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Satan, who in Milton's Paradise Lost is also called Lucifer,^[1] on his way to bring about the downfall of Adam. Gustave Doré's illustration for Paradise Lost, Book III, lines 739–742 by John Milton.

Traditionally, Lucifer ( /ˈluːsɪfər/ or /ljuːsɪfər/) is a name that in English generally refers to the Devil or Satan, especially in reference to his status as a fallen angel.

In Latin, from which the English word is derived, Lucifer (as a noun) means "light-bearer" (from the words lucem ferre). It was the name given to the Morning Star, i.e. the planet Venus when seen at dawn.

Use of the name "Lucifer" for the Devil stems from applying to the Devil what Isaiah 14:3–20 says of a king of Babylon whom it calls Helel (הֵילֵל, Shining One), a Hebrew word that refers to the Day Star or Morning Star (the Latin term^[2] for which is lucifer)^[3] This association developed in Early Christianity, in the 2nd or 3rd century.

In 2 Peter 1:19 and elsewhere, the same Latin word lucifer is used to refer to the Morning Star, with no relation to the Devil. In Revelation 22:16, Jesus himself is called the Morning Star but not "Lucifer", even in Latin (Vulgata stella splendida matutina).

The Devil as Lucifer[link]

It is uncertain when precisely the Isaiah passage, which in its Latin translation contains the name "Lucifer", began to be applied to Satan, but it was certainly used in this way by 3rd-century Origen,^[4] and some scholars claim that the identification of "Lucifer" with the Devil was first made by Origen, Tertullian and Augustine of Hippo.^[5]

Jewish apocalyptic literature[link]

Gustave Doré's illustration for Milton's Paradise Lost, Book IV, lines 1013–1015: Satan (alias Lucifer) yielding before Gabriel

The association of Satan with the "Lucifer myth" develops in the tradition of Jewish pseudepigraphical texts of the 1st century BC such as Life of Adam and Eve and the Second Book of Enoch.^[6] In these writings, Satan-Sataniel (sometimes identified with Samael) is described as having been one of the archangels. Because he contrived "to make his throne higher than the clouds over the earth and resemble 'My power' on high", Satan-Sataniel was hurled down, with his hosts of angels, and since then, he has been flying in the air continually above the abyss.^[7]

The Jewish Encyclopedia states that in the apocalyptic literature, the conception of fallen angels is widespread. Throughout antiquity, stars were commonly regarded as living celestial beings (Job 38:7).^[8] Indications of belief in fallen angels, behind which probably lies the symbolizing of shooting stars, an astronomical phenomenon, are found in Isaiah 14:12.

Early Christian texts[link]

The Early Christian writers Tertullian ("Contra Marcionem," v. 11, 17), Origen (Homilies on Ezekiel 13), and others identify Lucifer with the Devil, who also is represented as being "cast down from heaven" (Revelation 12:7–10; cf. Luke 10:18).^[7]

In the New Testament the "adversary" has many names, but "Lucifer" is not among them. He is called "Satan" (Matt. 4:10; Mark 1:13, 4:15; Luke 10:18), "devil" (Matt. 4:1), "adversary" (1. Peter 5:8, ἀντίδικος; 1. Tim. 5:14, ἀντικείμενος), "enemy" (Matt. 13:39), "accuser" (Rev. 12:10), "old serpent" (Rev. 20:2), "great dragon" (Rev. 12:9), Beelzebub (Matt. 10:25, 12:24), and Belial (comp. Samael). In Luke 10:18, John 12:31 and Rev. 12:9 the fall of Satan is mentioned. The devil is regarded as the author of all evil (Luke 10:19; Acts 5:3; 2. Cor. 11:3; Ephes. 2:2), who beguiled Eve (2. Cor. 11:3; Rev. 12:9). Because of Satan, death came into this world, being ever the tempter (1. Cor. 7:5; 1. Thess. 3:5; 1. Peter 5:8), even as he tempted Jesus (Matt. 4). The Christian demonology and belief in the devil dominated subsequent periods.^[9] However, though the New Testament includes the conception that Satan fell from heaven "as lightning" (Luke 10:18; Rev. 12:7–10),^[8] it nowhere applies the name Lucifer to him.

