![]() ![]() “Showdown (Riot on Sunset),” Jesus Christ this record never ends, and now there are horns on this massive song, which could have been the album opener, really, a stormin’ and strong cut buried deep, forgotten to time, but very cool. You know how when some of the old-dog metal bands talk about some of their songs being “punk” you just cringe? LA Guns actually had a legit punk vibe sometimes, it’s catchy as hell and it shines through on songs like this. “I’m Addicted” is a two-minute guitar solo/Willie Dixon cover, which is puzzling but what the hell, and “17 Crash” has a weird title and is a grooving mid-tempo slinker that turns into a brisk safe-punk tune come chorus time, and I’m on board. “Give a Little,” here’s another one we all forget, but I like it, the band sorta sleepwalking through this hungover rocker but with enough swagger and style, and great, stylish riffing, to keep it interesting. “Magdalaine” is a bit of a strange one, the band taking six minutes to get where they’re going here with this fast-paced song, and it kinda ends up nowhere, the Guns signalling that we’re entering the midway point of the album, steam is running low, and this record should be 15 minutes shorter. It’s up there with the best of the best, although it never quite got the traction of your “Home Sweet Home”s or your “Every Rose Has Its Thorn”s. “The Ballad of Jayne” rules I’ll admit I’m a sucker for a well-done hair ballad, and this is about as well-done as they get. I’m still not huge on that chorus, though. I never liked “Malaria” for some reason, the structure of the song and the chorus kinda grating to me, but I can appreciate the mid-tempo slinkiness of it now, and it does give some good melodic atmosphere at this point in the record. “Never Enough” is another classic, a chorus to die for, riffs straddling that perfect line between radio-melodic and street-wise, dangerous verses, everything here is a winner. “Sleazy Come Easy Go,” hmm, here’s one we always forget about, but it’s got a good slinky beat to it (that the band would revisit with much greater success on their next album, with the killer “Kiss My Love Goodbye”) and a memorable chorus. This song is just economic, perfect hair metal, ready for the arenas, ready to be the soundtrack for one of the best nights of your life. Guns.īut the album really gets going with “Rip and Tear,” a classic rocker with a perfect chorus and a hilariously fun faster-faster-faster! speed-up ending. ![]() I love this stuff, man, and few do it better than this lineup/era of L.A. Well, not really, but it’s what I like to imagine is happening as intro “Letting Go” kicks things off with a one-minute… well, it’s a real song but it’s somehow only a minute long, which is awesome, and it leads right into “Slap in the Face,” a lean and mean riff-rocker that lays four on the floor and brings the sleaze of the strip into your living room through some classic melodies and vocal lines. I mean, it’s long in the tooth at 54 minutes, but this is like Operation: Mindcrime for dummies or something. This record almost plays out like a concept album about the best and worst of Hollywood life. In 1987, the band released their self-titled debut, a fantastic piece of underrated Guns N’ Roses-esque trash rock two years later, the band released their second album, the fantastic Wake Me When It’s Over.īoth albums find the bands noticeably more confident and relaxed, both albums spawned some of their most classic songs, both albums are hair-metal classics.īut which is the true king of the strip, the album that will truly rock forever, the one that stands hair above hair above hair over the other? We took it upon ourselves to dive back in to these records and we’ve got the answer. But 1989’s Cocked and Loaded works even better. The album is a legit ripper, taking the best of Hollywood street sleaze glam and adding just enough stadium spit-shine to make it work. And if you know what I’m saying, welcome, friend. I mean, “Fallen Angel” couldn’t have been on Look What the Cat Dragged In, if you know what I’m saying. I spend no shortage of time thinking about the genre’s peak years, and a thesis I’ve come up with is that most of these bands hit their stride on their second album after a solid enough debut and before a slightly patchier third album. We don’t talk about hair metal much here, but at least a couple of us around Decibel love the stuff. Plus, we love these sorts of exercises, and also love watching you battle each other to the death in the comments, so how could this possibly end poorly? Yes, these albums are the best of the best. Fight Fire With Fire 1989, Editorial, Faster Pussycat, Fight Fire with Fire, hair metal, LA Guns.įight Fire With Fire is an ongoing series on our site where we pit two classic genre albums against each other to definitively figure out which one is better. ![]()
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