About this Artist

• Biography

Editorial Reviews

Starz were never a favorite among rock critics, who had few kind words for their Capitol releases of the late '70s. Whether Starz were providing pop-metal or power pop, they received their share of negative reviews. But then, one can't always measure an artist's worth based on the opinions of critics. As a rule, critics tend to like music that is challenging and provocative instead of merely entertaining, which explains why the late-'70s critics who praised the Sex Pistols, Elvis Costello, Bruce Springsteen, and the Clash had nothing nice to say about Starz, a band that was seldom challenging and didn't pretend to be. Starz were merely entertaining, and were good at what they did -- not great, but good. After detouring into power pop on 1978's Attention Shoppers!, Starz got back to emphasizing pop-metal/hard rock on their fourth album, Coliseum Rock. Not surprisingly, critics trashed this 1979 LP and denounced escapist tunes like "Don't Stop Now" and "So Young, So Bad" as frivolous and superficial. But then, Starz never claimed to be Springsteen, and it was silly for critics to complain because the album wasn't Born to Run. Truth be told, Coliseum Rock is a likable party record. But it wasn't the major commercial breakthrough that Starz were hoping for and the band called it quits, although Starz did reunite on various occasions during subsequent years. [This version of the album includes two bonus tracks, "Vidi O.D." and "You Called His Name," both from the band's 1992 Drastic label CD, Requiem.] Alex Henderson, All Music Guide

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