Against the Wind | ||||
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Studio album by Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band | ||||
Released | February 25, 1980 | |||
Recorded | 1979 | |||
Genre | Rock | |||
Length | 40:24 | |||
Label | Capitol | |||
Producer | Bob Seger, Punch Andrews, Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section, Bill Szymczyk | |||
Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band chronology | ||||
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Singles from Against the Wind | ||||
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Professional ratings | |
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Review scores | |
Source | Rating |
Allmusic | |
The Boston Phoenix | Unfavorable |
Robert Christgau | C+ |
Los Angeles Times | Favorable |
The New York Times | Favorable |
Rolling Stone | Unfavorable |
Smash Hits | 5/10 |
Against the Wind is the eleventh album by American rock singer Bob Seger and his fourth with the Silver Bullet Band. It was released in February 1980. It is Seger's only number-one album to date, spending six weeks at the top of the Billboard Top LPs chart, knocking Pink Floyd's The Wall from the top spot.
Against the Wind was an immediate commercial success, reaching No. 2 on the Billboard 200 album chart in its third week and remaining there for five weeks behind Pink Floyd's The Wall before reaching No. 1 and holding the top position for six weeks. By late 1981 the album sold 3.7 million copies in the United States and was certified 5x platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America in 2003.
Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band won the 1980 Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal for the album Against the Wind and Capitol Records art director Roy Kohara won the Grammy Award for Best Recording Package.
Rock critic Dave Marsh, writing for Rolling Stone, strongly criticized the album as a betrayal of Seger's longtime fans: "I'd like to say that this is not only the worst record Bob Seger has ever made, but an absolutely cowardly one as well" saying that Seger had crafted "failureproof songs that are utterly listenable and quite meaningless." Marsh had followed Seger since before Night Moves, when Seger finally gained national fame, and said in his review that Seger's long, tireless struggle to stardom is trivialized by this record. "He had to fight hard to prove there was still a place in rock & roll for a guy like him, and, with Night Moves, he won. This is the LP that makes such a victory meaningless ... It makes me sad, and it makes me angry (another emotion that's disappeared here, though it's often fueled Seger's finest work)."