Heart - Little Queen
- FaceOff - עימות חזיתי
- 6 hours ago
- 4 min read
Written By: Moti Kupfer
Release date - 14.05.1977
In many cases, there is a direct correlation between the relationship record labels have with their artists and the artists’ ability to succeed. If you want an artist focused on their music, give them the freedom they need, though not every artist requires complete creative freedom.
One of the most bizarre stories of deliberate sabotage by a record label happened at the end of 1976, when “Mushroom Records” decided to promote one of its most promising acts, “Heart”, in a very unusual way.
“Mushroom” published a semi-nude photo of sisters Ann and Nancy Wilson standing back-to-back and smiling mischievously, with the headline strongly implying: “It was only our first time”.
Not only did the label suggest to the world that the sisters were supposedly lesbians, but it also hinted at an incestuous relationship between them. Naturally, all of it came from the twisted imagination of the people at “Mushroom”.
The Wilson sisters, who had no idea what was happening behind their backs, were approached one day by a radio promotion representative in Detroit who bluntly asked them whether they were actually lovers.
The sisters later said that the label had spread false information that completely went against their values and had done so behind their backs without any shame. Following the encounter with the salesman, Ann Wilson stormed into her hotel room and wrote the following lyrics: “You lying so low in the weeds, I bet you gonna ambush me”.
It became the furious and fast-paced attack of "Barracuda", written against the record label “Mushroom” and the small-minded people who cynically exploited band members to promote them in such a disgraceful way. It was also "Barracuda" that opened “Heart”’s third studio album “Little Queen”, released on May 14, 1977.
“Heart” was formed a decade before this album under the name “The Army”, featuring bassist Steve Fossen, guitarist Roger Fisher, Don Wilhelm on guitar, keyboards and vocals, and Ray Schaefer on drums.
Over the years, the band went through numerous lineup changes and later changed its name first to “Hocus Pocus” and eventually to “White Hart”, inspired by a book by physicist and science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke.
In 1970, Ann Wilson joined the band. Born in June 1950 in San Diego, California, she spent much of her childhood moving between military bases in Panama and Taiwan because of her father’s career as a major in the U.S. Marines.
To preserve a sense of home wherever they moved, the family turned Sundays into musical gatherings, ranging from opera records to singing and conducting together with their father in the living room.
About three years later, in 1973, Ann’s younger sister Nancy Wilson also joined “Heart”. Both sisters realized music was their destiny after seeing “The Beatles” perform at a young age.
During their early teenage years, their parents bought them guitars, and after their father retired from the military, the family settled in Seattle. Years later, the Wilson sisters would become owners of a Seattle recording studio that hosted many of the musicians who helped turn grunge into a dominant genre in the early 1990s.
Meanwhile, after watching “The Beatles” on “The Ed Sullivan Show”, the Wilson sisters formed a vocal harmony group called “The Viewpoints” and began performing around the United States before eventually joining “Heart” in the early seventies.
Ann and Nancy Wilson started writing songs, mostly acoustic material, to expand the band’s repertoire. They recorded demos at “Mushroom Records”, and together with producer Mike Flicker, the “Heart” lineup of the Wilson sisters, Roger Fisher, and Howard Leese began working on their debut album “Dreamboat Annie”, released in September 1975.
During 1976, the band began work on what was supposed to be their second studio album, planned for release later that year. Everything changed when “Mushroom” made the disastrous decision to sacrifice the Wilson sisters’ principles for a provocative photo published in Rolling Stone magazine.
“Heart” responded by putting the album on hold. Eventually, the record was still released, even though several songs remained unfinished in one way or another. The band had no choice but to honor their contract and release the material as it was.
Their third album, “Little Queen”, arrived under a new contract with the label “Portrait”. The album blended the folk-inspired elements of their debut with classic rock influences. Instruments such as flute and mandolin can also be heard throughout the record, making it clear that this was far from a straightforward classic rock album.
The album opens, of course, with "Barracuda", whose dominant riff was allegedly borrowed without permission from a song by “Nazareth”, something that reportedly angered the band once they became aware of it.
"Dream of the Archer" belongs to the album’s folk-oriented side, blending mandolins with medieval imagery and atmosphere. "Kick It Out" is a straight-ahead classic rock track featuring a triumphant closing solo by Roger Fisher, carrying a simple but effective message about making the most of life while we are here.
The title track "Little Queen" deals both with the rise and success of a musician and the loneliness that can come with suddenly reaching great heights without being prepared for them.
It is fair to say that this “Heart” album helped pave the way for future female-led rock bands. As Billy Altman of Rolling Stone summarized it: “Lord knows we need many more women in rock and roll.”
For Listening: Spotify, Apple Music
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