at just about every instrument until 1977, with one key exception - Richrath drove 100 miles from Peoria determined to join the band (“I’m going to be a part of that band whether they like it or not”). He came on board as lead guitarist in 1970 and, despite the churn, the band built a strong regional following by playing – and partying - like a rock band. With that reputation and a stable line-up, the band talked Epic Records into a live album, Live: You Get What You Play For (1977; I still haven’t listened to it). They moved to LA and went national, but the departure of one of the members they left in the Midwest (Gregg Philbin, who was replaced by Hall), foreshadowed a couple trends:
“Depending upon which band member is expressing an opinion, it was either because Philbin was disenchanted with the new corporate-structure REO where Cronin and Richrath got bigger slices of the pie instead of the equal credit they once shared as a ‘garage band,’ or he was asked to leave over his lifestyle issues affecting the music quality.”
The Most Famous Line-Up: Too many to count, honestly, but here's the short list: Neal Doughty (piano/keys); Alan Gratzer (drums); Kevin Cronin (vox/rhythm guitar); Gary Richrath (lead guitar); Bruce Hall (bass/backing vocals).
What You Need to Know
It all started in the electrical engineering program at the University of Illinois, when Doughty met Gratzer and spent an afternoon jamming in their dorm basement. That happened in 1966; a decade-plus would pass before the REO Speedwagon managed a stable line-up. For example, Cronin - that's the lead singer you're picturing with them now, yes - played on their second album, R.E.O. T.W.O., but left during production of the third over proverbial creative differences. He wouldn’t return for three albums and four years, and a guy named Greg X. Volz still had to pass on the job before he got it (he decided to stick with Jesus). (Alternately, most band members agreed an inevitable coming-to-senses made it happen on Behind the Music.) Cronin was actually the band’s second vocalist: a guy named Terry Luttrell (later in Starcastle) handled vocals on REO’s very different sounding debut album, while another singer, Michael Bryan Murphy, sang on the three very different albums in between Cronin’s first and second stints with the band (well, I've only heard the one, honestly). Members would come in and out of the line-up at just about every instrument until 1977, with one key exception - Richrath drove 100 miles from Peoria determined to join the band (“I’m going to be a part of that band whether they like it or not”). He came on board as lead guitarist in 1970 and, despite the churn, the band built a strong regional following by playing – and partying - like a rock band. With that reputation and a stable line-up, the band talked Epic Records into a live album, Live: You Get What You Play For (1977; I still haven’t listened to it). They moved to LA and went national, but the departure of one of the members they left in the Midwest (Gregg Philbin, who was replaced by Hall), foreshadowed a couple trends:
“Depending upon which band member is expressing an opinion, it was either because Philbin was disenchanted with the new corporate-structure REO where Cronin and Richrath got bigger slices of the pie instead of the equal credit they once shared as a ‘garage band,’ or he was asked to leave over his lifestyle issues affecting the music quality.”
