6 OVERLOOKED Hair/Hard Rock Albums Released in the GRUNGE/ALT ERA! (feat: BRUCE KULICK)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 10 ก.พ. 2025
- -6 OVERLOOKED Hair/Hard Rock Albums Released in the GRUNGE/ALT ERA! (feat: BRUCE KULICK)
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Also, the Badlands debut, and the follow-up, “Voodoo Highway”… Both. Are. Brilliant.😊
Warrant's Dog Eat Dog is a very underrated album, too. Janie talked about going to the record company's building and their poster was no longer there for their new album, but Alice in Chains was.
dog eat dog's song listing is poorly laid out, with april 2031 and andy warhol needing to be spread out, probably save one for the end of the album and the other til about track 5. these 2 stop the album dead for me.
still a good album though.
inside out, a fast song, shoulda been the 4th song on the album.
Dog Eat Dog is my favorite by them. So underrated.
Dog Eat Dog is their greatest album, and one of the greatest albums ever laid to tape.
@@austindolan7182 I disagree. I think April 2031 and Andy Warhol Was Right are a great segue. They are both heavy as hell once they get going as well.
Great album which is so underrated and overlooked!!! One thing that I wish was that they would have skipped the German on The Bitter Pill because I don’t think it was needed at all
The self titled Motley Crue album is actually my favorite Crue album. I remember my mom bought me the cassette in the 90's and I played that thing to death. "Power To The Music" and "Smoke The Sky" are definitely my favorite songs on the album and I still play them on guitar way more than any other Motley Crue songs.
Me too man, same here.
the thing with the Corabi album compared to every single other Motley Crue album is, when you listen to the Corabi album it doesn't sound dated. The ones with Vince all have that 1980s feel to them which isn't a bad thing for pure nostalgia, but musically they are all weak and shallow compared to the 94 self titled album. But that's just my opinion
@@murderthecroworiginal Totally agree!!
I have also thought over the years that they should have released it under a different band name. Obviously for a record exec they want the most band recognition they can get but.... I dunno, the album is so good they could of pulled it off! (maybe)
Still holds up and sounds absolutely fuckin massive!!!!
Tommy Lee's drums have never sounded better🤘
same here! I was a super young die hard Crue head from the age of 8. I was 13 when they split with Vince and I was ABSOLUTELY DEVASTATED. Vince's solo "Exposed" album came out first and while I enjoyed it, it was very dated and underwhelming... you could definitely miss Nikki's songwriting and Tommy/Mick's performances. Then when MC94 came out MY MIND WAS BLOWN. The songs, the depth, the production & mixing, Crabby's added guitars, Crabby's vocals, just everything was incredible. MC94 is still to this day one of my very favorite albums and is in my constant rotation right up there with Shout. MC94 has aged so good, it doesn't sound dated at all. I always wonder what the Personality #9 album and later albums would have sounded like if Elektra didn't force them to reunite with Vince.
I seen them live with John c. It was awesome his screams are one of a kind. My fav. By far
Extreme III Sides To Every Story was a criminally underrated album… dare I say “masterpiece” and the best thing they ever released.
Had this comment already preloaded to post if III sides didn’t make the cut. A 10/10 album from a criminally overlooked band.
100%. One of my fave LPs of all time. Waiting For The Punchline is also great; raw in the way Zep's Presence is.
I agree, I think this album (preferably tape, which has "Don't Leave Me", on it), is up there with the best rock albums of all time, and thats not hyperbole.
Damn you beat me to it
Hands down their best album. Very progressive without the odd time signature.
Winger Pull for me is savagely underrated.
Warrant seemed to be able to adjust their sound it didn’t seem like a bad thing. They were already wearing plaid on the 1992 tour where they were placed on the Monsters of rock with Pantera, Megadeth and Testament!
Skid Row def tried to get into it tho with Subhuman Race.
Thanks for making this video - I’m not a huge Warrant fan and wasn’t really aware of this album. Will def check it out!
Good comment Charlie. I saw Winger not long ago and let me tell you I will put Kip, Reb, John, Paul, and Rod up on stage live with just about any band in the world. Let them play side by side next to anybody and you will see how great they are and other musicians will tell you that. Kip can play guitar, bass, keyboard and still sing incredible. He wrote a classical album not long ago. The rest of the members are all super good players and play multiple instruments and write songs. Kip had the crime of being really good looking during the 80's so they tried to dumb down his ability but they always were incredible live.