Isaiah 14:12[link]

The relevant passage is in chapter 14 of the Book of Isaiah: "And it shall come to pass in the day that the LORD shall give thee rest from thy sorrow, and from thy fear, and from the hard bondage wherein thou wast made to serve, That thou shalt take up this proverb against the king of Babylon, and say, How hath the oppressor ceased! the golden city ! ... How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit." (KJV, Isaiah 14:3-5, 12-15).

Isaiah here promises that the Israelites will be freed from their Babylonian captivity and will then be able to use in a taunting song against their oppressor the image of the Morning Star, which rises at dawn as the brightest of the stars, outshining Jupiter and Saturn, but lasting only until the sun appears. This image was used in an old popular Canaanite story that the Morning Star tried to rise high above the clouds and establish himself on the mountain where the gods assembled, in the far north, but was cast down into the underworld.^[7][10]

The phrase "O star of the morning, son of the dawn" in verse 12 translates the Hebrew הילל בן־שׁחר Helel Ben-Shachar. As the Latin poets personified the Morning Star and the Dawn (Aurora), as well as the Sun and the Moon and other heavenly bodies, so in Canaanite mythology Morning Star and Dawn were pictured as two deities, the former being the son of the latter.^[11]

The Septuagint renders the phrase as ὁ ἑωσφόρος ὁ πρωὶ ἀνατέλλων "the early-rising Eosphorus". Jerome follows this in his Latin Vulgate text, translating lucifer qui mane oriebaris ("morning star that used to rise early").

This passage came to be applied to Satan in his role as the "fallen angel" by the Church fathers of the 3rd century, including Tertullian and Origen.^[10] However the word lucifer never came to be seen as a proper name of Satan in Latin, as it did in English. Lucifer was still used as a given name, as for 4th-century Lucifer of Cagliari (d. 370). As a title of Christ, it is still used in the Exsultet hymn sung during the Easter Vigil in the Roman Rite.

Most modern English versions (including the NIV, RSV, NRSV, NASB, NABRE, NJB and ESV) render the Hebrew word as "day star", "morning star" or something similar, and never as "Lucifer", a word that in English is now very rarely used in the sense of the original word in Hebrew (Morning Star), though in Latin "Lucifer" was a literal translation.

A passage quite similar to that in Isaiah is found in Ezekiel 28:1–19, which is expressly directed against the king of Tyre, a city on an island that had grown rich by trade, factors alluded to in the text.^[12] In Christian tradition, it too has been applied to Lucifer, because of some of the expressions contained in it.^[13] But, since it does not contain the image of the Morning Star, discussion of it belongs rather to the article on Satan than to that on Lucifer.

Lucifer (Le génie du mal) by Guillaume Geefs (Cathedral of St. Paul, Liège, Belgium)

The same holds for the Christian depiction of Satan in other books of the Old Testament as, for instance, in the Book of Job, where Satan, who has been wandering the Earth, has a discussion with God and makes a deal with him to test Job.

The Tyndale Bible Dictionary states that there are many who believe the expression "Lucifer" and the surrounding context in Isaiah 14 refer to Satan: they believe the similarities among Isaiah 14:12, Luke 10:18, and Revelation 12:7–10 warrant this conclusion. But it points out that the context of the Isaiah passage is about the accomplished defeat of the king of Babylon, while the New Testament passages speak of Satan.^[10]

In the Latter Day Saint movement[link]

Some Mormon sects in the Latter Day Saint movement maintain that Lucifer was a name of the Devil before he rebelled against God and was cast out of heaven. Accounts of the fall of Lucifer/Satan are found in several places within LDS canonical scripture, including the Doctrine and Covenants^[14] and in the Pearl of Great Price.^[15] The Book of Mormon also contains sections from the King James version of Isaiah, including Isaiah 14:12–15.^[16] The Book of Mormon version references the Latin translation of “morning star” as “Lucifer” that is used, in some versions of The Bible.

