Beautiful Loser

Detroit Rock And Roll

"I was reading in Rolling Stone where they said Detroit audiences are the greatest rock 'n' roll audiences in the world … I thought to myself … I've known that for 10 years."

When I was younger and still learning which music I liked most, I listened to a log of Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band. I had a few of Seger's albums on cassette, mostly the old ones that you can't even get on CD or digital. I thought the album Nine Tonight was better than Live Bullet but Bullet aged unlike many albums ever have. I think it was because we may have bought Tonight when it was fresh in Camelot Music at the Cherryland Mall in Traverse City, Mich. I used to listen to both of them — and they are great live albums. Bullet was cool because Seger referenced Detroit throughout, plus it was recorded at Cobo Hall in Detroit.

I'm going to take you back to 1982. I'm listening to the '76 classic live album, and Seger says, "I was reading in Rolling Stone where they said Detroit audiences are the greatest rock 'n' roll audiences in the world … I thought to myself … I've known that for 10 years."

I always thought that line was cool. My friends know I thought it was cool because I have referenced it hundreds of  times over the years. But in '76, what Seger was saying to that Detroit rock audience at Cobo Hall is that he's been rocking and rolling the Detroit scene for 10 years. Keep in mind that in 1976, Seger had only had a couple of minor hits, mostly in the Detroit area. 

So, Seger had been a Michigan star, with little national acclaim as of '76. Six years later I'm listening to his old stuff — while knowing that he's a mega star. He's had several successful  albums in the past few years, so for an 11 year old, it's hard to fathom that he hadn't been huge in '76. So the line about Detroit audiences doesn't make the TRUE sense that it would years later. It was just a cool line about a great city (well, I thought it was a great city because that's where the Tigers played!)

What he meant in '76 is that he was one of them.

*this originally appeared on RWA in 2013