Winger Pull is a masterpiece! Still have that one in regular rotation to this day
When Vince left the Crüe I thought they would never recover but the I was floored by the Corabi album. Actually it’s one the Crüe’s best, imo. It sounds amazing. Great songwriting.
Motley Crue self-titled is one of the greatest albums ever recorded. It should've sold billions.
Yep
Hard to believe it just didn't cut through like it should have!!
Love that album
GRUNGE SUCKED NO MATTER WHO THE FUCK PLAYED IT.
BEST RECORD IN LIKE 10 years around that time period, I mean SMOKE THE SKY?!!!!😂
The Crüe album was definitely one of their best. I love Vince Neil, but in retrospect, the direction that Corabi was taking them was the best for the band.
That album goes very underrated in the grand scheme of things. That sound Nikki came up with along with Corabi for that record was more of the sound of the 90's for sure. However to the fans it was a tough sell back then basically in their mind Vince was Motley's vocalist end of story. Plus I don't think fans loved it back then how it all went down. With that said it's a great 90's type record. To credit Vince even though he didn't write any of it his first solo album was solid and I believe it outsold Crue's. It was much more of a hair metal record but there definitely was some good songs on that record. Also he had some great players on that album Steve Stevens, Robbie Crane, Dave Marshall , Vik Fox his live show touring for that album was pretty good.
🤘🏻🔥 Congrats on 787k Subscribers! I love Carnival of Souls!
Finally someone recognizes Warrent’s Ultrafobic ! The album is so underrated
I agree
seriously thought i was the only that had heard it for a second there. got some great songs on it.
I love "belly to belly" more - but yes, "ultraphobic" is great
Couldn’t agree more!
They should have called it getting divorced since it was written while Jani Lane was getting divorced. You can tell he was going through pain
I'd like to to throw Queensryche's "Promised Land" into the mix here, love that album. There's a few I've missed here over the years, thanks for the suggestions. Oh, and Poison's "Native Tongue" is incredible too.
If I did a part 2 that would be on there for sure. I totally blew it and forgot about it. One of my favorite Queensryche albums.
Promised Land is a masterpiece that came out a few years too late
I agree, it's a great album, but I wouldn't pair it with these more glam bands
Sign of the times!
Native Tongue is amazing. I love what Kotzen brings to the band on that album
Jeff Keith has one of the coolest and most underrated voices I've ever heard. The first Tesla song I heard was "Hang Tough" and his voice grabbed me immediately. Nice mention for Bust a Nut which is a solid album. Great video too. Oh and you forgot to mention a Winger song off Pull called "Spell I'm Under". Such a haunting ballad.
Tesla is a great band. I love their acoustic guitar intros. And yes, his voice is great!
I’m a huge Tom Keifer fan so I would have to put Cinderella’s Still Climbing on the list and Through The Rain is a terrific ballad on it
I’m actually a bigger Tom Keifer fan now than I was back then. Very underrated musician and writer
@@Hydrophish you have great taste!!!
Have you checked out his last solo album? Some great songs on it after all Keifer has been through having multiple surgeries on his vocal chords It’s great just to hear him singing again
Pull is an excellent album, by far the best in Winger's catalogue.
Pull is still in my regular rotation. Much more so than almost any other 80s band album. It's a real left turn for the entire glam sound and it just has good staying power.
Karma is excellent too !
My favorite drum tone & production EVER was that Crue album! So thick and heavy, yet still clean & crisp!
In a weird way, I credit Bruce and Kiss for getting me into grunge. I was a huge Kiss fan, and had been looking to expand my horizons into grunge, but was hesitant cuz I wasn't sure if I would like it. Then I listened to Carnival of Souls and thought "wow if this is what grunge sounds like then I'm in". I started listening to Alice In Chains, and I've been addicted ever since
Skid Row's Subhuman Race finally received some recognition. I love this album.
Indeed. Very raw record. The outro on "Eileen" is blistering. Sebastian at his finest imo.
Love that album.
I have a bootleg version of Carnival of Souls that I got a while before it came out with a much heavier mix. One of my absolute favorite albums. Excellent show!
These were excellent choices. I saw Warrant on the Ultraphobic tour and they kicked ass. Cinderella Still Climbing and Van Halen Balance are also great albums during this time.
Poison with Richie Kotzen took the band to another level from glam to greatness, if I can add to the comment section. Love your videos 🙌🏼
Totally agree. Didn’t and still don’t like the song Stand. Can only wonder had they chosen a different lead single.
