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Brad Gillis said the series of ballads released by Night Ranger<\/a> in the \u201880s were responsible for killing the band.<\/p>\n The guitarist \u2013 who co-founded Night Ranger\u00a0in 1982 \u2013 blamed his record label for their choice of singles which, he said, created a public misconception of what they were about.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t consider us a metal band,\u201d Gillis told BraveWords<\/a> in a new interview. \u201cI consider us as a hard rock band. Of course, we got put in this pigeon hole with all the ballads that MCA wanted when we signed with them \u2013 \u2018Sister Christian,\u2019 then they put out \u2018Sentimental Street\u2019 and \u2018Goodbye\u2019 and all these ballads.\u201d<\/p>\n READ MORE:\u00a0<\/strong>Top 10 Night Ranger Songs<\/a><\/p>\n Agreeing that the success of those songs were both a blessing and a curse, Gillis continued: \u201cIt kind of killed us. And that\u2019s too bad, because they could\u2019ve come out with a lot of heavier rockers and we could have had a different whole perspective on our career.\u201d<\/p>\n In a separate interview<\/a> in July, drummer Kelly Keagy reflected on the pros and cons of \u201cSister Christian,\u201d which reached No. 5 in 1984.<\/p>\n \u201cThe record company gives you a large amount of money to make a record and so their goal is to sell records,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd we’re back here to going, \u2018Yeah, but we got to go out and play. We can’t do four ballads in the set.’\u201d<\/p>\n After that track\u2019s success, he added, the label only cared about finding another \u201cSister Christian,\u201d which severely limited the band\u2019s room for creativity. As the drummer described it, Night Ranger \u201cdidn’t have a safe zone anymore\u201d as the label pushed for similar songs to follow it.<\/p>\n The band, who are poised to release their Best Of<\/em> collection, are currently on tour<\/a>.<\/p>\n Music in the ’80s is typically associated with the neon-tinged synthpop of MTV’s early era, but there was much more to this wildly varied decade.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Gallery Credit: Nick DeRiso<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nWhen Night Ranger Lost Their \u2018Safe Zone\u2019<\/h3>\n
Rock’s 100 Best ’80s Albums<\/h2>\n