OPINION:
Bob Seger released his breakthrough album, “Night Moves,” 50 years ago this week. It came after more than a decade of Mr. Seger practicing his craft. He had built huge arena-sized crowds in and around Detroit, but fame had eluded him nearly everywhere else. “Night Moves” was his ninth studio album and the first to go platinum. It was also his first studio album to officially include The Silver Bullet Band.
The “Night Moves” album was critically acclaimed, with Rolling Stone magazine calling it “simply one of the best albums of the year,” and AllMusic giving it a rating of 5 stars out of 5. The Rolling Stone Record Guide that would come out some years later also gave the album its very rare 5-star rating. “Night Moves” sold 6.3 million copies and is certified 6x Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. The title track was released as a single, peaking at No. 8 on the U.S. Billboard charts and selling more than 2 million copies.
“Night Moves” launched Bob Seger and The Silver Bullet Band into the rock ’n’ roll stratosphere. They followed its success in 1978 with the album “Stranger in Town,” which sold 6.5 million copies, and in 1980 with “Against the Wind,” which sold 5.5 million copies and earned Mr. Seger a Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance.
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Mr. Seger received a total of seven Grammy nominations as his success kept rolling, including multiple nominations in 1984, 1988, 1992 and 1993 for works such as “The Distance,” “The Fire Inside” and the hit movie-soundtrack single, “Shakedown,” which reached No. 1 on the Billboard charts.
Suffice it to say, once success and acclaim finally arrived with “Night Moves,” Mr. Seger didn’t let go. It wasn’t a fleeting moment or a lucky break. He kept turning out album after album, song after song that America loved. In 1994, Bob Seger and The Silver Bullet Band released “Greatest Hits,” which sold more than 10 million units and is certified Diamond by the RIAA. The collection highlights an amazing catalog of songs and was one of the longest-charting compilation albums in recorded music history. It spent more than 600 weeks, or about 12 years, on the Billboard 200 chart.
Mr. Seger’s influence on music cannot be overstated. In addition to selling more than 75 million albums worldwide, he cowrote and sang backup on the Eagles’ hit song “Heartache Tonight.” He was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2004 and into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2012. His song “Like a Rock” was featured on Chevy truck commercials for 11 years.
Mr. Seger’s career success has been bigger than most. He is universally loved and respected.
All of the fame, fortune and glory launched 50 years ago with “Night Moves” make it odd that there is no celebration, no commemoration, no hoopla whatsoever. Earlier this year, Capitol/UMe made a big push for the 20th anniversary of Mr. Seger’s “Face the Promise,” a very good Seger release from 2006. Very good, but neither career-launching nor career-defining. Still, the record company thought releasing an expanded version for the 20th anniversary was worth the effort.
One would think the company would see an enormous return if it created a special 50th anniversary “Night Moves” with a couple of previously unreleased bonus tracks. Instead, crickets. Not a word. No product. No PR. Nothing.
None of this is unusual for Mr. Seger, however. Now 81 years old, he has little interest in pursuing a legacy. Even in his prime, though he created great music and was renowned for two-hour concerts that sent everyone home smiling, he never sought the spotlight outside of the concert venue. He granted interviews sparingly and selectively. He let the music do the talking. His management was among the last in classic rock to embrace digital streaming services. Mr. Seger sold 75 million records in his career, but in a world that doesn’t buy records, CDs or cassettes, the possibility exists that his legacy may slip away as his core fans age out.
Mr. Seger doesn’t appear to care.
This is a man who walked away at the top of his game to embrace being an older Dad to his two children. Some talk about the importance of family. Mr. Seger has lived it. Unlike so many celebrities, he did not have an insatiable appetite for recognition. Instead, he chose to spend time with his wife and kids. He chose to return to the road to tour only when his children turned 11 or 12 so that he could show them what Dad did for a living. Even his farewell tour years later was less than sentimental. Many assumed that the two-year tour, which sold out venues all over America, would finish where he started: in Detroit. It did not.
Mr. Seger spends no time chasing further fame in his golden years. He accomplished what he set out to do. He entertained tens of millions. He brought joy to people. He had commercial success and, of course, enjoyed the financial benefits that went with it, but 50 years after the release of the seminal work, “Night Moves,” Mr. Seger is content to let his catalog speak for itself. No need to revisit. No need to enhance, re-record or otherwise try to replicate or multiply its success. Fifty years later, he is content and enjoying life.
More than a few politicians in Washington could learn a little from Mr. Seger’s example.
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