The Definitive 1000 Songs Of All Time 1955 to 2005: Number 940

Sunday, August 06, 2006

Number 940 - Benny Mardones

Number 940

Benny Mardones

"Into The Night"

(1980)
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Genre:Soft Rock

Not all "Rock n Rollers" are beer guzzling, throwing TVs out of motel windows, shooting up and hanging out with Pamela Anderson.
Heres a Rocker with a heart.............

"Singer/songwriter and Maryland native Benny Mardones made a huge splash with his '80s hit "Into the Night." The song made the Top Ten twice, a first for a solo artist. Originally from the 1980 album Never Run, Never Hide, the song was also included on his self-titled 1989 release. Though his subsequent releases like 1996's Most Requested Songs and 1999's Angel didn't have quite the same chart impact as his breakthrough single, Benny Mardones earned a strong, devoted following for his raspy voice and down-to-earth songwriting."

"Benny Mardones reciprocated this affection, often visiting and performing for terminally ill fans. Indeed, his song "Bless a Brand New Angel" was written for a young fan who succumbed to cancer; this emotional, spiritual quality imbued Benny Mardones's later work like Angel with a new resonance. In 2002, the singer issued Journey Through Time, a collective of new recordings of originals and covers that were important to him in his career, and intended to be a soundtrack to a film about his life. In 2006, after nearly a seven-year break from new material, Let's Hear It for Love was released on Warrior Records". ~ Heather Phares

What does Rolling Stone think about Mr Mardones?
A working-class hero with operatic pipes. The night. The road. Lurking violence. Sound familiar? It should, since Benny Mardones works the same turf as Bruce Springsteen and Bob Seger. Yet through sheer vocal intensity and melodic power, he manages to pull off a role that's fast becoming an irredeemable cliché. If Mardones' debut album on Private Stock stifled his strengths with demo-cheap production. Never Run Never Hide overcompensates, showcasing the singer in a glitzy storm of pop-rock fireworks. "Crazy Boy," an ode to rock & roll redemption, barrels along with the propulsion of Springsteen's "Thunder Road." "Into the Night," the LP's best ballad, is an echoed howl of teenage love, sweetened à la Seger's "We've Got Tonite." "She's So French" buries a femme fatale in a brimstone of squealing guitars. ~ [Source:RS - 321]
For Bruce Springsteen see Number 817
For Bob Seger see Number 570

Rolling Stone Top 500 Songs ranked this song at Number (Nope, They hated it) and the Album ranked at Number (Nope, didn't know it was out yet)

This song has a crowbarred rating of 53.8 out of 108