Hans Worst Hits of the 80’s- “Alone”- Heart. I promised yesterday that I’d leave Canadian artists alone for a while. OK- I have gone south of the border- the Wilson sisters were from the Seattle area. First off- I liked the Heart of the 70’s-to early 80’s- they were a pretty good rock band- I wasn’t someone who went out and bought their albums but I enjoyed all the hits they had on the radio-they were not a hit making machine but they made good music. Plus like every American teenage boy at the time I had a crush on Nancy Wilson. Their biggest hit in the 70’s was Magic Man their ode to Charles Manson [ok not really but let’s say it was] which went to #9, some of their singles seemed like bigger hits because they received a lot of rock radio airplay- Crazy On You, Barracuda, Little Queen, Kick It Out, Heartless, Straight On, Dog And Butterfly, Even It Up all good stuff. Then in the early 80’s- they weren’t even getting minor hits. In 1985 they made a change in their sound. I can’t blame them- their records had quit selling. They went to a more mainstream sound and for the most part I hated their mid to late 80’s formula hits. The group at least to me lost their originality. They did sell a lot of albums and had great success with their singles. They had 10 Top 40 hits- 7 Top 10 hits and 2 #1’s in the 1985-90 period before listeners got tired of hearing the same formula. These Dreams and Alone were their 2 #1 hits- and I admit to actually liking These Dreams. Alone I didn’t care for at all- so since it was a #1 I will chose it as my Heart formula-song that I hate. It was that or the wordy- All I Wanna Do Is Make Love To You #2- which is just as bad. Heck I will go with both of them as Worst Hits- These songs were so predictable and dull. But they were big hits. 50 Million Elvis Fans Can’t Be Wrong!
Heart didn’t write Alone-by Billy Steinberg and Tom Kelly and it was first released on one of their projects before being recorded by others- before Heart. Later Celine Dion recorded it. Case closed.
In the end I can’t really fault Heart too much- their careers were going in the tank but the formula songs they did were awful then and haven’t held up well. Others who became ‘formula’ acts around the same time- Hall And Oates, ZZ Top, Aerosmith come to mind. Who am I missing?
slicethelife 
No, no, no! Alone is fantastic! Can’t get enough of this song. Still have it in my musical library to this day and love hearing it.
LOL… that’s great. I love how a song one person loves someone else hates.
It really does it for me when she hits that climatic ‘Ooooooooooooooh’.
70s Heart always will be better than 80s Heart. There’s such a difference when they sing their own songs versus when they sing other songs. Also, 70s Heart was more authentic, imo.
I agree with you- it became about just having hits no matter the cost to their reputation.
Cheap Trick started down that road with The Flame but pulled back to their credit. You highlighted the ones that I know of…that turned to a formula…unlike Bon Jovi who started off that way.
Good point on Bon Jovi. I was thinking today about them- Never got their appeal. Total formula from day 1.
Loverboy. The early to mid 80s had that ‘sound’…even Duran Duran and, I love them. Night Ranger damn near fell in.
Some of Heart’s music got squishy. I got SICK of Dreams. Alone was OK. All I Wanna Do…was boring.
Gimme some Straight On any day.
Alone is a fantastic song
I agree completely with this. I don’t get the Heart hype at all. When someone mentions them, all I hear is one long note being yelled into the microphone. Their first couple of hits were legit although not my taste. From then on it was formulaic, infused with sister fights and drama. They are both gifted, so maybe if they each went their separate ways and did their own separate projects or collaborations, they might each come up with music that’s worth paying attention to. But this hype and drama is a tired old formula. I have so many friends who think Heart are a big deal, and it’s hard to smile and keep my thoughts to myself. This rant has been a long time coming. 🙂
I agree with you totally.
Their music is the kind for the radio but not the kind you bring home to put on your turntable. Which one is the “hot” sister? They both look pretty glam to me.
the guitar player
ok
“but not the kind you bring home to put on your turntable” sounds like “not someone you bring home to meet your mother,” lol !!
lol! so very funny — and true!
I agree with observationblogger and rich1698, and am going to have to vehemently disagree with the rest of you on this! I ABSOLUTELY, POSITIVELY LOVE ‘ALONE’! It’s one of my all-time favorite songs. So incredibly beautiful and moving, and Ann Wilson’s powerful vocals soar to the heavens. I don’t understand anyone can possibly hate it. My niece’s husband hates ‘Barracuda’, so I guess everyone can be completely full of shit about songs at times!
I understand EML’s passion over this. Beauty’s in the eye of the beholder and opinions vary wildly, especially where art’s concerned. When I love something dearly, it’s one thing to hear that it didn’t move someone else, but to hear them bash the thing I love is mind-boggling and painful……..!! 🙂