Hollywood Nights
"Hollywood Nights" is a song written and recorded by American rock artist Bob Seger. It was released in 1978 as the second single from his album, "Stranger in Town". Background. Seger said "The chorus just came into my head; I was driving around in the Hollywood Hills, and I started singing 'Hollywood nights/Hollywood hills/Above all the lights/Hollywood nights.' I went back to my rented house, and there was a "Time" with Cheryl Tiegs on the cover...I said 'Let's write a song about a guy from the Midwest who runs into someone like this  and gets caught up in the whole bizarro thing.'" Personnel. Credits are adapted from the liner notes of Seger's 1994 "Greatest Hits" compilation. The Silver Bullet Band Additional musicians Reception. "Billboard Magazine" described "Hollywood Nights" as "a gut crunching rocker with all the stops pulled out" and described Seger's vocal performance as "absolutely demonic." "Cash Box" called it "a solid rocker about a Hollywood romance" with "a commanding beat, piano fills, driving guitar work and excellent lead and backing vocals." "Cash Box" also said that "Hollywood Nights" is "what Seger is all about." Chart performance. The single edit  of "Hollywood Nights" reached No. 12 on the US "Billboard" Hot 100 chart. In the UK, the full five-minute version was released as a single on black and silver vinyl, and gave him his chart debut at No. 42. A live version from the in-concert album "Nine Tonight" in 1981 was issued in the UK as a single and charted at No. 49, while a reissue of the original version in 1995 charted at No. 52.