"Classic" album appreciation thread - the '80s

[KevShmev]

I'm feeling that way too.





#seewhatididthere

Good to see that you feel just the same way I do.

[TAC]

Anytime!

[bosk1]

Just because the forum isn't getting unplugged doesn't mean I can't ban you both into oblivion.

[bosk1]

Anyhow...

Warrant - Dirty Rotten Filthy Stinkin' Rich

Yeah, I went there.  Look, I know the album is cheesey.  Just read the post anyway.  It's kinda personal, and you might be entertained, even if you don't care for the band.  Okay, so...

Released:  January 31, 1989

Songs:
1.      32 Pennies
2.   Down Boys
3.   Big Talk
4.   Sometimes She Cries
5.   So Damn Pretty (Should Be Against the Law)
6.   D.R.F.S.R.
7.   In the Sticks
8.   Heaven
9.   Ridin' High
10.   Cold Sweat

I was gonna do Cherry Pie.  Honestly, I think it's a better album.  But since it didn't come out until 1990, I'm going to go with DRFSR.

After boot camp in the summer of 1988, I went sent off to Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.  I was lonely.  I was worlds away from the friends I had grown up with, the girl I mistakenly thought I would marry, and basically everything and everyone I knew.  But I had my music. 

Slight diversion:  I didn't know much about Britney Fox.  They had a stupid name.  They had a stupid look.  But, hey, it was the '80s.  And bands ripped one another off all the time, so if they wanted to look like Cinderella, who was I to argue (I didn't know their history at the time, so I had no clue that they basically WERE half of Cinderella).  Can't remember how I first heard of them or what I heard.  But they were a bona fide rock band who were willing to play anywhere, trying to make a name for themselves.  So when I heard they were playing in the field house on base in December 1988, I was all in.  They put on a good show.  And their songs were pretty good, actually.  I became a fan (and more of one later once they fired Davidson, but that's another story).  But what I also remember from that show was the opening band.  Well, not the first opening band.  They were some no names called Nantucket.  Other than laughing at how much their singer tried to imitate Geoff Tate, they were entirely unmemorable.  I mean the next opening band after them that went on before Britney Fox.  They were also some no-name band.  But they supposedly had gotten signed and had an album coming out in a couple of months or something.  Yeah, that was the show I discovered Warrant.

These guys...they had the look.  They had the chops.  They had catchy, good songwriting.  They had the stage presence and the live energy.  I was impressed.  And I knew they would be something.  It's kinda rare to see a band for the first time, knowing nothing about them ahead of time, and having their songs stuck in your head for a couple of months before the album is even out.  But they had me hooked.

In late January, we flew to 29 Palms for a month-long joint field exercise.  Sometime toward the end, we got a few days off, and some guys were driving up to Nor Cal.  Home.  I was in.  I stopped by a music store and found this album.  I played that cassette constantly.  I remember a lot of the guys in my unit asking me who it was that I was listening to over and over, and laughing when I said the name, since it was a band nobody had ever heard of.  Then Down Boys started getting some traction on local radio.  Then Heaven started getting HUGE traction on radio and MTV, and the band blew up.  It was pretty cool being in on the ground floor and watching these guys rise in popularity.  That's why this album is special to me, even if it isn't a great album altogether.  Side 1 is pretty solid, actually.  But side 2 had a lot of filler, and I honestly struggle to remember how a lot of those songs even go now.  But this was the album that got them started.  These were the songs I saw them perform that hooked me.  Yeah, again, Cherry Pie was stronger.  And despite the commercial title track (which Lane apparently wrote as a joke at the last minute when told they needed a lead single that was catchy, and he hated the song ever since), that album really shows some solid songwriting chops.  But DRFSR was what got me on the Warrant train.

[TAC]

It's great to connect with an album through circumstances, and they will always hold a special meaning. So that's great Bosk!


I never minded Warrant. They never really screamed "Posers" to me. I thought Jani Lane was great. I just wish their music had a bit more bite.

I have mentioned this before but I saw Warrant twice in 1989.
February 23, 1989
West Hartford Ballroom
Opening for Paul Stanley

December 16, 1989
Worcester Centrum
Opening for Motley Crue

And I must say that they were fantastic live. I mention the two shows because one was in a club, and one was in an arena. And they OWNED both stages. I thought they were great.

[KevShmev]

Just because the forum isn't getting unplugged doesn't mean I can't ban you both into oblivion.

Well, if that happens, I'll be alright without you.

[TAC]

Yeah send him my love.

[HOF]

I've never heard a Warrant album, only know the radio hits. But I did like Down Boys and Heaven a good bit back when I was into hair bands. That's a really cool story about getting into them just before they broke big.

