HEAD EAST Never Been Any Reason | REACTION

[@yar9333]

Love this song. My violin teachers adult son had this record when I was 12 and let me borrow it so I could make a cassette dub of it. Still have the tape somewhere. I’m 59 now.

[@mark-be9mq]

Oh the cassette dubs. A one point most of my catalog was albums or songs recorded from the radio or others albums/cassettes.

[@Lightning61]

In my younger days, it was on most of the "dive bar" jukeboxes in Southern IL, and was played heavily. I had the vinyl and 8 track in my teens.

[@juliebrockett3471]

I probably haven’t heard this song in 30 yrs, but I knew every word! Glad no one could hear me singing… LOL! Be well and God bless… from Texas!!

[@KennethStCyr-dv6cm]

I work at Home Depot and this is a favorite on Home Depot radio. No one even knows who it is. I make sure to tell them.

[@randallreece3636]

John Schlitt can still sing this song. Great guy! Loved him in Petra.

[@aaronherbison7316]

John recorded it again recently you can see it on KZbin he's a seriously nice guy and what a vocalist. The stuff he's done with PETRA is immense

[@yoymama7]

He's won Grammys with Petra!!

[@toddstevens13]

Need to head to Head East Live, where you can enjoy Prelude To Creek, and Jefftown Creek, where they stretch.

[@ischmidt]

Head East was big enough in the Midwest with this song that they opened for Rush in the Farewell to Kings/Hemispheres time frame. I graduated high school just a few towns over from where this was recorded, and it still got some play on rock radio in the area 15 years later. The keyboard usage reminds me a lot of Farewell to Kings, but the guitar/bass/drums are much more basic (I also start singing AC/DC when that riff starts, it's unfair because this came first, but it is what it is). The vocal hook on this song is actually pretty spectacular, but aside from the keys and the perfect use of cowbell the rest of the song doesn't really live up to it.

[@mattjohn4731]

Glad to see some fellow midwesterner comments. Since Head East was not huge, they prompted several people from their region. Charleston, IL, was it? Also REO Speedwagon was from Urbana

[@ischmidt]

@@mattjohn4731 I don't know where they were "officially" from, but the band was mostly out of UIUC in Urbana and the record was recorded in Pekin, near Peoria. I went to high school in Dixon and we played Pekin regularly in football and basketball.

[@jimtatro6550]

“Save my life, I’m going down for the last time.” Great song from my childhood.

[@richierich398]

I guess I was fortunate growing up in Detroit to be able to hear all the songs being played on the radio. We had a few AOR stations in this market. Good stuff.

[@MysticPsion]

She was a fast machine. Though that came out 5 or 6 years after this

[@MysticPsion]

Also they have an eclectic catalogue with the original line up on the first 3 albums including this one, getting lucky and the self titled 3rd album. Truly diverse and interesting sounds from them. You should check out every little bit of my heart, sands of time, get up and enjoy yourself, dance away lover.

[@kennethmckinney2532]

This was played and played back in the day on classic rock stations. It's honestly one of those ones I used to turn up. Good pick Mike 👍

[@toddstevens13]

They can still bring in 10,000 or so the odd time in the Mid West, but yes they do do the County Fair circut, and Classic Rock Weekend 2-3 day concerts.

[@cobbycaputo3332]

Low key one of my favorite songs back in the day. It's not Yes, King Crimson, Rush, or Genesis so I should have hated it like everything else I hated as a 14 year old, but there is something about this song that just hit a chord in me. Maybe it's the totally on point use of cowbell? I like both the voices of both singers, and the keyboards have a little tiny bit of a Wakeman sound to them with the shifts between synths and organ.

[@mark-be9mq]

Definitely agree. Hundred percent

[@byronhubbard1510]

As a little kid in California in the seventies. I have definitely heard the tune before, it is not bad.

[@nicholassmith479]

I first heard them when my brother went to college in St. Louis and brought home a live tape of them. Good songs. Then about two or three years later our local radio station plastered their songs all over its airwaves. These songs were not new but they were to our area. I told my friends about how old these songs were. They were coming to town a few weeks later. Pay to play was and is a thing.

[@lindapryor3747]

Great song! Loved it for ages!

[@justineapril7922]

Being from Milwaukee, lots of rock groups like Head East, Styx, Kansas, Cheap Trick made the rounds. I first saw them in 1977 at the Riverside Theater when AC/DC opened!

[@mattjohn4731]

I'm from central IL. Styx, Cheap Trick and Head East are all IL bands

[@justineapril7922]

@@mattjohn4731 you forgot REO

[@flowerpower8125]

Love their song , “Since you’ve been gone “ too

[@garysteinert8040]

Just basic classic rock. Great stuff. It is all they have.

[@chriskangeter8993]

Great song...I grew up hearing this...

[@mattjohn4731]

State fairs in their glory days. County fairs in their golden years :P

[@MrDuneedon]

I love this song!

[@mattjohn4731]

I discovered this group in 1985 at the Illinois State Fair. They were the replacement for Meat Loaf opening for John Waite. Before Meat Loafs comeback. It was definitely not very modern in '85. In '86 the fair had INXS and I loved it. I turned 14 that year

[@donnelson6694]

Big AOR song when I was a kid. I loved it mostly for the cowbell.

[@mark-be9mq]

Australia appreciates the props.

[@mark-be9mq]

Justin looks at the long wiki article and immediately identifies "acid". 🤔🙉🙊🙈😅

[@danarchuleta1154]

Love the keys too; they make this song (along with the vocals and harmonies). "Women with the sweet lovin' better than a white line".....everytime! Now you're talkin' J. Music is subjective in some regards...but like anything else, there are varying degrees of receptive and expressive predispositions to music. Love what you said about Helter Skelter! When people give me the "Music is (purely) subjective " thing, I point out that "Mickey" by Toni Basil, was a Billboard #1!

[@cobbycaputo3332]

That song's a national treasure man!

[@danarchuleta1154]

@@cobbycaputo3332 🤣🤣

[@yoymama7]

Definitely a precursor to ACDC. Love this song even though I was born in 76😂

[@michaelcripe395]

Finer than a white line …😅😂

[@jeffking7112]

Always thought this was a cool song from my school days. One hit wonders! Lol.

[@christopherhuot2826]

Gr8 Ole Jam 😅

[@williamjones6031]

This was the last song played at a nightclub I used to go to. NEBRASKA😎

[@georgespragens7589]

They're called "one-hit wonders".

[@Shawnee845]

I remember the song,but never new the band. Or their name.

[@ZIG4ZAG20]

Cool cool it’s alright I liked it.

[@anthonyjd6097]

To be fair this was before AC/DC made a dent in fame

[@maryshine7979]

T was the 70’s. Sex, drugs and rock ‘n roll baby!

[@mark-be9mq]

Fleetwood Mac, too. I think.🤔

[@Earman54music]

The Ac/Dc comparison was interesting. I personally hear Grand Funk Railroad

[@yes_head]

Good grief that's an AC/DC riff, but yeah -- solidly in the midwest/Styx bucket. Too bad they weren't any more popular or who knows -- they might have made it onto a Guardians of the Galaxy movie.