Vixen - Edge of a Broken Heart

By 1988, hard rock had virtually taken over the U.S. charts and the record labels responded by putting out a ton of product.  This included a bunch of pop metal that was modeled after Bon Jovi or Def Leppard and was more or less designed to be commercially successful.

Vixen fits into this guilty pleasure segment, which isn't to say that they weren't a solid band ... just that they had a crafted sound.  The all-female band was formed in the early 1980s in Minnesota, but moved to LA by the middle part of the decade.  They were signed by EMI in 1988, and their eponymous debut LP came out the same year.  One sign of EMI's involvement was that the band wrote exactly one of the eleven songs on their album (to be fair, they co-wrote four others with external songwriters).

"Edge of a Broken Heart" was co-written by Richard Marx (yes, that Richard Marx, who also appears in the video at 2:42) and Fee Waybill (cool rock name alert!) from The Tubes, who was featured on ERV way back in August of 2011 for the under-rated classic "Talk to You Later." (Seriously worth a listen; turn the sound up as the video's volume is too low.)  The song generated a ton of airplay on MTV and reached #26 on the charts, while the album peaked at #41.  Vixen's second album did not do as well and the band broke up in 1991, although they have re-united periodically in the ensuing years.

Cool trivia fact: Jon Butcher wrote "American Dreams" for Vixen's debut album.  Butcher's "Don't Say Goodnight" was the third video featured on ERV, back in August 2011 and gets our highest recommendation.

Cool trivia fact #2:  Vixen is not a one hit wonder, as their Heart-influenced single "Cryin'" hit #26 on the charts.