Loverboy

Cut through the shiny production values and the perpetually sweating vocals of headband-wearing '80s dude Mike Reno and you'll see that Loverboy was actually pretty adept at constructing near-perfect rock songs. "Working For the Weekend" is the one you still hear all the time but don't skip the Eagles-like "When It's Over" and the Cheap Trick-ish "Take Me To the Top."

Unlike such critically hyped nonsellers as the Iron City Houserockers or idiosyncratic
nostalgists like Ozzy Osbourne, Loverboy are a truly popular hard-rock band. Last year,
their debut album went platinum, and the group began filling arenas before its record
company realized what was happening. Loverboy made it without publicity and, as all hard
rockers like to claim, with lots of hard work – touring, touring, touring. As a phe... More >

Wish I could work up the fine pitch of loathing this received, synthesized, male chauvinist pop metal theoretically deserves, but in fact it's not completely awful: "Working for the Weekend" articulates a real class dilemma, "Get Lucky" puns on the band's careerist fortunes, and "Emotional" is a better Stones rip than "It's Only Rock 'n Roll." (Grade - C+)