5. Keep On Loving You
“Keep On Loving You” signaled REO’s definitive switch to soft rock. The song was written by Cronin and was released on the 1980 Hi Infidelity album. It was the first REO song to penetrate the Billboard Top 50. It hit Billboard at #9 in mainstream rock and at #1 in pop singles. Though much shorter than the typical hard rock interludes of their ‘70s music, the song still managed to feature Richrath’s guitar.
In an interview with Goldmine magazine, Cronin described the dynamic between him and Richrath which he came to understand during the production of this song.
“A few days into it, I carved out the chorus and Richrath was just sick of hearing the song. One day, he just took out a Les Paul guitar, plugged it into a Marshall amp, turned it up to 11 and started playing along to the chorus….My theory is that he thought if he could drown me out, then I would stop playing, but the exact opposite happened.
“He thought he was going to piss me off, but it totally sounded cool. That was really the birth of the REO Speedwagon power balled (sic); it was totally by accident. It was Richrath trying to piss me off, which really does characterize the relationship that Gary and I had. The best things we wrote were when one was trying to piss the other off.”
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