The Definitive 1000 Songs Of All Time 1955 to 2005: Number 609

Number 609

Bryan Adams

"Do I Have To Say The Words"

(1991)
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Genre:Pop

Who buys CD's anymore, really? Well i guess record shops must still sell them because record shops still exist. Personally i have not bought a full length CD since the last millennium & only every now and then i will get a single and its always from a New Zealand artist, because you cannot download kiwi music very often. Hell we only got iTunes here in this country on Dec 6th 2006!
Vinyl was so cool, the sleeve jackets, the lyrics sheet even the smell of the vinyl itself. The first album i ever purchased was (not by choice) The Eagles "Long Run", if "Bat out of Hell" by Meatloaf had not have sold out, i would have bought that instead. Irony is, after all these years, it is a tattoo of an Eagle i wear and not some satanic figure riding a Harley through hell. (although that still quite appeals)
By the way @ Rolling "granny" Stone just released (fans voted with R Stone help) The 25 Greatest Slow Dance Songs. I would be more curious if this list was votes by the sexes.

1. “I Don’t Wanna Miss a Thing,” Aerosmith

2. “Unchained Melody,” Righteous Brothers
3. “Crazy For You,” Madonna
4. “Take My Breath Away,” Berlin
5. “I Only Have Eyes for You,” The Flamingos
6. “Never Tear Us Apart,” INXS
7. “In Your Eyes” Peter Gabriel
8. “Love Song,” The Cure
9. “Eternal Flame.” Bangles
10. “I’ll Be There,” The Jackson 5
11. “Always and Forever,” Heat Wave
12. “Fade Into You,” Mazzy Star
13. “I’ll Make Love To You,” Boyz II Men
14. “Faithfully,” Journey
15. “Wild Horses,” Rolling Stones
16. “True Colors,” Cyndi Lauper
17. “How Deep Is Your Love,” Bee Gees
18. “I’ll Be There For You,” Bon Jovi
19. “Drive,” The Cars
20. “Babe,” Styx
21. “Careless Whisper,” Wham!
22. “Save a Prayer,” Duran Duran
23. “Lady In Red,” Chris de Burgh
24. “Hopelessly Devoted to You,” Olivia Newton-John
25. “In the Mouth a Desert,” Pavement

Although not as good as Reckless, Bryan Adams' 1991 album, Waking up the Neighbours, signaled his commercial apex. Bridging the time gap between '80s arena rock and '90s angst-ridden grunge, the album also ushered in an era in which Adams became more known for his sweeping power ballads than his straight-ahead rock tunes. This album, filled with nearly 75 minutes of showstopping arena rockers and mid-tempo ballads, churned out no less than five hit singles, the most notable being the Robin Hood Prince of Thieves theme "(Everything I Do) I Do It for You." That ballad spent seven weeks atop the U.S. pop charts, becoming the longest-reigning American chart-topper since Prince's "When Doves Cry" seven years earlier. The song also became a phenomenon in Europe, becoming Adams' biggest hit ever.

Other singles which followed included the joyous rocker "Can't Stop This Thing We Started," which became a number two hit, the mid-tempo ballads "Do I Have to Say the Words" and "Thought I'd Died and Gone to Heaven," and the fun, straight-ahead rocker "There Will Never Be Another Tonight." Waking up the Neighbours was co-produced by Robert Jon "Mutt" Lange, and as a result, many of these songs sound as though they could have easily been Def Leppard recordings, especially "All I Want Is You," which sounds like "Pour Some Sugar on Me" part two. Nonetheless, Waking up the Neighbours is a fun album and perfect for those who expect nothing more than an old-fashioned good time from their rock & roll. ~ Jose F. Promis
For Prince see Number 812

What does Rolling Stone think of Bryan Adams?
Waking up the Neighbours' will, with no sweat, reestablish Bryan Adams as the radio's hoarse purveyor of energy and fun. A scrupulously careful yet adamantly alive piece of work, this collaboration between the Canadian singer-guitarist and the Midas-touch songwriter-producer Robert John "Mutt" Lange alternates half-tamed sonic raunch like "Is Your Mama Gonna Miss Ya?" and "Hey Honey – I'm Packin' You In!" with eloquent mall ballads such as "(Everything I Do) I Do It for You," Adams's current planet-wide phenomenon, and the even moodier "Do I Have to Say the Words?" For further balance there is fairly soulful midtempo rock ("Depend on Me") and an oddly toned state-of-the-world finale called "Don't Drop That Bomb on Me."

Like most capable pop craftsmen hellbent on seizing the airwaves, Adams and Lange walk a fine line between familiarity and derivativeness, between the blazingly immediate and the outright stale. So some tunes on Waking Up the Neighbours have turned out too broad for anyone's taste. "House Arrest" doesn't convey much of the atmosphere of "justa havin' a ball," and the hectoring sing-along "There Will Never Be Another Tonight" collapses into silliness in no time flat. More often, however, all Adams and Lange's high-impact verses and choruses and bridges and subbridges work like charms. The arrangements are only faintly dressed up with well-chosen bits of keyboard and percussion, and Bob Clearmountain's mix emphasizes Adams's vocals and Keith Scott's memorable guitar hooks – not, as per current market fashion, the rhythm section.

Bryan Adams became a superstar on the basis of Reckless, from 1984, an album released just as Bruce Springsteen's Born in the U.S.A. was beginning to exert its enormous influence over how guitar-defined popsters should think, sound and wear their denim. Three years later, with his dull Into the Fire, Adams let his always believable passion for melody and crunch lead him into attempts at the sort of topical, introspective songwriting that and John Cougar Mellencamp sometimes can pull off. But between 1987 and right now, the Traveling Wilburys restored humor and the Black Crowes embraced vulgarity. However you may feel about this turn of events in the evolution of nonmetal, bestselling guitar pop, one thing seems certain: It's coaxed Bryan Adams back toward his natural calling. (RS 615)

For Bruce Springsteen see Number 817
For John Mellencamp see Number 828 & Number 637
For Traveling Wilburys see Number 969

Rolling Stone Top 500 Songs ranked this song at Number (Did you mention Ryan Adams?) and the Album ranked at Number (Oh Bryan? Oh..)

This song has a crowbarred of 71.8 out of 108 pts