Some guys have all the luck. Those guys are not The Stompers.

Formed in Boston in 1977, The Stompers played the same sweaty, bar band R&B and old-fashioned rock & roll that fellow Massachussettsonians The J. Geils Band had parlayed into nationwide success over the previous few years. The group toured relentlessly throughout New England in every venue that would have them, from the scuzziest dive to the toniest hall, honing their chops and dreaming of fame.

In 1982, The Stompers won a Battle Of The Bands-type talent search in New York. The mighty Atlantic Records offered them the chance to record a single, but Boardwalk Records swooped in and topped that with the promise of a full-length album. Boardwalk may have been a young, small indie, but it was founded and run by Neil Bogart, the disco hitmaker who started Casablanca Records and ruled the airwaves in the 1970s, and he assembled a stable of stars for his new project: Joan Jett, Harry Chapin, Curtis Mayfield, and Ringo of The Beatles had each recorded their latest album for the label. The Stompers signed up for stardom.

The band entered the studio to record their debut and a few months later Bogart was dead (nobody has any luck in this story). Boardwalk found itself in disarray but released The Stompers’ album in the summer of 1983 along with its Motown-meets-Springsteen lead single, “Never Tell An Angel (When Your Heart’s On Fire)” — right around the time the label filed for bankruptcy. The single entered the Billboard chart at #89, peaked at #88, and immediately dropped out of sight with no promotion available from their non-existent record company.

But wait! PolyGram acquired the band’s contract and rereleased the album under a different title in 1984. Great news, right? Ehhh. During the first half of the 1980s, PolyGram lost almost $250 million. Things were so bad that music industry insiders had a joke — Q: ”What’s the difference between PolyGram and the Titanic?” A: ”At least the Titanic went down with a good band.” (Ouch. Too soon, guys.) As a cost-cutting move, the company laid off their promotional staff right after the rerelease of the album, and The Stompers once again found that nobody knew about them outside of New England, where the people of Boston continued to vote them as the best local band almost every year for most of the decade.

So here’s The Stompers with their 1983 single, “Never Tell An Angel (When Your Heart’s On Fire).” This is probably more promotion than it received upon release.