It’s another beautiful summer day and I’m looking forward to a brief foray downtown for brunch in the city I love. Before that, let’s dig into the latest album I’ve randomly rolled for review.
Disc 1842 is…Icon
Artist: .38 Special
Year of Release: 2011 but featuring music from 1980 - 1989
What’s up with the Cover? One of several iterations of the .38 Special logo.
The obvious choice for the band’s logo would be, you know, the gun. Your band is literally named after a gun, boys.
Instead we have the result of the Ferrari horse-rampant logo deciding to forgo grace and style and just give ‘er! Add wings! Add, like fire, man!
For all this mockery would I wear a t-shirt with this logo on it? Reader, I would. I like to give ‘er as much as the next guy.
How I Came To Know It: .38 Special was a hit machine back in the eighties, so I knew them well from school dances, radio play, and parties. However, they weren’t on my radar until earlier this year my friend Chris busted out one of their studio albums and played a couple of tracks. At which point I said, ‘oh yeah – these guys!’. Later that week I bought this compilation.
How It Stacks Up: This is a compilation and can’t stack up.
Ratings: Compilations don’t get rated but I promise to still share my feelings about the songs below, for those of you who don’t just come here to read my snarky comments about the cover (I know you are out there…).
Despite my joy at rediscovering the delightful (if lukewarm) joy of stadium rockers .38 Special, I did not let the flush of the encounter make me lose my head. I stayed calm and clinical, and surveying the bursting shelves of CDs in the living room, dining room and down the hall, I asked myself “do I need eight .38 Special albums?” I did not.
That said, if you think .38 Special is a one hit wonder, think again. They only had two #1s, but they are in the double digits with top ten radio hits, most of which are on this record.
The allure of .38 Special is their accessibility. Not something music snobs like me want to admit while we’re stuffily telling you about how much we enjoyed the latest Nite record, but the truth must out. .38 Special is nice and easy. Good old dependable rock, as complicated as Bart Simpson playing rock/paper/scissors, delivered with the same unsinkable optimism.
.38 Special is a lot more successful at their use of rock than Bart. The formula is simple. These boys write killer hooks. When you hear a .38 Special song you usually know what it is within the first few notes, and you are already anticipating the chance to sing along as they hold on loosely, get caught up in you, or get you back where you belong.
While some bands would drag out that moment or throw in a clever B section to offset the hook, no such nasty trickery shall come from .38 Special. They’re going to get you to that chorus just as quickly as you are hoping. No teasing, just pleasing!
The good news is that when this hook is awesome, this creates a great re-listenability that is critical for any radio hit. The ‘best tracks’ list at the end of the review provide a good overview of what to explore for maximum joy. “Hold on Loosely” and “Caught Up In You” are the two best, and even after hundreds of listens these are always welcome crowd pleasers when they come on. Wisely, “Icon” puts them as the initial 1-2 punch on the record.
When the hook is of inferior quality, then the straight-no chaser approach to songwriting can have the opposite effect. “Like No Other Night” and “Rockin’ Into the Night” give us hooks that are boring after a few listens and become insufferable over time (the line between a memorable hook and a boring one is thin, but unforgiving).
Also, when the hook is amazing you forgive the often very obvious lyrics. Stuff like “fill your days and your nights/No need to ever ask me twice” (from “Caught Up In You”) are painful, but the song is just so good for you to mind.
Sometimes, though, the lyrics are so bad that no hook is sufficiently catchy to recover you. Consider this atrocity from “Back to Paradise”:
“Grab your coat honey, grab your hat
This train is leavin' an it ain't comin' back
Don't need a ticket can't you understand
You're on your way to the promised land”
At least we now know where AI-generated songs get their shitty inspiration from.
Back in the day .38 Special was one of those bands that everyone was “OK” with, and even today I bet they could still fill a room with some leathery-skinned fifty-somethings pumping their fists in the air. Maybe even some Generation Zs who are there for the irony.
But say what you will, these guys played tight, sang well, and wrote songs that endure across generations, and that’s not easy. So give them their due, raise a beer - not a fancy one: Budweiser will do just fine - and offer a toast to good old dependable rock. Nothing beats it!
Best tracks: Hold On Loosely, Caught Up In You, Back Where You Belong, Teacher Teacher
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