More Substance Than Bro Country, More Country Than Sam Hunt

On Sirius the other day I heard the d.j. say that she had heard The Eagles would be considered “country” today. Which is funny ’cause I have recently been thinking about that. I loved The Eagles. They’ve dabbled in country for years. The truth: they would NOT get played today because they are “too traditional.”

 That quote came from the comments section on an article on the website Saving Country Music from a user identified only as Justin.

It got me to thinking that a lot of 80's hair metal power ballads are more country than what you hear on mainstream country radio today. So of course I went down that rabbit hole. And then I got stuck on Cinderella. At their core, Cinderella was really more of a blues rock/Southern rock band than a hair metal band. But they had the look and played the part. But the music told a different story.

I could mine ten songs from the Cinderella catalog that would make a more country album than you could get from taking ten songs from eight hours worth of mainstream country radio.

But I digress from the main point. Taking individual songs (and yes I know, that's cherry picking) from artists such as Cinderella, Motley Crue, Poison, Warrant, Faster Pussycat, Guns n' Roses, and L.A. Guns, just to name a few, you can find songs more country than anything Sam Hunt has done.

And here's the real kicker. While the demise of the glam/sleaze rock scene was mired in misogyny and shallowness, there is more substance to be found there than in the bro country scene. Want proof? Glad you asked. I made a Spotify playlist of songs with more substance than bro country and more country than Sam Hunt.

Granted, none of these songs are really country in the true sense of country music. It's more of an exercise than anything else. And yes, I have an affinity for 80's hard rock, what I grew up with.  And yeah, I took some liberties including KISS and a Lita Ford cover of an Alice Cooper song. It's my playlist.

If you Spotify, enjoy:

Metal Monday (Glam Edition) Featuring Kix

Kix is not really glam. Too much jeans and leather. But I don't like using the term "hair metal". Although I've embraced the term, many of the artists of that time don't.

Kix was never huge, but they are always solid. Actually put out a new record last year. But I'm going back.

"Cold Blood" was the first song I ever heard by Kix. And it's probably still my favorite.

Ron Keel: Metal Cowboy

Sometimes you just stumble upon something by accident that you really weren't looking for, but was exactly what you needed to find. That's what happened to me a few days ago.

Anyone who was deep into 80's hard rock, otherwise known as hair metal, knows of the band Keel, led by lead singer Ron Keel. We've probably all tried to scrub this video from our memories:



And there was this over-choreographed cover of "Because the Night". The song itself is not bad, but the video.....




Ok, enough of that. I have a good song/bad video series. This is about Ron Keel's solo release in early 2014.

It's an interesting mix of Southern Rock, 80's Hard Rock and Country. And surprisingly, it all works. Personally, I think the country stuff works best. Here's a live acoustic solo performance of "Just Like Tennessee".



This is probably one of the most traditional country songs I've heard in 2014.

Don't Compare Bro-Country to Hair Metal

I've read/heard it many times: Bro-Country is country music's version of Hair Metal.

Well, a tweet from @FarceTheMusic sent me down a Cinderella (the band, not the book/movie) wormhole that ended with a thorough exploration of the music of my high school years.

The actual tweet: Cinderella's "Heartbreak Station" is one of my favorite alt-country ballads ever.

Of course I went back and listened. He's right. And that's what sent me down the wormhole. There are many Cinderella songs that are very country-tinged. But what other 80's Hard Rock bands were doing the same thing? Not exactly the same thing, but stuff that would be considered a different genre 25-30 years later.

Here is Cinderella's "Heartbreak Station".



Cinderella was always more hard blues rock than Hair Metal anyway. They, along with some of the others I will post just kind of go lumped into the category, fair or not. I could post a few more Cinderella songs here, but I want to diversify.

LA sleaze rockers put out some really good Americana type songs in the 80s. One I really like is Faster Pussycat's "House of Pain".



Another sleaze rock band with this type of song was LA Guns. "Ballad of Jayne" is a great song.



Even the ultimate Hair Metal band had several songs of substance. Here is Poison's "Something to Believe In".



Great White got pegged into the same Hair Metal category, but like Cinderella, they were always more bluesy hard rock. I had a hard time choosing which song of theirs to go with, but I chose "House of Broken Love".



Did I cherry pick? Of course I did. But these songs were all released as singles. I didn't dig deep into album cuts. I just get tired of people dismissing Hair Metal and now referring to it as "Butt Rock". It's 80s hard rock and lot of it stands the test of time. I admit, there was a bunch of crap, especially towards the end, but don't throw the baby out with the bathwater.

And everyone should be reading Farce the Music. Funny, snarky and fantastic.

Good Song, Bad Video: Bon Jovi: Runaway

Bon Jovi is one of my favorite bands. "Runaway", off the self-titled debut album, is the first song of theirs I ever heard. And still one of my favorites.

But, oh my, what a bad video.

From this video, we can glean that hair metal, along with lavender leather pants, emerged from some post-apocalyptic nuclear accident from the '50's. At least that's what I'm getting.