The Book of Moses in "The Pearl of Great Price" in chapter 4, verses 1-4 states:

"And I, the Lord God, spake unto Moses, saying: That Satan, whom thou hast commanded in the name of mine Only Begotten, is the same which was from the beginning, and he came before me, saying— Behold, here am I, send me, I will be thy son, and I will redeem all mankind, that one soul shall not be lost, and surely I will do it; wherefore give me thine honor. But, behold, my Beloved Son, which was my Beloved and Chosen from the beginning, said unto me— Father, thy will be done, and the glory be thine forever. Wherefore, because that Satan rebelled against me, and sought to destroy the agency of man, which I, the Lord God, had given him, and also, that I should give unto him mine own power; by the power of mine Only Begotten, I caused that he should be cast down; And he became Satan, yea, even the devil, the father of all lies, to deceive and to blind men, and to lead them captive at his will, even as many as would not hearken unto my voice."

In Judaism[link]

In Judaism, "morning star" refers to the king of Babylon, who is warned^[17] in Isaiah 14:12 of his coming demise at the hands of the Persians and the Medes.^[18] Isaiah was living in 586 BC, the time period shortly before the Babylonian Conquest of Kingdom of Judah. Isaiah had prophetic visions about the coming result of the Babylonian Exile on Jews and the nations. By contrast, Satan is considered an angel under the direct command of the God of Israel. Satan is considered an accuser appointed by God to test men's faith, similar to a prosecutor in a court of law.

Use of the word "lucifer" in the Bible[link]

The Vulgate (Latin) version of the Christian Bible used the word "lucifer" (with lower-case initial) twice to refer to the Morning Star: once in 2 Peter 1:19 to translate the Greek word φωσφόρος (phōsphoros), a word, from φῶς (phōs) meaning "light" and φέρω (pherō̄) meaning "to carry", that has the same meaning of Light-Bringer that the Latin word has, and once in Isaiah 14:12 to translate the Hebrew word הילל (Hêlēl).^[19] In the latter passage the title of "Morning Star" is given to the tyrannous Babylonian king, who the prophet says is destined to fall. This passage was later applied to the prince of the demons, and so the name "Lucifer" came to be used outside the Bible for the devil, and was popularized in works such as Dante Alighieri's Inferno and John Milton's Paradise Lost, but for English speakers the greatest influence has been its use in the King James Version of Isa 14:12 to translate the Hebrew word הילל, which more modern English versions render as "Morning Star" or "Day Star". A similar passage in Ezekiel 28:11–19 regarding the "king of Tyre" was also applied to the devil, contributing to the traditional picture of the fallen angel.

The Vulgate translation uses "lucifer" (Morning Star) twice to translate words in the Book of Job that meant something different: once to represent the word "בקר"‎^[20] (which instead means "morning") in Job 11:17, and once for the word "מזרות" (usually taken to mean "the constellations") in Job 38:32. The same Latin word appears also in the Vulgate version of Psalms 110:3, where the original has "שׁחר" (dawn, the same word as in Isaiah 14:12).

The Vulgate did not use the Latin word lucifer to represent the two references to the Morning Star in the Book of Revelation. In both cases the original Greek text uses a circumlocution instead of the single word "φωσφόρος", and a corresponding circumlocution is used in the Latin. Thus "stella matutina" is used for "ὁ ἀστὴρ ὁ πρωϊνός" in Revelation 2:28, which promises the Morning Star to those who persevere, and for "ὁ ἀστὴρ ὁ πρωϊνός" (or, according to some manuscripts, "ὁ ἀστὴρ ὁ ὀρθρινός") in Revelation 22:16, where Jesus calls himself "the bright morning star".

