The Romantics

About

Also known as: Romantics, The Romatics

Few bands captured the raw, jangly energy of early 1980s rock quite like The Romantics. Formed in Detroit in 1977, this four piece drew from a wide pool: MC5, Motown R&B, 1960s garage rock, and the British Invasion all fed into their power pop and new wave sound. With all four members capable of singing, the band had a natural chemistry that showed up on their biggest hits. "What I Like About You" became a massive smash in Australia, peaking at number 2, while "Talking in Your Sleep" spent four weeks at number 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and topped the charts in Canada. Both songs have never really left the airwaves. Their 1983 album In Heat was their commercial peak, going gold in both the US and Canada and shifting close to a million copies stateside. Lineup shuffles, a messy legal battle with their management over misappropriated earnings, and licensing disputes slowed things down considerably through the late 1980s and into the 1990s. But the band kept going, and in recent years they have revisited their signature tracks, releasing remastered and rerecorded versions of both "Talking in Your Sleep" and "What I Like About You".