Rocktober First Tracks Song #4: "Big Guns" by Skid Row

Our first hair band entry of this year's debut album first track Rocktober is from New Jersey rockers Skid Row.  Their self-titled debut album was released in January 1989, while the Hair Band Era was still very much in effect, still a couple years from grunge's takeover.

The album has a special place in my heart.  "Youth Gone Wild" and "18 and Life" had been released as singles by the time the summer of '89 rolled around.  I was 11 and had already dove into the hair band genre, so aside from saving up for Nintendo games, I used my allowance and lawn mowing money to buy music.  A year or so later, I would discover the joys of the Columbia House music club (12 tapes for a penny!), but I purchased the Skid Row tape at Beautiful Day Records, a narrow little record store in downtown LaGrange.  My friend Jeremy was with me, as I was staying at his house that night.  He managed to forge a note to the local video store, All Star Video, that said he could rent whatever movies he wanted, even R-rated ones.  So we decided to rent The Shining, based solely on the box -- Jack Nicholson's crazed face peering though the bathroom door he just busted open with an axe -- not having any idea what the movie was about.

We went back to his house and started watching the movie.  About 30-45 minutes in -- when Wendy and Danny are playing in the hedge maze and Jack can hear them talking from inside the Overlook -- I had seen enough.  I went upstairs to Jeremy's room, listened to my new Skid Row tape, and played Wizards and Warriors on the Nintendo.  Eventually, The Shining would become my favorite horror movie, but I guess I wasn't ready for it yet.

What I was ready for was some ball-busting, gritty hard rock.  Skid Row (the album) remains one of my favorite debut albums of any genre.  Top to bottom, it's a great record.  Other than the two Top 10 ballads -- "18 and Life" and "I Remember You" (both of which are great songs, mind you) -- the album is pure energy.  And I remember opening up the liner notes and seeing photos of the guys in the band.  I was taken aback by the chain that went from bassist Rachel Bolan's earring to his nose ring.  What if you get that caught on something?!

The first track is "Big Guns," which is a great start to the album, from the gnarly opening riff to the streetwise lyrics to the sing-along chorus.  I didn't know what "Like Valentino with a hand grenade" meant (and I still don't really), but I thought (and still think) it's a cool lyric that paints a picture of whatever the hell the narrator was hoping to accomplish with this "ballerina on a subway train."

Hair Band Friday - 10/4/24

1.  "Thunderstruck" by AC/DC

2.  "Headed for a Heartbreak" by Winger

3.  "Mr. Big" by Mr. Big

4.  "So This is Love?" by Van Halen

5.  "Heading Out to the Highway" by Judas Priest

6.  "Kitten's Got Claws" by Whitesnake

7.  "One for the Money" by Black 'N Blue

8.  "A.V.H." by Ozzy Osbourne

9.  "Scarborough Fair" by Queensrÿche

10.  "Ez Come Ez Go" by Tesla

Rocktober First Tracks Song #3: "Rock 'n' Roll Star" by Oasis

As you may have heard, the Gallagher brothers have made nice with each other (for now), and Oasis has reunited for a tour in 2025.  At first, only UK and Ireland dates were announced, but earlier this week, the band announced some limited North American dates in August and September next year.  Thankfully, Chicago is one of those dates.  I've never seen Oasis live before, and I was lucky enough to "win" the presale lottery and then luckier enough to be relatively low in the presale virtual waiting room this afternoon.  All of this is to say that I'll be seeing Oasis at Soldier Field next August on the floor, so I'm pretty excited, even if it's just under eleven months away.

In 1994, Oasis released their debut album Definitely Maybe, which went straight to #1 on the UK album chart and became the UK's fastest-selling debut album of all-time (a record the Arctic Monkeys since broke).  Definitely Maybe was one of the defining albums of the '90s, kickstarting the Britpop movement, which rejected the gloom of grunge and found more positive and optimistic themes, like cigarettes and alcohol.  Four songs from the album reached the Top 40 on the UK pop chart, including two Top 10 songs:  "Cigarettes & Alcohol" (#7), "Live Forever" (#10), "Shakermaker" (#11), and "Supersonic" (#31).  It has since maintained its status as one of the most beloved British albums ever, even beating out Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band as the greatest album of all-time in a 2006 NME readers poll.