[T-ski]

Yeah send him my love.

seems hes a troubled child.

[Cool Chris]

I liked the Warrant hits quite a bit, other than Cherry Pie. I never liked that song. Their ballads were total junior high slow dance song fodder.

[pg1067]

Warrant - Dirty Rotten Filthy Stinkin' Rich

For me, Warrant was "just another glam band."  In SoCal, KNAC played Down Boys and Heaven a lot.  I hated the former.  The latter wasn't horrible, but it was too saccharine for me at the time.

The only Warrant song I know I like -- and I like it a LOT -- is I Saw Red, but I don't know what album it's on.

[Max Kuehnau]

So I was literally talking with someone and Journey came up. We were talking music, and he mentions that Steve Smith was a great drummer, and that he was really underrated. I told him that my theory is that he is underrated because of his work with Journey.

That's an interesting theory.  I'm not sure how I feel about it.  I think there is probably a perception that, because Journey was a pop band, that the drummer is simple and straightforward, and so Smith didn't get to fully utilize his capabilities while in the band.  And while there might be a grain of truth in that, I think it misses the mark.  Yeah, it may be true that he couldn't go bananas in Open Arms.  But that's kinda the point--the songs themselves don't call for that, and he was a master at playing for the song and doing what the song called for.  But more than that, there is a LOT of nuance and complexity in his drumming for Journey.  Smith was just one of those guys that could take complicated, and make it sound simple and straightforward.  And I think THAT, more than anything, is the primary reason he may not get his due.

I've just never listened to Journey and thought Holy Shit this drummer is awesome. Again, Journey doesn't call for amazing drumming. I'm not saying he isn't good. But if all you had to judge him as a drummer was his work with Journey, he'd be just another guy.
I'm not railing or trying to be negative in any way.

I agree on the bolded, and that's kind of my point.  The drum parts aren't flashy, and they don't stand out as being particularly amazing.  But when you dig a little deeper, a lot of what he does is pretty amazing, just not on a surface level.  In a similar vein, I never listened to Toto and thought, "Wow!  What an amazing drummer Jeff Porcaro is!"  But he is pretty revered because there is actually a lot of subtle nuance and complexity to what he does, even if it sounds on the surface like "standard pop drumming." 

And I get that you aren't trying to be negative.  I don't take it as negative.  I'm just presenting an opposing view.

there are intricacies in them though (and they might not be so obvious. They are to me, because I'm a drummer) and his parts were worked out very well. (Don't Stop Believing is one example, maybe even a prime one actually.) If you want to hear him go mad, listen to Enigmatic Ocean by Jean Luc Ponty.
Jeff was amazing too though (my greatest influence as a drummer personally.), because he ALWAYS played the right things all the time. Sorry about being non-neutral for a split second there.

[hefdaddy42]

It's kinda rare to see a band for the first time, knowing nothing about them ahead of time, and having their songs stuck in your head for a couple of months before the album is even out.  But they had me hooked.

I actually had a similar experience, round about this time.  I saw Firehouse at a small club in my hometown of Hickory, NC.  Of course, at the time they hadn't chosen the name Firehouse - they were billed under the name of White Heat.  But they played Don't Treat Me Bad, which was already getting regional airplay. 

Within just a couple of months, their debut album came out, with the name now changed.

[dparrott]

Justice is my favorite Metallica album.  I don't mind the EQ, adds to the brutality of the sound.

Rio's my favorite DD album, been listening to it almost since it came out.  JT's a beast on the bass!

Expose on a prog board?? Wow, never thought I'd see that!  I love 80's R&B/dance/funk, we have a radio station in LA that focuses on it.

[dparrott]

(and I'm a Squire fan boy, so there!). 

Love his playing on Second Coming and in the band The Seahorses. 

[Lowdz]

I love the first three Warrant albums. Jani was a great songwriter, just a shame he had demons and was taken far too soon.
They were great live. I'm not sure why the producer got Slamer in to do the solos because the guitarists seemed fine live.
I prefer Cherry Pie over DRSFR too and I have no problem with the title track. Sure it's silly, but it was the 80s and we weren't all miserable fuckers that were mad at our parents for no reason at all.

[Stadler]

(and I'm a Squire fan boy, so there!). 

Love his playing on Second Coming and in the band The Seahorses.

I just caught that.  I happen to agree, though in the original quote I meant Chris, not John.   

[dparrott]

(and I'm a Squire fan boy, so there!). 

Love his playing on Second Coming and in the band The Seahorses.

I just caught that.  I happen to agree, though in the original quote I meant Chris, not John.   

haha oops