@@bluelivesmatter719 i always thought body talk or blind faith might have worked okay.
Great list. Motley ‘94 album is one of the greatest albums ever. And let’s not forget about Union with Corabi/Kulick. 🔥🔥
THANK YOU for showing love to Seduction of the Innocent! Bruce absolutely KILLED on that solo. I believe that COS was the only KISS album to feature wah effects too. I have so much respect for Bruce.
LOVED this episode!
"Carnival" was KISS's heaviest album in the no-makeup days. "Creatures" was pretty much balls out, too. Ace was always pushing for heavier, and Gene's said that he was right about that in a lot of cases. It was such a great album but was all caught up in the "Who Dares Wins" era and there were so many delays and bootlegs of both that when it finally came out radio and media, even fan, went, "Whatever..." "Revenge" and "Carnival" are the best of the no-makeup era.
Motley'salbum with Corabi is a fantastic, heavy album and my fave Crue, but it does "suffer" from the same thing VH did with Sammy- It's two different bands that you can't set side by side like apples to apples. I think "Misunderstood" was misrepresented in your vid, though. It's sounds like it's some light ballad or something and it's not. It builds at the end. The whole album is great lyrically AND musically, and a lot of Crue albums don't do that and have a shitload of filler. Not one bad
"Subhuman Race" was definitely Skid's heaviest album. The thing I thought was missed here was that Skid consistently got heavier. Like Pantera went from a glam/hair metal to, well, Panf**kingtera. Skid always wanted to go heavy, which is what the A&R guys never want their bands to do. "Breaking Down" is classic Skid ballad and just... Damn! What a song and what a voice!
I never saw Alice in Chains as grunge. It was just tuned-down, drop-X, slowed-down metal.
Please do a video or three on bands that you think should have been bigger. Little Caesar, Hardline (not a bad track on "Double Eclipse"), Kix, Rhino/Bucket, Shotgun Messiah, Lillian Axe, and Kick Axe would be on my list.
Carnival of souls does not work. KISS are not AIC,they can't do that.
Shotgun Messiah I just recently found on Spotify! 🤘
I agree with those should have been bigger choices. I will add a few to the list. Wildside, Southgang, Tyketto, Bangaloir Choir and so many more. Hardline is amazing. Double Eclipse is as good as it gets especially considering Neal Schonn of Journey was involved in the creative process of that record. There albums since are still solid record. Anything Johnny Gioeli sings on can't be bad he is such an amazing vocalist soaring live vocals.
Shotgun messiah is phenomenal, those first two albums are so killer. Harry k Cody is one of the most underrated guitarists of the glam era
@@michaelyatsco1958wildside is so great, so heavy at times but simultaneously so glam and over the top. People say it about every glam band under the sun but if they came out a year or two earlier they truly would have been superstars
You don't know it, but you made this video for me, my brother, and several good friends, LOL! We LOVED these records, and they all contributed significantly to the soundtrack of our late teens into our early twenties. It was such a weird time for hard rock bands trying to survive in the grunge era, but it really brought out the best in them. I could carry on for hours about these records, but you've already done a great job of distilling each one in the video. Brings back great memories!
Vicious Circle by L.A. Guns is also a criminally underrated album from 1994. At least in my opinion
Such a diverse collection of songs. I really like Hollywood Vampires, but I would be curious to see if Vicious Circle would have been bigger if it came out at that time instead
The follow up album American Hardcore with Chris Van Dahl on vocals was a total different game. Liked Vicious Circle though. Van Dahl was fired shortly after American Hardcore and replaced with Ralph Michael Saenz also known as Michael Starr from Steel Panther
John Corabi added an element to the sound of Motley that we never knew we needed! As much as I love all of the other albums, this will always be my absolute favorite. I was a Corabi fan when he was with The Scream (prior to joining Sixx and Lee). That album also is largely overlooked. If you haven't heard it, I promise you will not be disappointed. Another underrated album is Winger's Pull album and the two Warrant albums prior to Jani leaving the band.
Missed 2 huge albums, both 1992 Hardline’s Double Eclipse and WILDSIDE. Both fantastic
Extreme's Waiting for the Punchline is also a great album. A raw-sounding record with deep lyrics in which Nuno, as usual, does a brilliant job.
HIP TODAY!!!
