Video Friday: can we rewind to where we've been?
As many of my friends know, I listened to a whole lot of hair metal back in the day. You don't need to continue with this post if you don't want to read about hair metal - acquired taste, after all.
Yesterday a facebook friend posted that his ipod was basically taking him back to the mid/ late 80s with hard rock, and he remarked that if Warrant's Down Boys came on, he'd have to resurrect his old tight pants. Last time I saw that guy, he was in tight pants... so I don't know what he's talking about. But that got the song in my head.
The original video cannot be embedded, so check it out original video here complete with unnecessary double guitar, flaming trash can, and the band on an empty soundstage; here is a live version that begs the question: was Warrant just the New Kids on the Block with big hair and guitars? And lewd gestures? And a question that came up in the American Idol post earlier this week - didn't people notice that they're watching dudes with a lot of makeup and feminine clothes? I don't think the fans are particularly progressive... I guess presented as a "norm," dudes who look like ladies are acceptable.
Of course, they were not the last or silliest of that last wave and peroxided and big haired bands... unfortunately, I bought many such albums. One that I actually forgot about - until that Facebook post yesterday - was the band BulletBoys. I think they were formed because they were pretty in that David Lee Roth way, but they did a cover of "Hang on St. Christopher" that was pretty cool. Then I found out it was a Tom Waits song. I will admit that might be the first time I had ever heard of Tom Waits.
The BulletBoys version - I stayed up until 11.35 on a Friday night waiting for ABC's In Concert series in 1991, and actually used to have this performance on VHS! I think the performance was in California, some outdoor venue; Poison might have come on some time after them. If I am remembering it correctly, that was a tour I was going to go see with some friends from Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, that I knew through a friend in Queens. I ended up not going, so when I recount the bands I have seen, I don't have to explain I went to see Poison but was like totally stoked for the BulletBoys.
The Tom Waits version, to cleanse your head:
Extras
The other ones I was going to link and "embedding disabled" as well, so I'll just say that the band Slaughter and their hit "Up All Night" was far better than the other opportunistic dreck, like Trixter's "Give it to Me Good", a video you should see if only to say "I am so glad I didn't grow up in New Jersey in the late 80's/ early 90s. Or shave my head in that ridiculous way.
Here is mostly lame Danger Danger with their best song, "Bang Bang" (their other video/ song, "Naughty Naughty" was just terrible). They're from f**king QUEENS - I think Bayside, where I went to school for a time and had a close friend with a rat-tail in '88. Check out the keyboardist, the eastern Queens goonishness... these guys probably have matching Camaros.
Yesterday a facebook friend posted that his ipod was basically taking him back to the mid/ late 80s with hard rock, and he remarked that if Warrant's Down Boys came on, he'd have to resurrect his old tight pants. Last time I saw that guy, he was in tight pants... so I don't know what he's talking about. But that got the song in my head.
The original video cannot be embedded, so check it out original video here complete with unnecessary double guitar, flaming trash can, and the band on an empty soundstage; here is a live version that begs the question: was Warrant just the New Kids on the Block with big hair and guitars? And lewd gestures? And a question that came up in the American Idol post earlier this week - didn't people notice that they're watching dudes with a lot of makeup and feminine clothes? I don't think the fans are particularly progressive... I guess presented as a "norm," dudes who look like ladies are acceptable.
Click to viewOf course, they were not the last or silliest of that last wave and peroxided and big haired bands... unfortunately, I bought many such albums. One that I actually forgot about - until that Facebook post yesterday - was the band BulletBoys. I think they were formed because they were pretty in that David Lee Roth way, but they did a cover of "Hang on St. Christopher" that was pretty cool. Then I found out it was a Tom Waits song. I will admit that might be the first time I had ever heard of Tom Waits.
The BulletBoys version - I stayed up until 11.35 on a Friday night waiting for ABC's In Concert series in 1991, and actually used to have this performance on VHS! I think the performance was in California, some outdoor venue; Poison might have come on some time after them. If I am remembering it correctly, that was a tour I was going to go see with some friends from Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, that I knew through a friend in Queens. I ended up not going, so when I recount the bands I have seen, I don't have to explain I went to see Poison but was like totally stoked for the BulletBoys.
The Tom Waits version, to cleanse your head:
Extras
The other ones I was going to link and "embedding disabled" as well, so I'll just say that the band Slaughter and their hit "Up All Night" was far better than the other opportunistic dreck, like Trixter's "Give it to Me Good", a video you should see if only to say "I am so glad I didn't grow up in New Jersey in the late 80's/ early 90s. Or shave my head in that ridiculous way.
Here is mostly lame Danger Danger with their best song, "Bang Bang" (their other video/ song, "Naughty Naughty" was just terrible). They're from f**king QUEENS - I think Bayside, where I went to school for a time and had a close friend with a rat-tail in '88. Check out the keyboardist, the eastern Queens goonishness... these guys probably have matching Camaros.