During 1975 Bob Seger made the first of many visits to the Swampers’ studio. Seger had a succession of platinum and multi-platinum albums entirely and partially recorded at Muscle Shoals Sound Studio.
His first certified multi-platinum album (two million copies sold) was entitled “Beautiful Loser”, released by Capitol Records on the April 12th 1975. Most of the album was recorded with the session musicians from the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section. The producers on the album were Barry Beckett, Roger Hawkins, David Hood, Jimmy Johnson, Spooner Oldham, and Bob Seger himself. The album features the powerful presence of the Muscle Shoals Horn Section on several tracks.
His next studio album was a bigger success in terms of sales, going five times platinum in America alone. The album “Night Moves” was Bob Seger’s ninth studio album and his first with the Silver Bullet Band. It was released in October 1976. Although the front cover only credits backing by the Silver Bullet Band, four of the nine songs on the album feature backing by the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section, who also shared production duties with Punch Andrews (Bob Seger’s manager), Bob Seger and Jack Richardson. Seger’s next album with the Silver Bullet Band was just as successful as “Night Moves”.
The album “Stranger in Town”, released by Capitol Records on May 5th 1978, became an instant success in America by achieving platinum certification within a month of its release. “Stranger in Town” also did very well in the UK by obtaining gold certification from the BPI for over one hundred thousand copies sold. This was Seger’s first studio album with the group to achieve such a status in England. The album went on to sell in large numbers in America just like its predecessor, reaching six-times platinum certification according to the RIAA. The Silver Bullet Band, just as on the previous album, backed Seger on about half of the songs and the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section backed Seger on the other half.
The eleventh studio album by American rock singer Bob Seger and his third with The Silver Bullet Band was called “Against the Wind”. The album was released in 1980. It is Seger’s only number one album on the Billboard 200 Albums Chart, reaching that position week-ending May 3rd 1980 (six weeks) and knocking Pink Floyd’s massive-selling “The Wall” from the top position. The album also earned two Grammy Awards in 1981 for “Best Recording Package” and “Best Rock Performance By A Duo Or Group with Vocal”. It was also a best-seller for Seger, his third to achieve multi-platinum status with over five million copies sold in the United States according to the RIAA.
Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band achieved platinum status once again with their late 1982 album “The Distance”, which came out in December of that year. It didn’t manage to repeat the success of its predecessor by going to number one but managed to achieve great success on the Billboard Adult Contemporary Singles Chart with the song “Shame on the Moon”, which went to number one week-ending February 12th 1983 (2 weeks). The song was at number two for four weeks from week-ending February 26th1983 and was kept from the top position on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart by “Baby, Come To Me” performed by Patti Austin & James Ingram for the first two weeks and for the remaining two weeks by “Billie Jean” performed by the late Michael Jackson.
The final Seger album that features any member of the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section was the studio album “The Fire Inside”, for which Barry Beckett produced four tracks. The album was certified platinum in both Canada and America during 1991. All previous studio-released albums from 1976 with Bob Seger and the group were either platinum or multi-platinum certifications in Canada.
In recognition of Bob Seger’s tremendous success over five decades, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004 and the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2012.
