Who absolutely loves Billy Squier?

[Cidknee]

Squier's debut solo album, The Tale of the Tape, was released in May 1980 on Capitol Records. While not a massive commercial hit initially, the 37-minute album of hard-rock/pop bridged his time in the band Piper to a successful solo career, peaking at No. 169 on the Billboard chart.

Key Tracks: While no singles charted immediately, "The Big Beat" and "You Should Be High, Love" received moderate radio play.

"The Big Beat" Legacy: The track "The Big Beat" became highly influential later, sampled by artists like Jay-Z ("99 Problems"), Run-D. M. C., Dizzee Rascal, and Alicia Keys.

When album number 2 was released in 1981 it became a massive hit. Here are a few of my favorite songs from that album Don't Say No.

https://youtu.be/hoDf3l2xZ9Y?si=iqvjVSrPEwyhRIsT

https://youtu.be/_qy5GtGfFiA?si=pcCkvFpd5w2PYLbm

https://youtu.be/C5TaeDhPUQQ?si=vAA6FDl5rlqoEwo7

After enjoying great success and selling out concerts across the nation for 3 years his career was smashed over night with the release of the video Rock Me Tonight.

His hard rocking fans thought he was flamboyantly effeminate and just plain queer. He didn’t recover this one mistake.

But thankfully his true fans stuck with him and he did tour smaller venues even touring with Ringo Star. I wonder what may have been had he thought better of the way he did the video. I really didn't care for the song or the album but I didn't see him as queer but a little swell headed over his enormous success.

Updates

1 mo

He did have an excellent drummer. I never realized this.

[Lliam]

I heard some of his songs on the radio and knew who he was but I never went to see him live. But he wrote some really good songs and was a great musician and singer.

[Cidknee]

He did write some good songs.

[NathanDavis]

not my usual kind of rock... Dongie

[Cidknee]

In 81 we all had the cassette Don't Say No. 😅 It fit us.

[Cidknee]

I hope you listened to all 3 songs. You may like one of them. My favorites were 2 and 3 but I like the first one much too.

[NathanDavis]

I did, I definitely know the third one

[Cidknee]

Lonely, Lonely, Lonely...

[TrueConfection]

I liked him enough to see him in concert. He opened for Styx in 2000 (ish)?

[Cidknee]

Did you enjoy Styx.
I saw them in i think 83. No 82 Texas Jam. THEY were the 5th and closing act. We left during their first song and beat the traffic at Dallas State fair grounds.

[Cidknee]

No it was Texas Jam 83 im pretty sure. 🤷‍♂️

[TrueConfection]

Yes! They were really good, except there was some sort of spat happening on stage between two of the band members. They didn’t miss a beat though. Bad Company was also one of the openers. I really liked Billy Squire live.

[TrueConfection]

Funny that you left during Styx. 😂

[Cidknee]

Yeah, they were not hard enough. It was 83 because Journey closed 82. THEY were great!

[TrueConfection]

I saw Journey and they were amazing! I saw them long after Steve Perry left, but the singer sounded exactly like him. The drummer really wowed me the most though.

[Cidknee]

Yeah, my aunts husband told me about the Philippino who sounds identical to SP. He is good. But Steve P leaned out over the front row and I was like 3 feet from him as he sang. It was the Escape tour. Girls LOVED a couple songs off the album.
It took us from the afternoon, about 5:30-6 pm, till just minutes before they came on, about 9 pm, to work our way up to the front and first row. We had Rusty B. He weighed about 350 and he was clearing traffic for us.

[Cidknee]

*Filipino

[TrueConfection]

Sounds amazing! It’s nice to have friends 😂

[TrueConfection]

Thanks for the MHO 🩷

[Cidknee]

Yeah, Rusty ended up hitting 500. But thankfully he worked on it and lost down to 250. He worked so hard. 😅

[Anonymous]

Never heard of him

[Cidknee]

You have now! Give a listen.

[FunkyMonkee]

https://youtu.be/69fPof-ZTnU?si=243OD7aO78w3_6L4

[FunkyMonkee]

https://youtu.be/tcFSheSaht0?si=1pKVDQRDyC4whVMg

[Cidknee]

Stroking with the reach around. 😂

[Cidknee]

And, yeah, he's got pretty good footwork but not with the style of music. It would work with Fred Astaire or Gene Kelly but not with R&R. I love the high notes he hangs, especially in In the Dark.

[AI Opinion]

I love that you brought up Billy Squier 😍 “The Big Beat” is such a wild legacy track, hip‑hop practically adopted it. “In the Dark” and “Lonely Is the Night” are my personal favorites from Don’t Say No, total stadium-energy anthems.

That “Rock Me Tonight” video really did him dirty culturally, but the music holds up so well. Some artists just get trapped by one misunderstood moment. 🎸💿

[FunkyMonkee]

I like his music, what little I've heard of it but, I can't say I'm absolutely nuts over him. I'm tall but not THAT tall!!

[Cidknee]

😂Whats height got to do with it?

[Cidknee]

Oh, A Tale of the Tape, I get it.

[FunkyMonkee]

Related to an old joke.
I used to be in love with a midget. She was only about 30 inches tall. I was just nuts over her!

[Cidknee]

I bet!

[Cidknee]

As in "nuts over" her.

[Cidknee]

There used to be a joke about my featured singer it was more or less just a play on his name, Billys queer. That sucks to me! Or rather shitty.

[FunkyMonkee]

Right!

[FunkyMonkee]

For some reason, I always associate him with Queen. I don't remember why. Maybe because Squire and queen are similar. It seems to have something to do with Capitol records. But, I don't think Queen was on Capitol by the time Billy was famous.
Yeah, Billy already had 4 albums out before Queen switched to Capitol.

[Cidknee]

I know that Queen collaborated with him on Album Rock Me Tonight.

[FunkyMonkee]

I don't think I knew that.

[Cidknee]

Hmmm...

[888theGreat]

He was huge when I was a kid