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Billy Squire and his last album for Capitol Records have a bitter history that few remember.
The final album, Capitol Records, *Tell the Truth* (1993), was effectively ignored by the label, leading to poor sales of only 37,000 copies and a failure to chart. Despite Squier’s pride in the work, which he considered among his best, the lack of promotion and a shift in musical tastes caused him to abandon his major-label career.
Capitol Records did not promote the album, with Squier feeling it was “dead in the water” due to a new label president and a changing, grunge-dominated musical landscape.
Billy Squier – ‘Don’t Say No’ – Released April 13, 1981. The album includes ‘The Stroke’ by Billy Squier
Billy Walked Away from his Rock Career
One explanation is that times changed. The 1992 charts were dominated by grunge rockers Pearl Jam and Nirvana; Squire’s sounds were out of fashion.
In 1993, Squier’s label got a new president. A frustrated Squier decided to put his music career in the rearview mirror. Though he self-produced a stripped-down acoustic album, Happy Blue, in 1998, it was more a blip than a comeback, and Squier continued to step back from the music industry.
Great Album, Bad Video
“Rock Me Tonite” required a great video. According to Squier, his preferred video directors weren’t available, and MTV didn’t want to move the premiere date they had committed to.
Running low on options, Squier decided to work with director Kenny Ortega.
The video, which featured Squier writhing around on satin sheets and dancing awkwardly around an apartment in a pink tank top, seemed to challenge his previous image as a virile, macho rock star. Joe Elliott of Def Leppard recalled, “We were watching it through our fingers. I remember saying at the time, ‘Mick Jagger can get away with that … Billy Squier can’t.’”
Squier claimed in a N.Y. Post interview that the video wasn’t what he had agreed to, and it had an immediate impact on his career. Shortly after its release, he said, “I was playing to half-houses. I went from 15,000 to 20,000 people a night to 10,000 people. Everything I’d worked for my whole life was crumbling, and I couldn’t stop it. How can a four-minute video do that?”
Record Store Day Billy Squire Release
Record Store Day 2026 (April 18), a deluxe 2LP vinyl edition of Billy Squier’s final Capitol Records album, Tell The Truth. This limited edition (900 copies) features the album on vinyl for the first time, including unreleased material, alternate mixes, and expanded liner notes. The album is amazing!
When you listen to this release, you will ask yourself, What the hell were the record suits thinking. This is the type of Billy everyone grew to love.
FIRST TIME ON VINYL! Flatiron Recordings has announced that Billy Squier’s final album for Capitol – the Mike Chapman-produced ‘Tell The Truth’ – will be released on Record Store Day, April 18. Mysteriously shelved by the label upon release in 1993, this 2LP edition contains expanded liner notes, extended versions, previously unreleased material, and alternate mixes,…
RSD 2026
Celebrating the culture of the indie record store all year long. Record Store Day 2026 is April 18
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