Krokus - Midnite Maniac

One of the few rock acts to emerge from Switzerland, Krokus built a successful career with their straight-up version of hard rock.  The band formed in Solothurn in the mid-1970s and gradually developed a local following.  An AC/DC concert in the late 1970s apparently made a huge impression on the band, and Krokus' music steadily became more anthemic in the 1980s -- a move which coincidentally led to greater international success.

The band's big breakthrough in the U.S. was their 1983 Headhunter LP, which featured "Screaming in the Night."  The Road Warrior influenced video went into heavy rotation on MTV, helping the album rise to #25 on the charts.  Krokus would go on to release several more moderately successful albums in the mid-1980s before their popularity waned at the end of the decade.

For the blog, we went with "Midnite Maniac" from the band's 1984 album The Blitz.  The song is a pop metal gem, while the video contrasts the band's unique style on stage with a retro story line.  By the way, is it me, or does the video seems to be heavily influenced by Def Leppard's "Photograph"?  You be the judge of that.

"Midnite Maniac" would become the band's first charting single in the U.S. (#71), although a 1986 cover of Alice Cooper's "School's Out" would become Krokus' highest charting single at #67.

Cool trivia fact:  Bryan Adams and Jim Vallance co-wrote "Boys Night Out" for The Blitz album (with lead singer Marc Storace and guitarist Fernando von Arb).  The Adams/Vallance connection to Krokus was Bruce Fairbairn, who produced The Blitz.  Eagle-eyed readers may also recall that Fairbairn got his start with Prism who were featured on ERV in May 2012.