BRYAN ADAMS FOR ALL SEASONS

BRYAN ADAMS FOR ALL SEASONS

Bryan Adams released his Reckless LP at a time when he’d be up against some stiff competition. After all, Bruce Springsteen had released Born In The U.S.A. months earlier and the LP and tour were still strong. John Cougar was said to be recording songs for his next LP; even Bob Seger was writing songs...and Adams had often been compared to each of these three. As it turned out, Reckless, s fourth LP, was a smart gamble. Adams qljickly joined the T-shirt and blue jeans set, and by January of 1985, he had a Top 10 album on his hands. Canadian-born Adams always liked itak'ng such chances; he’s that kind of guy—gutsy and confident.

Juh 1982, he said of his second LP, You Want litYou Got It (almost titled, Bryan Adams Hasn’t 'herd Of You, Either): “I defy anybody to come up a better record—it’s hard-driving rock.” The urn was produced by Adams and Bob fearmountain—who’s had previous studio success ith the Rolling Stones (Tattoo You) and Bruce Springsteen (Born In The U.S.A.). In 1983, dams again feeling strong about his newlyleased LP, Cuts Like A Knife, boasted: “This llum is the best thing I’ve ever done. I’ll tell ou; it’s better than any girlfriend I’ve ever had.” Adams knew back then he’d be a rock 'n' roll star.

Early in his career, Adams concentrated on building a reputation as a songwriter. “The best artists in the world, I think, are people who write their own songs. It’s important that you believe what you say—that’s why write my own music. If you can pull it off and make it believable that’s the sign of a true artist. Hopefully, what you’re doing instinctively will be right, because that’s all you can do.”

Bryan Adams was born in 1959 Ontario, Canada. He traveled will his family for 10 years, living in places such as Portugal, Austria and Israel. From Europe, the Adan family moved to Ottawa and then Vancouver, Canada. It was in Vancouver that Adams made a name for himself. Although no oi knew who he was in the States everybody north of the border liki what they heard.

Adams initially wrote songs tha Loverboy and B.T.O. covered. In late 1982, after having just completed a short tour with the Kinks—nothing to scoff at—he would soon be writing songs thal would end up on a Kiss album, all places. And when Adams opened for bands like Journey, Foreigner and Loverboy, it becai apparent that he was on his way to success.

Adams, it seems, has lived up his word. Reckless is a platinum selling record and he is hot, there’s no denying it. Even if it’ usually cold in Canada this time year, Adams is something hot coming out of the North. In just five years (a short time in the music biz), he’s managed a strii of hits. His first hit single, “Let Take You Dancing,” made it onl the charts without a tour. “It wa: never meant to be a hit,” Adams says of the song. “It was just m and Jim (Vallance, his writing partner) goofing around. My first album (Bryan Adams) was the follow-up to the single, and it didn’t even have that song on il

All of Adams’s subsequent albums have had hits on them: Want It—You Got It contained tf hit single, “Coming Home.” Cut Like A Knife, a commercial and critical success, made the title track a Top 10 single, and

“Straight From The Heart” also fared well on the charts. It was Reckless, though, that shot Adams into the big time. Besides going platinum, the tour that followed the LP has been a soldout success.

Adams describes his music as “heavy metal pop.” “People have always asked me to classify my music. They compare me to Springsteen, Stewart, Cougar, Seger. I have a very strong interest in pop music, I think it’s fantastic, and I’ll never leave it—I was born and bred a Beatles fan—but I also like a lot of impact in a song, a lot of strength in a melody and a lot of power in a band; if you combine all that stuff, you’ve got heavy metal pop.”

The “heavy metal pop” sound paid off for Adams. His most recent tour had arenas filled across the U.S. and around the world. He dueted with Tina Turner on her recent U.S. tour with the single, “It’s Only Love,” which has become an MTV favorite.

What perhaps sums up Adams’s assessment of his work, though, is this: “I like to write songs that are timeless, like Pete Townshend does. As for performing, all I want to do is go out there and have a good time. To go out on stage and then have people like what I’m doing is really a great thing.”