California melodic rockers Night Ranger rose to prominence in the 80s with their brethren Survivor and Bad English. The band grew out of the ashes of the pop rock outfit Rubicon, which counted Jack Blades (vocals and bassist) and Brad Gillis (guitar) as members. Outside of their big ballads, 1984's "Sister Christian" (#5) and 1985's "Sentimental Street" (#8), Night Ranger is often overlooked for other great tunes like "When You Close Your Eyes" (#14), "Don't Tell Me You Love Me" (#40), and "Four In The Morning (I Can't Take Any More)" (#19). They also had an underrated track featured as the title song to the Michael J. Fox film, The Secret of My Success that stalled at #64 in 1987. The band split up in 1989, shortly after their final chart appearance - which was "I Did It For Love" peaking at #75. Singers Kelly Keagy released some solo work while Blades joined forces with Tommy Shaw (Styx) and others to form Damn Yankees. Blades and Shaw sound marvelous together, and forged a lasting friendship. The two have released two albums as a duo in-between all their other projects. Night Ranger continues to release quality melodic rock albums today, and some of the tracks would have done very well back in the 80s. "Don't Let Up" is a good example, the title track to their latest 2017 release.
Expectations were running high when word got out that a new rock super group was forming consisting of Jack Blades (Night Ranger), Tommy Shaw (Styx), Ted Nugent (Amboy Dukes), and newcomer Michael Cartellone on drums. The debut single "Coming of Age" left after hitting a disappointing #60 on the chart, but the band scored in a big way with their epic ballad, "High Enough", which soared to #3 in 1990. The third single from the self-titled debut album, "Come Again", came and went only to hit #50. The excitement about the band and strength of the singles helped push the album to #13, and ignited a healthy writing partnership between Blades and Shaw (who also harmonize wonderfully together). In 1992, the band released their follow-up record, "Don't Tread". To most people, the songs were not as strong and it certainly didn't help that the musical tide was shifting towards grunge. Still, the record pulled its weight among the Seattle bands and got to #22, and the ballad "Where You Goin' Now" peaked at #20. "Silence Is Broken" is another terrific ballad, but it only managed to climb to #62 and holds the notoriety of being the band's last charting single (unless perhaps the long discussed rumors of a reunion actually materialize).
Jude Cole is a hugely underrated singer/songwriter who almost broke through at the end of the 80s with his first top 40 hit, "Baby, It's Tonight", which got to #16 in 1990. "Time For Letting Go" was an excellent follow-up track, but it stalled at #32. A third single, "House Full Of Reasons", fared even worse, unable to get past #69. These terrific songs and many more can all be found on his most successful record, "A View From 3rd Street", which went to #138 on the Billboard Top 200. Jude Cole's next record, his third as a solo artist, was called "Start The Car". The title track didn't get off to much of a start, stopping in its tracks at #71 in 1992. The ballad, "Tell The Truth", did a little better reaching #57. I really thought this acoustic driven song, "Worlds Apart", would launch Cole back into the spotlight, but it was a tough time in the music biz that year if you weren't doing grunge or techno. Featured on this track are backing vocals by half of Damn Yankees: Tommy Shaw (Styx) and Jack Blades (Night Ranger). Prior to his solo career, Jude Cole was in the underground rock band The Records from 1980-1981. He later became a very successful producer, writer, and manager for other artists like Lifehouse.
