Bryan Adams: The Story Of Reckless | Louder - video Dailymotion

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Innuendos, a hit single that Blue Oyster Cult turned down, and the best birthday gift a young man of 25 could give him self. Just what went in to making the multi-platinum Reckless?

Transcript

00:00 It was the summer of '84.

00:08 Ryan Adams was in New York City working on the follow-up to his breakthrough album, "Cuts

00:12 Like a Knife", which had sold a million copies in the US.

00:16 I mentioned the fact that you go into the studio and is it true you record live?

00:20 I mean, you put it right down?

00:21 Well, basically it's the band in the studio, all the guys, and we go in there and we just

00:25 put it down and open it up afterwards, but basically it's the live band.

00:28 The new songs he recorded were good, he was sure of that, and he had what he considered

00:32 the perfect title for a rock and roll album, "Reckless".

00:36 But still, he had this feeling that something wasn't quite right.

00:39 He invited his manager Bruce Allen to New York and played him the album.

00:44 Allen's verdict was straight to the point, "Where's the rock?"

00:49 Those three words changed everything.

00:54 Ryan called his co-songwriter Jim Valance.

01:05 They wrote a new song from scratch, a song designed to answer Bruce Allen's question.

01:11 Its title?

01:12 "Kids Wanna Rock".

01:13 With his third album, "Reckless", Adams plugged into that mainstream audience dominated by

01:24 Bruce Springsteen, John Cougar Mellencamp, and Don Henley.

01:27 But Adams was of a different generation to those established big hitters.

01:31 He turned 25 on the day "Reckless" was released, November 5th, 1984.

01:36 His hard rock sensibility, explicit in "Kids Wanna Rock", was something that spoke to fans

01:41 of Van Halen and ZZ Top.

01:44 And the way he sang, belling it out like a young Rod Stewart, gave him that extra edge.

01:53 With "Reckless", Ryan Adams created an album of hits that still resonates to this day.

02:03 But it was no overnight success.

02:05 Born in 1959, Ryan Adams was performing on the Vancouver music scene by the age of 15.

02:10 He joined Canadian glam rockers Sweeney Todd and in 1979 released an album, "If Wishes

02:16 Were Horses".

02:17 In 1978, he met Jim Valance, formerly of Canadian rock band Prism, and the two began writing

02:22 songs together.

02:29 Later that same year, Adams signed to A&M Records for $1.

02:33 His first minor hit was a remix of a demo of his.

02:35 It turned into a disco track called "Let Me Take You Dancing" with sped up vocals.

02:41 Adams hated it so much, you can't hear it online to this day.

02:45 Stung by the experience, he threw himself into making it on his own terms.

02:49 He wrote songs and toured relentlessly.

03:03 "Run To You" had originally been written for Blue Oyster Cult, with an opening guitar

03:07 riff that echoed their classic 1976 hit "Don't Fear The Reaper".

03:12 When that band turned it down, Adams decided to use it.

03:15 It was the lead single off the album and topped the Billboard rock charts.

03:20 "Summer Of '69" was originally inspired by Bob Seger's "Nightmoons", a nostalgic song

03:25 about adolescent rites of passage, with images of cars, girls and long hot summers.

03:31 To begin with, Brian was a little bit coy as to what "The Summer Of '69" was about.

03:35 "The thing about '69 is it's a metaphor.

03:39 It's not actually about the summer of '69.

03:41 I mean it could be about the summer of '85."

03:44 Later, he, um, came clean.

03:46 "I never said 1969."

03:48 "Oh, it's a metaphor for that."

03:50 "It's a metaphor for a great summer."

03:53 "Of love?"

03:54 "Summer of love, exactly.

03:55 Thank you very much."

03:56 "I'm going to just move on to a different topic here, Brian."

04:01 Another song that came together quickly was one that Jim Valance had brought to the table.

04:05 It's Only Love wasn't written with a vocal duet in mind, but Adams felt it needed another

04:10 voice to make it special, and he had only one person in mind.

04:14 Tina Turner.

04:15 "I met Tina Turner, uh, probably about six years ago.

04:18 And she came to town and said, 'It'll club here in town.'"

04:20 "Power Ballad Heaven" was written for cheesy '80s movie "One Night In Heaven."

04:29 The movie stiffed, but the single became the biggest hit from "Reckless" going to number

04:33 one in Billboard's Hot 100.

04:36 There were more singles.

04:38 "One Night Love Affair" went top 20 in the US and Canada.

04:41 And "Somebody" was an instant sing-along classic.

04:47 "Reckless" had more hits on it than most eyes have on their actual greatest hit album.

04:52 It sold more than 12 million copies worldwide and transported Brian Adams into rock's A-lists.

04:59 And the secret of its success?

05:02 Great songs performed with heart.

05:05 Because even at the height of synth-pop in the new wave '80s, the kids wanted something

05:08 less pretentious.

05:09 And Brian knew it.

05:11 They didn't just want to rock.

05:13 They wanted songs they could sing along with for the rest of their lives.

05:16 [applause]

05:20 Thank you very much.

Bryan Adams: The Story Of Reckless | Louder

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