Crappy dry production
"Cynical" is the best riff of the 90s.
ALL of these records, plus MANY more from bands of the era, are brilliant. Winger, Warrant, Slaughter, Tesla, Skid Row, Dokken, Motley, etc. put out BRILLIANT records in the 90's/2000's.
what IS a down boy and where do they go? love that song though.
@@austindolan7182 Got a lot of nerve to call me cheap.....even though it's true. I don't care where we go tonight, take me along with you. (Love that line)😆
Great choices. I love John Corabi's vocals so much. Really whish they would have done more albums together
Bruce is such a great guy and the best KISS lead guitarist! These are all solid albums, I especially love Motley Crue and Subhuman Race. Both produced by Bob Rock and both have that killer heavy drum sound. I think it's some of the best work of those bands. I would add Def Leppard's Slang to the list. The stripped down sound of that album was refreshing for them and it's got some cool tunes. Shotgun Messiah also had an interesting album with Violent New Breed.
Drum sound on Subhuman Race sounds almost like St. Anger!
Great list! Killer albums. Especially the Corabi Crue album.
Nuno Bettencourt’s Schizophonic is Nineties record that sounds like a nineties record. It is unlike Extreme and has songs that would have worked on alternative radio if you took his name out of the equation. It certainly deserves to be considered for this list.
Always loved "Breakin' Down". The solo and some of the clean guitar used a telecaster with a b-bender. Great video. Thanks!
i remember at the time that people on the skid row aol message board were saying that mtv was going to play the breakin' down video during this mtv show called "dream time" on a certain day. i set up a vhs tape to tape overnight and let it go for three nights in a row. the last night i tried, it played, and i captured it. never got played again after that. cool video and amazing song...such a shame that it was overlooked by most.
ALL great picks! I especially love COS by Kiss. I had previously contacted Bruce Kulick one time through email. I had asked him a couple of questions, and he actually took the time to respond to me and ask me a question. He always seems like an incredibly kind and thoughtful person. Too bad so many people let the idea of Grunge dictate where they should point their ears. I have found great albums for me in many music genres, so I never understood why whatever the "new" sound at the moment is, is going to tell me what I should or shouldn't like or listen to. Great music is great music.
So cool that a lot of the hair metal stuff is being revisited and reevaluated today.
Great video topic! Saw Winger at Baltimore's legendary Hammerjacks touring to support Pull. What a show! They asked the crowd to stay afterwards while they filmed acoustic material for an upcoming video. Good times. ; )
Another underrated band worth mentioning is Talisman.First two records have the late 80s/early 90s hard rockish atmosphere(but on steroids),but by the third DOUBLE album,they became the band that every 90s hard rock lover should love.Funky lines,punchy lyrics,emotions of all kinds...that band had everything.RIP Marcel Jacob
Living Colour's "Stain" is massively overlooked
Nice little overview of things I never heard or knew about. I missed this era entirely after hard rock and mainstream metal left the radio around 91/92. (remember the short-lived "Hot Rockin 104"?) The new heavy stuff I listened to was e.g. Tool/RATM/Danzig, but it wasn't really a culture. Instead I really got into Early Music in 93, then IDM in 96.
Can't tell you how many of my friends kind of did that same thing. But, unlike you, they bailed on anything new, even from the "80's" bands. To them, it was like no music existed after 1992.
Another one to add would be Widowmaker - Stand By For Pain. Dee Snider on vocals and Al Pitrelli on guitar. Seems like so few people heard it. Also from 1994 when old metallers were trying to find a new sound.
Cheers Bro, no idea how I missed this one back in the day, fantastic
Shotgun Messiah - Second Coming was amazing.
Heartbreak Blvd is an awesome song.
For some reason I never really heard of Shotgun Messiah until a few years later. Honestly I even loved Violent New Breed. Great band.
Violent new breed is probably my favourite album of all time next to pornograffiti. I never found anything that sounded the same or as good. It's a lone gem.
Motley Crue with John Corabi is my favorite Motley Crue album. Every other Crue album is ok, with some great songs, but this one I think has all good songs and there is some great variety in it.
I love this era of hard rock. I wish it would return
Poison’s “Native Tongue” realized in 93’ featured Ritchie Kotzen & its super underrated. There’s not really any grunge influence (mostly blues) but it’s mature & the songs are well written.
I really loved this video!!! One of my favorites from you because I like to appreciate underappreciated music. Really good stuff!
