在80年代的热门歌坛，「REO快速马车」（REO Speedwagon）可以说是最受欢迎的摇滚合唱团之一，但是您也许很难想象，他们从1971年开始推出唱片，平均每年一张专辑，尽管都能够有六位数字的销量，却始终不上不下，甚至还有很多人根本不知道他们是谁，直到成军十二年之后的第十一张专辑，才开始咸鱼翻身。 由凯文克朗宁（Kevin Cronin）领军的这支摇滚五人团体，1968年成立于伊利诺州。很多人第一次看到他们的团名，都搞不懂「REO」到底是什么意思。原来他们的团名是来自一辆1911年出厂的消防车，而消防车的设计人名叫Ransom Eli Olds，「REO」就是这个人名字的缩写。 根据担任主唱、并且负责谱写大部分歌曲的克朗宁表示，他们成立之初纯粹只是喜爱摇滚乐，竟然根本不知道「Billboard」是什么东西呢！而正如许多60年代末期来自美国中西部的乐队，他们为了求生存，简直是卖了命一般的到处去表演，几乎跑遍了中西部每一个小镇、每一家小酒吧，甚至还跑遍了每一所高中，只要有人肯听他们唱，他们就去演出，希望能够获得注意。 他们的努力，终于逐渐有了成果，哥伦比亚唱片旗下的Epic厂牌在1971年把他们网罗下来，连续五年，每年推出一张专辑，虽然都能够卖出几十万张，但是在Billboard的专辑榜上最高也只拿到74名，而乐评界对他们也不是很友善。他们没有风格突出的主唱者，更没有任何让人特别印象深刻的作品，甚至还有人形容他们是「美国流行音乐史上最不成功、但是却最长寿的团体之一」。因此，他们仍然只能继续的替别人的演唱会暖场，来等待机会。 1973年，在录制完第二张专辑之后，克朗宁由于和团员们意见不合而决定退出，展开个人生涯，因为他希望乐团改走比较软性的乡村摇滚路线，可是同样也负责作曲的吉他手瑞奇拉斯却坚持要更加的摇滚。分手之后，由于双方的成绩都不理想，克朗宁又重新归队，并且随即以一张演唱会实况录音的专辑获得了白金唱片。这个时候的他们，已经厘清了创作理念上的分歧，开始尝试新的风格。他们发现，即使是抒情的歌谣曲，仍然可以用充满活力的方式来表现，尽管不一定是快节奏而喧闹，还是可以展现充沛的能量。而1980年所发表的「高度不传真」（Hi-Infidelity）专辑，就是他们多年摸索与尝试的结晶。 by Greg PratoThree bands were the undisputed arena rock kings of the early 80s — Styx, Journey, and REO Speedwagon — yet all werent overnight success stories (in fact, each group began pursuing different musical styles originally — prog rock, fusion, and straight-ahead hard rock, respectively, before transforming slowly into chart-topping mainstream rockers). REO Speedwagon first formed in 1968, via a pair of University of Illinois students, keyboardist Neal Doughty and drummer Alan Gratzer. After graduation, the group signed on with then-unknown manager Irving Azoff (who would later guide the careers of such multi-platinum acts as the Eagles and Steely Dan), which led to the outfit building a devoted following in the Midwest due to nonstop touring. By the early 70s, Doughty and Gratzer had welcomed aboard guitarist Gary Richrath, who would soon prove to be the groups sparkplug (and one of rocks more underrated players), in addition to bassist Gregg Philbin and singer Terry Luttrell. It was this lineup to be featured on the quintets 1971 self-titled debut recording for Epic Records. The debut failed to break REO through to the mainstream, as the bands future was thrust into uncertainty shortly thereafter, when Luttrell left the band. Newcomer Kevin Cronin got the gig, he was a folksinger/guitarist beforehand, with little to no experience fronting a loud rock & roll outfit. The Cronin-led lineup appeared to be headed in the right direction though, judging from 1972s R.E.O. 2, but the other members grew impatient with their slow progress toward a commercial breakthrough, and gave Cronin his walking papers. Up next as REOs frontman was Mike Murphy, whose debut with the band, 1974s Ridin the Storm Out, was their first album to chart on Billboard and spawned a concert standard with the rocking title track. Murphy stayed onboard for a couple of more releases — 1974s Lost in a Dream and 1975s This Time We Mean It — but neither managed to push REO to the next level.Once more, a frontman change was required, and instead of searching for a fresh new face, REO welcomed back Cronin. The move paid off almost immediately, as REO found their niche by streamlining their sound and focusing on melodic rockers aimed at radio, as well as power ballads aimed at teenage girls hearts. 1976s R.E.O. signaled the beginning of the veteran groups winning streak, as both 1977s Live: You Get What You Play For and 1978s You Can Tune a Piano, But You Cant Tuna Fish were REOs first to earn gold and platinum certification. Another live album, Live Again, was also issued in 1978, followed up a year later by another gold-certified hit, Nine Lives. Although REO was slowly inching their way to big-time success, no one (not even the band) could have predicted the massive hit that their next album turned out to be, Hi Infidelity. Issued at the tail end of 1980, it became one of 1981s biggest albums — spawning one of the best-known power ballads of all time, Keep on Loving You, as well as such popular rock radio hits as Dont Let Him Go and Take It on the Run. Hi Infidelity would eventually go on to sell more than nine million copies — catapulting REO to arena-headlining status. REO Speedwagon continued to score further hit albums (1982s Good Trouble, 1984s Wheels Are Turnin) and singles (Keep the Fire Burnin, the number one hit power ballad Cant Fight This Feeling, etc.), but the hits dried up shortly thereafter. 1987s Life as We Know It managed to go gold, but their fans sudden disinterest coupled with turmoil between certain bandmembers led to the exit of both Richrath and Gratzer by the end of the decade. REO opted to soldier on, however, with replacement members Dave Amato (ex-Ted Nugent, guitar) and Bryan Hitt (ex-Wang Chung, drums) in tow, as their 14-track 1988 compilation The Hits proved to be a steady seller over the years. Further underappreciated studio releases followed, such as 1990s The Earth, a Small Man, His Dog and a Chicken and 1996s Building the Bridge. With interest at an all-time low, REO was set to pack it up for good, until a sudden wave of renewed interest in classic rock bands of yesteryear began to sweep the U.S. during the late 90s, resulting in REO launching successful co-headlining tours alongside such acts as Styx, Fleetwood Mac, Pat Benatar, Foreigner, Peter Frampton, Journey, Lynyrd Skynyrd, and Bad Company, among others.The 90s saw the emergence of countless REO compilations, including such titles as The Second Decade of Rock n Roll: 1981 to 1991, Only the Strong Survive, The Ballads, and a specially priced three-disc set of Live: You Get What You Play For, You Can Tune a Piano, But You Cant Tuna Fish, and Hi Infidelity. Additionally, further in-concert releases cropped up — Live: Plus, Extended Versions, and a 2001 live set, Arch Allies: Live at Riverport, split 50/50 between REO and touring mates Styx. In a 2001 episode of VH1s Behind the Music series that focused on REO Speedwagon, Cronin and Richrath cleared up any misconceptions of ill will existing between either camp and voiced approval of a possible reunion in the future. When REO returned to the studio later in the 2000s, however, it was without Richrath. Find Your Own Way Home, the bands first studio album of new songs in more than ten years, featured Cronin along with founding member Neal Doughty on keyboards, longtime bassist Bruce Hall, and 80s additions Amato and Hitt.