''Don't Say No'' is the second

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

Billy Squier William Haislip Squier (, born May 12, 1950) is an American musician, singer, and songwriter who had a string of arena rock and crossover hits in the early 1980s. His best-known songs include " The Stroke", " Lonely Is the Night", " My Kinda Love ...

, released on April 13, 1981. It stands as Squier's biggest career album, including the hits " Lonely Is the Night", " In the Dark", " My Kinda Lover" and " The Stroke". The album hit the Top Five on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' album chart and remained on the chart for over two years (111 weeks). "The Stroke" was the first single, reaching number 17 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, and an even bigger hit at rock radio, hitting number 3 on the

Mainstream Rock Mainstream rock (also known as heritage rock) is a radio format used by many commercial radio stations in the United States and Canada. Format background Mainstream rock stations represent a cross between classic rock, active rock and alternativ ...

chart. The song even dented the British Pop charts, rising to number 52. The video for "The Stroke" — as most of the music videos from both ''Don't Say No'' and its follow-up, ''Emotions In Motion'' — is a straight-ahead performance piece, featuring Squier on an arena stage. Billy's many videos were staples on the then brand-new channel known as

MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

which brought him increased popularity. "In the Dark" followed "The Stroke" into the Billboard Top 40, and the Top 10 of the Album Rock Tracks chart. Some other tracks from the album were also hugely popular on AOR (Album Oriented Rock) radio stations, for example, "Lonely Is the Night", which became subsequently one of his signature songs despite not being a proper single release or having a music video. The album was certified

Gold Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...

by the

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for 500,000 sales in July 1981 and

Platinum Platinum is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a density, dense, malleable, ductility, ductile, highly unreactive, precious metal, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name origina ...

two months later. Though multi-platinum awards were not certified prior to 1984, ''Don't Say No'' belatedly received a

Triple Platinum Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...

award in 1992, certifying sales of over 3 million US copies. A cover of "Lonely Is the Night" is a playable track in the

PlayStation 2 The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October, in Europe on 24 Novembe ...

video game '' Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s'', and the master recording is playable in ''

Guitar Hero 5 ''Guitar Hero 5'' is a 2009 rhythm game developed by Neversoft and published by Activision. It is the fifth main installment and the ninth overall installment in the Guitar Hero, ''Guitar Hero'' series. The game was released internationally in ...

'' and '' Rock Band 4''. On July 27, 2010

Shout! Factory Shout! Factory, LLC, doing business as Shout! Studios (formerly doing business as Shout! Factory, its current legal name), is an American home video and music distributor founded in 2002 as Retropolis Entertainment. Its video releases, issued i ...

released a 30th Anniversary edition of the album complete with newly remastered sound, bonus tracks, and a new booklet. In early 2018, Intervention Records reissued Don't Say No on 180-gram vinyl and SACD/CD. The reissue is Artist-Approved and according to Squier "arguably the best-sounding version ever."

Track listing

Personnel

*Billy Squier –

lead Lead () is a chemical element; it has Chemical symbol, symbol Pb (from Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a Heavy metal (elements), heavy metal that is density, denser than most common materials. Lead is Mohs scale, soft and Ductility, malleabl ...

and backing vocals,

and

rhythm Rhythm (from Greek , ''rhythmos'', "any regular recurring motion, symmetry") generally means a " movement marked by the regulated succession of strong and weak elements, or of opposite or different conditions". This general meaning of regular r ...

guitars,

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

*Cary Sharaf – lead guitar solo on “Lonely Is the Night” *Alan St. Jon – keyboards * Mark Clarke –

bass guitar The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...

backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are us ...

*Bobby Chouinard –

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

Production *Billy Squier – producer *Reinhold Mack – producer, engineer

Later samples

*" The Stroke" **"Stroke Me" by

Mickey Avalon Mickey Avalon (born Yeshe Perl; December 3, 1975) is an American rapper from California. His debut self-titled solo album was released in 2006 on Interscope/Shoot to Kill Records in association with MySpace Records. Frequent topics of Avalo ...

**" Berzerk" by

Eminem Marshall Bruce Mathers III (born October 17, 1972), known professionally as Eminem, is an American rapper, songwriter, and record producer. Regarded as one of the greatest and most influential rappers of all time, he is credited with popula ...

from the album '' Marshall Mathers LP 2'' *" My Kinda Lover" **"Shady XV" by

from the album '' Shady XV''

Charts

Certifications

References

{{Authority control 1981 albums Billy Squier albums Albums produced by Reinhold Mack Capitol Records albums