Heart (Heart album) explained

Heart
Type:	studio
Artist:	Heart
Cover:	Heart (Heart album).png
Recorded:	January–April 1985
Studio:	The Record Plant (Los Angeles, California) The Plant (Sausalito, California)
Genre:	Hard rock pop rock glam metal
Length:	39:28
Label:	Capitol
Producer:	Ron Nevison
Prev Title:	Passionworks
Prev Year:	1983
Next Title:	Bad Animals
Next Year:	1987

Heart is the eighth studio album by American rock band Heart, released on June 21, 1985, by Capitol Records.^[1] The album continued the band's transition into mainstream rock, a genre that yielded the band its greatest commercial success. Marking the band's Capitol Records debut, it became Heart's only album to top the US Billboard 200 to date. The album was eventually certified quintuple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA)—in contrast to Heart's previous two releases, Private Audition and Passionworks, which remain uncertified—proving that adopting a glam metal direction helped resurrect the band.^[2]

The album yielded the band's first number-one single, "These Dreams",^[3] along with four other singles: "What About Love", "Never", "Nothin' at All", and "If Looks Could Kill", with the first four singles reaching the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100.^[3] At the 28th Annual Grammy Awards, the album was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal.^[4]

In a 2022 interview, Ann Wilson stated that the album was self-titled because the band "didn’t write a whole lot of the songs on there, so that aspect of closeness with the work was gone and it was much harder for us to come up with a title that was real."^[5]

Track listing

Notes

• Connie is a pseudonym for Ann Wilson, Nancy Wilson and Sue Ennis.

Personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of Heart.^[6]

Heart

• Ann Wilson – vocals
• Nancy Wilson – lead guitar, acoustic guitar, mandolin, background vocals; lead vocals
• Howard Leese – lead guitar, keyboards, mandolin, background vocals
• Mark Andes – bass guitar
• Denny Carmassi – drums

Additional musicians

• Peter Wolf – synthesizers, acoustic piano
• Mickey Thomas – background vocals
• Johnny Colla – background vocals
• Grace Slick – background vocals
• Lynn Wilson – background vocals
• Holly Knight – keyboards
• Frankie Sullivan – solo guitar ; additional guitar

Technical

• Scotty Olson – guitar technician
• Gary Clark – drum technician
• Ron Nevison – production, engineering
• Mike Clink – engineering assistance
• Brian Foraker – second assistant engineer
• Mike Reese – mastering at The Mastering Lab (Hollywood, California)

Artwork

• Rebecca Blake – photography
• Norman Moore – art direction, design

Charts

Weekly charts

Chart (1985–1988)! scope="col"

Peak position
Australian Albums (Kent Music Report)^[7]	37
European Albums (Music & Media)^[8]	59
Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)^[9]	18
Japanese Albums (Oricon)^[10]	30

Year-end charts

Chart (1985)! scope="col"

Position
Canada Top Albums/CDs (RPM)^[11]	45
US Billboard 200^[12]	79

Chart (1986)! scope="col"

Position
Canada Top Albums/CDs (RPM)^[13]	9
US Billboard 200^[14]	2

Chart (1988)! scope="col"

Position
UK Albums (Gallup)^[15]	96

All-time charts

Chart! scope="col"

Position
US Billboard 200^[16]	108
US Billboard 200 (Women)^[17]	32

Notes and References

1. New Releases . Friday Morning Quarterback Album Report . June 14, 1985 . 28 . 857904873.
2. Book: Popoff, Martin . Martin Popoff . The Big Book of Hair Metal: The Illustrated Oral History of Heavy Metal's Debauched Decade . Minneapolis . . 2014 . 90 . 978-0-7603-4546-7 . Google Books.
3. Web site: Heart – Heart Awards . AllMusic . June 5, 2014 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160315032749/http://www.allmusic.com/album/heart-mw0000109472/awards . March 15, 2016.
4. Web site: 28th Grammy Awards – 1986 . Rock on the Net . October 27, 2018.
5. Web site: Popoff . Martin . 'Bébé le Strange' to 'Bad Animals': Ann Wilson reveals meaning behind 7 Heart album titles . Goldmine . 6 April 2024.
6. Heart . liner notes . . . 1985 . CDP 7 46157 2.
7. Book: Kent, David . David Kent (historian) . Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 . illustrated . St Ives, N.S.W. . Australian Chart Book . 1993 . 136 . 0-646-11917-6.
8. Eurochart Hot 100 Albums . . 5 . 25 . June 18, 1988 . 34 . 29800226.
9. Book: Pennanen, Timo . Heart . Sisältää hitin – Levyt ja esittäjät Suomen musiikkilistoilla 1.1.1960–30.6.2021 . fi . 2nd . Helsinki . . 2021 . 99 . 978-952-7460-01-6.
10. Book: Oricon Album Chart Book: Complete Edition 1970–2005 . ja . Roppongi, Tokyo . . 2006 . 4-87131-077-9.
11. RPM's Top 100 Albums of 1985 . RPM . 43 . 16 . December 25, 1985 . 14 . 0033-7064 . Library and Archives Canada.
12. Billboard 200 Albums – Year-End 1985 . Billboard . October 27, 2018 . https://web.archive.org/web/20180730184336/https://www.billboard.com/charts/year-end/1985/top-billboard-200-albums . July 30, 2018.
13. Top 100 Albums of '86 . RPM . 45 . 14 . December 27, 1986 . 9 . 0033-7064 . Library and Archives Canada.
14. Billboard 200 Albums – Year-End 1986 . Billboard . October 27, 2018 . https://web.archive.org/web/20180702070444/https://www.billboard.com/charts/year-end/1986/top-billboard-200-albums . July 2, 2018.
15. Top 100 Albums – Year-End Chart 1988 . Music Week Awards . . March 4, 1989 . 8 . 0265-1548.
16. Greatest of All Time Billboard 200 Albums . Billboard . August 24, 2019 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200915063612/https://www.billboard.com/charts/greatest-billboard-200-albums . September 15, 2020.
17. Greatest of All Time Billboard 200 Albums by Women . Billboard . August 24, 2019 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200919010801/https://www.billboard.com/charts/greatest-billboard-200-albums-by-women . September 19, 2020.