14. Somebody's Out There
Album: The Sport of Kings (1986)
Writers: Rik Emmett, Mike Levine and Gil Moore
Lead vocals: Rik Emmett
Chart History: US Hot 100 #27, US Mainstream Rock #9, Canada #84
Video?: Yes
Lyrical category: Love/lust/breakup (with a touch of inspirational/hockey coach)
And here is where the histories of Triumph and Journey converge. "Somebody's Out There," the first single from The Sport of Kings, sounds very much like the kind of rockers that Journey was churning out in the mid-80s, and after heavy promotion from MCA, became the band's highest-charting song on the Billboard Hot 100, hitting #27, and spawning a video that was played relentlessly on MTV.
As I mentioned earlier, The Sport of Kings is by far the most commercial Triumph album and was the result of demands by the record label to go after the masses, not just the loyal fans and the FM radio crowd. The plans at one point even included making Rik Emmett the exclusive lead singer and focusing all the marketing on him, but that's where the band ended up drawing the line.
Despite the use of outside writers and synth-playing session musicians, most of the way through the recording, the suits at MCA still didn't think there was a surefire hit among the material, and asked the band to try to write one. Emmett came up with "Somebody's Out There" promptly; it was the last song recorded for the album.
The chords and synths in the song's intro are unmistakably mid-80s, but once Emmett starts singing, the song becomes very much of a piece with the more melodic tracks the band recorded between Just a Game (1979) and Thunder Seven (1984). The guitars soar, the chorus is catchy and memorable and Emmett's guitar solo is one of his most melodic.
As with most Sport of Kings songs, this one fits into the love/lust/breakup category, but it may be the most hopeful song the band ever wrote. The verses draw on the inspirational/hockey coach category as they encourage people to find it in themselves to pursue what they want, and the chorus assures them that love will arrive.
All the fear of the future
All the loneliness inside
When the moment of truth arrives, hey
You can run but you can't hide
Somebody's out there, somewhere
Waiting for someone to come their way
Somebody's out there, somewhere
I will somehow be somebody's someone
Some day
This is the first of five Triumph songs to have appeared in the Worldwide Countdown; simsarge ranked it #11.
Having crossed over to AM radio and made waves on MTV in the post-Thriller era, Triumph was poised for more mainstream success, but it was not to be. The choice for second single,
"Just One Night," was the band's one attempt at a power ballad, and it fell flat with both the masses and the diehard fans, despite being co-written by Journey's Neal Schon, of all people. But you gotta think, if it was any good, Schon would have kept it for Journey or one of his other projects.
Aside from some FM radio play for "Tears in the Rain" (#19 in this countdown), that was the end of Triumph as a major commercial force, as they refused to play the promotion game with the follow-up album Surveillance and then Emmett left the band.
"Somebody's Out There" was played live on the Sport of Kings and Surveillance tours, always in the second spot after "Tears in the Rain," just like on the album. Despite its legacy as Triumph's highest-charting U.S. single, it did not appear in any of their reunion shows, perhaps because Emmett to this day has bitter memories of the Sport of Kings album and the process of making it. (Though he has played it at some of his solo shows.)
Video (you can tell the band underwent an image makeover because Mike Levine is not wearing a hockey jersey):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XTR8WXFliRM
Live version from Detroit in 1986, broadcast on FM radio:
https://youtu.be/JKuhMqVVXQE?t=334
Live version from Halifax in 1987, included on the A Night of Triumph DVD:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VzDXsoNjIDM
At #13, right after we say goodbye to The Sport of Kings, we say hello to Allied Forces, Triumph's best-selling and arguably best album, with the first song I ever heard by the band.
open.spotify.com
it is shared) will be one of, if not the best, playlists this round.
that will be a great show!
