Air Supply: Administering to the Lovesick

Ruffa Aquino

December 9, 2011

English 1A

Paper #3

 

 

Air Supply: Administering to the Lovesick

 

The cavernous City National Grove of Anaheim was dark and buzzing with murmurs of anticipation on October 15 when two men dressed in black sauntered onstage, their manes of white hair glowing in the spotlights. The crowd erupted into wild applause, cheers, and chants of “I love you!” as singer Russell Hitchcock and songwriter Graham Russell, leaders of the 1980s-era band Air Supply, stood waving and soaking in the adulation. The connection between these two musicians and their audience was instant, palpable and deeply personal, and for good reason: The room was packed with people whose once-broken hearts had found solace in the passionate rock ballads that sent Air Supply to the top of the music charts in the early ‘80s.

For the next two hours, Hitchcock and Russell once again soothed those hearts with such erstwhile hits as “All Out of Love,” “Lost in Love,” “The One That You Love,” “Every Woman In the World,” and “Making Love Out of Nothing At All” – an impressive lineup of songs that individually and collectively provided the background music to innumerable stories of love gained and lost throughout the ‘80s. Tears flowed as audience members were transported back to a more-innocent time, when many of them suffered the crushing pain of unrequited love. Now graying and slightly wrinkled, their faces were etched with the memories – and yes, the lingering pain – of romances long gone but never forgotten.

Air Supply: The name of the band itself conjures up images of a love-starved victim gasping for air and finally receiving live-saving relief. In musical terms, that is exactly what the band supplied to millions of the world’s heartsick and lovelorn since rocketing to stardom in 1980. The group’s songs were more than just catchy melodies. Powered by Russell’s searing lyrics and Hitchcock’s mellifluous voice, the songs picked up where the Bee Gees and the group Bread had left off in the 1970s, using harmonized romantic ballads to express the yearnings of all human beings afflicted by love. 

Throughout the 1980s, Air Supply’s records set many records. Their first six singles – “All Out of Love,” “Here I Am,” “Lost in Love,” “The One That You Love,” “Making Love Out of Nothing At All,” and “Sweet Dreams” – all went to the top five, a feat equaled only by the Beatles and Madonna. Five of those songs each received multi-million plays on the radio. The albums “Lost in Love,” “The One That You Love,” “Now & Forever,” and “The Greatest Hits” went multiplatinum, selling more than 20 million copies. Air Supply was crowned “Best Pop Rock Group of 1981” by the American Music Awards, and selected as the most successful pop group of the 1980s by Billboard Magazine. In addition to England, Australia and the United States, the band toured to sellout crowds throughout Asia and South America. In certain countries, such as The Philippines, Air Supply’s hits from the ‘80s are still played on the radio as often as new releases are in the United States.

At a time when many British and Australian bands were seeking to match the success of such British superstars as the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, Air Supply rose above the pack in 1980 when its album “Lost In Love,” first recorded two years earlier in Australia, caught the attention of the legendary Clive Davis, the American music producer credited with discovering such rock superstars as Bruce Springsteen, Whitney Houston, Billy Joel, and the bands Santana and Chicago. Davis bought the rights to “Lost in Love” for his Arista Records and turned it into the fastest selling single in the world, followed by the smash hit “All Out of Love,” which rocketed to No. 1 in even less time. 

Davis’ role in making Air Supply a worldwide success cannot be overstated. In a 2010 interview with Dan MacIntosh of Songfacts, songwriter Graham Russell recalled that Davis even advised the band on how to reword its lyrics to appeal to a wider audience. For example, when “All Out of Love” first became a hit in Australia, the song’s chorus began: “I’m all out of love, I want to arrest you.” In Australian parlance, the words meant “I want to get your attention,” but as Davis explained to Russell, they had an altogether different meaning in the United States. “Clive heard it, he says, ‘Oh, no, that’s too weird.’ He said, ‘In America they won’t understand that.’”  Davis suggested that Russell change the words to “I’m all out of love, I’m so lost without you.”  Russell recalls his reaction:

I thought, “Yeah, that sounds great.” I mean, at first I thought, “Oh, I don't know if I want to change it.” But Clive said, “It’s a great song and it could be a massive hit, but you just need to change a couple of lines.” It was that line, and there was another line: “I know you were right.” “I’m all out of love, I’m so lost without you, I know you were right.” But funnily enough, we’ll never know if it would have worked the other way. And I doubt it, to be honest. Because Clive is usually right. . . .  [H]ad I not changed it, it maybe wouldn’t have been the colossal landmark hit that it was. (Songfacts)

