dennis deyoung and tommy shaw released a string of solo albums, beginning with deyoung's "desert moon" and shaw's "girls with guns" in 1984. both deyoung and shaw generated a moderate amount of interest with their first solo albums, with deyoung achieving more success. deyoung scored a top 10 hit with the title track, "desert moon", which was also heavily featured on mtv. shaw also cracked the top forty with "girls with guns" and he made a cameo appearance on the nbc television series "miami vice". deyoung's follow up single "don't wait for heroes" also featured a video that was heavily featured on mtv, but it failed to generate significant radio airplay, only peaking at no. 83. during the filming of the video, deyoung injured his back, causing him to back out of opening a north american concert tour for huey lewis and the news. shaw, however, did tour in the fall of 1984 as an opening act for the kinks.