A Chicago group that captured the decade's pop-rock energy before fading in the 1990s.
If you want to hear what they were about, start with 'All Night Long' and 'Animal.' That's the sound they got right.
Empires gave us 'All Night Long,' a song that still sounds like a Friday night in 1985. Their other tracks like 'Animal' and 'Bang' had that same mix of rock guitars and dance rhythms, built around David Rivas's vocals and straightforward, catchy hooks. They were part of that moment when rock bands were trying to get people moving.
They formed in the early 1980s and put out their first album in 1984, followed by 'All Night Long' in 1985 and 'For the Night' in 1987. By the early 1990s, their sound had fallen out of step with what was popular, and they eventually stopped working together. A compilation called 'The Best of Empires' came out in 1992.
Keep it compact: a lyric you come back to, a live memory, or the part of the catalog you would point someone toward first.
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