Stabilizers

The Stabilizers
Origin	Erie, Pennsylvania, United States
Genres	Pop
Years active	1981–1984, as Prophecy (precursor band) 1985-1991, as The Stabilizers
Labels	Columbia Records
Members	Dave Christenson Rich Nevens
Past members	Dan Haight John Schaaf George Hazuda Jim Nordstrom Paul Sullivan

The Stabilizers were an American pop/rock band from Erie, Pennsylvania, founded in the mid-1980s by musicians Dave Christenson (lead vocals), England-born Rich Nevens (guitars and occasional keyboards), and Dan Haight (drums). Arising out of the ashes of the early 1980s band, Prophecy, the band experienced moderate national success upon the release of their lone full-length album. They are perhaps best remembered for their minor 1986/87 single, "One Simple Thing."

In the early 1980s, Christenson was the bassist/singer in the local Erie band, Prophecy, which also included keyboardist John Schaaf, who later joined The Stabilizers. Prophecy toured across Pennsylvania, Ohio, and New York, scoring a local hit with "Another American Rock 'N Roll Story" and generating mild record company interest in the process. However, the band, unable to secure a major label record deal, would not survive the mid-1980s, playing their final show in 1984; Christenson connected with Nevens later that year to form The Stabilizers with other members, including Schaaf on keyboards and saxophone, and Haight on drums. After continuing to tour the Pennsylvania area and recording original compositions on a 4-track recorder, they were signed to Columbia Records in 1985, releasing Tyranny, their first and only album, the following year. By this time, only Christenson and Nevens remained in the official band lineup, with Haight, Schaaf, and other previous bandmembers not appearing on the recording.

The guitar and synth-laced album followed in the style of other 1980s bands such as a-ha, Duran Duran, Tears for Fears and Mr. Mister. The first single from Tyranny was "One Simple Thing," which peaked at number 21 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart in 1986 and number 93 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1987, helped by the band's performance of the song on American Bandstand. Two music videos were released to promote the album: "One Simple Thing", which was directed by David Fincher - who would go on to greater success directing the feature films Alien 3, Se7en and Fight Club - and "Tyranny", directed by David Hogan.

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