“Hanging on a Heart Attack” by Device

Device came out of the gate in 1986 with "Hanging on a Heart Attack", the lead single from 22B3, which turned out to be the American pop rock band's only album. Holly Knight wrote it with Mike Chapman, who also produced, and Paul Engemann sings it. The trade press liked what it heard: Cash Box hailed Knight as a "songwriter par excellence" and called the track a tough, eerie rocker, Billboard's Nancy Erlich reckoned its heavy dance beat and flashes of weirdness would win over mainstream and alternative crowds alike, and the Gavin Report admired how carefully it was assembled, right to its strange guitar lick and nicely placed key change.

Brian Grant directed the video, which MTV played heavily and which reached number 10 on Cash Box's video chart, and the single got to 35 on the Hot 100.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.