Rock And Roll Never Forgets

How can they forget you when they don't even know you

Back in 1975, the band was looking for a national hit. More or less, the same crew had been touring and recording for about 10 years. They were huge in their hometown. Stories have been told about one night playing in front of a few hundred people in a nearby state and then selling out a large stadium — and playing in front of 76,000 — the next night. The polarity across the country for the band in the mid–70s was interesting. 

In late ‘75, the band recorded a double live LP at a major rock venue in their hometown. I would have to believe that at the same time, the band may have been working on tracks for their upcoming studio release. 

I can only imagine what it must have been like on the road back then. Your thoughts will soon be wandering the way they always do when you're ridin' sixteen hours from show to show — and there's nothing much to do, and you don't feel much like riding … You just wish the trip was through. Through many cities where they didn’t necessarily react to you the way they did back home. 

When the double live was delivered in April ‘76, it was huge … in the home state. The songs were all over metro rock radio. Nationally, it did okay, but the metro area was not a microcosm of national support. The great songs the band had been doing for 10 years — hardly known. 

On the heels of the double live platter, it was back into the studio to finish up album number nine. The album would drop in October. As the band worked on the new material, they came up with one incredible title track. It was a dity that looked back, looked forward, and really just made us all reminisce. It was a nostalgia track by a band that hadn’t hit the big time yet. You wouldn’t know it by the previous LPs. When you listen to them now, you can hear the band progressing, leading to the breakthrough. 

I have always wondered did the band leader look at his good friends in the band and say, “Damn, that’s the one. There’s no way that’s not going to be the one…” when they finished recording “Night Moves.” It would become the lead single and title track to Seger’s ninth album. And, it took him nationwide. 

An early LP from Bob Seger.