The English word "Lucifer" is used in none of these places (other than Isaiah 14:12), where the Latin translation uses the Latin word "lucifer" (i.e., morning star).

"Morning Star" as a title[link]

Jesus is referred to as "the bright and morning star" (ὁ ἀστὴρ ὁ λαμπρὸς καὶ ὀρθρινός) in Revelation 22:16, but not as Phosphorus (Lucifer).

The Exultet chant in praise of the paschal candle in the Roman Rite calls Christ the Morning Star, using the Latin word, lucifer:

In the Litany of Loreto the Blessed Virgin Mary is invoked as "Stella matutina" (Morning Star), and a popular English hymn addressed to her has the stanza:

Mary Immaculate, Star of the Morning,

Chosen before the creation began,

Destined to bring, through the Light of your Dawning,

Conquest of Satan, and rescue to Man.

"Morning Star" was also applied as a title to Byzantine Emperor Nikephoros II in 968. Liutprand, Bishop of Cremona, reports that the emperor was greeted on his arrival at Hagia Sophia with the chant: "Behold the morning star approaches, Eos rises; he reflects in his glances the rays of the sun – he the pale death of the Saracens, Nicephorus the ruler."^[21]

Astronomical significance[link]

Because the planet Venus is an inferior planet, meaning that its orbit lies between the orbit of the Earth and the Sun, it can never rise high in the sky at night as seen from Earth. Depending on the orbital locations of both Venus and Earth, it can be seen in the eastern morning sky for an hour or so before the Sun rises, or in the western evening sky for an hour or so after the Sun sets, but never during the dark of midnight.

It is the brightest object in the sky after the Sun and the Moon. As bright and as brilliant as it is, ancient people did not understand why they could not see it at midnight like the outer planets, or during midday, like the Sun and Moon. It outshines the planets Saturn and Jupiter, which do last all night, but it soon disappears. Canaanite mythology has a story of an unsuccessful attempt by Athtar, the Morning Star pictured as a god, to take over the throne of Baal.^[22][23]

A 2nd-century sculpture of the moon goddess Selene accompanied by Hesperus and Phosphorus: the corresponding Latin names are Luna, Vesper and Lucifer.

"Lucifer" as Latin name for the Morning Star[link]

In Classical Latin, Lucifer was used as a translation of Greek Phosphoros (lit. "light-bearer"), a term for the morning star. It is first found in Varro and Cicero.^[24]

stella Veneris, quae Φωσφόρος Graece Lucifer Latine dicitur cum antegreditur solem, cum subsequitur autem Ἕσπερος (De Natura Deorum, 2.53

"The star of Venus, called in Greek Phosphoros (the light-bringer) and in Latin Lucifer when it precedes the sun, but when it follows it Hesperos."^[25]

The Taxil Hoax: Lucifer's alleged connection with Freemasonry[link]

Léo Taxil (1854–1907) claimed that Freemasonry is associated with worshipping Lucifer. In what is known as the Taxil hoax, he claimed that supposedly leading Freemason Albert Pike had addressed "The 23 Supreme Confederated Councils of the world" (an invention of Taxil), instructing them that Lucifer was God, and was in opposition to the evil god Adonai. Apologists of Freemasonry contend that, when Albert Pike and other Masonic scholars spoke about the "Luciferian path," or the "energies of Lucifer," they were referring to the Morning Star, the light bearer,^[26] the search for light; the very antithesis of dark, satanic evil. Taxil promoted a book by Diana Vaughan (actually written by himself, as he later confessed publicly)^[27] that purported to reveal a highly secret ruling body called the Palladium, which controlled the organization and had a Satanic agenda. As described by Freemasonry Disclosed in 1897:

With frightening cynicism, the miserable person we shall not name here [Taxil] declared before an assembly especially convened for him that for twelve years he had prepared and carried out to the end the most sacrilegious of hoaxes. We have always been careful to publish special articles concerning Palladism and Diana Vaughan. We are now giving in this issue a complete list of these articles, which can now be considered as not having existed.^[28]

Taxil's work and Pike's address continue to be quoted by anti-masonic groups.^[29]

In Devil-Worship in France, Arthur Edward Waite compared Taxil's work to what today we would call a tabloid story, replete with logical and factual inconsistencies.

