The music business has always fascinated me — especially the process of record promotion. When a new album in the ’60s through the ’80s was released, someone at the record label got to listen to it and decide which songs would be released as singles, in what order, and what went to the B-side or remained an album track. They had to not only judge their artists’ songs against what’s currently on the charts, but to predict what will be selling six months or a year from now.
For example, in late 1982 someone listened to Thriller and thought: “Let’s go with the big celebrity duet first to grab the public’s attention, even though the fascinatingly paranoid dance track is the best thing on the album.” When the dance track succeeded beyond everyone’s projections, someone said, “Why don’t we release the R&B-rock fusion track with the guest guitarist while the other is still on the charts” – and the rest became music history.
What a cool job that must have been! And how irritating that might have been in some cases for artists. Case in point: Someone at Full Moon Records listened to “I Stand Up” from 1988’s Chicago 19, heard a track that recalled ’70s-era Chicago, and relegated it to the B-side of “I Don’t Wanna Live Without Your Love” rather than picking it as a single.
I think someone made a mistake. “I Stand Up” sounds like classic Chicago. Written and sung by Robert Lamm, in one of his earliest collaborations with Gerard McMahon, the song hints at recent personal issues along with a general call to stand up for what you believe in. This up-tempo song includes lines that sound like real horns and a well-done guitar solo (possibly by Dawayne Bailey).
The artificial drum beats are all that prevent “I Stand Up” from fitting right into 1972’s Chicago V or 1974’s Chicago VII. Hitting hard on the 2 and the 4, with little variance on the other beats, it sounds like what Phil Collins was doing at the time. It doesn’t sound like Danny Seraphine, who was on his last album with the band.
Maybe putting this on the B-side wasn’t a mistake in the record company’s opinion. Chicago in 1988 meant overdone ballads, usually about lost love, with minimal horns. The A-side of the single went to No. 3 – but does anyone hear “I Don’t Wanna Live Without Your Love” today and think it’s peak Chicago? I’ll stand up for “I Stand Up” any day.
