Night Moves (1977) 4/29/20

Here's a twist on the “Record Company Didn't Like the Great Song ”cliché:

In the early '60s, teenager Bob Seger met and began dating Rene Andretti, whose boyfriend was away in the military. The romance was cut short when the boyfriend returned and Rene married him. Boom!

Needless to say, young Bob was heartbroken.

As he grew older, he became interested in “cars and guitars” and after seeing the movie “American Graffiti, he was inspired to write about Rene—and the time they spent in his 1960 Chevy.

It took him 6 months to write it, and then he was hesitant to record it. Bob didn't think the song was good enough. In fact, when he DID record it, he did it on the sly, using mostly session musicians and only a few members of his Silver Bullet Band.

And here's where the story gets REALLY interesting.

After the song was completed, session producer Jack Richardson was told by Seger's manager, Punch Andrews, that Capitol Records had rejected the song.

HOWEVER, several months later, when Richardson was talking to a Capitol Records executive, he discovered that Seger never submitted the song in the first place!

Richardson was shocked!

In short order, HE submitted the song to Capitol, and the powers-that-be were so happy with it, they named Seger's next album “Night Moves,” and immediately released the song as a single.

Now it was Bob's turn to be shocked, because the album went platinum in both the US and Canada, and the single went to #4 in the US and #5 in Canada.

But that was only the beginning. “Night Moves” was named “1977 Single of the Year” by Rolling Stone Magazine, and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has named it one of the “500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll!”

So, in this one isolated case...the record company knew they had a “Great Song of the '70s” on their hands, but the artist didn't! :-)

From 1977: