(side note, i am not including any 70's albums of Kiss because they would take up too much of this list). Toodlum 4 yr. ago. More straight hard rock, than pop metal. Way too oversaturated with keyboards,but still catchy as hell. The list is not without some eye brow raising since at least one album achieved gold certification in the United States of America but its a fun list nonetheless. I think Hooked was still a success, but Psycho City never got the attention it deserved. Q5 are now called Nightshade and still play out every once in a while. Well, I am here to tell you that those people are assholes. . They changed their name to Shotgun Messiah, fired their singer and eventually went industrial metal. Excellent article. In hindsight, the decade of glam and glitz was most certainly writhe with bizarre and possibly regrettable fashion choices, but it was also magical. and Classic Rock, Associate Editor on Q magazine and staff writer/tea boy on Raw, not necessarily in that order. Their cult-classic debut album, Welcome To Bop City ,was a Scandi-glam mini-masterpiece featuring groinally-charged anthems with titles like I Dont Care Bout Nothin and Squeezin Teazin, played by men calling themselves Zinny J Zan and Stixx Galore (yup, the drummer). 1. So, if youre a fan, the summer of 2021 may finally be your chance to get a taste of some late 80s sleaze. Britny Fox Britny Fox (1988) 02. And yet, "Revenge" did stand out among its predecessors in several ways. Bonus fact: future Wildhearts frontman Ginger was briefly a member, reputedly dying his hair black as part of the deal. It's a shockingly awesome record, easily in my all-time Top 10 as far as hair metal goes. We've decided to rank our 20 hair metal bands of all time. 02. Vinyl Writer MusicsThe Road to The Roxy: 10 Underrated Glam & Hair Metal Era Albums Part II: Regardless of whether you think that glam metal died because it was over-exploited or because grunge killed it, youd agree that the '90s were a very bad time to be a band with a "glam" label slapped on your behind. Its worth every second. Louder is part of Future plc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. All of that horse crap aside, Out of This World is actually a pretty outstanding album, and while its not The Final Countdown, as I mentioned before, I tend to prefer it. ), $2.1 million dollar record deal with Capitol Records in 1990; then ended up changing their name to Wildside due to a cease and desist related to the Young Guns movies. Visit our corporate site (opens in new tab). Powerful, but still memorable. Contains one of the mostly widely recognized power ballads "More Than Words," but "Decadence Dance" is the albums killer cut. I gotta find a copy of that CD thats not $35 or more! But the public proved resistant to the hard sell, and Vain were left sitting forlorn and alone on the sidewalk while lesser groups were whisked behind the velvet rope of fame. Vinnie Vincent Invasion Vinnie Vincent Invasion (1986) Roxy Blue. ConflictAddict 4 yr. ago. Well, in the wake of the Hot In The Shade screw-job, the band still managed to book a nice tour of well-paying gigs and were set to depart, when Dean The Diva Davidson decided to split and make a go of it on his own. On a commercial level, it didnt do much, which isnt a surprise given the era it was ruthlessly dropped into. Tesla had no gimmick. I listen to tons of bands that I dont agree with lyrically, though (christian bands, satanic bands, krishna bands, etc.). Put a smile on my face and Ill make sure he sees it. Even the ballads have balls. It stands toe to toe and chest to chest with any Hair and Glam Metal album of the era. 10 years earlier, they would've been superstars. 03. Not to mention the fact that Andrew W.K. 04. It,s not glam or hair metal. I cant explain it, but every time I listen to it, I just see scenes from that film running through my head; its not a curse, but a blessing. First off, Extreme wasn't all that big on the glam thing despite being labeled as such for most of their active years, and this labeling can be even more baffling nowadays when the first Extreme song that comes to your average Joe's mind ends up being "More Than Words" in the vast majority of cases. should be legally required to record a cover version of "Party for Your Life" (embedded above)! Other bands just because I am biased, but from Divebomb - SARGANT FURY, DIMAGE and CASANOVA. Its an amazing Great White album. Pure attitude from a band that actually lived it. W.A.S.P. White Lion are actually my second favorite hair band, but I know they won't rank high on any all time list simply because they were considered wimpy, mainly because they loaded their albums with love songs. Guitarist Michael Angelo Batio is well known for his guitar instructional videos Speed Kills and he also played guitar in the band Nitro (The Double Headed Guitar!) Dangerous Toys - Dangerous Toys (1989) Blue Murder Blue Murder (1989) I suspect I am going to get flack for this, but despite what you might think, this all-female Hair Metal masterpiece is supremely underrated. Seriouslyher lead work is some of the best of the era, in my opinion. Sure, the record did go gold, but the reviews were not kind, with Martin Popoff going as far as to call the record, An offensive Pop Rock outing, much closer to early Warrantthan The Final Countdown could or would dare. Popoff went on to muse, A dunce-cap posse solidly in search of cash and chicks, egregiously removed from any sort of Hard Rock acumen. Ouch. They had stars at every position and deviated from the traditional fun hair bands at the time. All of that aside, go back and listen to Rock Soldiers, Love Me Right, Into the Night, and Calling to You. Those tracks are transcendent rockers, and his backing band of Tod Howarth, John Regan, and Anton Fig are a truly inspired bunch who had sensational chemistry. There's an additional layer of irony to this since Warrant's main arranger and vocalist Jani Lane admitted that he wasn't exactly fond of "Cherry Pie", and that the whole album ended up being a dollop of glam cheese (although the cheese in question must have been some gourmet shit) simply because that's what was selling at the time. Ive never heard Cats in Boots or Harem Scarem so Ive got some Googling to do! Connor Shelton described it as one of the few bands from the era to bring a level of depth . Posted on March 17, 2021 by Olivier in Uncategorized // 0 Comments. As you stated I have always championed JOKER myself. People didnt give a shit then either. BA1 1UA. One of many other early 80's albums that influenced a whole generation of hair metalheads throughout the rest of the 80's. The one that gave birth to the entire genre. The 10 Most Underrated Hair Metal Guitarists Of The '80s | News | VH1 The 10 Most Underrated Hair Metal Guitarists Of The '80s Bang your hair to glam jam guitar gods from Kiss,. Underrated hair metal songs. I quipped about hipsters sitting in cafs and dredging Hair Metal the first time around. Oops. Great, unsung (for the most part) gems, no doubt. I mean, come on, it's impossible not to sing along to "Mackinaw Avenue" or "Change"the latter of which is practically a full-on pop song, though the quality of the writing and musicianship gives it an edge that avoids the overly pristine sheen of lesser (yet more successful) outfits like Danger Danger or Firehouse. Speaking of late-stage Hair Metal, this record is about as late as it gets in that regard. Having seen him live several times over the years, I can attest that he still packs the house, and his fans still love these tracks. IMHO opinion, there is not a single bad track on Hollands Little Monsters! Love em, Leave emAs long as their breathin! -Love on the Run. Once you hear this album, you'll be playing it in your head for a long time. But the music on this album is so infectious, you really won't care if they had no gimmick. It was formed by the same dude who invented the most popular and inherently-flawed-leaving-endless-bullshit-marketing-for-upgrades-rather-than-just-make-a-great-product-in-the-first-place piece of guitar technology, Mr. Floyd Rose, who, although he did an acceptable job of producing and engineering both Q5 albums overall, did an unacceptable job of engineering the guitar sounds for both albums, and did not have enough finesse as a lead player to make his solos sound pleasing (although he wasnt awkward like Steve Howe, he was no George Lynch). Less than two years later, they had already been dropped by Capitol before the end of 1993, in large part due to the fact that grunge was taking over. Appreciate the comment. By. Great article, as usual! Hey, you never got that with Warrant. 2) The songwriting on this album is absolutely top-notch, which is something of a small miracle, considering Ace had quit KISS in 1982, in a drunken haze, almost died in several car wrecks, and hadnt made any music in around five or so years. Vixen Vixen (1988) As grunge became all the rage during the early '90s, these albums never got the attention they really deserved. If you see it, definitely pick it up and enjoy. The album that kind of fused metal and glam into one. Theyre the bands were raising a large Jack Daniels and coke to here the ones who never got their time in the neon glare of fame despite making at least one killer record. Harem Scarem - Mood Swings (1993) *this one is particularly good! The latter was gratifying and gave me a certain sense of mission accomplishment. Southgang - Tainted Angel Nah. I was introduced to Chicago's Joker by Matt Rudzinski from Divebomb Records, and I don't know much about them, so I can only assume they were another absolutely incredible band that got rolling just a little too late to capitalize on their talents. Its also remembered as the official debut of the now-iconic Bon Jovi logo that we have all come to know and love, and while there arent too many songs that would make a standard greatest hits list, save for In and Out of Love, this record is filled with heavy-hitting deep cuts that are sure to satiate your appetite for sleazecakes. In short, Vixen kicked ass and they proved once and for all that women could rock and shred as hard as their male counterparts. The hairspray and makeup came off, and Lane's songwriting simply shined. Whereas Skid Row got marketed as your run-of-the-mill pretty boy glam metal outfit from the get-go, their self-titled debut showed that they were capable of much more than providing quick and cheap amusement for the masses, and their sophomore album "Slave to the Grind" made the most of the band's prodigious potential. Heavy Bones formed in Hollywood circa 1990 and featured in its ranks guitarist Gary Hoey (who later scored a surprise hit with "Hocus Pocus") and drummer Frankie Banali (of Quiet Riot and W.A.S.P.). Now, in the 80s, you basically had two types of Guitar Gods: the Neo-Classical speed shredders, such as Yngwie Malmsteen, Vinnie Vincent, Mark St. John, and Vito Bratta, and on the other side of the spectrum were the players who were more rooted in the 70s Classic Rock and Blues, such as Slash, CC Deville, Bruce Kulick and of course, Mick Sweda. Instead, these New Yorkers are cursed to exist in a world that doesnt give a shit about a bunch of LOreal-haired dudes playing blockbusting songs with choruses bigger than Vince Neils Spanx collection. For me, Europes Out of this World is an AOR masterpiece. Read Part 1 of this series here: https://vwmusicrocks.com/return-to-the-sunset-strip-10-underrated-glam-hair-metal-era-albums/, Read part 3 of this series here: https://vwmusicrocks.com/the-headbangers-ball-reaches-its-edge-10-underrated-glam-hair-metal-era-albums-part-iii/, Andrew Daly (@vwmusicrocks) is the Editor-in-Chief for www.vwmusicrocks.com and may be reached at andrew@vinylwriter.com. Aerosmith's second shot at glory, and they pulled it off. Been meaning to pick up the first McQueen Street CD for some time now, but havent quite found the right price yet. (I can't help but feel like the epic power ballad, "Too Late," should've been a massive hit single.) However, in 2019, Mick did rejoin BulletBoys. All bands were bred in Pennsylvania. The '80s have taught us that you could expect a lot of things from Blackie Lawless, but releasing a concept album wasn't one of them. Shark Who? The result? underrated hair metal albums. yeah, that thing is always priced so high! With the success of all-female Hair Metal group Vixen, MCA was certain that Femme Fatale would rise hard and fast, but it was not to be. Warrant has had the unfortunate fate of being arguably one of the best hair metal bands out there and arrive at the scene too late for what it wanted to do. As expected Ive only heard of two or three of the bands you listed off there. (Harem Scarem is sounding AMAZING so far, pretty damn sure Ill be scooping that up as soon as I can!) It needs to be out there and readily available. Another one from 1984 that influenced tons of bands in the 80's. Other notables: Best selling and most recognizable of TS's output, it is also their best. This album gave a huge kick in the ass to the genre when it was spawning hundreds of wanna be's. Never heard of Oney but Im intrigued by what I hear on YouTube. I got TT on 1st end LP and it's sumptuous! Its an album that you can listen from beginning to the end, and wont find any bad song. In his time with Carmine Appices King Kobra, Mick had learned a thing or two and had turned himself into a true songsmith, and by the time he formed BulletBoys, he was raring and ready to go. Heres how it works. Winger - In The Heart Of The Young (1990), McQueen Street should be in this discussion and in your collection. So here are the most underrated records by 20 major metal bands. Who ever thought that Def Leppard could make an album that would outsell Pyromania? I totally agree with Q5 and Heavy Pettin for sure! The album was recorded at Eddie Van Halen's 5150 home studio, and Wildside was the first band other than Van Halen to record there. For me, Aces positioning at the number one spot on this list is both hard-earned and well deserved. The Tear the House Down lineup briefly regrouped for a 25th anniversary reunion last summer, but Bruce Naumann is now working with yet another all-new lineup. With Kiss being one of the biggest names from rock's history that continued kicking in a (more or less) healthy manner to this day, I'm not sure you could really call any Kiss album underrated. Life, Sex & Death had it all: a bunch of Cheap Trick-on-steroids songs, the muscle of a major label behind them and a homeless guy on vocals. I'll never understand what it is that makes some bands "click" while others that are just as good if not better simply fade away into relative obscurity. Love it or hate it, but you cant deny that Superstitious slays and it might just