The first studio LP of Bob Seger with the Silver Bullet Band, Night Moves released on Oct. 22, 1976. An album filled with emotions and the hangover from the summer of the 70′.
During its release, the album became the soundtrack of the season, and one again, any seasons. Seger knew what would happen, as he said as much on the title track when he sings, “Ain’t it funny how the night moves / When you just don’t seem to have as much to lose / Strange how the night moves / With autumn closing in.”
Bob Seger turned 30 when during the songwriting and recording of Night Moves, he spent his entire musical journey with struggles and fallback. At 30, he was the Midwestern legend doing live shows and releasing singles, but a national break kept dodging him. However, Night Moves came to being, and everything for Seger changed. It went on to go six times platinum, and even beat Bruce Springsteen, Born To Run, selling more copies. The album that put Seger on the path of international success.
The British Encyclopedia of Rock billed him as “one of the great lost figures of rock ‘n’ roll’” in early 1977 because he was 31, and that he “has always seemed destined to miss out on the big time.”
“Well, it turns out that Seger has the last laugh,” Larry Rohter wrote in the Washington Post on Aug. 7, 1977. “As a result of Night Moves, he has suddenly become one of the hottest attractions in pop music. Virtually every song on Night Moves has a hunger, toughness and drive that is almost palpable, and in the lyrics Seger has written for the powerful surging melodies can be found a continuing fascination with the underdog, the loser and the oppressed.”
Despite being called a poor man’s Bruce Springsteen, Seger had the final laughs and no matter how old he was, he did everything to achieve his success in his own terms.