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White Trash – Apple Pie b/w The Crawl, Lil’ Nancy & Good God

1991 Four Track Promo Album Sampler

White Trash were the best band that never was. End of.

Fusing rock and metal with a whole lot of horns their infectious sound won a degree of critical acclaim before internal differences and the changing musical landscape led to their premature demise.

But the great news is that White Trash are back and those yearning for a return to the good old days of their self-titled debut should check out 2009’s 3-D Monkeys In Space. Even better, the band is out on the road again.   Read the rest of this entry »

Quireboys – Brother Louie (Brown/Wilson) b/w Tramps And Thieves (Live) (Gray/Bailey) & I Don’t Love You Anymore (Live) (Gray/Bailey)

1993 Collectors’ Edition 12″ Red Vinyl plus Giant Colour Poster

Not a song you’ll hear much these days but at the time Spike and the gang made this classic their own.

Released when the band were on the wane – commercially at least – it didn’t do much to dent the charts.

But there’s something about hearing Spike sing Brother Louie which still makes the hairs stand up on your neck today. But this little package is about so much more than the title track with the bright red transparent vinyl a collector’s delight. Read the rest of this entry »

Europe – Halfway To Heaven (Tempest/Vallance) b/w Yesterday’s News (Tempest/Marcello/Michaeli/Haugland/Leven), Got Your Mind In The Gutter (Tempest/Hill/Marcello) & Superstitious (Tempest)

1992 4 Cut Picture Disc

The last of three tracks culled from the underrated Prisoners In Paradise record, Halfway To Heaven peaked at 42 in the UK singles charts and paired Joey Tempest with Jim Vallance as a songwriting team.

Tempest spent four days in Vancouver working with hitmaker Vallance but the alliance never enjoyed the success it surely deserved. This is a classy tune oozing sentimentality and it more than matches the band’s best late 80s output. Read the rest of this entry »

Metallica – Nothing Else Matters (Hetfield/Ulrich) b/w Enter Sandman (live) (Hetfield/Ulrich/Hammett), Harvester Of Sorrow (live) (Hetfield/Ulrich) & Nothing Else Matters (demo) (Hetfield/Ulrich)

1992

This was the moment Metallica went truly commercial as the haunting ballad from the black album became a mainstream hit worldwide.

As far removed from the band’s early thrash sound as fans could imagine it divided the Metallica community. And yet Nothing Else Matters is a magnificent example of powerful, poignant metal building on the experimental One from …And Justice For All. Read the rest of this entry »

Electric Boys – Mary In The Mystery World (Bloom) b/w Knee Deep in You (Bloom) & Why Don’t We Do It In The Road? (Lennon/McCartney)

Limited Edition Numbered Clear Vinyl Etched Disc

1992

Swede Conny Bloom was one of the finest songwriters to come out of the late 80s glam/funk scene and this iconic track was a firm favourite with the hair metal crowd.

Supercharged yet psychedelic, the Electric Boys could mix it with the very best and this single, taken from their second album, Groovus Maximus, typified the band’s ability to cross genres and appeal to a wider crowd. Read the rest of this entry »

Aerosmith – Dude (Looks Like A Lady) (Tyler/Perry/Child) b/w Love In An Elevator (Live) (Tyler/Perry) & Walk This Way (Live) (Tyler/Perry)

1987

This was the track which confirmed Aerosmith as a credible hair metal act perfectly suited to capitalise on the MTV boom.

Steven Tyler and Joe Perry brought hitmaker supreme Desmond Child on board to beef up their late 80s songwriting and the transformation was awesome. Slick pop rock tunes combined with cutting edge video clips breathed new life into the Toxic Twins and sparked a golden era in Aerosmith’s chequered career. Read the rest of this entry »

Little Angels – Product Of The Working Class (Hot Sweat ‘N’ Groove Mix)(B Dickinson/J Dickinson/Jepson/Lee/Plunkett) b/w Product Of The Working Class (Album Version), Revival (B Dickinson/J Dickinson/Jepson/Lee/Plunkett) & Take It Off (B Dickinson/J Dickinson/Jepson/Lee/Plunkett)

Ltd Edition Gatefold with Six Postcards 1991

For as long as Toby Jepson continues to blaze a trail with the newly reformed Gun, many fans will yearn for his own band to get back together and roll back the glory years.

The hit-laden crew from Scarborough were at the forefront of the Brit Rock movement in the late 80s/early 90s and had an uncanny knack for putting out the best pop rock songs of the era. Read the rest of this entry »

Alice Cooper – Poison (Cooper/Child/McCurry) b/w Trash (Cooper/Frazier/Sever/Child) Ballad Of Dwight Fry (live) (Cooper/Bruce)

1989

When 70s shock rocker Alice needed to bring his sound bang up to date and compete with the new kids on the hair metal block he knew exactly who to turn to.

Enlisting the help of super producer and songwriter Desmond Child had worked for so many fellow rockers before and it worked again for the Coop.

Poison is still the most loved and instantly recognisable Alice tune for anyone under the age of 35 and more than two decades after it stormed the charts it still commands a key slot in his live show. Read the rest of this entry »

Vixen – How Much Love (Kuehnemund/Conrad/Plunkett) b/w Wrecking Ball (Gardner/Pedersen) Bad Reputation (Kuehnemund/Gardner/Miku)

Picture Disc 1990

If ever an 80s hair metal band were made for a picture disc then Vixen were that band.

Given the full makeover treatment they managed to look slightly better than male counterparts Poison but, more importantly, these girls could rock!

How Much Love preceded the release of classic album Rev It Up and all three tunes featured on this fine 12 incher were culled from that MTV favourite. Read the rest of this entry »