Audio Autopsy, 1979: The Creative Birth of Hit-Songwriter, Desmond Child, on Capitol Records
🌈Livin' on a Flair: The "male Diane Warren" has given hard rock a desperately-needed melodic sheen, which has resulted in re-shaped careers, while mercifully re-tooling a dull, ponderous genre.🎶
John Charles Barrett was born in Florida in 1953. Known professionally as singer/songwriter/producer, Desmond Child, he was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2008, and has been nominated for 4 Grammys, a Primetime Emmy, and has won a Latin Grammy Award.
I’ve had over 70 Top 40 hits, and my songs have sold over 300 million records. At one point, I had 5 songs in the Top 20.—Desmond Child
His hits as a songwriter (and co-writer) read like a hard rock weekend playlist, or the core of SiriusXM’s heavy rotation tracks on Hair Nation: Kiss’ “I Was Made for Lovin’ You”; Joan Jett & the Blackhearts’ “I Hate Myself for Loving You”; Bon Jovi’s “You Give Love a Bad Name”, “Livin’ on a Prayer”, and “Bad Medicine”; Aerosmith’s “Dude (Looks Like a Lady)”, “Angel”, and “Crazy”; Cher’s “We All Sleep Alone” and “Just Like Jesse James”; Alice Cooper’s “Poison,” and Ricky Martin’s “Livin’ la Vida Loca.”
Desmond’s Parallel Conflicts: Artistic and Personal
In the late-‘70s, during the 2-album Desmond Child & Rouge tenure on Capitol Records, Desmond was dating fellow Rouge member, Maria Vidal (always seen to Desmond’s right in photos and on stage).
At the same time, he was composing music that seemed to be tickling the edges of hard rock, while the girls, their producer (Richard Landis, Capitol’s East Coast Director, Talent Acquisition), and Capitol were all working overtime to fashion records with a hard pop, if not daringly full-on disco sheen to their output. Celebrated composer/conductor/producer, Charlie Calello, was their pistol-packin’ lone arranger.
While Desmond was working through his hard rock proclivities (that would eventually prove to be both lucrative and emotionally satisfying for decades), he was also grappling with just where, precisely, to direct his love, affections, and emotions…men or women.
He even wrote at least one song (and I’m asserting two) reflecting those feelings. He and Rouge recorded it, but let’s take things chronologically:
Before the Hits, 1977-1980: Desmond Child & Rouge
Maria Vidal and Desmond met in Florida, moved to New York City, and met Myriam Valle, before adding Diana Grasselli, and forming the 4-piece vocal group in 1977.
The foursome were becoming the talk of the town in ‘77 and ‘78. They found themselves performing at all the hip midtown hotspots, eventually booking themselves in rooms like the legendary punk club, CBGB, and The Lower Manhattan Ocean Club.
Paul Shaffer, as a member of the SNL house band, brought fellow cast member, Gilda Radner, who asked Rouge to be in her Broadway show, Gilda Radner: Live From New York, which was produced and directed by SNL producer, Lorne Michaels. The sold-out show premiered at the Winter Garden Theater in 1979, and was made into a Gilda Live film and released to theatres the following year:
They also played the hottest new rock club in town, TRAX. It was there where they ran into Paul Stanley of KISS, who then started co-writing with Desmond. Paul wanted a new KISS song, but Desmond insisted he collab, also, on a song he and Rouge could record! KISS had just dropped their sixth album, Love Gun, in mid-’77. No Child/Stanley co-writes emerged on Love Gun, but one song was recorded for the Rouge debut, as they had just signed with Capitol in 1978.
Desmond and the girls recorded “The Fight,” a rather innocuous rocker which closed out Side One. It was written by Child, Paul Stanley, and session guitarist, David Landau, the younger brother of noted rock critic, record producer, and Bruce Springsteen’s former manager, Jon Landau, about whom more can be read here:
If you were in the biz in 1978/79, this would be about the time you’d have seen the following promotional video, introduced by longtime producer/publisher, Don Kirshner, who had already enjoyed broad syndicated-TV success with his Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert, which spanned across most of the decade of the ‘70s.
This 6-minute video (produced a couple years before the advent of MTV in August ‘81) may have been produced by Capitol to introduce the band to retailers, radio, and at what used to be NARM conventions, most of whom employed video players of some sort for this very purpose. Featuring video clips and photos from that time, you’ll hear commentary from Desmond, the Rouge members, and Paul Stanley:
A Tony Orlando & Dawn For the ‘80s?
