In the early 1980s, Christenson was the
bassist/singer in the local Erie band Prophecy, which also included keyboardist John Schaaf, who later joined Stabilizers’ Erie-based live band. Prophecy toured across Pennsylvania, Ohio, and New York, scoring a local hit with “Another American Rock 'N Roll Story”. The band broke up by design when Schaaf left for law school and drummer Brad Vargo left for medical school, playing their final show in 1984; Christenson connected with Nevens later that year to form Stabilizers, writing and recording the group's songs. George Hazuda was added on drums for live performances, with other members soon joining the group, including Schaaf on keyboards and saxophone. they were signed to
Columbia Records in 1985, releasing
Tyranny, their first and only album, the following year. The first single from
Tyranny, “One Simple Thing”, peaked at #21 on the
Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart in 1986 and #93 on the
Billboard Hot 100 in 1987, helped by the band's performance of the song on
American Bandstand. The song peaked at #100 in Australia. Two
music videos were released to promote the album: “One Simple Thing”, directed by
David Fincher, who would go on to greater success directing the feature films
Alien 3,
Se7en, and
Fight Club; and “Tyranny”, directed by David Hogan. The “Tyranny” single failed to chart, and for the next five years, Stabilizers disappeared from view. Following the acquisition of Columbia Records by
Sony, Stabilizers signed a new deal with
MCA Records, but did not initially release any material. However, in 1991, an unreleased track from the
MCA Records sessions, “Maybe This Time”, was included in the film
If Looks Could Kill and its soundtrack album. Dave Christenson and Rich Nevens remained in fairly steady contact after the dissolution of the band. David D. Christenson (born March 15, 1963, in Erie, Pennsylvania) died of
lung cancer in
Seattle, Washington on December 13, 2017, after a long illness. He was 54 and was survived by his wife and two sons. ==Band members==