be Europes greatest ever track. So being that I grew up on this stuff and have been doing a hair metal podcast for 20 years Ill lay on a few more underrated jems: BANG TANGO Psycho Cafe, DANGEROUS TOYS self-titled debut, LYNCH MOB Wicked Sensation, DON DOKKEN Up From the Ashes, FIREHOUSE self-titled debut, KIX Hot Wire, XYZ Hungry, ICON self-titled debut, BANYLON A.D. self-titled debut, CHILDS PLAY Rat Race, EXTREME self-titled debut, RACER X Second Heat, SLEEZE BEEZ Screwed, Blued, & Tattooed, and lastly Y&T, they have so many underrated albums it is mind blowing. You come up with fun lists. The Nelson brothers could write a hell of a song, because every one on this album is catchy and loaded with hooks. Page 1 of 3 1 2 3 Next > R79 Forum Resident Thread Starter. The album was critically panned and another commercial failure. Black N Blue Nasty Nasty (1986) I can't tell if they're still active or not, but Wildside does have a Facebook page that's touting a remastered re-release of Under the Influence this year, and I'll be all over that if it becomes a reality. True, I don't identify with (or in some cases approve of) elements of the lyrical content, but from a songwriting and musicianship perspective, I very seriously enjoy this stuff, and would be perfectly happy were it the majority of my day-to-day listening. One of the many albums in the early 80's that helped bring metal to the mainstream. Maybe even an old T-shirt laying around! 06. I should really pick up some Lillian Axe sometime. Not quite as big a seller as "Lean Into It," "Mr. Big" is the debut from a band that should have ruled the world. 10. In their debut album, they had an AC/DC rip-off version of "Hot For Teacher" with their single "Girlschool". Good lists. Full of sleaze and attitude, one of the better hair metal albums to come out at the tail end of the 80's. 7800 Fahrenheit really pulls no punches, and it played a huge role in shaping the shaping of the sound that was to come for Bon Jovi. Their first album Steel the Light borders on metal in an 80s Judas Priest-ish kind of way, and has one of the best pre-choruses ever written on the albums eponymous song. Great White was the would-be Blues-Rock band, that simply couldnt help but indulge in Hair Metal. Songs like "Rest in Peace", "Tragic Comic", and "Warheads" had cleverly arranged harmonies, featured very diverse stylistic approaches, and all had engaging lyrics, but the album produced no hit singles and ended up a commercial disaster despite being the highlight of Extreme's career. Wildside did release one more album in 1995 (on an indie label), but had undergone some lineup changes and a complete shift in sound by that pointironically enough taking a stab at the grungier style that had destroyed their initial shot at success. Gutter-level anthems Come Down Sister, Underground and Ocean Of Love were edged with goth and psychedelia that placed them closer to The Doors and pre-arena rawk The Cult than Van Halen and Motley Crue though they could still kick up a bar-room shit-storm as the comedy-tough Its Not The End Of The World proved. Heavy Bones came relatively early in Hoey's professional career (having moved from Boston to Los Angeles in the late-'80s upon the recommendation of Ozzy Osbourne, after auditioning for the position that ultimately went to Zakk Wylde), and released but one self-titled album on Reprise Records in 1992. Wildside - Under The Influence ;t=2333s Totally overlooked upon release due to being a debut album of the genre released in 1992. Say what you will about KISS or my placement of this record, but there is no denying its greatness. Like Joker, there's not a ton of information out there regarding Real Steel. He was all set to resume the tour but at the last hour Sharon and Ozzy decided he was just too young to leap into the madness of an Ozzy tour and hired Bernie Torme instead (Jake was after Bernie). If theyd been born 30 years earlier, Station would have been as big as Def Leppard, or at least Trixter. While there's a good handful of underrated bands of this ilk that do still get mild exposure here and there, I'm for the most part trying to stick with personal favorites that I've never even encountered on satellite radio channels such as Hair Nation, etc. I still need to try and get used to the vocals in Heavy Pettin, but Q5 is indeed awesome. Future Publishing Limited Quay House, The Ambury, Stay tuned for Part 3! Super interesting comments. Badlands Badlands (1989) With a much harder edge than the previous release, the second album was produced in Los Angeles by renowned Keith Olsen. This, along with Slippery When Wet, epitomized pop metal, and helped bring it to the mainstream back in 1986. Coverdale & Co. best selling album. "Surrender" is a great ballad. Andrew, my cousin Scott Smalley is/was lead vocals/bass for Real Steel! The second album shouldve just been the actual soundtrack to Bloodsport. Rounding out this powerhouse