Tuesday, May 1, 2012: TWOfer Tuesday - The "Stroke Me" Edition

As in, "Stroke Me, who knew how many people out there liked Billy Squire?"

One of the reasons I love doing CSOTD is because I am so often absolutely flummoxed about what people consider cool. And how vastly different that often looks from what I would consider cool.

Take today's artist, Mr Billy Squier, for instance. In the 80's, Billy Squier had some hits, made what some call the World's Worst Music Video, and then stopped having hits. That's about it, actually.  That's pretty much what I remember from him.

So, imagine my surprise when, as a harmless lark, I posted Lonely Is The Night on a personal page, and the phones went wild.  Who would have thunk?

Billy Squier, for me, was the right man for the right time - the 80's.  He had that arena friendly sound (think Foreigner, who he toured with in 1981), curly hair and was one of the few rock artists to get heavy rotation on early MTV. It doesn't surprise me that his star, quickly risen, had just as quickly faded as the 80's closed.  Everyone had moved on.  Who wanted to listen to The Stroke (which is an almost borderline novelty record, if I'm honest) when Bon Jovi, Motley Crue, Poison and an up and coming Metallica were dominating the scene.  Those acts demanded to be taken seriously.  Billy Squire?  He was so 1981.

But, then again, maybe such a simplistic judgement doesn't do him justice.  He did have a fantastic voice for rock and roll, as well as being a great guitarists and a pretty ok songwriter.  He also had actually been around since the early 70's, so his was one of those overnight sensations that had taken about a decade to get started.

And finally, as always, there is the music itself.  Forget the neon and the ripped shirts, forget the overblown cliches about "arena rock", and just give a listen to these two song.  Both really do sound fresh and relevant.  And bitchin'.  And cool.

So, thank you my friends, for enrolling me in another lesson in the University Of Cool.

Hopefully, I'll never graduate - because the learning will never stop.

And Stroke Me if that ain't the coolest of all.