Stabilizers - One Simple Thing

Stabilizers were another act that appeared on MTV for the briefest of time before fading from view.  The band consisted of Dave Christenson on vocals and Rich Nevens on guitar and keyboard.  By 1985, they had generated enough buzz on the Erie, PA music scene to get signed by Columbia Records, and Tyranny (their debut LP) came out the following year.

"One Simple Thing" was the lead single from Tyranny, and it picked up a bit of airplay -- even breaking into the top 100 at #93.  However, the follow up single did not do as well, and the band was dropped by the label before releasing their second effort.

There seems to be remarkably little information on Christenson and Nevens since then, so if any reader has information to share, please leave it in the comments.

"One Simple Thing" is a classic 1980s pop song, in the Mr. Mister vein (note that Mr. Mister's Welcome to the Real World hit #1 on the album charts in early 1986).

Cool trivia fact:  "One Simple Thing" was directed by David Fincher, who got his start in videos (including Jermaine Stewart's "We Don't Have To Take Our Clothes Off" and Loverboy's "Notorious")  before transitioning to movies (Seven, Fight Club and The Social Network, among others).

Helix - Heavy Metal Love

I remember seeing "Heavy Metal Love" back in the day, and thoroughly enjoyed it.  The same holds true for Helix's earlier entry on ERV, "Deep Cuts the Knife," which was posted back in October, 2011.

As we mentioned on the earlier post, Helix is a hard working, hard rocking Canadian band.  The group formed in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada in 1974 and has been led by Brian Vollmer on vocals from day one.  At the time of this single, the remainder of the band consisted of Paul Hackman and Brent 'The Doctor' Doerner on guitars, Mike Uzelac on bass and Greg 'Fritz' Hinz on drums.

Hinz and Vollmer remain with the band to the present day.  Hackman was killed in 1992 when the band's van crashed during a tour.  Doerner left Helix in 1989, but has rejoined the act several times over the years, and  Uzelac quit in 1983.

While "Heavy Metal Love" picked up some airplay on my favorite music video channel, the song did not break into the singles chart, though it did reach #23 on the Mainstream Rock chart (based on airplay on rock radio stations).  The No Rest for the Wicked LP peaked at #186 on the album chart.

Cool trivia fact: The woman in the video is actress Sandahl Bergman, best known as the female lead in the 1982 film Conan the Barbarian.