20 years ago: Winger burst on the scene in the late 1980s with "Seventeen," a paean to illicit young love off their wildly successful debut album. Kip Winger became a heavy metal heartthrob for legions of female fans, and guitarist Reb Beach became an icon for all of us young male future guitar heroes.
"In The Heart of the Young," their followup effort, was released in 1990 on the strength of the singles "Miles Away", "Easy Come, Easy Go," and "Can't Get Enuff". Winger was, unfortunately, cast in a less-than-positive light on the MTV show "Beavis and Butthead," featured on the shirt of the title characters' wussy neighbor, Stewart (as a foil to the "cooler" Metallica and AC/DC shirts worn by the title characters), and after their largely forgotten third album, "Pull," tanked, Winger vanished into the hair metal ether.
"In The Heart of the Young," however, went much deeper than the two singles. "Rainbow In The Rose" featured trumpeting from a young Chris Botti:
The band reunited for a few shows, a new song for a "Greatest Hits" disc, and a live album in 2001, but disbanded again to continue to work on independent projects. Beach recorded and/or toured with Alice Cooper, Dokken, and Whitesnake, while Kip Winger released a series of more introspective solo albums, including one with acoustic versions of some of his old band's more popular songs.
Today: Winger's back, incredibly. They released their fourth album, "IV," in 2007, but didn't click with fans, as it took the band in a much more modern direction. 2009's "Karma," however, brought back the big choruses and wailing solos. Kip and his brother Nate reformed Blackwood Creek, a band from before the Winger days, and released a new album in early 2010 as well.
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Saturday, July 10, 2010
July 10, 1990: Poison's "Flesh And Blood"
Twenty Years Ago: I'll let the videos do the talking.
And a few that don't allow embedding:
"Life Goes On": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Beq8dxup7Pk
"Something To Believe In": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wk11Ywen5a4
"(Flesh & Blood) Sacrifice": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=isJQodWtH50
If any band is hair metal royalty, it's Poison. "Flesh and Blood" was the band's third album, and their last featuring their original lineup. This album had its share of hits, but I think the real gems here are the songs you probably don't know. "Let It Play," "Poor Boy Blues," and "Life Loves A Tragedy" are three of my all-time favorite Poison songs.
Not too long after this album (and the live disc that followed it), guitarist C.C. DeVille went bonkers, and the other guys went through Richie Kotzen and Blues Saraceno -- actually releasing two criminally underrated albums, one with each of them -- before realizing that they were a bigger draw together than they were apart, and got back together. They've been doing virtually the same exact live show since that first reunion tour.
Today: Bret Michaels is probably the bigger story these days, with the reality shows, health crises, and creepy old man Miley Cyrus duets. I would love to say that these guys could put together respectable new music, but really, they haven't done anything new that's worthwhile in any quantity since this album. 2000's "Power To The People" was an EP of five songs that weren't awful with a couple of mindless live tracks; then 2002's "Hollyweird" was beyond dreadful. The only redeeming track on their 2007 covers disc was actually a version of Justin Timberlake's (!!) "Sexyback," which was only available on the Wal-Mart version of the disc.
And a few that don't allow embedding:
"Life Goes On": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Beq8dxup7Pk
"Something To Believe In": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wk11Ywen5a4
"(Flesh & Blood) Sacrifice": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=isJQodWtH50
If any band is hair metal royalty, it's Poison. "Flesh and Blood" was the band's third album, and their last featuring their original lineup. This album had its share of hits, but I think the real gems here are the songs you probably don't know. "Let It Play," "Poor Boy Blues," and "Life Loves A Tragedy" are three of my all-time favorite Poison songs.
Not too long after this album (and the live disc that followed it), guitarist C.C. DeVille went bonkers, and the other guys went through Richie Kotzen and Blues Saraceno -- actually releasing two criminally underrated albums, one with each of them -- before realizing that they were a bigger draw together than they were apart, and got back together. They've been doing virtually the same exact live show since that first reunion tour.
Today: Bret Michaels is probably the bigger story these days, with the reality shows, health crises, and creepy old man Miley Cyrus duets. I would love to say that these guys could put together respectable new music, but really, they haven't done anything new that's worthwhile in any quantity since this album. 2000's "Power To The People" was an EP of five songs that weren't awful with a couple of mindless live tracks; then 2002's "Hollyweird" was beyond dreadful. The only redeeming track on their 2007 covers disc was actually a version of Justin Timberlake's (!!) "Sexyback," which was only available on the Wal-Mart version of the disc.
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