It’s time again for that silly little game where I take a handful of songs that have the same name but are not the same song. I’ll pit them against each other and see which one I like the best. Today’s works well because there are only three and I’ve only heard one of them and, as of the writing of this intro anyway, I don’t know who the winner will be but I have the same idea about that most of you reading probably do.

As with all of this series, this post should not be taken as a guide to all of the songs with this name. I just use a few websites to quickly run down things and decide if a particular one strikes my interest. Today I didn’t make it past A when I found this one that has a few talking points to it. There is no research on these things, I’m sure there are hundreds of songs called Against The Wind out there if someone really got to looking. These three are from well-known acts so I’ll run with them.

Bob Seger

I’ll lead off with the obvious choice. Against The Wind is the title track from Seger’s 1980 album and is one of his most popular songs. This was a single and did good business, peaking at number 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 and also gathering a number 6 in Canada. The single went US platinum and the namesake album sold over 5 million US copies. For some bonus trivia, Glenn Frey of the Eagles does backing vocals on the song.

On the topic of Seger and his hit songs, here’s a brief tale I told awhile back recalling his first ever number one hit.

Against The Wind has been one of Seger’s most influential songs, it had a special pull with the country artists of the 1990’s and beyond and also stretched out to many across all genres. It is a very nice song that checks a lot of boxes – sad but hopeful, polished yet personal. It’s one that seems primed to run off with the win today, but let’s at least check in on the other contenders.

Bonnie Tyler

A name familiar to many, Tyler had a few big hits in the 1980’s and was a star through Europe in the ’90’s. That is where today’s song is found, her Against The Wind is from the 1991 album Bitterblue. While it did not have US success, it did well in several nations on the Old Continent. This was also a single and put up modest results across several European singles charts.

This song is a prototypical soft rock ballad of the time. Bonnie has a great voice as always, though the song is not one I’d give a ton of repeat spins to. I don’t think it’s bad at all, it’s honestly a very nice song, just not one that moves the needle for me much at all. Bob Seger doesn’t have much competition here.

Stratovarius

While Bob Seger and Bonnie Tyler are well-known names to varying degrees, Stratovarius might not be quite as familiar to as many. But their pedigree is no less impressive – Stratovarius are one of the chief architects of the late 1990’s-early 2000’s power metal boom. While Stratovarius would become a keyboard-charged power metal stalwart, this song from 1995 sees them still in a transitional phase. This version of Against The Wind is from the band’s 1995 album Fourth Dimension and was released as the lone single for the record.

Now, I’ll talk all day about the influence Stratovarius had on the power metal movement, but one thing I’m honestly not is a Stratovarius fan. I never got into their stuff that much, I was much more drawn into Blind Guardian and Sonata Arctica when it comes to power metal. Startovarius is a more unabashed, full-on melodic power metal attack while the other bands listed have underpinnings in thrash and classic rock, respectively.

But my summary of Stratovarius tends to focus on their albums after Fourth Dimension. I honestly haven’t heard a note of this before I pushed play to write this piece. And well, I like this song quite a bit. It does sound firmly in the power metal vein, though not off in the sort of thing this and many other bands would get up to later. It’s fairly meat and potatoes and I dig this a fair bit.

Now, the question is – do I dig the Stratovarius song more than Bob Seger? While it’s closer than I first suspected, the answer is no. The winner of today’s silly little contest is Bob Seger. I don’t think that’s a real shock to anyone, though huge props to earlier-era Stratovarius for giving me something I may need to go back and check out.

That does it for this post and for the week. Have a great weekend and remember – the new Song of the Week series picks up on Tuesday next week. That is June 6, which as it turns out holds some significance in heavy metal. Until next week.