Bob Seger’s Last Top 40 Hit Featured an All-Star Cast and His Usual Songwriting Excellence

Any artist who can boast a 23-year stretch between his first and last Top 40 single clearly has left a massive impact on the music scene, and that’s especially true in the case of Bob Seger, when you consider how many hits he delivered throughout that stretch.

Videos by American Songwriter

Bob Seger’s last Top 40 hit boasted a lot of the qualities that he had displayed on some of his signature songs. The only difference was that he had an all-star cast backing him on the song instead of his regular band.

Rise and Fall and Rise

In 1968, Bob Seger, who’d already risen up through the ranks as the leader of several bands, released his breakthrough solo single. The foot-stomping, hard-charging “Ramblin’, Gamblin’ Man” introduced the wider world to Seger’s soulful yelp and his devotion to the roots music that formed the building blocks of rock and roll.

It’s fascinating to contemplate what Seger’s discography might look like if he could have sustained that success in the short term. Instead, his national commercial prospects mostly dried up following that hit. He nonetheless kept after it, releasing several albums and touring relentlessly, mostly in the Midwest.

By the mid-70s, Seger’s style of rock music, which focused on sturdy songwriting instead of instrumental flashiness, came into vogue once again. After forming the Silver Bullet Band as his potent support system and releasing a killer live album (Live Bullet), he rose back to the higher echelons of the rock world with the album Night Moves in 1976.

Hot Streak

From that point forward, there was no stopping Bob Seger from hitting the Top 40 for the next decade. Hit album followed upon hit album. Eight Top 10 singles (as well as a slew of other lesser hits) came pouring forth from 1976 to 1987. In ’87, his single “Shakedown”, from the Beverly Hills Cop II soundtrack, gave him his first No. 1 US pop hit at age 42.

Like many of his classic rock contemporaries, Seger slowed his recording pace toward the end of the 80s. His 1991 album Real Love was his first studio effort in five years. On that album, Seger decided to open up his Rolodex and invite some good friends to record with him.

While the album is credited to the Silver Bullet Band, the members of the group appear only sporadically throughout the record. Instead, Seger called upon some ace musicians to help fill out the sound. The first single, “The Real Love”, featured an especially enticing lineup.

Getting “Real”

On “The Real Love”, Seger employed Kenny Aronoff, known for his work with John Mellencamp, on drums. The chorus belting out the backing vocals included J.D. Souther and Patty Smyth, hitmakers in their own right. And Heartbreaker Mike Campbell took care of the soulful lead guitar licks.

As for the lyrics, Seger writes from the perspective of someone who’s finally found the ideal romance after years of searching. “I’ve been around and round this track,” Seger sings. “And the only thing I lack is the real love.” It’s a gentle yet stirring song featuring Seger’s plainspoken approach at its best.

“The Real Love” worked its way to No. 24 on the US pop charts upon its 1991 release. That would do it for Bob Seger’s Top 40 run. But what a run it was, featuring levels of longevity, quantity, and quality that any artist would envy.

Photo by Paul Natkin/Getty Images