The Romantics

July 4, 2007

Detroit rockers The Romantics have experienced their fair share of musical “heartbreaks” since forming on Valentines Day 1977. The veterans of the famed Motor City music scene will head to Northern Michigan for the first time in a dozen years to rock the National Cherry Festival Bayside Entertainment Stage on Sunday, July 8.
Founding member, guitarist and vocalist Wally Palmer chuckles as he reflects on the “good, bad and ugly” 30-year history of The Romantics, especially the group’s ongoing identity crises.
“First of all, there has never been an identity crises for us in Michigan. People from this state love their rock and roll and we reached headlining status here during our day,” said Palmer. “We can’t say the same for elsewhere. We have our pockets of popularity around the world and that has kept our music around. There is something to be said about not hitting it big early in your career. We still have something to strive for, but then again, on the other hand, we only get paid the still striving to make it big rate when we perform.”
 
WONDERING WHY
Palmer is good-natured, and unlike many of his peers, willing to take an honest and hard look at his band. But with such songs as “What I Like About You,” “When I Look In Your Eyes,” “One In A Million,” and “Talking In Your Sleep,” one has to wonder why The Romantics never reached the same acclaim as their late ‘70s contemporaries U2 and R.E.M.?
“People either knew the band name or our songs, but they never seemed to put it all together,” said Palmer. “We have people say, ‘Yeah, we have heard of you guys,’ but could never name a tune. Then we would have people say, ‘Oh, we didn’t know you guys did that song.’ They just never tied the songs with the name. We never were a household name. It is just the way things work in this business.”
He adds that the band likes its “underground status.”
“There is still something mysterious about this band. We still maintain that underground image,” said Palmer. “People are still trying to figure us out.”
The Romantics also got caught in the late ’70s musical vortex where a lot of post-punk era bands found themselves mislabeled. Critics, not knowing what to do with power pop bands, quickly named them “new wave.” New wave was short-lived, and somehow The Romantics ended up in that short-lived scene.Palmer chuckles over the notion.
“We were a three-chord garage rock band from Detroit. Our influences were the MC5, Seger, SRC and other Detroit rock bands,” said Palmer. “Somehow we got caught in that post-punk thing and couldn’t shake the image.”
 
MTV VIDEOS
The Romantics enjoyed the bulk of their popularity during the early ’80s as part of the MTV generation. Their “What I Like About You,” and “Talking In Your Sleep” (featuring several lingerie clad models) videos were among the favorites of MTV viewers.
Some artistic differences coupled with management challenges also set the group back. Founding drummer Jimmy Moranis left in the early ’80s. Then the group learned their management company was bilking profits from the band and even licensed “What I Like About You” for commercials without the band’s permission. Lawsuits emerged and labels turned their backs. The Romantics virtually dropped from the scene for about 10 years. Their label would occasionally re-package the band’s hits from the ’80s and release periodic greatest hits CDs.
Despite the frustrations, Palmer never turned his back on the music or the band. With the band’s other primary tunesmiths, Mike Skill and Coz Canler still in the mix, they began writing songs. Once the legal matters cleared (all in their favor), they returned to the studio. The result was the 2003 CD “61/49.” The CD re-introduced The Romantics to the rock music scene. Critics, including “Rolling Stone” magazine praised “61/49.” The CD explodes with raw passion and high energy Detroit sounds, and takes its name from the fabled “crossroads” near Clarksdale, Mississippi, where blues great Robert Johnson made his supposed pact with the devil at the intersection of highways 61 and 49.
 
TO BE DETERMINED
The band is currently in the studio, working on new songs for their next album. Release date is to be determined.
As for their set list in Traverse City, it will definitely feature their staples.
“You have to do that. That is what they want to hear,” said Palmer. “Usually after a concert, someone will come to us and say, ‘Hey, you didn’t play this one.’ That means a lot to us. That means our fans are going deep into our catalogue and they know our songs.”
One song that every Romantics fan will want to hear is “What I Like About You.”
“Yeah, that song just won’t go away, will it? We have tried,” laughs Palmer. “Now Poison has brought it back and is getting a lot of airplay with the song.”
 
MYSPACE HIT
Palmer is referring to the new CD released a couple of weeks ago by the early ’90s melodic metal rockers Poison. Titled “POISON’D,” the CD features a selection of covers from a list of songs they received after asking their fans to submit songs to the band’s Myspace site. The first single to hit the airwaves was “What I Like About You.”
“It is a great song. Everyone knows it. We started playing it when we formed as a band because East Coast audiences want to hear cover songs. So at the end of the night at bars we would have people screaming it out, so we have been playing it for 20 years,” said Brett Michaels, Poison lead singer. “We have been performing it on late night shows to promote the CD and it is the lead in song on our website. It doesn’t surprise me that it is the first song off the CD to resonate with our fans. We feel that the 13 tracks on this CD are loaded with great rock songs, and this is certainly one of them. The Romantics are a great band and I am not sure they ever got their true due.”
(A side note: the new “POISON’D” CD is worth checking out. Michaels is one of rock music’s all time great vocalists, and he and his bandmates do a great job with such songs as “Can’t You See,” “Rock and Roll All Nite” and “We’re An American Band.”)
As for the “commercial” success of “What I Like About You,” Palmer makes no apologies.
“It is the way the business has gone. Everyone is doing it -- Sting, U2, Seger and even Pete Townshend,” said Palmer. “It helps to introduce the band to new generations.”
“What I Like About You” was the theme song (performed by the band Lillix) for the popular show of the same name on the WB network from 2004-06. The Lillix cover version of the song also appeared in the 2003 hit Disney teen film “Freaky Friday.” The Romantics’ version of the song appears in the “Shrek 2” film. Hallmark released the song as part of a musical card series last year and it has become the company’s third best-selling musical card.
As for TV commercials, the song first hit in the mid ’80s for a Budweiser campaign. Since then it has become the theme song for the Los Angeles Dodgers and has been used in several commercials and promotions, including Barbie and T.G.I. Fridays.
But that’s all business, and what Palmer is looking forward to is coming north and rocking out the crowd in Traverse City.
“I have friends in Traverse City, so I visit every so often,” said Palmer. “But we have really been busy as of late and I haven’t been up in a few years. We are really looking forward to it. The deal is though, we can’t stay and enjoy ourselves – we have to get back in the studio. So we will enjoy our time there on stage.”
The boys from Detroit have hung up their famous red leather suits, but not melodic sounds.  The Romantics still got it. They never lost it.
The National Cherry Festival still remains the best entertainment deal in Northern Michigan. A $5 Cherry Festival pin gets you into the Bayside Entertainment stage area all week for a solid line up of bands. For additional information on the Romantics check out romanticsdetroit.com and to learn more about the Cherry Festival visit www.cherryfestival.org.