What Was the Last US Top 40 Hit by Loverboy?

Loverboy boasted an outstanding track record as one of the most consistent hit producers among arena rock bands in the 80s. The band possessed a knack for hard-driving, chant-along hits that brought bombast and fun to pop radio. Their career arc was marked by a rather sudden drop-off, however, at least in terms of their commercial success. Perhaps that’s why you might have missed or forgotten the last Loverboy US Top 40 hit, “Notorious”.

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Canadian Crushers

Canadian rock bands tended to struggle when it came to crossing over to America, especially in terms of radio play. Rush established a beachhead with their album sales, but they didn’t do much on the pop charts. With the exceptions of the Randy Bachman outfits The Guess Who and Bachman Turner Overdrive, there wasn’t much precedent to which a Canadian band could point as a beacon of hope.

That’s why Loverboy’s almost immediate success proved to be such an eye-opener. Early on in the 80s, the band delivered both fast-paced fun bombs (“The Kid Is Hot Tonite” and “Working For The Weekend”) and more intense, fraught rockers (“Turn Me Loose” and “When It’s Over”).

By the middle of the 80s, as many of their peers started to show signs of wear, they were just freshening up. They easily moved into power ballad territory on songs like “This Could Be The Night” and “Heaven In Your Eyes”, while the Mutt Lange-penned “Lovin’ Every Minute Of It” gave them their biggest ever US hit in 1985.

“Notorious” Business

Going into the making of their 1987 album Wildside, Loverboy’s members were riding as high as ever before. That’s why the album’s quick plummet out of the public’s consciousness was a bit of a surprise. It sold much worse than its predecessors. Meanwhile, the first single, “Notorious”, barely cracked the Top 40 in the US for Loverboy, topping out at no. 38.

The song features some big names in the credits. Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora had written just a tiny part of an unfinished song. It landed with Loverboy. Mike Reno, the band’s lead singer, and Paul Reno, their lead guitarist, finished it off with the help of fellow songwriter Todd Cerney.

“Notorious” rips along at a frenetic pace. It also features a nice interplay between the synths and the rocking guitars. Unfortunately, the song comes across as a bit generic, and not even a video directed by a young David Fincher could give it much juice.

The Aftermath

So what happened to Loverboy’s commercial prospects around this time? Well, those Bon Jovi boys and those like them were partly responsible. Rock fans were gravitating to hair metal around that time. The fact that Loverboy broke up not long after the album was completed also speaks to the fractured relationship between Mike Reno and Paul Dean, the band’s chief creative drivers.

Loverboy eventually reunited and started releasing music again. But that all came well past the point when bands like them were given any kind of chance at pop radio. That means that “Notorious” stands as the last minor hit for a band that delivered a bunch of major ones prior to it.

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