For the past several months, we have been talking about singles that I found at this cool place called House of Vinyl down in Fernandina Beach, Florida. Well, this is not one of them. But it is from that same trip. I found this in a little antique store just down the road. I bought a lot of singles on that trip and I love them all.
“High on You” by Survivor was the second single of their album ‘Vital Signs’, which is the VERY FIRST CD I ever bought with my own money!! So that album holds a special place in my heart. The single was release in December 1984 and was written by the writing partners of Survivor, Frankie Sullivan and Jim Peterik. The song went to #8 on the Billboard charts and help the album go platinum and reach #16 on the Charts as well.
The song title had been sitting with Peterik since 1977 when we was at CBS Convention. At the show, Sly and the Family Stone was performing and Sly was so stoned that when he ran out on stage, he told everyone that he said “I want you to know people, I’m high on you”. (from Songfacts). That wasn’t the only thing he was high on. Survivor liked to jam a lot and the song itself came about from one of those jam sessions.
The version of the 7″ Single I have is the U.S. version and is standard version. The version on the single is the album version and not a different edit. The B-Side is a song called “Everlasting” and is also the album version. The songs and album were produced by famed producer Ron Nevison who had worked with UFO, The Babys and would go on to work with Ozzy and Europe to name just a couple of the bands.
A-SIDE:
The song is about love at first sight or maybe lust. Simple as that. He meets a girl at one of the shows (possibly a groupie or just a fan) and by the end of the song, they’d done it and he is high on her love. I love how the lyrics “Let me tell you about the girl I “Met” last night” and later it changes to the “girl I “Had” last night”.
The song is a pure pop magic filled with great guitar work and driving synth riffs. A solid drum beat and bass line keep the rhythm section keep the song moving forward. But the key thing for me is that voice. The late, great Jimi Jamison had one of the best voices in music, period!! One of the few artist at the time that could give Steve Perry a run for his money. His soaring vocals were so captivating and mesmerizing, you couldn’t help fall in love with anything he sang. He is one of those singers that could sing the phone book and you wouldn’t care. Listen for yourself…
B-SIDE:
The B-Side was a song called “Everlasting” and is a power ballad. It is sweet and all, but not one of their best ballads. It has the power in some great guitar work as the solo is pretty killer and some nice drum fills are thrown in throughout, but there is something missing from putting this one over the top. Some of the verses are a little weak and it overall is too derivative of ballads at the time. However, it has Jimi singing so you do get lost in it as a result. Did I say how great he was? I am sure I had to mention that before.
And there you have it. Check back next week while we discuss a 12″ Single in my collection.
2 Loud 2 Old Music 
Ha ha we must be pretty close in age…. This was the 2nd album I bought with my own money (the first was “1984”, which did not make my parental units happy). I was shopping with my mom, and had picked up Dio’s Last In Line album, but Mom wasn’t happy with the devil horns gesture on the cover. I didn’t put up the fight for Dio and went with Survivor, which had a more religious-parent-friendly cover. Years later, they wouldn’t let me buy “Diary Of A Madman”, but let me buy “Tribute”. Go figure.
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Ha!! I’m am the youngest of 7 so by the time I got that age, they had heard and seen everything so they were pretty lenient on what I could buy. I don’t think they ever questioned anything.
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the first album I bought was Destroyer, some months later my mother bought me screw it by danger danger which was the only time I doubted about if she would accept or not.
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excuse my english
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No worries.
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And doesn’t Screw It have an inappropriate cover?
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of course, a monkey swinging on a liana carrying a girl eating a banana !!
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That’s right. I remember now.
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Great song. I’ve got the Vinyl record of the album. It’s just a well done melodic rock song.
It pisses me off that digital Survivor is so hit and miss. Maybe we’ll get their whole catalog on streaming services.
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I didn’t realize the digital side wasn’t always there. I already have it in the catalog so hadn’t tried to stream any of it.
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When you think about it John. These guys replaced the original singer after a massive hit and album and kinda kept going with decent success for a bit. No one ever talks about this bands singer change lol
Great stuff man as this post takes me back to highschool lol
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Glad it could take you back! It took me back writing it.
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Just heard this yesterday driving around with 80’s on 8 playing and thought to myself that I hadn’t heard this song in a long time, and here you are posting about it today. Lol. I love that Jamison drops a “wheel of fortune” reference in the song, and also for some reason I like the lyrics when he sings “such completion intoxication…”
Side note: The Scotti Brothers (Scotti Brothers Records) grew up on the same street and same time as my dad and his brothers and sisters in Newark, NJ, and they all have numerous stories about the Scotti’s and the fights they used to get into and how it was always good to be on the side of the Scotti’s (particularly Ben Scotti).
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complete intoxication not completion!
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I noticed that, but wasn’t going to say anything . LOL!!
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That is funny on hearing the song just yesterday. And cool stories I am sure on the Scotti Brothers. That is cool you have a connection.
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I’m pretty sure I only know one song of theirs….
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You know Eye of the Tiger and probably Burning Hearts – both Rocky songs.
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I’ll investigate.
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With this song, Survivor proved they didn’t need Rocky to succeed.
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That they did.
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Although that didn’t stop Sylvester Stallone from using them for Rocky IV.
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Nope, it did not.
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Man, I had Vital Signs on cassette as a kid and played the hell out of it. That b-side is meh on its own, but if you played it in line with the rest of the album it probably sounds great in context.
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The album is great overall, but you are right, on it’s own the B-Side is meh.
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Well, that was the 80s.
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