When Bryan Adams first heard the song, it was a snippet of instrumental movie music, played on lutes and mandolins and sounding nothing like a pop hit.
”But it had this beautiful melody running through it, just gorgeous,”
Adams recalls. ”That`s half of a great song right there.”
Great may be a subjective term, but there`s no doubt Adams` ”Everything I Do (I Do It for You)” has been a great success-one of the biggest hits in pop music history. The song, written for the film ”Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves,” was last year`s top-rated single, according to Billboard. It hit No. 1 in 21 countries and has sold 9 million copies worldwide.
Its impact in Britain was significant enough-No. 1 for 16 consecutive weeks-to prompt a tabloid press joke that Lebanon hostage Terry Waite`s first words upon release were: ”Is Bryan Adams still No. 1?”
”Everything I Do” earned the Canadian rocker his first Grammy Award and an Oscar nomination, and has propelled sales of his album ”Waking Up the Neighbours” to almost 8 million copies.
And all this happened almost four years after Adams` last release, reaffirming his hitmaking credentials and qualifying as a sunny comeback story.
”According to Rolling Stone magazine, I guess it is” a comeback, the 32-year-old Adams says, his voice raspy from a previous night`s performance in Cincinnati, where he opened the North American tour that brings him to the Rosemont Horizon April 28. ”We were second, next to Guns N` Roses, for comeback of the year.
”But I don`t really concern myself with time that much. I reckon people will forget about you a lot quicker if you put out a mediocre or bad album than if you take a lot of time but make it really, really good. Prince is the only person prolific enough to put out things every year.”
Although Adams shrugs off the suggestion, there was much at stake for
”Neighbours.” Emerging a decade ago, he was one of the most prolific hitmakers of the `80s, capturing a following from the rock and pop camps with a combination of sentimental love songs (”Straight From the Heart,”
”Heaven”), crafted and catchy rockers (”Run to You,” ”Somebody”), rugged video appeal and energetic live performances.
Earnestly mainstream, the Vancouver native became for many a guilty pleasure-safe but undeniably passionate, with a broader social commitment that resulted in the benefit song ”Tears Are Not Enough,” a tour for Amnesty International and a performance at the Nelson Mandela birthday concert in England.
But long absences can make hearts grow fonder or more forgetful, and after an active several years Adams was strangely quiet as the `90s began. He did surface periodically-he performed at Roger Waters` all-star performance of ”The Wall,” sang backups for Motley Crue, wrote a hit for Joe Cocker
(”When the Night Comes”).
Mostly, however, Adams was ensconced in studios and writing dens, working with an array of producers that included such respected veterans as Steve Lillywhite, Bob Clearmountain and Bob Rock.
”I tried to come up with the right combination of people to make the right record,” Adams explains. ”Really, all these people I worked with, it was all experimentation. I was happy with it, but I felt I could probably be happier.”
Adams eventually found the answer with John (Mutt) Lange, whose credits include Billy Squier and Def Leppard. The two ended up scrapping a year and a half`s worth of work, and the direction of ”Neighbours” changed from an R&B- styled approach-the song ”Depend on Me” is the only remnant, Adams says-to a more straight-ahead rock flavor.
”Everything I Do” came along at the end of the process. The movie`s score, written by Michael Kamen, was submitted to Adams by a friend, producer David Kershenbaum. Hooked by the melody, Adams read the ”Robin Hood” script and focused on its theme of ”an intense sort of commitment, real devotion.” ”One of the themes that went through the film was `I`d die for you,`
” Adams says. ”They wanted to call the song `I`d Die for You,` but I just figured that there`s no guy that would go out and say that. But I reckon most guys just want to say, `Yeah, everything I do, I do it for you.` That sounded more real to me.”
