Against the Wind (album)

Last updated
Against the Wind
Bob Seger - Against the Wind.jpg
Studio album by
ReleasedFebruary 25, 1980 (1980-02-25)
Studio
Genre Heartland rock [1]
Length40:24
Label Capitol
Producer
Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band chronology
Stranger in Town
(1978)
Against the Wind
(1980)
Nine Tonight
(1981)
Singles from Against the Wind
  1. "Fire Lake"
    Released: February 1980
  2. "Against the Wind"
    Released: April 1980
  3. "You'll Accomp'ny Me"
    Released: July 1980
  4. "The Horizontal Bop/Her Strut"
    Released: October 1980

Against the Wind is the eleventh studio album by American rock singer Bob Seger and his fourth which credits the Silver Bullet Band. Like many of his albums, about half of the tracks feature the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section as backing musicians. It was released in February 1980. It is Seger's only number-one album to date, spending six weeks at the top of the Billboard Top LPs chart, knocking Pink Floyd's The Wall from the top spot. Seger said that the album "is about trying to move ahead, keeping your sanity and integrity at the same time." [2]

Contents

Release

Against the Wind was an immediate commercial success, reaching No. 2 on the Billboard 200 album chart in its third week and remaining there for five weeks behind Pink Floyd's The Wall before reaching No. 1 and holding the top position for six weeks. [3] By late 1981 the album sold 3.7 million copies in the United States [4] and was certified 5× platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America in 2003.

Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band won the 1980 Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal for the album Against the Wind and Capitol Records art director Roy Kohara won the Grammy Award for Best Recording Package. [5] [6]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [7]
Billboard (unrated) [8]
Robert Christgau C+ [9]
Record Mirror Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svgStar empty.svg [10]
Smash Hits 5/10 [11]

Rock critic Dave Marsh, writing for Rolling Stone , strongly criticized the album as a betrayal of Seger's longtime fans: "I'd like to say that this is not only the worst record Bob Seger has ever made, but an absolutely cowardly one as well" saying that Seger had crafted "failureproof songs that are utterly listenable and quite meaningless." Marsh had followed Seger since before Night Moves , when Seger finally gained national fame, and said in his review that Seger's long, tireless struggle to stardom is trivialized by this record. "He had to fight hard to prove there was still a place in rock & roll for a guy like him, and, with Night Moves, he won. This is the LP that makes such a victory meaningless ... It makes me sad, and it makes me angry (another emotion that's disappeared here, though it's often fueled Seger's finest work)." [12]

Marsh did concede that on the album "Seger sings fantastically well" and called it a "carefully constructed album." A review in The Boston Phoenix echoed some of Marsh's criticisms, saying that Seger offered nothing that hadn't been heard before or equaled his best work, "only heavy-handed efforts to simulate it." [13]

In a more positive review in the Los Angeles Times, critic Robert Hilburn said the album was "close to [Seger's] earlier works" but represented a "mastering of the form" and that the reflective ballads stood out. [14] John Rockwell of The New York Times called it an "honest, attractive album" and a "nice return to his Night Moves form." [15]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Bob Seger

Side One
No.TitleLength
1."The Horizontal Bop"4:03
2."You'll Accomp'ny Me"4:00
3."Her Strut"3:51
4."No Man's Land"3:43
5."Long Twin Silver Line"4:18
Side Two
No.TitleLength
1."Against the Wind"5:34
2."Good for Me"4:03
3."Betty Lou's Gettin' Out Tonight"2:52
4."Fire Lake"3:30
5."Shinin' Brightly"4:30

The Silver Bullet Band plays on side one tracks 1–3 and on side two tracks 1 & 3.

The Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section plays on side one tracks 4 & 5 and on side two tracks 2, 4, & 5.

Personnel

The Silver Bullet Band
Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section
Additional musicians

Production

Charts

Awards

Grammy Awards

YearWinnerCategory
1980 Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band [6] Best Rock Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal
Roy Kohara [6] Best Recording Package

Certifications

RegionCertification Certified units/sales
Canada (Music Canada) [26] 5× Platinum500,000^
United States (RIAA) [27] 5× Platinum5,000,000^

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bob Seger</span> American singer-songwriter (born 1945)

Robert Clark Seger is a retired American singer, songwriter, and musician. As a locally successful Detroit-area artist, he performed and recorded as Bob Seger and the Last Heard and the Bob Seger System throughout the 1960s, breaking through with his first album, Ramblin' Gamblin' Man in 1969. By the early 1970s, he had dropped the 'System' from his recordings and continued to strive for broader success with various other bands. In 1973, he put together the Silver Bullet Band, with a group of Detroit-area musicians, with whom he became most successful on the national level with the album Live Bullet (1976), recorded live with the Silver Bullet Band in 1975 at Cobo Hall in Detroit, Michigan. In 1976, he achieved a national breakout with the studio album Night Moves. On his studio albums, he also worked extensively with the Alabama-based Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section, which appeared on several of Seger's best-selling singles and albums.

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<i>Beautiful Loser</i> 1975 studio album by Bob Seger

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<i>Night Moves</i> (album) 1976 studio album by Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band

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<i>Stranger in Town</i> (album) 1978 studio album by Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band

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<i>Nine Tonight</i> 1981 live album by Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band

Nine Tonight is a live album by American rock band Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band, released in 1981. The album was recorded at Cobo Hall in Detroit, Michigan, in June 1980 and at the Boston Garden in Boston, Massachusetts in October 1980. With the exception of three tracks — "Nine Tonight", "Tryin' To Live My Life Without You" and "Let It Rock" — the album is composed entirely of songs drawn from Seger's three previous studio albums. Only "Let It Rock" was repeated from the previous live album Live Bullet. "Tryin' to Live My Life Without You" was released as a single and peaked at number five on the Billboard Hot 100 in the US. The album's title track was originally recorded for the Urban Cowboy soundtrack album.

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<i>Its a Mystery</i> Album by Bob Seger

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Against the Wind (Bob Seger song)</span> 1980 single by Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band

"Against the Wind" is a song written and recorded by the American singer-songwriter Bob Seger for his eleventh studio album of the same name. It was released as the second single from the album in April 1980 through Capitol Records. Seger recorded the ballad during a two-year process that begat his eleventh album; it was recorded with producer Bill Szymczyk at Criteria Studios in north Miami, Florida. Sonically, "Against the Wind" is a mid-tempo soft rock tune with piano backing. It was recorded with Seger's Silver Bullet Band, and features backing vocals from Eagles co-frontman Glenn Frey.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">You'll Accomp'ny Me</span> 1980 single by Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band

"You'll Accomp'ny Me" is a song written and recorded by American rock singer Bob Seger. It appears on his album Against the Wind.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mainstreet</span> 1977 single by Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band

"Mainstreet" is a song written and recorded by Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band. It was released in April 1977 as the second single from the album Night Moves. The song peaked at number 24 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and has become a staple of classic rock radio; it also reached number one on the Canadian Singles Chart.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Horizontal Bop</span> 1980 single by Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band

"The Horizontal Bop" is a song written by Bob Seger that was first released on his 1980 album Against the Wind. It was also released as the fourth single from the album, backed by "Her Strut." The single did not perform as well as the earlier singles from the album, stalling at #42 on the Billboard Hot 100.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Her Strut</span> 1980 song by Bob Seger

"Her Strut" is a song written by Bob Seger that was first released on his 1980 album Against the Wind. It was also released as the B-side of his single "The Horizontal Bop." The song was inspired by feminist icon Jane Fonda.

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