line-up was Share Ross on bass and the thunderous Roxy Petrucci on drums, who is as hard a hitting drummer as youll ever hear. Pure pop metal with long, stick thin blond hair X2. Of course, it turned out to be a put-on Stanley was really a rich kid called Chris Stann, and the whole thing was somewhere between performance art, social commentary and plain bad taste. Kind of the Silverchair of hair metal, you'd be surprised at how mature these youngins sound on this, their only album. Had a minor hit with "House of Pain," but never really went anywhere. SPREAD EAGLE, GREAT ALBUM = TO APPETITE FOR DESTRUCTION. Beau Nasty - Dirty But Well Dressed It's also worth noting that their early tracks as Young Gunns were equally awesome, and the B-sides from Under the Influence are pretty incredible (to the point of being significantly better than some of the album tracks, not that it would've made a difference in the end, sadly). They also contributed to two movie soundtracks in '92Bad Channels and Demonic Toysbut by that point it was likely too late for said appearances to give Joker the career kickstart they deserved. Here are some trivia tidbits about their debut full-length, Under the Influence: The record was slated for release by late-1991, but ended up being delayed until May of '92, during which time Wildside lost their slot opening for Van Halen on the For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge tour. Do yourself a favor and go score this record. If people only listened to bands whose lyrical content was largely aligned with their own views it would be quite limiting. Looking back, its hard to pinpoint why this record failed, as it seemingly had all the ingredients to ascend to great heights. Also, Dog Eat Dog is significant to the bands history, as it is the final album to feature the bands quintessential five members. All of that aside, this is an album where Great White was truly able to allow their undisputed talent to shine, and if you didnt know any better, you might actually think it was Robert Plant singing in place of Jack Russel on some of these tracks. Ill be emailing you! 03. That Beau Nasty is kicking my ass right now! SPREAD EAGLE (SELF TITLED) Start to finish is frigging beast mode appetite for destruction part 2, Hell yeahhhhhhhh cant wait for that to wake people up to the best or atleast 2nd best album of that era!!! And while the album never saw a significant spike in the number of copies sold, "Revenge" did manage to draw enough attention to give Kiss a new lease on life, effectively saving the NYC iconic band from drifting into obscurity. When you listen to this, you get the feeling that this is the album that David Lee Roth always wanted to make. The Triple-Axe Attack, as they were known by, exemplified power guitar with great riffs and a lead singer that had a raspy, yet seemingly effortless, powerful voice. Mixing metal, punk, and glam, everything on this album just clicked perfectly. Now, let's begin. Vinyl Writer Musics principal Andrew Daly has released his list for the 10 Underrated Glam & Hair Metal Era Albums. Dream Unending: Tide Turns Eternal. This one went way under the radar, but definitely deserves a spot in hair metal history. Saigon Kick was a band that knew how to write one hell of a hook. One of the most underrated bands in the genre. Speaking of Vixen, here they are! Thanks for popping by, and stay safe! Google, here I come! Tom Beaujour, Richard Bienstock, Chuck Eddy, Reed Fischer, Kory Grow, Maura Johnston, Christopher R . Present-day, Ace is having one of the most fruitful and creative periods of his career. Most people will recall this as The record that came out after The Final Countdown, or The record that came out after John Norum left the band. For many reasons, this is a pretty sad state of affairs, as this record is really, honestly nearly as good as The Final Countdown, if not, dare I say itbetter. Location: 39629. . A demo produced by Metallicas Kirk Hammett was followed by a self-titled debut album full of dirtier-than-a-used-hypodermic tracks like Doghouse, Too Much T-Bone and semi-immortal single Half The Way Valley. They quickly rose through the ranks and paid their dues through club gigs and were noticed pretty quickly, and in relatively short order, signed with MCA Records and recorded their eponymous debut record, Femme Fatale. The band got started in Los Angeles in the late-'80s as Young Gunns; signed a seven-album (!? Thanks so much for the comment! Never could get into Enuff Znuff, but I do dig that one song they had on the Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer soundtrack. Shortly thereafter, Rough Cutt disbanded, and while they have managed to regroup here and there, you wouldnt expect to see them headlining any summer 2021 legacy act tours with Styx or Journey anytime soon. You cannot hear that album with seeing the menacing face of Bolo Yeung staring at you in a windows reflection. Trixter