"Fool For Your Love" by Diana Ross

Diana Ross led the The Supremes to become one of the biggest musical acts of the 60s. Upon going solo, she became the 13th most successful artist of the 70s (and 41st of all-time). She's been able to retool and adapt to the ever-changing music scene, effortlessly floating between pop, dance, soul, ballads, and disco. 

Ross has scored 6 #1 hits as a solo artist, including "Ain't No Mountain High Enough," "Touch Me In The Morning," "Theme From Mahogany (Do You Know Where You're Going To)," "Love Hangover," "Upside Down," and "Endless Love," a duet with Lionel Richie that stayed on top for nine weeks in 1981.

By 1986, her remarkable run on the charts spanning three decades came to an end with "Chain Reaction." This song, written and performed with the Bee Gees, was released as two different versions. The original in 1985 went to #95 and the 1986 version went to #66. The song is very catchy, and I'm amazed it didn't do better.

If you play "Fool For Your Love," most people won't guess that it is by Diana Ross. As a hard rock anthem, this song really stands out from the rest of her catalogue. It features Bruce Kulick on guitar, whose previous work was with KISS and W.A.S.P. The song comes from her 1982 record, "Silk Electric," which is better known for its lead-off track, "Muscles," written by Michael Jackson (it went to #10). Ross teamed up with Jackson and the Bee Gees again on "Eaten Alive," a track that stalled at #77 in 1985 despite all its superstar power.

"God Gave Rock N Roll To You II" by Kiss

KISS was founded by Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons, Ace Frehley, and Peter Criss in the early 70s and took the world by storm with their music and make-up. Their music often played second fiddle to their outrageous outfits and theatrics, but the band has enjoyed a string of hits through multiple decades.

KISS sings of sex, drugs, and rock n roll. Their breakthrough hit arrived in 1975 when their now classic tune, "Rock And Roll Every Nite," went to #12. Their biggest hit came the next year, when the atypical balled "Beth" sung by Peter Criss reached #7. They scored another unexpected hit with "I Was Made For Lovin' You" in 1979. Capitalizing on the disco trend, this one went all the way to #11.

The band continued to crank out albums through the 80s, but lost their chart mojo until 1990 when Michael Bolton helped them with the song "Forever." Propelled by the power-ballad craze at the time, "Forever" put KISS back in the limelight with another top ten hit, this one reaching #8. Their follow-up single, "Rise To It," went back to cock rock and stalled at #81, marking their last chart appearance.

Kind of a sequel to "Rock And Roll All Night," "God Gave Rock N Roll To You II" is a memorable anthem that salutes one of the greatest genres of music.

"Heart On The Line" by House of Lords

Gregg Giuffria - is he blessed or cursed? This talented musician got his start in the 70s rock band Angel, which was discovered by none other than Gene Simmons of Kiss. After a couple minor hits, the band dissolved and Giuffria started a solo band he named after himself. He scored another couple minor hits under the Giuffria banner in the early 80s, but big time commercial success remained evasive.

In 1987, Giuffria started a third project that would become House of Lords. And once again it was Gene Simmons who picked up the band on his own record label. James Christian was brought on board as the powerhouse vocalist (he's married to Robin Beck, for those keeping score). The band's debut self-titled album arrived in 1988 and landed a minor hit with "I Want To Be Loved," which reached #58 in 1989.

In 1991, the band followed-up with "Sahara," an album that yielded their only other charting single, "Remember My Name," which got to #72 in 1991. "Sahara" should have performed better, especially with outstanding cuts like "Heart On The Line." Do you hear Cheap Trick in this tune? That's because Rick Nielsen of Cheap Trick wrote it and Robin Zander contributed backing vocals. Other guests on this overlooked record include Mike Tramp of White Lion and Steve Plunkett of Autograph. Also on this record is an excellent cover of Blind Faith's "Can't Find My Way Home."

Nearly 30 years later, Cheap Trick recorded their own version of this song for their album, "Bang, Zoom, Crazy...Hello."

House of Lords quickly fell off the mainstream map, like many hard rock acts in the 90s. Too bad the third time wasn't quite the charm for Gregg Giuffria, but he's got plenty to be proud of in his music career.