Capitol had committed a large pile of capital to promote DC & Rouge: For what ended up being just two albums, the group was afforded the rare custom record labels for both (a boutique perk usually reserved for veteran superstars with an established track-record of substantial sales), as Capitol eschewed the custom silver-on-purple label of the day. For recording “rookies,” this was a shockingly rare occurrence:
The self-titled Desmond Child & Rouge debut features the Billboard Top 40 hit, “Our Love Is Insane” (written by Child), which launched a national tour, with the group playing every major city in North America.
First, the 5:20 original album version (the single release was a 3:40 edit, the one used in the “official music video” just below; remember, this is some 2 years before the advent of MTV; in fact, there’s a warning label: “Keep giggles to a minimum”)😊.
Below that (the red link) is a just-under-5:00 remix, while the YT link below that is the official 1979 Capitol 12” disco single with a John Luongo mix:
Wildly Unique Combo or Schizophrenic Turn-Off?
While the album’s first single, “Our Love is Insane,” was the album’s second track, the first thing we heard from Desmond Child & Rouge was the lead track’s persistent and resounding drums…the kind usually heard from a Native American drum circle…Child’s “Westside Pow Wow”:
The subtle wink (in 1979), then, implied that you were in for a drum-forward disco throwdown. Nope. The pumped-up barre chords that followed is what AM radio, most likely, wanted to forever keep at arm’s length. And, this was nowhere close to standard Fleetwood Mac/Steve Miller FM fare, either! Radio silence = little to no sales.
Shortly following, though, was Desmond’s first-verse name-check of a hitmaking dancefloor favorite: “Put The Spinners’ Greatest Hits on the 8-track, gonna bring the children out.” Club-goers may have appreciated the seemingly beat-friendly rhythm (and the “mighty love” of The Spinners), but they didn’t know quite what to make of “disco divas” not named Summer or Ross, or *ouch*, those guitars!
Meanwhile, Desmond’s Dropping Lyrical Hints
Side Two on the debut started off with Child’s “Main Man,” and however much he may have wanted to sing it, he handed the lead vocal chores to his girlfriend, Maria:
While “Main Man” carries the sonic power-ballad/psychic silent scream Desmond hoped would be heard and accepted by many, it’s simultaneously laying the structural groundwork for what would become the hitmaking blueprint for male and female recording artists for decades to come.
See and hear Aerosmith’s “Angel” YouTube video by clicking here: Co-written by lead singer, Steven Tyler, and Child, it’s one of 3 Child co-writes on Aerosmith’s 1987 Permanent Vacation album, and offers itself, ostensibly, as the artistic, fraternal-twin to “Main Man.”
Cue Cher, and her belting of a song that’s so in her wheelhouse. “Angel” (sung by a man) and “Main Man” (sung by a legend) were both born in 1987:
“The Truth Comes Out”…So Does Desmond
Today, I’ve got to say what’s on my mind…
The Desmond Child & Rouge follow-up, Runners in the Night, emerged just six months after the group’s debut, and culminated in a musical guest appearance on Saturday Night Live. “The Truth Comes Out” needed to be the first track, and Desmond needed to be the one to sing it. Similar attack, as you might guess: Big drums & barre chords:
Desmond was the sole composer of every song on the album…except one: His former girlfriend, Maria Vidal, helped him write the timely “Goodbye Baby,” again with Landis producing, with Desmond listed as “associate producer” (taking more ownership, and, this time it was official):
Ooh, baby, no more tricks up your sleeve
You’re out of options, nothin’ left to believe
So go on, do the things you wanted to do
You’re through hurtin’ ‘cause I’m through with you—Child, Vidal
Video (click on this sentence) on Maria’s Facebook fan site: DC&R perform “Goodbye Baby” on SNL in 1979, with Maria singing the first verse approaching Desmond, as if singing directly to him; G.E. Smith is on guitar, with John Siegler (Todd Rundgren’s Utopia) on bass.
And, The Hits Just Kept on Comin’ (and here’s the list)
It wasn’t the first, but it was close, in 1986: Child penning 4 songs with and for Jon Bon Jovi, including “Livin’ On a Prayer.” Here’s Desmond’s demo, followed by a special “Story Behind the Song” with Child, himself, and a medley/mash-up of his hits by the original artists:
Child lives in Nashville, Tennessee with his husband, Curtis Shaw, and their twin sons. Child and Shaw’s struggle to have a baby via surrogacy is recounted in the documentary, Two: The Story of Roman & Nyro.
I'd heard his name but did not know his story. What an incredible list of hits he's written.
Very interesting to hear his demo as well. It's always interesting to see how a songwriter can have one conception of a song and the artist or band can hear a different possibility in it.
Steven Tyler apparently said Dude (Looks like a Lady) was about Vince Neil of Motley Crue looking like a lady from the back. Fun times in 80s rock!
Thanks for this Brad! A fantastic retrospective on a songwriter and singer I’d never heard of before!