Way Back Whens-day: 1981 REO Speedwagon Dominates Charts With Hi Infidelity

In February of 1981,  REO Speedwagon went on a 15-week run at the top of the billboard albums chart with their album “Hi Infidelity”  and became the number one selling album of 1981.  Hi Infidelity would also go on to be certified 10 times platinum selling.

The album title is a play on the term “in high fidelity.”  The album art is an illustration of this pun where an act of sexual infidelity is apparently occurring while the man is putting a record on the stereo.

From the album, six songs made it into the Billboard charts, including “Keep On Loving You” which was the band’s first Number 1 hit!  Some of the other songs that didn’t quite make it to number one but still had a good run included “Take It on the Run” “Tough Guys” “Out of Season”, “In Your Letter”, and “Don’t Let Him Go”.

A fun Fact about this album, the song “Tough Guys” was one of two songs from the album that charted in the billboard charts, even though it had not been released as a single.  There were critics that had enjoyed this track and said that it was their favorite song on the album,  but with a particular line “They think they’re full of fire/She thinks they’re full of shit” that it would prevent the song from reaching the pop Top 40.

If you haven’t ever listened to this album or its just been a minute since you have, I highly suggest giving it a listen.