"American Storm" is a song written by American singer-songwriter Bob Seger. It was recorded with The Silver Bullet Band and released in March 1986 as the lead single from their album '' Like a Rock''. The single peaked at number 13 on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart and at number 2 on the US ''Billboard'' Mainstream Rock Tracks chart.

Background and writing

In 1986, Seger told ''

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'' that the song is about cocaine abuse. "I wrote it after reading 'Wired,'

Bob Woodward Robert Upshur Woodward (born March 26, 1943) is an American investigative journalist. He started working for '' The Washington Post'' as a reporter in 1971 and now holds the title of associate editor. While a young reporter for ''The Washingt ...

's biography of

John Belushi John Adam Belushi (January 24, 1949 – March 5, 1982) was an American comedian, actor, and musician, best known for being one of the seven original cast members of the NBC sketch comedy show ''Saturday Night Live'' (''SNL''). Throughout his c ...

. That was two and a half years ago, when there was a lot of publicity about cocaine abuse in show business. At the time, I thought that it was just a trend that would quickly die out and that the song would be out of date when it came time to record. But the situation has gotten worse. Maybe cocaine isn't quite as fashionable on the East and West Coasts these days, but the plague has spread into the heartland – into the Middle West and the South. The key line in 'American Storm' is 'You never feel the need.' You never feel anything when you're on drugs. You're numb. You're afraid to feel for one reason or another, and that's why you turn to drugs. I want to see people not do that." "American Storm" is in the key of E major. Music critic

Maury Dean Maury Dean is an American musician, author and professor at Suffolk County Community College, whose book "The Rock Revolution" is in the Rock N' Roll Hall of Fame and the Smithsonian. Music Dean taught a "History of Rock N' Roll" course as well ...

explains that the song builds tension in the verses by playing rhythm guitar chords on the

backbeat In music and music theory, the beat is the basic unit of time, the pulse (regularly repeating event), of the ''mensural level'' (or ''beat level''). The beat is often defined as the rhythm listeners would tap their toes to when listening to a p ...

and by playing more softly in the 1st verse to enhance the power of the refrain. The chorus generally uses the chord pattern of E, C#m, A and B7, but during the

fade-out In audio engineering, a fade is a gradual increase or decrease in the level of an audio signal. The term can also be used for film cinematography or theatre lighting in much the same way (see fade (filmmaking) and fade (lighting)). A recor ...

he changes the pattern to a chromatic C, D, E which produces what Dean describes as an "incredible" effect.

Reception

Maury Dean praised the song effusively, calling it "one of the Top 38 Rock and Roll Songs of All Time." Dean praised Seger's "vocal power" as being comparable to the likes of Bruce Springsteen, Roy Orbison,

Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained worldwide fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John Lennon. One ...

and

Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one ...

. '' Cash Box'' said that "the blistering rhythm track supports a solid, anthemic rock and roll song." '' Billboard'' called it an "uptempo stomper with a serious mien, in eger'sbest rock 'n' roll style."

Music video

The music video featured

Lesley Ann Warren Lesley Ann Warren (born August 16, 1946) is an American actress and singer. She made her Broadway debut in 1963, aged 17, in '' 110 in the Shade''. In 1965 she received wide recognition for playing the title role in the television musical prod ...

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Randy Quaid Randy Randall Rudy Quaid (born October 1, 1950) is an American actor known for his roles in both serious drama and light comedy. He was nominated for an Academy Award, BAFTA Award and a Golden Globe Award for his role in '' The Last Detail'' ...

and Scott Glenn. It is designed to resemble soundtrack videos where scenes from the movie are intercut with the artist performing the featured song except in this instance, there was no originating movie. The fake film portion of the video was directed by Brian DePalma, known for his features '' Carrie'', ''

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'' and '' Mission: Impossible''. The performance section was directed by Jim Yukich.

Personnel

Credits are adapted from the

liner notes Liner notes (also sleeve notes or album notes) are the writings found on the sleeves of LP record albums and in booklets that come inserted into the compact disc jewel case or the equivalent packaging for cassettes. Origin Liner notes are desc ...

of '' Like a Rock''. * Bob Seger – lead vocals, guitar The Silver Bullet Band *Chris Campbell – bass *

Craig Frost Craig Frost (born April 20, 1948 in Flint, Michigan) is the keyboardist for Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band. He is also known as keyboardist for 1970s hard rock band Grand Funk Railroad. He plays organ, synthesizers, and piano. Frost exp ...

– organ *

Alto Reed Alto Reed (born Thomas Neal Cartmell, May 16, 1948 – December 30, 2020) was an American saxophonist best known as a long-time member of Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band He was a 1966 graduate of Lake Shore High School in St. Clair Shore ...

– baritone saxophone Additional musicians *

Pete Carr Jesse Willard "Pete" Carr (April 22, 1950 – June 27, 2020) was an American guitarist. Carr contributed to successful recordings by Joan Baez, Luther Ingram, Bob Seger, Paul Simon, Willie Nelson, Joe Cocker, Boz Scaggs, The Staple Singers, ...

– guitar *

Russ Kunkel Russell Kunkel (born September 27, 1948) is an American drummer who has worked as a session musician with many popular artists, including Jackson Browne, Joni Mitchell, Jimmy Buffett, Harry Chapin, Rita Coolidge, Neil Diamond, Bob Dylan, Dan F ...

– drums * Bill Payne – piano

Chart performance

References

{{Authority control 1986 songs Bob Seger songs Capitol Records singles Songs written by Bob Seger Songs about cocaine Song recordings produced by Bob Seger Song recordings produced by Punch Andrews