 

Apart from Davis’ expert guidance, what set Air Supply apart from other bands of its time was the raw, powerful simplicity of its music. Hitchcock and Russell did without the fancy acoustics and instrumentation on which so many other groups of that era relied. Instead, they became known for lyrics that rhymed with elementary-school simplicity, crisp tempos and intense crescendos, and the breathless, almost pleading quality to Hitchcock’s voice. For example, in “Every Woman In the World,” the rhymes never got any more complicated than this: Girl you’re ev’ry woman in the world to me / You’re my fantasy, you’re my reality / Girl you’re ev’ry woman in the world to me / You’re ev’rything I need / You’re ev’rything to me … (Dominic King and Frank Musker)

It was a language anyone could understand. Similarly, “All Out of Love,” which reached No. 2 in the United States and ranks 92^ndon music channel VH-1’s list of greatest love songs of all time, used everyday images to stir listeners’ emotions without the need for complex metaphors or poetic finesse. Again, the magic was in the simplicity of the words and images: I’m lying alone with my head on the phone / Thinking of you till it hurts / I know you hurt too but what else can we do / Tormented and torn apart … (Clive Davis and Graham Russell) A heartbroken lover waiting anxiously by the phone, hoping against hope that the object of his (or her) longing will call: It’s a scene that just about everyone who has loved and lost can relate to. With these simple lyrics as its foundation, the song embarks on a dramatic crescendo that culminates with a final high note that Hitchcock holds for a full 20 seconds – a feat hailed by Top-40 host Casey Kasem as an all-time record.

            For all its success, Air Supply has had its share of detractors over the years, many of them music critics and self-styled rock connoisseurs who practically hold their noses at what they consider the band’s syrupy, pandering, overly theatrical songs. A critic for The New York Times once described the band as “among the most successful groups to manufacture pop music that is the esthetic equivalent of cheap candy.” (Holden) Others have panned the group for its “silly love songs,” its “sugar-coated,” “too sweet” and “milquetoast” lyrics, its “gratingly sweet, squeaky-clean vocals,” and its “saccharine ballad-dominated work.” (Bsalming) Even the music channel VH-1, an early booster of Air Supply’s music, came under fire for its promotion of “lite radio.” In response, the channel played fewer videos from “light-rock” artists and tried to acquire a tougher edge, which meant less airtime and exposure for Air Supply and contributed to the group’s decline in the United States in the late 1980s.

Although no longer at the top of the charts, Air Supply remains a fixture in the hearts and CD collections of millions of music fans in the United States and around the world, still playing to sellout crowds in small and mid-size venues like the City National Grove of Anaheim. Hitchcock and Russell refuse to be dismissed as just another washed-up act living off a dying fan base. They released several albums in the 1990s and early 2000s and made a few attempts to reinvent themselves along the way, with mixed results. They have since returned to their roots, as demonstrated by the unabashed trip down memory lane on which they took the grateful, enraptured audience on Saturday night.

During brief remarks delivered from the stage at the outset of Saturday’s concert, Hitchcock noted that Air Supply had “been around for a very, very long time,” and many fans roared their knowing approval. It’s likely that Air Supply will be around for much longer because its music speaks a timeless language that people everywhere can understand. As long as lovers fall out of love, hearts are broken, and people seek solace in music, Air Supply will lend them a shoulder to cry on.

Works Cited

 

Air Supply. “Every Woman in the World.”  Lost in Love.  Arista. 1980.

Air Supply. “All Out of Love.”  Lost in Love.  Arista. 1980.

Bsalming, “The Story of Air Supply: The First Thirty-Five.”  Airsupplyhistory.blogspot.com.  Blog, 27 July 2010.  Web. 16 Oct. 2011.

Russell, Graham.  Interviewed by Dan MacIntosh.  Songfacts.com. Songfacts, 29 Apr. 2010.  Web.  4 Dec. 2011. 

Holden, Stephen.  “Pop Septet: Air Supply at Radio City.”  NYTimes.com.  New York Times, 10 Sept. 1983.  Web.  16 Oct. 2011.

Lorentz, Paul.  “Forbidden Discographies: Air Supply in the 1990s – The Giant Years.”  Sonicclash.com.  Sonic Clash, undated.  Web.  16 Oct. 2011.