Brad Gillis stated that the series of ballads released by Night Ranger in the ‘80s were responsible for the band’s decline.
The guitarist – who co-founded Night Ranger in 1982 – attributed this to his record label’s choice of singles, which he claimed led to a public misunderstanding of their identity.
“I don’t consider us a metal band,” Gillis told BraveWords in a recent interview. “I consider us a hard rock band. Of course, we got put in this pigeonhole with all the ballads that MCA wanted when we signed with them – ‘Sister Christian,’ then they put out ‘Sentimental Street’ and ‘Goodbye’ and all these ballads.”
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Acknowledging that the success of those songs was both a blessing and a curse, Gillis remarked: “It kind of killed us. And that’s too bad, because they could’ve come out with a lot of heavier rockers and we could have had a different whole perspective on our career.”
When Night Ranger Lost Their ‘Safe Zone’
In a separate interview in July, drummer Kelly Keagy reflected on the advantages and disadvantages of “Sister Christian,” which reached No. 5 in 1984.
“The record company gives you a large amount of money to make a record and so their goal is to sell records,” he explained. “And we’re back here going, ‘Yeah, but we got to go out and play. We can’t do four ballads in the set.’”
After that track’s success, he added, the label only focused on finding another “Sister Christian,” which severely restricted the band’s creative freedom. As the drummer described it, Night Ranger “didn’t have a safe zone anymore” as the label pushed for similar songs to follow.
The band, who are set to release their Best Of collection, are currently on tour.
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Gallery Credit: Nick DeRiso
