Starz was never a favorite among rock critics, who had few kind words for its Capitol releases of the late '70s. Whether
Starz was providing pop-metal or power pop, the band received its 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 was merely entertaining, and the band was good at what it did it 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 its fourth album,
Coliseum Rock. Not surprisingly, critics trashed this 1978 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 was hoping for, and in 1980 the band called it quits. ~ Alex Henderson