I dig KISS Carnival of Souls a lot, and I’m from Seattle so I should be more skeptical but there are several good grunge songs on it! Oh yeah, and Winger - Pull is EXCELLENT too! Great list
Really cool to get Bruce's takes. This was a terrific concept for a video.
I love both Pull by Winger and the Motley Crue albums. One you didn't mention was "Dysfunctional" by Dokken which is my favorite of theirs. Here's a few more...
Shotgun Messiah - Second Coming
David Lee Roth - A Little Ain't Enough
Steve Vai - Sex & Religion
Yngwie Malmsteen - Fire & Ice
King's X - Dogman
Roxy Blue - Want Some?
Subhuman Race is one of my all-time favorite albums. So absolutely underrated Sebastian Bach never sounded that good before or after.
I think Subhuman Race is their best album. Not a bad song on it.
My #1 pick for greatest most underrated album would be Saigon kicks 1993 album water, a true masterpiece. In fact 92-94 was the most amazing time in music for me. Of course I loved core from stp along with discovering white zombie la sexorcisto, dream theater images and words in 1992 then being blown away from Vai sex and religion introducing the world to Devin Townsend in 1993 then far beyond driven pantera and dream theater’s awake in 1994.
water was massive in indonesia, vietnam, and the countries along the pacific rim. they were treated like the beatles there. there is some footage on youtube of them playing to a massive arena full of fans who are singing "on and on" so loud that they overtake the band playing it. very cool.
So nice to hear from Bruce, thank you for this awesome video!
A few of my favorites from that era are Saigon Kick "The Lizard", Hardline "Double Eclipse", Widowmaker "Widowmaker", Blackthorne "Afterlife", Warrant "Dog Eat Dog", China Rain "Bed of Nails", and Blue Murder "Nothin But Trouble". A few years earlier some of them would have been huge.
Saigon Kick! I have not heard the name of that band in years and years and years! Thanks for reminding me of them.
I think you covered the main ones, but a couple others that would fit the bill: Dokken, Dysfunctional - Never the most fun band on the scene, they were really able to let the melancholy flow, and you gotta understand, Don was 41 or 42 at the time, and was always a bit older than most of his peers. Now that I'm that age, I can really feel it. Also, what about Dangerous Toys' Pissed, or L.A. Guns Vicious Circle?
Also, Dream Theater's Awake (1994) was, is, and forever shall be my favorite the band has ever released. Perfection, front to back.
I think Vixen - Tangerine is another really underrated one. The whole record's really strong, but I think the high points are "Barely Breathin'" and "Air Balloon."
Great list, I may need to go back and re-listen so some tracks you highlighted. Others for me are Cinderella “Still Climbing” and Bon Jovi “These Days”. Poison’s “Native Tongue” had some really great moments too
My 5 favorite mid 90's albums from hair metal bands:
Dokken - Dysfunction
Tesla - Bust a nut
Extreme - Waiting for the punchline
Motley Crue self-titled
Skid Row - Subhuman Race
Great video. When the self titled Motley came out I was 18 and I grew up on them. I was very skeptical of a new guy but when I heard Hooligans I went out and bought the CD. It is an underrated album. As far as an "album" its my favorite of theirs. I still break it out about once a year and Hooligans is a fun song to play on guitar. And Subhuman Race is another one that to my ears doesn't get its due.
Pull is amazing.
Pull & IV are my favorite Winger albums
Subhuman Race is absolutely fantastic as well.
Thanks Mike. Good video, as always.
I wasn't much into glam at the time (more of a thrash guy) but I remember being positively impressed by Poison's Native Tongue in 1993.
Van Halen’s Balance was a fantastic album along with Slang by Def Leppard. Might be a little earlier than these but Enuff Z Nuff Strength was phenomenal from start to finish
Carnival of Souls is one of my favorite KISS albums, right behind Revenge. Bruce, in my opinion, is the best guitarist, and I've been a fan since '76 and have seen them 14 times in concert.
Bust a Nut is my favorite Tesla record. Games People Play cove rock George South is hidden gold!
Would've been interesting to see how Kiss would've faired if Carnival of Souls had been given an official release with official artwork and a full tour to support it. But it was shelved initially because of the "Reunion" tour. Then, it was released later as a compilation of "lost" recordings.
I love this video, you need to do more of these!