See also "Lucifer and Satan" at the Grand Lodge of British Columbia and Yukon website.

Occult beliefs[link]

The Sigil of Lucifer ("Seal of Satan") a magical sigil^[30] used occasionally as an emblem by Satanists

In the modern occultism of Dolores North (alias Madeline Montalban),^[31] Lucifer's identification as the Morning Star (Venus) equates him with Lumiel, whom she regarded as the Archangel of Light, and among Satanists he is seen as the "Torch of Baphomet" and Azazel.

In the Satanic Bible of 1969, Lucifer is acknowledged as one of the Four Crown Princes of Hell, particularly that of the East. Lord of the Air, Lucifer has been named "Bringer of Light, the Morning Star, Intellectualism, Enlightenment."

Author Michael W. Ford has written on Lucifer as a "mask" of the Adversary, a motivator and illuminating force of the mind and subconscious.^[32]

Luciferianism is a belief system that venerates the essential characteristics that are affixed to Lucifer. The tradition, influenced by Gnosticism, usually reveres Lucifer not as the Devil, but as a liberator or guiding spirit^[33] or even the true god as opposed to Jehovah.^[34]

Gallery[link]

• 

  Lucifer, by Alessandro Vellutello (1534), for Dante's Inferno, canto 34

• 

  Lucifer, by William Blake, for Dante's Inferno, canto 34

• 

  cover of 1887 edition of Mario Rapisardi's poem Lucifero

• 

  Lucifer before the Lord, by Mihály Zichy (19th century)

• 

  Gustave Dore, illustration to Paradise Lost, book IX, 179–187

• 

  Mayor Hall and Lucifer, by an unknown artist (1870)

• 

  The planet Venus, either as the "Morning Star" (in Latin, Lucifer) or as the Evening Star (in Latin, Hesperus)

See also[link]

• Christianity
• Devil
• Earendel
• Eosphoros
• Inferno (Dante), the first of the three canticas of Divine Comedy
• Luceafăr
• Lucifer in popular culture
• War in Heaven

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Campbell, Joseph (1972). Myths To Live By. A Condor Book: Souvenir Press (Educational & Academic) Ltd. ISBN 0-285-64731-8

External links[link]

Wikisource has the text of the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia article Lucifer.

•  Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Lucifer". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. 
• Jewish Encyclopedia: Lucifer

Bob Seger
Bob Seger on stage in 2007
Background information
Birth name	Robert Clark Seger
Born	(1945-05-06) 6 May 1945 (age 67) Dearborn, Michigan
Genres	Rock, heartland rock, roots rock, piano rock, country rock, country
Occupations	Singer-songwriter, musician
Instruments	Vocals, guitar, piano
Years active	1961–present
Labels	Hideout, Cameo, Capitol, Palladium
Associated acts	Glenn Frey, The Eagles, Frankie Miller, Shaun Murphy, Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section, Little Feat, Kid Rock, Grand Funk Railroad
Website	BobSeger.com

Robert Clark "Bob" Seger (born May 6, 1945) is an American rock and roll singer-songwriter, guitarist and pianist.

As a locally successful Detroit-area artist, he performed and recorded as Bob Seger and the Last Heard and Bob Seger System throughout the 1960s. By the early 1970s, he had dropped the "System" from his recordings, and he continued to strive for broader success with other various bands. In 1973, he put together The Silver Bullet Band, an evolving group of Detroit-area musicians, with whom he became most successful. In 1976, he achieved a national breakout with the album Night Moves. On his studio albums, he also worked extensively with the Alabama-based Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section, which appeared on several of Seger's best-selling singles and albums.

