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Jul 19, 20234 min read

Cinderella’s Nightsongs Debut’s on US Billboard 200 on July 19, 1986

𝚃𝚘𝚍𝚊𝚢 𝚒𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝙷𝚒𝚜𝚝𝚘𝚛𝚢 𝚘𝚏 𝙷𝚊𝚛𝚍 𝚁𝚘𝚌𝚔 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝙷𝚎𝚊𝚟𝚢 𝙼𝚎𝚝𝚊𝚕

Cinderella’s debut album, “Night Songs” made it's debut on the US Billboard 200 album chart at No. 188 on July 19, 1986.

Cinderella, as much as any band, experienced the ups and downs of the music business. With the sometimes trendy music buyers, the turncoat record execs and the fly by night radio stations, a band never knows how successful (or unsuccessful) they will be.

But, on June 9th in '86, the Pennsylvania quartet were at the beginning of their uphill climb, when their debut album, "Night Songs", was released.

Backed by the hit singles, "Somebody Save Me" and the power ballad, "Nobody's Fool" (and the eventual fan favorite "Shake Me"), Cinderella (including singer and guitarist Tom Keifer, guitarist Jeff LaBar, bassist Eric Brittingham and drummer Fred Coury —who joined shortly after the album’s recording) were about to have the world in the palm of their hands.

Selling several million copies, the success of “Night Songs” was due to a combination of Cinderella's breakthrough single "Nobody's Fool", MTV airplay, and the vocal support of Jon Bon Jovi, who was credited for “discovering” the band after catching tje bands set in a Philadelphia club during the recording of Bon Jovi‘s 1985 album, "7800 Degrees Fahrenheit" (where Cinderella would later land an opening slot on Bon Jovi's tour, in support of their album “Slippery When Wet”).

With Glam Metal in the midst of its heyday, the albums cover proved to help catapult the album into the stratosphere, with its blend of darkness, glitz & glam catching the attention of would-be fans.

Looking back, Tom Keifer recalled the photo shoot for the album cover (yup, that’s "WeissGuy" in the photo below!):

“This really cool photographer that we met called what's his name again? Mark Weiss. That's right, one of my very best buddies and he shot he shot the cover for Night Songs for us and it was a shot in the historic district of Philadelphia, which is where we were from and I believe that structure we were standing in was called Head House Square. But the most interesting thing that I remember about that shoot was the album was called night songs and Mark scheduled to shoot for daytime. And I kept saying to him that's not gonna look right . He said ‘I shoot day for night’ and I don't know what the fuck that meant? And I just trusted him because I kind of liked this guy right off the bat, I thought he was a straight up cat and sure enough, when we got the pictures back it looked like it was night-time. So Mark Weiss is a fucking genius.”

Spending 50 weeks on the US charts, the album peaked at No. 3 on February 7, 1987, and was certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for shipping 2 million copies there twelve days later.

In May 1991, it was certified triple platinum, having shipped 3 million copies.

Leadoff single "Shake Me" failed to chart, but "Nobody's Fool" cracked the Top 20, reaching No. 13.

Third single "Somebody Save Me" went to No. 66.

On May 4, 1987, Cinderella filmed parts of their concert in Philadelphia. These live songs were, along with their three MTV videos, released on home video in August 1987 on “Night Songs: The Videos”.

Critical Reception:

Failing to latch onto what Cinderella had to offer with their spectacular debut release, “Night Songs” was met with mixed reviews.

David Fricke, writing for Rolling Stone magazine, considered that "[Cinderella] need to jazz up their material and cut away the clichés if they're really interested in Hard-Rock immortality. Otherwise, their platinum dreams are going to turn into pumpkins".

AllMusic reviewer Steve Huey called it "not bad, just generic".

Canadian journalist Martin Popoff put on a par Cinderella's rise to prominence with Poison's success, judging them as "little more than vacant, colourful but life-affirming [Mötley] Crüe derivatives." He described the songs as "heavier than one might expect, but of course safe, shallow and watery like the kiddie pool."

The album has been retrospectively considered a “Hair-Metal” classic, being ranked on a vast amount of "best of" lists.

Albums Legacy:

After the release of this album, the band slightly changed their sound, moving more towards a Blues Rock direction. In October 2014 for her birthday, guitarist Tom Keifer presented Lzzy Hale of Halestorm with the costume jewelry pin he wore on his right shoulder for the “Night Songs” album cover. Hale subsequently wore the pin on her right hip on the album cover for Halestorm's 2015 “Into the Wild Life”, to include a touch of tradition.

Links to Artists, Albums, and Music Videos:

▶ Listen to “Night Songs” via Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/album/night-songs/1440494441

▶ Listen to “Night Songs” via Spotify: Night Songs https://open.spotify.com/album/6Af1uU7Di8q9oHyXpgvrmY

▶ Follow Tom Keifer on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TomKeiferOfficial

▶ Follow Eric Brittingham on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100056371267155

▶ Follow Fred Coury on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fred.coury.3

▶ Follow the Cinderella fan page on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rockcinderellafans/

Note: The reviews shared here are for historical reference. The views and opinions expressed within are not always supported (in full or in part) by Into the Wells. — E.N. Wells

Cinderella’s Nightsongs Debut’s on US Billboard 200 on July 19, 1986

𝚃𝚘𝚍𝚊𝚢 𝚒𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝙷𝚒𝚜𝚝𝚘𝚛𝚢 𝚘𝚏 𝙷𝚊𝚛𝚍 𝚁𝚘𝚌𝚔 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝙷𝚎𝚊𝚟𝚢 𝙼𝚎𝚝𝚊𝚕

Cinderella’s debut album, “Night Songs” made it's debut on the US Billboard 200 album chart at No. 188 on July 19, 1986.

Critical Reception:

Albums Legacy:

Links to Artists, Albums, and Music Videos:

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