It was the winter of 1984. Two guys sat in the basement studio of a Vancouver town house, working on a song that neither of them was particularly satisfied with. One was Jim Vallance, a songwriter-for-hire who had made his reputation writing hits for such heavyweights as Joe Cocker and Kiss. He owned the studio. The other guy was Vallance’s writing partner from those early days, and the singer in their band (although Vallance’s contributions were now confined to the studio). His name was Bryan Adams.
Adams and Vallance had already enjoyed a creditable amount commercial success, with Straight From The Heart, Cuts Like A Knife and This Time in 1983 making numbers 10, 15 and 24 respectively in the US singles chart and parent album Cuts Like A Knife reaching No.8, and having earned support slots with The Kinks and Foreigner.
