Hi Infidelity (1980)



  1. Don't Let Him Go
  2. Keep on Loving You
  3. Follow My Heart
  4. In Your Letter
  5. Take it on the Run
  6. Tough Guys
  7. Out of Season
  8. Shakin' it Loose
  9. Someone Tonight
  10.I Wish You Were There


 

It’s always nice when a band that’s been knocking around for years finally gets the big payoff—and with Hi Infidelity, REO Speedwagon didn’t just cash in, they hit the jackpot. After years of slogging it out on the road and turning out a mixed bag of albums that earned them a loyal (but small) fanbase, this was the moment everything came together. The album hit number one on the charts and went on to become the biggest selling album of 1981. Surprising? Maybe. Deserved? Absolutely.

In many ways, Hi Infidelity is simply a continuation of the sound they’d been refining on their last couple of records. The big difference? Everything here is just a little tighter, a little more radio-friendly, and a whole lot more polished. The edge is still there, but it’s been smoothed over just enough to catch the ears of a much bigger audience. The inclusion of a couple of soaring power ballads (something new for the band) ended up being the not-so-secret weapon that finally pushed them over the top.

Keep On Loving You is the one that did it. The band’s first number one single, and probably the song most people associate with REO Speedwagon. It’s arena rock through and through—dramatic, emotional, and unforgettable. Even if you weren’t a fan at the time, you knew the song. And even though they’d never quite capture lightning in a bottle again the way they did here, this one track alone could’ve kept them on the road for decades—and it pretty much did.

Thematically, the album leans heavily into the heartbreak angle. With a title like Hi Infidelity, you kind of expect it. Nearly every track touches on broken trust, jealousy, or romantic regret. If there’s a knock to be made, it’s that the lyrics don’t always come off as especially deep. There’s a teenage-angst quality to some of it that makes you raise an eyebrow when you remember this was written by a band that had been around for ten years already. Still, those sentiments clearly hit home for a lot of listeners at the time, and the band wasn’t about to apologize for finally finding something that worked.

This wasn’t just a one-hit wonder kind of deal, either. Take It on the Run and Don’t Let Him Go also climbed the charts and became staples in the band’s live shows for decades. Even lesser-celebrated tracks like In Your Letter and Tough Guys (complete with that baffling Little Rascals intro) managed to get stuck in people’s heads—and sometimes that’s all it takes. Meanwhile, Bruce Hall comes through again with Someone Tonight, giving the record a much-needed dose of grit that helped balance out some of the sugar.

Sure, longtime fans might have cried “sellout” when this came out—but that’s easy to say when you’re not the ones trying to keep a band alive after years of scraping by. The truth is, REO Speedwagon earned this moment. Hi Infidelity didn’t just change their fortunes—it defined them. They’d never hit these heights again, but with this one record, they didn’t need to. The bills were going to be paid from here on out.





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