A roots rocker with a classic raspy, shouting voice, Seger wrote and recorded songs that dealt with blue-collar themes and was an exemplar of heartland rock. Seger has recorded many hits, including "Night Moves", "Turn the Page", "We've Got Tonight", "Against the Wind", and "Like a Rock", and also co-wrote the Eagles' number-one hit "Heartache Tonight". His iconic recording of "Old Time Rock and Roll" was named one of the Songs of the Century in 2001.

With a career spanning five decades, Seger continues to perform and record today. Seger was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004.

Early years[link]

Bob Seger was born in Dearborn, Michigan, to Stewart and Charlotte Seger, and lived in the area until age 6 when his family moved to nearby Ann Arbor, Michigan.^[1] He has an older brother George.^[2]

Seger's father, a medical technician for the Ford Motor Company, played several instruments and Seger was exposed to music from an early age.^[2] Seger was also exposed to frequent arguments between his parents that disturbed the neighborhood at night.^[2] In 1956, when Seger was 10 years old, his father abandoned the family and moved to California.^[2] The remaining family soon lost their comfortable middle-class status and struggled financially.^[2]

Seger attended Tappan Junior High School (now Tappan Middle School) and graduated from Pioneer High School in 1963. He ran track and field in high school. Seger also went to Lincoln Park High School for a year.^[3]

Seger has stated that the first musicians "that really got to me" were Little Richard and Elvis Presley.^[4] "Come Go With Me" by The Del Vikings, a hit in 1957, was the first record he bought.

Regional favorite: 1961–1976[link]

The Decibels & The Town Criers[link]

Bob Seger arrived on the Detroit music scene in 1961 fronting a three-piece band called the Decibels. The band included Seger on guitar, piano, keyboards, and vocals, Pete Stanger on guitar, and H.B. Hunter on drums. All of the members attended Ann Arbor High. The Decibels recorded an acetate demo of a song called "The Lonely One", at Del Shannon's studio in 1961. As well as being Seger's first original song, "The Lonely One" was Seger's first song to be played on the radio, airing only once on an Ann Arbor radio station.^[2][5]

After the Decibels disbanded, Seger joined the Town Criers, a four-piece band with Seger on lead vocals, John Flis on bass, Pep Perrine on drums, and Larry Mason on lead guitar. The Town Criers, covering songs like "Louie Louie", began gaining a steady following. Meanwhile, Seger was listening to James Brown and said that, for him and his friends, Live at the Apollo was their favorite record following its release in 1963. Seger was also widely influenced by the music of The Beatles, once they hit American shores in 1964. In general, he and local musician friends such as future Eagle Glenn Frey bought into the premises of 1960s pop and rock radio, with its hook-driven hits; he later recalled he and Frey thinking at the time, "You’re nobody if you can’t get on the radio."^[6]

Doug Brown & The Omens[link]

As the Town Criers began landing more gigs, Bob Seger met a man named Doug Brown, backed by a band called the Omens. Seger joined Doug Brown & the Omens, who presumably had a bigger following than the Town Criers. While Doug Brown was the primary lead vocalist for the group, Seger would take the lead on some songs—covering R&B numbers.^[2] It was with this group that Seger first appeared on an officially released recording: the 1965 single "TGIF" backed with "First Girl", credited to Doug Brown and the Omens. Seger later appeared on Doug Brown and the Omens' parody of Barry Sadler's song "Ballad of the Green Berets" which was re-titled "Ballad of the Yellow Beret" and mocked draft dodgers. Soon after its release, Sadler and his record label threatened Brown and his band with a lawsuit and the recording was withdrawn from the market.^[7]

