70s prog rockers Kansas amped up the guitars in 1983 with the anthemic “Everybody’s My Friend” from their album Drastic Measures. The song was an ode to the perils of fame, which didn’t sit well with singer John Elefante. The album was the Kansas’ least successful up to that point and led to the break up of the band. “Everybody’s My Friend” hit #34 on the Mainstream Rock chart.
Don Felder of the Eagles went solo in 1981 with his song “Heavy Metal”, which appeared on the soundtrack of the animated movie of the same name. The soundtrack was a landmark AOR album, featuring other AOR stalwarts Cheap Trick, Journey, and Blue Oyster Cult. “Heavy Metal” was recently revived by being featured prominently in the hilarious “Major Boobage” episode of South Park, where a couple of characters hallucinate that they are in a HM-like world (with Felder’s song in the background) after inhaling cat urine. “Heavy Metal” hit #5 on the Mainstream Rock chart and #43 on the Pop Singles chart.
Manfred Mann’s Earth Band had a huge hit with a cover of a Bruce Springsteen song, “Blinded by the Light”, in 1976. They went to the well again in 1980 with “For You” on their album Chance. The original version of “For You” appeared on the Springsteen album “Greetings from Asbury Park, NJ”. Manfred Mann’s version added driving keyboards and rocking guitars along with the distinctive vocals of Chris Thompson to once again improve upon the original. “For You” peaked at #15 on the Mainstream Rock chart.
