Bryan Adams

If U2 has been this decade's Who, then Bryan Adams has been its Grand Funk. Though that
hardly sounds like a compliment, it's not meant as an insult either. Good populist rockers
are hard to come by, and for the past few years, Adams – mixing stadium-perfect
kids-wanna-rockers with an occasional stab at a message or evocative nostalgia – has been
the best of a thin, inconsistent lot. Unlike Bruce Springsteen, Adams was born to... More >

It's got to be deliberate, the voice of the common man or some such. Nevertheless, making all allowances--overlooking quotes/references ("eight miles high"), universals ("the rent is due"), attempted wordplay ("a table for one and a broken heart to go"), and simple idioms ("count me in," "white flag," "heaven knows," "it's up to you")--I count an astonishing fifty-six full-fledged clichés on what's supposed to be a significance move, from "caught in the crossfire" in the first line to "the worst is over" in the third-to-last. And while "Only the Strong Survive," the biggest offender with twelve, streamrollers across despite it all, neither Don Henley soul nor emergent social conscience justify the dumbness density. I know the salt of the earth is the shape of things to come, but these words of wisdom are beyond the pale. (Grade: C+)