While Bob was a member of the Omens, he met his longtime manager Edward "Punch" Andrews, who at the time was partnered with Dave Leone running the Hideout franchise, which consisted of two clubs where local acts would play and a small-scale record label. Seger began writing and producing for other acts that Punch was managing, such as the Mama Cats and the Mushrooms (with Frey). It was then when Seger and Doug Brown were approached by Punch and Leone to write a song for the Underdogs, another local band who recently had a hit with a song called "Man in the Glass". Seger contributed a song called "East Side Story", which ultimately proved to be a failure for the Underdogs.^[7]

The Last Heard[link]

Seger decided to record "East Side Story" himself, and officially left the Omens (though he did retain Doug Brown as a producer). As Bob Seger and the Last Heard, Seger released his version of the song with Hideout Records in January 1966, and it became his first big Detroit hit. The single (backed with "East Side Sound", an instrumental version of "East Side Story") sold 50,000 copies, mostly in the Detroit area, and led to a contract with Cameo-Parkway Records. Though the name "The Last Heard" originally referred to the collection of Omens and Town Criers who recorded "East Side Story" with Seger, it soon became the name of Seger's permanent band, which consisted of former Town Crier Pep Perrine on drums, Carl Lagassa on guitar, and Dan Honaker on bass. Following "East Side Story", the group released four more singles: the James Brown-inspired holiday single "Sock It to Me Santa", the Dylan-esque "Persecution Smith", "Vagrant Winter", and perhaps the most notable, "Heavy Music", released in 1967. "Heavy Music", which sold even more copies than "East Side Story", had potential to break out nationally when Cameo-Parkway suddenly went out of business. The song would stay in Seger's live act for many years to come.

The Bob Seger System[link]

After Cameo-Parkway folded, Seger and Punch began searching for a new label. In the spring of 1968, Bob Seger & the Last Heard signed with major label Capitol Records, turning down Motown Records, who offered more money than Capitol. Seger felt that Capitol was more appropriate for his genre than Motown.^[2]

Capitol changed the name of the band to The Bob Seger System. In the transition between labels, guitarist Carl Lagassa left the band and keyboard player Bob Schultz joined. The System's first single with Capitol was the anti-war message song "2 + 2 = ?", which reflected a marked change in Seger's political attitudes from "The Ballad of the Yellow Beret". The single was again a hit in Detroit, and hit number 1 on radio stations in Buffalo, New York and Orlando, Florida,^[8] but went unnoticed almost everywhere else, and failed to chart nationally in the US. The single did, however, make the Canadian national charts, peaking at #79.

The second single from The Bob Seger System was "Ramblin' Gamblin' Man". It was a major hit in Michigan, but it also became Seger's first national hit, peaking at #17. The song's success led to the release of an album of the same title in 1969. The Ramblin' Gamblin' Man album reached #62 on the Billboard pop albums chart.

Seger was unable to follow up this success. For the next album, singer/songwriter Tom Neme joined The System, ultimately writing and singing the majority of the tunes featured, for which the group was heavily criticized. The album, called Noah, failed to chart at all, leading Seger to briefly quit the music industry and attend college. He returned the following year and put out the System's final album, 1970's Mongrel, this time without Tom Neme. Bob Schultz left the band as well, being replaced by Dan Watson. Mongrel, with the powerful single "Lucifer", was considered to be a strong album by many critics and Detroit fans, but failed to do well commercially.

Solo[link]

After Mongrel failed to live-up to the success of Ramblin' Gamblin' Man, The System dissipated. For a short period of time following the breakup, Seger had ambitions to be a one-man act.^[9] In 1971, Seger released his first solo album, the all-acoustic Brand New Morning. The album was a commercial failure and led to Seger's departure from Capitol Records.^[5][10]

Seger, having regained an eye for bands,^[9] began playing with the duo Teegarden & Van Winkle, who in 1970 had a hit single with "God, Love and Rock & Roll". Together they recorded Smokin' O.P.'s, released on Punch Andrews' own Palladium Records. The album mainly consisted of covers, spawning a minor hit with a version of Tim Hardin's "If I Were a Carpenter" (#76 US), though it did feature "Someday", a new Seger original, and a re-release of "Heavy Music". The album reached 180 on the Billboard 200.

