Bryan Adams’ Reckless isn’t exactly Born in the U.S.A., but it shares at least one thing in common with the Springsteen classic. Six of its singles reached the top 15 on Billboard’s Hot 100, a feat matched (at that time) by only Born in the U.S.A. and Michael Jackson’s Thriller.
I know four of those singles well: ‘Run To You,’ ‘Somebody,’ ‘Heaven,’ and ‘Summer of ’69.’ Say what you will about Bryan Adams, but those are four absolute bangers, totally in place on any list of the best 80s songs.
Today’s random iTunes selection comes from the second disc of a 30th anniversary edition of Bryan Adams’ 1984 album Reckless. That disc is a recording of a live performance at London’s Hammersmith Odeon in 1985.
‘It’s Only Love’ first appeared on Reckless as a duet with Tina Turner, and was later performed live with Turner on her own world tour. That’s the “couple of weeks ago at Wembley” Adams refers to when introducing the song.
Many of my impulse digital music purchases are of artists considered cheesy or uncool. I guess you could call them guilty pleasures, though I’ve never felt guilty listening to a song I truly like.
One such purchase was Bryan Adams’ 1984 smash Reckless. Bryan Adams is decidedly uncool (and Canadian!) but there is no denying the appeal of this album’s hits: ‘Summer of ’69,’ ‘Somebody,’ ‘Heaven’ and ‘Run To You.’
Ryan Adams went 12 years without playing a Bryan Adams song in concert, but I can’t say I’ve done any better. I’m coming up on seven years of Song of the Day posts and I’ve yet to feature a Bryan Adams song.
So today I’ll remedy that by posting the same song Ryan Adams played at his recent concert, and certainly Bryan’s best track, ‘Summer of ’69.’
Meet Me In Montauk 