I was big into the 80s rock hard rock and hair bands. Skid row gnr cinderella Bon Jovi winger firehouse. I was in my late teens in the early 90s and just ate up all that stuff. I missed a few of these releases and will have to go check them out. I didn’t really stick to one genre though. I like veruca salt and Alice In Chains and nirvana and Green Day and all the 90s bands pushing the hard rock off the radio too. But early 90s introducted me to Metallica and they have become my fav.
Dude, Carnival of Souls freaking rocks! I had a recording of the original bootleg with the first 9 songs in it that I recorded Beatle stuff over (foolish, I know). Love this album, top to bottom. The first 4 Tesla albums RULE, too!!
Don Dokken - "Up from the Ashes". Don's finest vocal performance. Great songwriting and the guitar duo of Billy White and John Norum are blistering.
Man I played that album all summer that year. What a cast of players!! Don sounded awesome on that!!
@@davidrapant6398 wasn't it basically with half of accept as his backing band?
Great content. Almost makes you wish the 80’s-90’s divide wasn’t so sharp, so we could’ve enjoyed more of these albums over a longer period
Huge Carnival of Souls fan. Love Bruce. The only album on here I've never heard is the Warrant one, but I've now made a note to myself to check it out.
Fantastic video and thanks 👏. Wouldn't it be cool to hear interviews talking about some these groups heaviest records🤩🤩. Writing, recording and performing as opposed to earlier works
Great topic, Mike! All great albums by themselves. More of this, please. Cheers from Sweden! 🇸🇪
This is the most underrated KISS Album ever and easily one of their Best in my opinion.While I am glad I got to take my Bro to the '96 reunion tour I really wish they had given this album a Tour. I was also privilaged to be able to see Bruce when he joined KISS on the Animalize World Tour. We had expected Mark St John but we were blown away with Bob's little brother.
All them are awesome albums! I've always considered the non-commercial albums from 80s bands to be my favorites just because you get a different perspective on their typical sound... One personal add of mine would be "Hear In The Now Frontier" from Queensryche 🤘
Queensryche is definitely one of my favorites. Jeff Tate is just amazing on those vocals.
Considering your shirt, I was sure you would include Def Leppard’s Slang, which I absolutely loved! I also really enjoy Extreme’s Waiting for the Punchline, and by extension, Nuno’s Schizophonic.
I share your love for Subhuman Race and the Corabi-era Motley Crue album. I actually feel that MC94 was musically stronger than any Crue album before or since.
Potentially unpopular opinion: Van Halen 3 was actually an okay album. Like the Motley album, I think that had the album been released under a different band name, it would have fared better critically and potentially commercially too.
This is a great topic for a video. Well done. Here's my top 5 most underrated 90s releases from "80s" bands.
5. Dokken: Dysfunctional
4. Great White: Can't get there from here.
3. Ratt: Ratt
2. Warrant: Dog Eat Dog
1. Winger: Pull
Honorable mentions: Tesla: Bust a nut, Firehouse: 3, Poison: Native Tongue
This is a great video. I think you could cover a lot more of this "80s adapting to the 90s" theme
This is a great post… i was a fan of some of these bands in their heyday and didn’t really give any attention to them in the 90’s because there was such a shift in music all music .. I just got caught up in all this great music forgetting about my old rock heros… so far since watching your video I listened to the Motley crue self titled with John Corabi… wow what a great album!… I think it was a lost opportunity for the band to call this a side project this way they could have continued that band as a side project and when Vince Neil returned they could have continued making Crue albums with him.,. Like cornell and rage in audio slave and weiland and guns with velvet revolver… reguards of what happened Thank you for this post .. I’m going to return to look at these bands
I saw Warrant in November 1992 when they first headlined their own tour. I wasn't much a fan I went to see opening acts Lynch Mob and Tora Tora. In an arena that held about 6000 if completely sold out there was barely 2500 at the show
the dog eat dog tour is a fascinating story that is rarely told. jani left the band 30 shows in, and the cancelling of the tour drove the entire band into bankruptcy. they could have avoided losing all the money that had on a million dollar advance of tour merchandise if they completed half the tour, but he insisted on leaving 5 shows short of that. he tried to get a solo deal with columbia, but they took it away, and no other labels were interested. he wound up returning 6 months after leaving, but the bankruptcy, lawyer fees, and the death of their manager really killed them. joey and steven would leave shortly after, and so began the ultraphobic era.
I feel you. I was Product Manager for Warehouse Records in Fremont CA. Although it hadnt reached that point yet. We were still having Days on the Green and other arena shows.