House of Lords has continued to serve up many more hard rock releases over the years, most recently with 2017's "Saint Of The Lost Souls."

"Calling To You" by Ace Frehley

Ace Frehley, also known as Spaceman or Space Ace, was the charismatic lead guitarist for Kiss until going solo in 1983. While Kiss had a massive career resurgence in the late 80s during the hairband craze, Frehley did not have such luck. Listening to songs like "Calling To You" from his 1987 album, "Frehley's Comet," makes it hard to understand why. This catchy anthem was built for the melodic rock arena.

Ace rejoined Kiss in 1996 until 2000.

"Save Up All Your Tears" by Cher

Cher has had a remarkable career, scoring top 10 hits across four decades from the 1960-1990s. Her first goes all the way back to 1966, when "Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)" hit #2. Her first chart-topper arrived in 1971 with "Gypsys, Tramps & Thieves". She would top the charts twice more in the 70s with "Half-Breed" and "Dark Lady", and one more time in the 90s with the huge comeback hit "Believe".

Cher was mostly on hiatus in the 80s, flexing her acting muscles in the movies. But she came back (Cher could be considered the comeback queen) in a big way in the late 80s. While she didn't top the chart in that decade, she racked up several more top 10 hits with "I Found Someone" and "After All" (a duet with former Chicago singer, Peter Cetera) in 1987 and 1989, respectively.

Her newfound brand of melodic rock fit in well until grunge arrived. She produced a trio of albums of this variety, which all did very well. The final one, "Love Hurts", suggested the formula was wearing thin, however, only getting to #48 on the album chart and failing to generate a monster hit. The first single, "Love and Understanding", was tepid but managed to get to #17. 

The more upbeat and energetic song everyone was probably expecting to come first was released second. "Save Up All Your Tears" just barely cracked the top 40, settling at #37 in 1991. Written by Desmond Child and Diane Warren, this tune is a terrific slab of pop rock and deserved much better. Bonnie Tyler and Robin Beck also took a swing at this tune but did no better. The "Love Hurts" album contains other covers as well, including the title track and a most intriguing choice:  "A World Without Heroes" by Kiss.

Cher went on to duet with Beavis and Butt-head for a rendition of "I Got You Babe", after which she understandably went into hiding until 1998's "Believe" reminded the world who's boss.

"I'm Through Loving You" by Balance

Balance was an AOR band that released a single, self-titled album in 1981. The band featured Peppy Castro (Blues Magoos) on vocals and Bob Kulick (brother of Bruce Kulick from Kiss) on guitar. The trio was rounded out by Doug Katsaros on keyboards. 

The band scored one top 40 hit with "Breaking Away", which climbed to #22 in the summer of 1981. The follow-up tune, "Falling In Love", only got to #58.

The only album from the band called Balance reached #133 on the Billboard Top 200.

Fans of 80s pop-rock and AOR should enjoy a lot of the other songs on this underrated release. My favorite is the upbeat rocker, "I'm Through Loving You".

“I’ll Bring The Whole World To Your Door” by Angel

One night when he was taking a break from entertaining groupies with his freakishly long tongue, Gene Simmons was hanging out at a nightclub and got turned on by the sound of a glam band called Angel. He was so enamored with them that he convinced Casablanca, the record label that signed Kiss, to bring Angel onboard. Known for their all-white attire, they looked like the opposite of Kiss, whose members were always dressed in black. But musically, these two bands had quite a bit in common.

Through the late 70s, Angel’s songs evolved from long prog rock pieces to shorter pop rock nuggets. Angel deserved more, but only had two charting singles – “That Magic Touch” went to #77 in 1977 and “I Ain’t Gonna Eat Out My Heart Anymore” went to #44 in 1978.

But the song I’d like to highlight here is from the band’s 1979 record, “Sinful” – arguably their most radio-friendly. “I’ll Bring The Whole World To Your Door” is a melodic rock masterpiece that captures the essence of 70s rock radio.

Angel’s lead singer Frank DiMino went on to sing “Seduce Me Tonight” for the Flashdance soundtrack and actually put out a new solo album this year. Keyboardist Gregg Giuffria scored some modest hits in the 80s with his new band, Giuffria, and later with House Of Lords.