Integrity: overrated?
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Anvil‘s comeback has been heartwarming. After a well-received documentary (reviewed here) — which unintentionally doubled as a massive promotional campaign — the band’s latest album, This is Thirteen, will get a proper label release (September 15, on VH1 Classic). Anvil will also open in US stadiums for AC/DC, whose Highway to Hell turns 30 today.
In a press release about these successes, one paragraph stood out:
“This is Thirteen is more like our first three albums,” says Lips [Kudlow, singer/guitarist], “which represent our real identity. For many of our albums, we went on an ‘integrity hunt’ instead of on a ‘commercial/radio hunt,’ so we became extremely inaccessible to radio. This time, we stepped back and said, ‘What were we originally?’ And we rediscovered ourselves, I suppose.” [Robb, drummer] Reiner adds, “There are three tracks that in my opinion, are definitely 100% AOR/hard rock/commercial radio tracks — ‘American Refugee,’ ‘Flying Blind,’ and ‘Feed the Greed.’ Catchy melodies, incredible drum feels — they just all rock.”
So the band lost integrity by searching for it. Ballsy for it to say that its heart lies in the commercial realm. AOR? As in Foreigner and Journey? Then again, Anvil comes from a time when hard rock and heavy metal got more radio play. KISS, AC/DC, Van Halen, and Judas Priest weren’t far removed musically, and sometimes toured together. Many hold up Anvil’s first three records as true metal. The band considers them pop. Who’s right?
