Emotions in Motion, the excellent follow-up to Billy Squier's sophomore outing Don't Say No, saw Squier rise from theater headliner to bona fide arena rock sensation by delivering his most consistent solo record to date. Or at least one just as good as its predecessor. On this slice of AOR heaven, Squier expands on the Led Zeppelin-influenced exploits of Don't Say No. Right off the bat, Squier delivers an immediate blow to the head on the album's opening triumvirate "Everybody Wants You," "Emotions in Motion" (a distant cousin of Queen's "Get Down Make Love" no doubt), and the moody "Learn How to Live." Backed by longtime cronies -- drummer Bobby Chouinard, guitarist Jeff Golub, and keyboard player Allan St. John -- Squier effortlessly leads his ace band through the boogie-woogie of future concert staple "Keep Me Satisfied." Squier also takes a few chances by veering into Rolling Stones territory on the horn-laced "Catch 22." Borrowing heavily from "Tumbling Dice," "Catch 22" foreshadows a style that would become more prevalent on future records like Enough Is Enough and Creatures of Habit. Emotions in Motion saw Squier establish himself as a major rock star, embarking on a tour as Queen's support act on their U.S. Hot Space tour. As Queen's popularity in America began to wane, Squier would steal their thunder resulting in a huge headline tour of his own shortly thereafter. Unfortunately, for the Boston rocker, 1984's follow-up Signs of Life would yield the career-suicidal video for "Rock Me Tonite (which features Squier rolling around pink satin sheets) eclipsing the many merits of his earlier works. Interesting side note is the album's cover art. It was commissioned by legendary artist Andy Warhol.Emotions in Motion, the excellent follow-up to Billy Squier's sophomore outing Don't Say No, saw Squier rise from theater headliner to bona fide arena rock sensation by delivering his most consistent solo record to date. Or at least one just as good as its predecessor. On this slice of AOR heaven, Squier expands on the Led Zeppelin-influenced exploits of Don't Say No. Right off the bat, Squier delivers an immediate blow to the head on the album's opening triumvirate "Everybody Wants You," "Emotions in Motion" (a distant cousin of Queen's "Get Down Make Love" no doubt), and the moody "Learn How to Live." Backed by longtime cronies -- drummer Bobby Chouinard, guitarist Jeff Golub, and keyboard player Allan St. John -- Squier effortlessly leads his ace band through the boogie-woogie of future concert staple "Keep Me Satisfied." Squier also takes a few chances by veering into Rolling Stones territory on the horn-laced "Catch 22." Borrowing heavily from "Tumbling Dice," "Catch 22" foreshadows a style that would become more prevalent on future records like Enough Is Enough and Creatures of Habit. Emotions in Motion saw Squier establish himself as a major rock star, embarking on a tour as Queen's support act on their U.S. Hot Space tour. As Queen's popularity in America began to wane, Squier would steal their thunder resulting in a huge headline tour of his own shortly thereafter. Unfortunately, for the Boston rocker, 1984's follow-up Signs of Life would yield the career-suicidal video for "Rock Me Tonite (which features Squier rolling around pink satin sheets) eclipsing the many merits of his earlier works. Interesting side note is the album's cover art. It was commissioned by legendary artist Andy Warhol.false2025-11-07 21:39:42Emotions in Motion20072007-01-012007-01-0142Hard Rock1161422140546fdc87fef-6810-4afb-853a-acef7a1383da3792dcb3-036e-45d6-8ee2-ff8d12c6c6c98f8b081e-7cdc-326a-8fa3-b58fa233b5e6/media/data/media5/Music/Billy Squier/Emotions in Motion/folder.jpgBilly SquierBilly SquierWilliam Haislip Squier (, born May 12, 1950) is an American musician, singer, and songwriter who had a string of arena rock and crossover hits in the early 1980s. His best-known songs include "The Stroke", "Lonely Is the Night", "My Kinda Lover", "In the Dark", "Rock Me Tonite", "Everybody Wants You", "Emotions in Motion", "Love Is the Hero", and "Don't Say You Love Me". Squier's best-selling album, 1981's Don't Say No, is considered a landmark release of arena rock, bridging the gap between power pop and hard rock.
Described as a personification of early 1980s rock music, Squier's most successful period was from 1981 to 1984, during which he had five Top 10 Mainstream Rock hits (two of which were number ones), two Top 20 singles, three consecutive platinum-selling albums, and videos in MTV rotation. Even after falling out from mainstream favor and chart success, which some say is because of the 1984 video for "Rock Me Tonite", Squier has maintained his presence on rock radio and his music used in many films and video games. Squier largely stopped recording music after the commercial failure of the 1993 album Tell the Truth, but has continued to perform smaller tours, one-off concerts, and occasional collaborations.
His 1980 song "The Big Beat" contains one of the most-sampled drum breaks, used by artists such as Run-DMC, Alicia Keys, Jay-Z, UTFO, and Dizzee Rascal. "The Stroke" is sampled in Eminem's 2013 hit "Berzerk".