If you grew up during the 1980's, you were more than likely exposed to the genre of rock music known as "Hair Metal". MTV put this music right out front, back in the days when they still did little more than music videos. American radio stations followed suit, and it became very popular.
In 1983, a band named Autograph was formed in the Los Angeles area. The name evolved from the Def Leppard song "Photograph". The band consisted of Steve Plunkett on lead vocals and rhythm guitar, Steve Lynch on lead guitar, Randy Rand on bass, Steve Isham on keyboards, and Keni Richards on drums. They recorded some rough demos, which were brought to the attention of a friend of theirs named Andy Johns, a record producer of some fame. Andy invited the band to the famous Record Plant studio to re-record and upgrade the demo tapes, with him producing, for free!
It was the new demo tape that Keni played for his close friend, David Lee Roth of Van Halen. David was so impressed that Autograph was invited to play as a supporting act for Van Halen's 1984 tour. Interesting trivia tidbit number one: Autograph played as their opening act 48 times! This was almost unheard of for an unsigned band. Following a show at Madison Square Garden in New York, the band was finally signed by MCA. Their first album, Sign In Please, was released in October of 1984. In 1985, came the release of "Turn Up The Radio". It went to #29 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Autograph released 2 more albums, in '85 and '87, and while MTV continued to play their videos, they never hit the Hot 100 again.
Here's todays other trivia nugget: Steve Lynch had a distinctive, two-handed fretboard tapping technique, and this song's solo actually won Guitar Player magazine's "Guitar Solo of the Year" award!
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As I read this , a commercial came of for a Santana album. The song playing on the commercial? His rendition of Photograph by def leppard.
ReplyDeleteThe is eerie.