Creating instantly memorable, adrenaline-surging rock 'n' roll isn't an easy
task -- but if you're one of the few with the innate knack, you're not likely
to lose it. Bryan Adams proves that on 18 Til I Die, his first all-new album
in more than five years, a release that contains a number of potential hits
that always populate Adams' albums and have made him one of the most
important, largest-selling artists of the past two decades.
"This album is a lot simpler in its construction, because I was looking for
something that was more raw, more back to basics," says Adams. "I've
always thought of myself as a second-generation white soul singer,
influenced by Mick Jagger and Steve Marriott, and I think this album
captures a lot of that."
While Adams has seen multi-platinum ballad like "Have You Ever Really
Loved A Woman?" (which is included on 18 Til I Die) and "(Everything I
Do) I Do It For You" propel him to a new level of international stardom in
the '90s, the stripped-down energy of his eighth and latest set lives up to
Adams' rough characterization. From the good-natured swagger of "The
Only Thing That Looks Good On Me Is You" (which is accompanied by a
Matthew Rolston-directed video), to the raucously defiant energy that
imbues the punky "We're Gonna Win," Adams has clearly taken the
album's title to heart.
"It's no so much that I'm writing literally about age as I am an attitude,"
says the singer. "That attitude extends a lot further than rock 'n' roll. The
imagery on the album is about feeling that no matter what's happening
with your job or whatever, it's not gonna get your down."
That upbeat mood extends throughout 18 Til I Die, from the playful
sexuality that percolates through the harmonica-fueled juke-jump "Do To
You" and the tongue-in-cheek "(I Wanna Be Your) Underwear," to the
unabashed romanticism instilled deep in affecting interludes like "Let's
Make A Night To Remember." As ever, Adams' craggy, emotion-filled
voice carries the show.
"I've always wanted to show two sides of the same coin," he says. "We
all have varied qualities within us and by doing songs that sort of span my
personality, I'm able to give a reasonably good idea of what I'm like."
Barely out of his teens when he first signed his first contract with
A&M Records in 1979, Adams spent the early part of the '80s in a
nonstop whirlwind of tourning, often spending upwards of 250 days on
the road. Despite his chronic refusal to embrace rock-star trappings,
his incendiary live shows soon became legendary across America.
Cuts Like A Knife (1983), which took just eight months to hit
platinum, gave Adams his first stateside Top 10 smash -- the
anthemic "Straight From The Heart." Before long, the album's
thumping title track and the compelling "This Time" likewise climbed
to the chart's highest reaches. With Reckless (released in 1984,
coincidentally, on Bryan's 25th birthday) he earned his first No. 1
album as well as a Grammy nomination -- appropriate recognition for
an album that catapulted several tracks into the Top 10, including the
No. 1 single "Heaven," "Run To You," and "Summer of '69."
With yet another multi-platinum album to his credit -- 1987's Into The
Fire -- Adams ended the decade on a high note: in his native Canada,
he was named Recording Artist of the Decade for an unprecedented
string of successes, including a dozen Juno Awards and a Diamond
Sales Award for Reckless, which which went on to become the
best-selling Canadian album of all time; he also accepted the Order
of Canada for his work with causes both social (he contributed "Tears
Are Not Enough" as his home country's contribution to Live Aid) and
environmental. His ongoing work with Greenpeace played a major
role in establishing a whale sanctuary in the Antarctic.
When Adams broke a three-year sabbatical, the results were nothing
less than spectacular. His first foray into soundtrack music -- 1991's
lush ballad "(Everything I Do) I Do It For You," form the Robin Hood,
Prince of Thieves soundtrack (a song which monopolized the No. 1
spot in Billboard for seven straight weeks and which earned Adams a
Grammy and an Academy Award nomination) became an
international standard and placed Bryan's name in the Guinness
Book of World Records for longest stay atop the singles chart in the
U.K. Abetted by producer Robert John "Mutt" Lange (which whom he
co-wrote the aforementioned song), he then recorded the ten-million
selling Waking Up The Neighbours, his most fully-realized set to that
point before undertaking a lengthy world tour.
Adams again soared to the No. 1 chart position in 1993 with "All For
Love" (with Sting and Rod Stewart) from The Three Musketeers
soundtrack. That same year he released a greatest hits compilation
So Far So Good, which spawned the Top 10 hit "Please Forgive Me,"
and which sold in excess of 13 million units worldwide. An 18-month
world tour followed and included a concert in Vietnam in January
1994, making Adams the first western artist to perform there since
the war. A stop in Modena, Italy featured a performance with opera
great Luciano Pavarotti. Adams performed a song with the maestro in
Italian that was recorded for "Pavarotti and Friends II."
"Have You Ever Really Loved A Woman?" from the Don Juan
DeMarco soundtrack (1995), earned Adams yet another No. 1 hit (a
position the song occupied for four consecutive weeks), as well as
another Academy Award nomination. He closed that year with total
record sales amounting 45 million worldwide.
And now, after more than a year of intensive, if low-key, recording,
Bryan Adams returns with 18 Til I Die, an album he characterizes as
his personal favorite -- if only for the enjoyment its creation has given
him. "I've definitely had more fun doing this record than I had at any
time in the '80s," he says. "this came together so easily, with so
little stress. I'm really happy about that." As for the future? Well, as
the title implies, don't expect Bryan Adams to stay in one place for
too long. " I'm still sort of moving around all the time. I'm interested in
seeing as much as I can before I'm 40," he says. "I have this
curiosity, this adventurous spirit and I just want to do everything I
can."