were a bunch of teenagers when they released this, their debut,coming in at the end of the hair metal wave. Their No Rules album (produced by Dana Strum!) The Ozzy roots run just as deep as the KISS roots! It was mixed by Steve Thompson and Michael Barbiero (who also mixed Appetite for Destruction and .And Justice for All, to name but a few). White Tiger White Tiger (1986) 07. The vocals are really an obstacle moreso on the second album. In general I dont really identify with the whole good time/party angle either cause its just not my thing, but the misogynistic aspects are what gets bothersome at times. He has written for Metal Hammer, Louder, Prog, the Observer, Select, Mojo, the Evening Standard and the totally legendary Ultrakill. One of the most underrated bands in the genre. is fantastic. It sounded to me like the record company saw their potential and stuck their 2 cents in and tried to get them to do a more commercial sound. It was produced by Andy Johns (who had worked with everyone from The Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin to Cinderella and Van Halen). It kinda sucks when your biggest hit is a cover song, although probably nobody knew that back in 1989. Do NOT pass this one up. Winger epitomized late 80's pop metal, and seemed to be the pinup boys for all the hatred towards hair metal with the dawning of grunge. On the other hand, the fact that it brought something any lingering W.A.S.P. Probably everyone on Earth has heard "Rock You Like A Hurricane.". To nobody's surprise, "III Sides to Every Story" followed that labeling trend as well, but what you could hear on that album was anything but stereotypical glam. Britny Fox is the only band to return from part one, and while they may have been the big winners last time around, not so much this time. However, make no mistake-their third record Bite Down Hard, is a rager. If Tear the House Down had hit the streets just two years earlier, I bet Hericane Alice would've been at least as successful as the Bulletboys, so it's a shame they never got the chance. Real Steel opened for the Bulletboys, Bang Tango, and Gorky Park in their day, and apparently had interest from several labels (almost signing with Warner Bros.). Fans of Heavy Bones might also want to check out vocalist Joel Ellis previous band Cats In Boots (specifically the 1989 album Kicked And Klawed). Fun Fact: Lorraine Lewis would revive Femme Fatale in 2013, this time with a truly all-female line-up, only to fold the band once again to join Vixen in 2019. It caused enough friction that eventually they produced alternate covers, which featured the womens body dipped into the water, covering up her cleavage and effectively de-sleazing this record. In fact, I myself have only learned about the following groups within the last 10 years! * Speaking of hooks, lets kick this thing off with. Michael Kelly Smiths guitar work was inspired, and as usual, Johnny Dee and Billy Childs were ever the capable rhythm section. The hair came down, the makeup came off, and Poison actually started to write music with a message. Most of their material follows a slower, pulsing paceat times leaning a touch more towards classic, traditional heavy metal than much of this list (notably during "On My Way," dueling leads 'n' all). Early 90's pop metal at it's finest, this is a hair metal fest from start to finish. Besides, doesn't "Love Of A Lifetime" make the perfect wedding song? Vinyl Writer Musics10 Underrated Glam & Hair Metal Era Albums: Youll see. 01. A little funky, a little southern rock, Rat Race is catchy as hell . Thank you for your article. Ill have to dig it out and give it another chance. Now, I dont know much, but I do know that if youre a band about to hit the road for a huge tour, you probably dont want to lose your frontman. And how many comparable artists had successful tracks along the lines of "Stand Up, Shout it Out" or "Say Yeah!"!? It did away with the bland glam-like stuff Kiss adopted during the '80s in order to get in line with the mainstream sound of the time, and with powerful tracks such as "Unholy", "Domino", and "Heart of Chrome", it reintroduced the hard rock element in Kiss' sound in a very original and appealing way. A subscription makes a thoughtful gift for both family and friends. Packed with more hits than Illusion 1, I prefer this one over that one. OzzyOsbourne_ 3 yr. ago. DLR's full length debut (after a 4 song EP in 1985). Dont do drugs, kids. This is an album that was completely buried by the Alt-Rock and Grunge craze that was sweeping the nation in the early 90s. Thrash and hair metal made for strange bedfellows, though nobody told Two-Bit Thief. Totally with you on many of your other suggestions. (for which they filmed their lone video); "Turn it On" (which takes the power ballad approach into a catchy and uplifting direction); and, of course, the token high energy, bluesy sleaze of "Where the Livin' is Easy.".