Night Ranger were one of the biggest success stories of the early 1980s, racking up hit singles and big selling albums during a time when the ‘hip’ music media had written off mainstream hard rock as little more than an annoying pest. Those people seemed to forget that memorable songs delivered with razor sharp riffs and passionate vocals can always ride roughshod over fashion and trends. Night Ranger’s debut album Dawn Patrol had set the scene for even bigger and better things to come, something they accomplished with ‘Midnight Madness’. Issued late in 1983, and produced once again by Pat Glasser (Giuffria, Refugee), the record harnessed a number of essential tracks, two of which would become central in the Night Ranger cannon. The first, ‘(You Can Still) Rock In America’ (with Glenn Hughes on backing vocals) was a call to arms, letting everyone know that the band were very much committed to melodic hard rock, the backbone upon which this album was crafted. The second was the power ballad ‘Sister Christian’ which gave them a song that would accelerate their popularity to heights previously unimagined, reaching the top 5 of the US singles charts. For Night Ranger, it was a life changing moment and it’s still a track that continues to be hugely popular to this day. Midnight Madness is a platinum album and it is truly one of the greatest records of the era.
