Fight for the Rock

Fight for the Rock
Studio album by Savatage
Released 30 June 1986
Recorded England
Genre Heavy metal, hard rock
Length 37:54
Label Atlantic
Producer Stephan Galfas, Robert Zemsky, Steven Machat, Rick Smith
Savatage chronology
Power of the Night
(1985)		 Fight for the Rock
(1986)		 Hall of the Mountain King
(1987)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[1]
Kerrang![2]
Martin Popoff[3]

Fight for the Rock is the third full-length album released by the American heavy metal band Savatage, released in 1986. It is their first album with new bass player Johnny Lee Middleton, who has since become the only ever-present member on each Savatage record released.

Released in 1986, it is largely regarded as the band's worst ever release by both fans and band members alike, with the band referring to it as "Fight for the Nightmare".[4] Jon Oliva went as far to say in October 1994, "I've never really been fond of that album. WE'VE never been fond of that album".[5] The band said that they were driven to make the record by their label, Atlantic Records, particularly Jon Oliva began writing pop-rock songs for other artists on the label such as John Waite. However, the label eventually turned around and told the band to record the music that Jon had written for other artists themselves. This destroyed the band's credibility in the eyes of the press and reviews were not kind to the band. It not only destroyed the band's image, but the negative critical reaction has been cited as a cause of Jon Oliva's bout of drug and alcohol depression which eventually drove him from the fore of the band.

Atlantic Records also wanted the band to have photos taken, since none of their previous releases had included any. The band hired a friend to do the photography work, with one of the photos featuring the band re-recreating the famous photo Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima. The band agreed this was a good idea at the time, but look back with the same feelings on the photos taken as they do the album.

When initially released, the album featured a Parental Advisory label on the front cover, despite having no "nasty words", as Jon Oliva puts it, featured anywhere on the record. This was largely done to please the label, as they felt that putting the sticker on the record would drive up record sales. Although it did chart, the band have been extremely reluctant to perform any of the songs live, and haven't done so since the early 90s. Even on the tour in support of the album, the band only performed "Hyde", "The Edge of Midnight" and few others.

Track listing

Side one
No. TitleWriter(s) Length
1. "Fight for the Rock"  Criss Oliva, Jon Oliva, Steve Wacholz 3:55
2. "Out on the Streets"  C. Oliva, J. Oliva 3:58
3. "Crying for Love"  C. Oliva, J. Oliva 3:27
4. "Day After Day" (Badfinger cover)Pete Ham 3:40
5. "The Edge of Midnight"  C. Oliva, J. Oliva, Wacholz 4:52
Side two
No. TitleWriter(s) Length
6. "Hyde"  C. Oliva, J. Oliva, Wacholz 3:51
7. "Lady in Disguise"  J. Oliva 3:08
8. "She's Only Rock 'n Roll"  C. Oliva, J. Oliva 3:14
9. "Wishing Well" (Free cover)John "Rabbit" Bundrick, Paul Kossoff, Simon Kirke, Paul Rodgers, Tetsu Yamauchi 3:20
10. "Red Light Paradise"  Johnny Lee Middleton, C. Oliva, J. Oliva 3:56

Personnel

Band members
Additional musicians
Production

References

  1. ↑ Orens, Geoff. "Savatage Fight for the Rock review". Allmusic. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved 2011-09-06.
  2. ↑ Johnson, Howard (26 June 1986). "Savatage 'Fight for the Rock'". Kerrang!. 123. London, UK: United Magazines ltd. p. 16.
  3. ↑ Popoff, Martin (1 November 2005). The Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal: Volume 2: The Eighties. Burlington, Ontario, Canada: Collector's Guide Publishing. ISBN 978-1894959315.
  4. ↑ Official Band review
  5. ↑ "Savatage FAQ, part 1". Savatage.com. Retrieved 2007-02-08.
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