After spending the better part of 1972 touring with Teegarden & Van Winkle, Seger left the duo to put together a new backing band, referred to as both My Band and the Borneo Band, made up of musicians from Tulsa, Oklahoma. Jamie Oldaker, Dick Sims, and Marcy Levy were all members of My Band before joining Eric Clapton's backing band. In 1973, Seger put out Back in '72, recorded partly with the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section, a renowned group of session musicians who had recorded with the likes of J. J. Cale and Aretha Franklin.^[11] According to Seger, there was a financial misunderstanding with the musicians: they offered to record him "for $1500 a side", which he took to mean $1500 per album side. When he found out that they meant $1500 per song, he left after recording three songs but resolved to work with them in the future.^[11] Back in '72 featured the studio version of Seger's later live classic "Turn the Page;" "Rosalie", a song Seger wrote about CKLW music director Rosalie Trombley (and which was later recorded by Thin Lizzy); and "I've Been Working", a song originally by Van Morrison, a strong influence on Seger's musical development.^[12] Despite the strength of Seger's backup musicians, the album only reached 188 on the US charts and has since faded into obscurity. Even so, Back in '72 and its supporting tour mark the beginnings of Seger's long-time relationships with future Silver Bullet Band saxophonist Alto Reed, powerhouse female vocalist Shaun Murphy, and the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section. Over the tour, My Band would prove to be unreliable, which frustrated Seger. By the end of 1973, Seger had left My Band in search of a new backing band.

The Silver Bullet Band[link]

In 1974, Seger formed The Silver Bullet Band. Its original members were guitarist Drew Abbott, drummer and backup-singer Charlie Allen Martin, keyboard-player Rick Mannassa, bass guitarist Chris Campbell, and saxophone player Alto Reed (then known as Tom Cartmell). With this new band sitting in occasionally, Seger released the album Seven, which contained the Detroit-area hard-rock hit "Get Out of Denver". This track was a modest success and charted at #80 nationally.

In 1975, Seger returned to Capitol Records and released the album Beautiful Loser, with help from The Silver Bullet Band (with new keyboardist Robyn Robbins replacing Mannassa) on his cover of the Tina Turner penned "Nutbush City Limits". The album's single "Katmandu" (in addition to being another substantial Detroit-area hit) was Seger's first real national break-out track since "Ramblin' Gamblin' Man". Although it just missed the US Pop Top 40 - peaking at #43 - the song received strong airplay in a number of markets nationwide including Detroit.

In April 1976, Seger and The Silver Bullet Band released the album Live Bullet, recorded over two nights in Detroit's Cobo Arena in September 1975. It contained Seger's rendition of "Nutbush City Limits" as well as Seger's own classic take on life on the road, "Turn the Page", from Back in '72. It also included his late 1960s successful releases — "Heavy Music" and "Ramblin' Gamblin' Man". Critic Dave Marsh later wrote that "Live Bullet is one of the best live albums ever made ... In spots, particularly during the medley of 'Travelin' Man'/'Beautiful Loser' on side one, Seger sounds like a man with one last shot at the top."^[13] An instant best-seller in Detroit, Live Bullet began to get attention in other parts of the country, selling better than Seger's previous albums, getting progressive rock radio and album-oriented rock airplay, and enabling Seger to headline more shows.^[14] Yet still, Seger had a popularity imbalance. In June 1976, he was a featured performer at the Pontiac Silverdome outside Detroit in front of nearly 80,000 fans. The next night, Seger played before fewer than a thousand people in Chicago.^[15]