For all the female fans, Jon shakes his ass. And has great hair. Enjoy.




Previous Good Song, Bad Video submissions:

Dokken: Breaking the Chains
Motley Crue: Looks That Kill
Def Leppard: Foolin'


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Retro Album Spotlight: Night Ranger: Dawn Patrol

Inarguably, Night Ranger's greatest success came with the release of 1983's Midnight Madness with the anthemic "(You Can Still) Rock in America" and the prototypical power ballad "Sister Christian". However, their 1982 debut Dawn Patrol, still stands as one of their best, and my personal favorite.

I've found that debut albums are often some of my favorites. Why? The artist/band has had their whole lives to construct 10 good songs. After that, they have a year or two to put a record together. Granted, a lot of bands go on to make better records, but there is still something special about that first one, both as a consumer and an artist.

Dawn Patrol is one of those special records.

It starts out with the minor hit "Don't Tell Me You Love Me", which gives you a good idea of what Night Ranger is all about: Hair Metal before it was a thing.

The next track, "Sing Me Away" is kind of forgettable. Then we have "At Night She Sleeps" in which we get a taste of the lyrical genius of Night Ranger (tongue planted firmly in cheek here). But they really did have some interesting lyrics: "She's seals her fate in a car on a date with some loser from Birmingham". (Sorry Alabama or England, however you wish to interpret). 

"Call My Name" is one of my favorite songs of all time. And the 2nd verse has some of my favorite lyrics of all time:

"Your silhouette always appears in my window

I close my eyes and hear

The applause of at least a thousand different strangers

Every one seems sincere

Or did you notice?

Was it you that I hear?"

Okay, so it's not high brow poetry. But I like it. And that's all that matters.

This album came out in the cassette era (saddens me that kids today will never know the side one/side two element) and ends with "Eddies Comin' Out Tonight". The chorus is a bit trite, but the verses are quite interesting.

Side two (yeah, I'm still in cassette mode) opens with three standard rockers, "Can't Find Me A Thrill", "Young Girl in Love" and "Play Rough". While they are not throwaways or filler, they are not among my favorites. Others may disagree. And that's fine.

The next song, "Penny", is not that distinguishable from the previous songs, other than I like it better.  That's just personal preference.

The record ends with the eponymously named "Night Ranger'.  It's not bad, it's not great.

No, this is not an iconic record. It's just good. And underrated in the Night Ranger lexicon. 

My favorite song, enjoy before YouTube crashes everything.

You can still Rock in America. At least today.

Night Ranger on Amazon.

TheCheapSeats onTwitter.

Artist Spotlight: Cinderella

Cinderella (the 80's hard rock band, not the Disney character/movie) had the unfortunate luck to come along just at the right time to become hugely successful.

That statement will confuse most people, but hear me out. Cinderella's debut album Night Songs came out in 1986  at the height of the hair metal explosion. And they played it up, initially. Just look at the album cover to the right.

They had the look, the hair (including bassist Eric Brittingham's perfect blonde waterfall 'do), the synchronized guitar spins, and the attitude. MTV ready and willing. But they also had the chops, especially lead vocalist/lead guitarist/bandleader Tom Keifer. And the songs. Cinderella was much more akin to AC/DC than Poison.

Cinderella was lumped in with the hair bands. And that was fair. Check out this video. They played the part.



What wasn't fair is that Cinderella and a handful of other quality bands from that era were swept under the rug with everything associated with Hair Metal. I've heard the story where Keifer was shopping new songs to labels and upon hearing the songs, the execs were intrigued. When they found out who it was, they dismissed it.

Had Night Songs come out 10 years earlier, or maybe even five, then the career narrative would have been different. Cinderella is much bluesier and much more diverse than the pigeon hole in which they've been relegated. Fortunately for us, Tom Keifer is still creating music and Cinderella is still performing.

"Shelter Me" is much more representative of what Cinderella was all about. Excuse the bad video and Little Richard cameo.

Bon Jovi

Back in the day, the '80's and the times of Jesus according my daughter when she was 7 or 8, we went to our first rock concert.  The concert featured Bon Jovi as the opening act.  This was around 1985.  We have slept a time or two since then so we don't remember exactly.  They were supporting the 7800 Fahrenheit album.  Ratt was the headlining band.  We can see the career trajectories of those two bands and conclude why we were there for the opening act.  Actually we saw Ratt twice in the mid-to-late '80's.  Both times we went primarily for the opening act.  No disrespect to Ratt, but it was what it was.

Why does any of this matter?  Well, really it doesn't.  But throughout the long career of Bon Jovi, that was the only time we were able to attend a show.  That may all be about to change.

A band that can stick around for almost 30 years and still sell out stadiums and arenas, whether you are a fan of their music (and we are) or not, you've got to give them their props.  This is the stuff legends are made of.

With Bon Jovi embarking on yet another tour, we may now have the means and access to complete the circle.  Sure it's going to be a 200 mile trip.  One way.  But this is West Texas.  200 miles is a Sunday drive in these parts.

"When the world gets in my face, I say.........Have a nice day."