Vince Neil “Exposed” album also great example of grunge era glam metal album that nearly every song is banger. Steve Stevens composed great songs on this album. I would mention Arcade - “Arcade” album too band of Stephen Percey from Ratt hella good record.
Have every one of these and your favorite song picks were mine as well…nice to know I wasn’t alone
Blind Revolution Mad is such a killer opener. Kip’s vocals, the riffs, the production, the breaks, Reb’s solo, everything is firing on all cylinders. Such a shame so many gems like this were washed over in that era.
Shotgun Messiah were never big, but their “Violent New Breed” album changed my life. They did what I wanted to do with my limited scope of talent: they bridged the sound of the late ‘80’s with modern industrial touches and came up with an album so cool it must be experienced at least once.
Yes! That album was a banger.
Yes! It took the direction they were headed in on Second Coming and turned it up a notch! Killer!
Yes! I’m not an industrial fan at all but that is the perfect blend of industrial, metal, hard rock. An absolute gem that I listen regularly to this day.
Way ahead of its time....
A really interesting topic to put out there. Thanks for the deep dives & throw-backs! \w/
I can add quite a few underrated hair/ hard rock albums to this list:
- Slaughter - 'Fear no evil' (1995)
- Slaughter - 'Revolution' (1997)
- Def Leppard - 'Euphoria' (1999)
- Scorpions - 'Face the heat' (1993)
- Black Sabbath (Tony Martin on vocals) - 'Cross purposes' (1994)
- L.A. Guns - 'Vicious circle' (1994)
- Extreme - 'Waiting for the punchline' (1995)
- Fates Warning - 'A pleasant shade of gray' (1997)
- Dio - 'Angry machines' (1996)
- Poison - 'Native tongue' (1993)
- Alice Cooper - 'The last temptation' (1994)
- Firehouse - '3' (1995)
- Saigon Kick - 'Water' (1993)
- Europe - 'Prisoners in paradise' (1991)
- Mr. Big - 'Hey man' (1996)
- Dream Theater - 'Falling into infinity' (1997)
- Heart - 'Desire walks on' (1993)
- Kix - 'Show business' (1995)
- Faith No More - 'Album of the year' (1997)
- Dokken - 'Dysfunctional' (1995)
- Don Dokken - 'Up from the ashes' (1990)
- Cinderella - 'Still climbing' (1994)
- Lita Ford - 'Dangerous curves' (1991)
- Dangerous Toys - 'Hellacious acres' (1991)
Hey there, that was a really great video. Like super awesome for me personally. Had all the 80's albums, but remember switching over to Alt/grunge. I remember I really liked the Crue song "hooligans Holiday" but really never checked out these other albums from bands I loved in the 80's. I'm totally going to check out that Kiss album (I loved Revenge). Thanks!
I interviewed Skid Row's Rachel Bolan a few years ago and I asked about that solo in Breakin' Down (yes I know he didn't play it, being the bass player). You are correct in that it's played on a Telecaster; it's actually a b bender, which is so obvious once you're presented with that knowledge!
I have that Motley Crue cassette tape album, very underrated. Great sound.
Dude DOG EAT DOG. Best Warrant 90s!
That’s a sweet album. The only reason I didn’t choose it for this is because it came out so close to when everything changed. I wanted to showcase albums that were created after the initial wave of grunge took hold of the planet.
Good list. I too worked in a record store during that time😎✌
I'm a Motley Crue fan for a while now, when the album came out in like 94 I remember really liking it, still do to this day. Till death due us part is a great song. Thanks to TH-cam or I would still think I'm the only one who appreciated the album. I would say feelgood may be their best sounding album, theater may be my favorite, but the self titled is one that I still listen to on a regular basis.
So much great hair metal is overlooked because of the stigma around the genre! If only people could appreciate music rather than the aesthetic and culture 😞
I absolutely hate that term, and some bands, W.A.S.P in particular get lumped in when they don’t really fit.
MC94 and Subhuman are two of my favorite albums ever. Awesome to hear there are more albums in that grunge-influenced-hair-metal spirit
OMG! Thank you!! I had heard the solution song from Tesla back in the day and had no idea who it was or what it was called! Thank you for putting it in here.. Rock On!
Great video. I’ve always loved Carnival of Souls. Sounded great when it was new.
Thanks mate for this. Haven't heard much of it. Cool riffs, very inspiring.