Simon RushworthYoung And Wild: A Decade Of American Glam Metal 1982-1992 (Cherry Red)
Those who lived through rock and metal at its most overblown and ridiculous — and who lived to tell the tale — are justifiably smug.
It was a wonderful era of wanton excess, soundtracked by wildly ambitious bands who truly believed they had the world at their feet.
Record labels chasing the next Bon Jovi threw about seven-figure, multi-albums deals for fun and by the late 80s any semblance of quality control — like hotel TVs and sofas — had gone out of the window.
For so many bands it became the norm to seal a deal on the Sunset Strip, see your debut album sell millions and become famous on the back of an MTV-friendly power ballad.
But only a handful survived beyond the early 90s as Kurt Cobain and his fun police cast a Seattle-sized cloud over our blindsided hair metal heroes.
And by 1992 for every West Hollywood winner there were 50 or more losers as fans turned their back on the spandex and blusher almost as quickly as they’d embraced the pretty-boy pop rock of Poison, Ratt, Cinderella et al.
This perfectly curated three-disc set successfully marries the glam metal scene’s stoic survivors with the flash-in-a-pan fashionistas and every act in between.
And that’s its allure.
Just as they did back in the day, the big names rub shoulders with the also rans and the stadium gods stand side by side with the back-alley wannabes.
Remember Southgang? Didn’t ring any bells for us.
Know your Nitro from your Kick Axe? You’re a hair metal mastermind.
And who on earth were Cats In Boots?
All these bands and more jostle for position with Vixen, Quiet Riot, Warrant and White Lion — just as they did at the Rainbow, Whisky and the Troubadour.
Young And Wild paints the complete picture of rock and roll’s most colourful decade: the scratch and sniff deluxe edition can’t come soon enough.
Glamtastic compilation
Given the rather misleading Glam Metal tag, it would be easy to dismiss this 58-track deep dive as a rather charmless exercise in hollow cheese.
In fact, there are a whole bunch of timeless classics that seek to explode the myth that nothing good came out of the fluffy 80s rock scene.
Take Tesla’s Little Suzi — a superlative tearjerker by a bluesy band clearly out of time.
Then there’s White Lion’s Wait — surely one of the best ballads of all time.
And let’s not forget Ratt’s dizzying rocker Round And Round.
Of course, there are a few questionable tunes but everything’s here for a reason.
Dumbed down bangers were a staple of the era and guilty pleasures abound: Helix’s Heavy Metal Love, L.A. Guns’ Sex Action and Tattoo Rodeo’s Hard Like A Rock were never going to win a Grammy but all three songs won a special place in our hair metal hearts.
Kiss, Bon Jovi, David Lee Roth, Sammy Hagar, Twisted Sister, Ace Frehley, Skid Row and Winger add some big-name credibility — if that’s what you’re after.
But true devotees of this dreamy decade will find just as much joy in Tuff’s toe-curling The All New Generationor Jackyl’s dubious Down On Me.
It’s Hagar who claims There’s Only One Way To Rock minutes into disc one… this rollercoaster trip down memory lane proves otherwise.
