Song:Love Song
Album:Extended Versions
Tesla tends to get lumped in with 80s hair metal bands but they are probably closer to 70s blues based hard rock bands. And they don't dress like a hair metal band. The 1989 power ballad Love Song was one of their two top ten hits. AccuRadio has a Power Ballad station that is part of my mix because I'm not a big hard rock fan. But most hard rock bands had their biggest hits with power ballads. Tesla is from Sacramento, CA. Bassist Brian Wheat and 15 year old guitarist Frank Hannon formed City Kidd in 1982 and played gigs around Sacramento. Other members were lead singer Jeff Keith, guitarist Tommy Skeoch and drummer Troy Luccketta. They were mentored by guitarist Ronnie Montrose. The band thought the best way to get a record deal was to write hit singles. Eventually they were noticed and City Kidd signed with Geffen Records in 1985. There was already a band called City Kidd so they were named Tesla after inventor Nikola Tesla. Their 1986 debut album Mechanical Resonance was certified Platinum. Tesla toured with other hard rock bands like Def Leppard and Poison so they were categorized as a hair metal band. They didn't like that. Their 1989 album The Great Radio Controversy did even better. It was certified 2XPlatinum. And Love Song reached #10 on the Billboard Hot 100. Then they released a live album Five Man Acoustical Jam and Tesla's cover of The Five Man Electrical Band classic Signs reached #8 on the Billboard Hot 100. That was their peak. Subsequent albums didn't do as well. Substance abuse forced Tommy Skeoch to leave Tesla in 1994 and Geffen dropped them. You can get all their hits on this budget comp. Tesla split up and reformed in 2000. Skeoch left in 2005 and Dave Rude is the guitarist. They are currently touring. There were plans for a new CD in 2010 but their recording studio burned down. A new CD is expected in 2014. Here's the video for Love Song by Tesla.
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