Hair Band Friday - 4/28/23

1.  "Operation:  Mindcrime" by Queensrÿche

2.  "Heaven is Waiting" by Lynch Mob

3.  "God Gave Rock and Roll to You II" by KISS

4.  "Is This Love" by Whitesnake

5.  "Higher Ground" by Thunder

6.  "Back Off Bitch" by Guns N' Roses

7.  "Foolin'" by Def Leppard

8.  "Longroad" by Britny Fox

9.  "Rainbow in the Rose" by Winger

10.  "City Boy Blues" by Mötley Crüe

Retro Video of the Week: "Screaming in the Night" by Krokus

Yesterday was the 40th anniversary of the release of Swiss hard rockers Krokus's seventh studio album, Headhunter.  While the band never had what I would consider a "hit" in the U.S., they were well-known in hard rock and metal circles, and Headhunter was their biggest album in the U.S., reaching #25 on the Billboard album chart and going gold in the U.S.

"Screaming in the Night" is not as "hard" as most of the band's output.  It's kind of a plodding rock song, teetering on the brink of power ballad territory.  The video was in decent rotation on MTV, and having never been to Switzerland, I assume it depicts a normal, contemporary Genevan story.  A Bluto-esque warlord in a modern-yet-medieval lakeside mountain village terrorizes and imprisons people who presumably aren't neutral enough.  Lead singer Marc Storace makes out with some new wave Jazzercise chick through prison bars, but Bluto catches her and stabs her in the chest.  Marc then gets chained up and thrown into a small stone pyramid that has a lightning rod on the top.  Good thing, too, because lightning strikes, evaporates the chains, and provides Marc a Canadian tuxedo and some fresh sneakers.  It proves to be the perfect outfit to wear when he discovers a hatch in the pyramid with a ladder that leads to -- you guessed it -- a diner, where Bluto is a line cook and someone resembling Ana Gasteyer is a waitress.  He then sees himself on TV and walks across people's meals on the diner counter toward the TV, where he sings the very song in the video.  Does it get any Swisser than that?

Hair Band Friday - 4/21/23

1.  "Lipstick and Leather" by Y&T

2.  "Shame Shame Shame" by Sleeze Beez

3.  "Helter Skelter" by Mötley Crüe

4.  "Welcome to the Jungle" by Guns N' Roses

5.  "Don't Close Your Eyes" by Dokken

6.  "Bloodbath in Paradise" by Ozzy Osbourne

7.  "Kick 'N' Fight" by Britny Fox

8.  "What You Give Is What You Get" by Ratt

9.  "Love On the Run" by Scorpions

10.  "Train Train" by Warrant

Retro Video of the Week: "You Don't Know How It Feels" by Tom Petty

Well folks, it's 4/20, so in honor of those who partake in the sweet leaf, I figured I'd give you an apropos Retro Video of the Week.  Wildflowers was Tom Petty's triple-platinum 1994 non-Heartbreakers album (even though the Heartbreakers are the backing musicians on much of the album), and it proved that Petty was just as popular and relevant in the grunge and alt-rock era as ever before.  

"You Don't Know How It Feels" was the first single release from Wildflowers, and it was a big hit, reaching #13 on the Billboard Hot 100 (Petty's last Top 40 hit in the U.S.) and #1 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart.  The first line of the chorus is "So let's get to the point / Let's roll another joint."  Of course, on radio, they inserted some weird sounding gibberish word that sounded like "noojh" (which was actually "joint" backwards).  So, smoke those noojhes if you got 'em today.

Hair Band Friday - 4/14/23

1.  "Paradise City" by Guns N' Roses

2.  "Bringin' On The Heartbreak" (1984 remix) by Def Leppard

3.  "Out of Love" by Blue Murder

4.  "Suicidal Shakedown" by Jetboy

5.  "Cold Sweat" by Warrant

6.  "Waiting for the Night" by Vandenberg

7.  "Drive Me Crazy" by Ratt

8.  "Line of Fire" by Trixter

9.  "Bedside Radio" by Krokus

10.  "Carr Jam 1981" by KISS