#kevin cronin

[the-hottest-band-tournament]

Round one

REO Speedwagon 

Formed in: 1967

Genres: Rock, pop rock, hard rock, arena rock

Lineup: Kevin Cronin- vocals, guitar

Gary Richrath- guitar

Neal Doughty- keyboards

Bruce Hall- bass

Alan Gratzer- drums

Albums from the 80s:

Hi Infidelity (1989)

Good Trouble (1982)

Wheels Are Turnin’ (1984)

Life as We Know It (1987)

Propaganda: 

The Professionals

Formed in: 1979

Genres: Punk rock

Lineup: Steve Jones- vocals, guitar

Paul Cook- drums

Ray McVeigh- guitar

Paul Myers- bass

Andy Allen- bass

Albums from the 80s:

I Didn’t See It Coming (1981)

Propaganda: 

[billboard-hotties-tourney]

Kevin Cronin (1951-) REO Speedwagon - lead vocals Songs: "Little Queenie," "Time for Me to Fly" Propaganda: none

Donald Fagen (1948-) Steely Dan - vocals and keyboards Songs: "Do It Again," "Peg" Propaganda: none

[mccoys-killer-queen]

I know I didn't update much on the progress of this one (because I lost track of the days), but

HE IS DONE!

I'm so happy I finished this so promptly and DIDN'T rush!

[jeffcbliss]

Kevin Cronin of REO Speedwagon (playing with the Jim Irsay Band) - The Jim Irsay Collection; Shrine Auditorium; Los Angeles, CA (1-11-24). @kcreospeedwagon @IrsayCollection

Photo: Jeff Bliss

[northwestofinsanity]

What does one even call Gary's signature guitar solo move?

[we-just-havent-got-a-clue]

what is he showing them

[wintoplane]

REO Speedwagon - Kevin Cronin

[joegramoe]

Found other things to keep my mind on

[princess-tommy-shaw]

@mccoys-killer-queen i heard you were looking for kevin pics

here’s some of my favorites that aren’t as common

[closertotheheart]

[dadrockconfessions]

[classicrocker-rockbeliever]

Quotes from Kevin Cronin....~"I wrote “Keep On Loving You” in the middle of the night, and I was barely conscious when I wrote it, but it came from a real pure place. And I knew that it was gonna be trouble. I mean, hey — when you call an album “Hi Infidelity,” you’re asking for trouble. But I couldn’t possibly not write that song — I had to do it. And then I had to deal with the consequences, which were not all that pleasant, on a personal level. But that song has sure meant a lot to a lot of people. And it is kind of funny that people use that song as their wedding theme. They must only be listening to the lyrics in the chorus!"~

[deepsakes]

Kevin & Gary

[mccoys-killer-queen]

Okay so Elton John and Rod Stewart were always trying to playfully fucking sabotage each other back in the day to the point where Elton got Rod's advertising blimp shot down and that's not the point I'm trying to make in this post but it felt relevant for comparison to the point I actually want to make-

Here's the backstory:

So if you haven't listened to Tommy Shaw's podcast you really should but in one of the episodes he did with Kevin Cronin, Kevin talks about how Styx and REO were very low key at each other's throats for decades without actually being rivals- starting with TW4 (a fetus version of Styx) and Kevin's first band doing a "battle of the bands" at Kevin's high school (because they were all from Illinois) and TW4 absolutely ANNIHILATING Kevin's wimpy ass band at his own school.

Flash forward 10+ years later to 1981 and Hi Infidelity is absolutely dominating the charts in America for months, giving REO Speedwagon the superstardom they worked and waited for so patiently. Kevin said every Tuesday someone from Epic would call them to tell them the position the album was in, and he said after so many weeks of it being #1 they just stopped picking up the phone because they didn't feel the need to hear it again- they already knew it was still up there.

Until one day it wasn't.

One Tuesday, when the phone call came, they said "the album is #2. Styx is #1."

Kevin realized that TW4 was schooling him all over again and he was like gOD DAMMIT

So here's the point I'm trying to make:

THEY FUCKIN BEAT THEM TO MTV IN THE END THO LOL

but at the same time REO's very first video on MTV was also the first video on MTV to experience technical difficulties and was accidentally cut short after 12 seconds on the air oop

but also at the same time as that, the corner text for Styx's first video on MTV got the name of the song wrong (listed as Rockin' Paradise),

So in conclusion there really was no winner here besides the fact they both got played as one of the first 10 videos ever broadcast on MTV

[jeffcbliss]

(Left to right) Kevin Cronin, Kenny Wayne Shepherd & Kenny Aronoff, playing with the Jim Irsay Band - The Jim Irsay Collection; Shrine Auditorium; Los Angeles, CA (1-11-24). @kcreospeedwagon @IrsayCollection @AronoffOFFICIAL @KWShepherd

Photo: Jeff Bliss

[northwestofinsanity]