Thirty years ago today, on Jan. 22, 1991, Aaron Tippin released his debut album, You’ve Got to Stand for Something, on RCA Nashville.
The debut single from You’ve Got to Stand for Something, which was its title track, was written by Buddy Brock and Tippin, the latter of whom wrote or co-wrote all 10 songs on the project. “You’ve Got to Stand for Something” landed in the Top 10 on the charts, making it the highest-charting song from the album.
Although Tippin penned “You’ve Got to Stand for Something,” he credits his then-label head, Joe Galante, for picking the song for the record.
“We’d been running songs down, figuring out if we were going to put them on my album,” Tippin recalls to The Boot. “I went in to Joe’s office to say, ‘I’ve got a new song I’m gonna play for you,’ and when he heard it, he said, ‘That’s gonna be the first single.’ So, Joe’s the one that actually picked it.”
Tippin released two other singles from You’ve Got to Stand for Something: ”I Wonder How Far It Is Over You,” which landed in the Top 40, and “She Made a Memory Out of Me.” He then found more success with his sophomore album, Read Between the Lines, which was released on RCA in 1992; that project included Tippin’s first No. 1 hit, “There Ain’t Nothin’ Wrong With the Radio,” as well as the Top 10 single “I Wouldn’t Have It Any Other Way.”
In 2015, Tippin released Aaron Tippin 25 in celebration of his 25th anniversary in the music business. The record includes “You’ve Got to Stand for Something” and “There Ain’t Nothin’ Wrong With the Radio,” along with several other of his hits, including “Kiss This” and “Where the Stars and Stripes and the Eagle Fly,” and a few new songs.
You’ve Got to Stand for Something is available for purchase on Amazon.
Top 10 Country Albums of the 1990s: