Well, they’re back! In pog form!
But I kid. Seriously, if you were a teen in northern Ohio (or even Detroit or Western Pa.) in the 80s, and listened to rock, you probably heard an MSB song or two, or attended a concert. I myself remember seeing them at least 4 or 5 times, at Richfield and at Blossom.
I never understood why they didn’t quite “make it” nationwide. They were certainly no worse than a lot of other mainstream AOR bands that were successful, and a lot better than some. They had good hooks, good musicianship, and two very different lead singers in Stanley and Kevin Raleigh. Stanley’s first album was pretty well-received, and had him playing with people like Todd Rundgren and Joe Walsh (who remained a lifelong friend of Stanley’s).
They only ever managed two Billboard Top 40 hits in a 14-year, 7-album career: “He Can’t Love You” (1980, featuring a great sax solo by Clarence Clemons of the E Street Band) and “My Town” (1983). “Someone Like You” also snuck into the lower part of the Hot 100 in 1983, but those were the only songs they ever managed to chart.
Anyone else have fond memories of MSB? Opening concerts in the Jonah Koslen years with “Strike Up The Band,” or in the later years with “Working Again,” singing along with the crowd on the “Thank God for the man who put the white lines on the highway” line in “Lover,” the classic sold-out stand at Blossom . . .?
I actually got to meet both Stanley and Raleigh long after the band had broken up. Stanley shopped at the same music store I did, Lentine’s Music on Brookpark Rd. in Parma. Whenever he shopped, he would always be willing to talk equipment or songwriting with people in the store. Raleigh, though . . . he became the manager of a Pittsburgh band called Brownie Mary. My old band opened for them at a club show back in 1997, at Peabody’s Cafe. First, they soundchecked for nearly three hours, finishing about ten minutes before we were supposed to play, leaving us no time to set up correctly or soundcheck. We did a great job warming up the crowd, but Raleigh wanted his band to take 85% of the door, even thought their contract didn’t provide for it. Putz.