The first track off of the album is the prescient "Rock 'n' Roll Star."  It's almost as if Noel Gallagher could sense the trajectory of the band and wanted to put it out there front and center, so it was the first thing you heard when you popped that CD in.  The song is upbeat and uptempo, representative of the hooky rock that would define the Britpop genre.  I also love the chorus.  It's simple, but universal:  "Tonight, I'm a rock 'n' roll star."  Whether or not we are actual rock and roll stars, we should all feel that way every now and then.  If you haven't, I recommend getting a couple friends together, dressing up as KISS on Halloween, and going out to bars.  Sure, you might accidentally drink your wife's contact lenses, but dammit, that night, you'll be a rock and roll star.

Rocktober First Tracks Song #2: "Jimmy the Exploder" by The White Stripes

Song number two in our look at first tracks off of debut albums comes from one of my favorite bands, The White Stripes.

Like most (or so I assume), I didn't become familiar with The White Stripes until 2001 when I heard "Fell In Love With a Girl."  It was a refreshing garage punk song, and there was something interesting about Jack White's voice.  When Elephant came out two years later and I actually had some disposable income, I went back into their catalog and bought their first two albums.

The band's self-titled debut album came out in 1999 to positive reviews, albeit little fanfare.  Thankfully, legendary BBC DJ John Peel randomly spotted it at a record store and was intrigued by the cover -- with the band's now-iconic red-white-and-a-little-black color theme -- so he bought it and started playing it on the air, helping to break the band in the UK.  As we know now, the band consisted of only two people:  Jack White on guitar and vocals and Meg White on drums.  They were married at the time the first album came out, but divorced in 2000.  Amazingly (and thankfully), they decided to continue to make music together.

The first White Stripes album is a beautiful combination of DIY punk, garage rock, and blues.  At a time when rock was dominated by nu metal and post-grunge, this wasn't really like anything you'd hear on the radio.  Like grunge had reinvented rock earlier in the decade, distancing itself from over-the-top glam metal, The White Stripes were on the forefront of doing the same at the end of the decade and in the early 2000s, bringing the garage back to rock.  Of course, it didn't hurt that Jack White is a hell of a guitar player and songwriter with a wide range of influences.  And they showed that two people can make a hell of a racket, paving the way for the likes of The Black Keys, The Kills, The Raveonettes, Death From Above 1979, Best Coast, JEFF The Brotherhood, Japandroids, Royal Blood, Black Pistol Fire, and many more great rock duos over the following couple decades.

"Jimmy the Exploder" is the first track off of their debut album, and it truly is a perfect introduction to The White Stripes.  Meg starts the song of with a pounding beat before Jack comes in with a little riff, just before they break loose into the catchy main riff and bust into a frantic garage punk song.  You can see why John Peel was into it.

Rocktober First Tracks Song #1: "Good Times Bad Times" by Led Zeppelin

Our first song in this Rocktober featuring first tracks from debut albums is the song that inspired the theme of this year's Rocktober:  Led Zeppelin's "Good Times Bad Times."

After seminal British blues rock band The Yardbirds broke up, the other three members left guitarist Jimmy Page with the rights to the name, but with that came the band's contractual obligations, which included a tour of Scandinavia.  Page was forced to bring together a new band that would perform as "The New Yardbirds."  He recruited session bassist Jimmy Page and Band of Joy lead singer Robert Plant, the latter of whom recommended his bandmate, John Bonham, on drums.

With that, they toured Scandinavia as The New Yardbirds, but when they were recording an album, former Yardbirds member Chris Dreja issued a cease and desist letter to prevent them from using The New Yardbirds as their name.  Thank the Rock and Roll Gods that happened because it forced them to come up with a new name.  Legend has it that, upon hearing that Page and fellow former Yardbirds guitarist Jeff Beck were considering forming a supergroup, The Who's Keith Moon and John Entwistle said the group would go down like a "lead balloon."  Manager Peter Grant suggested they drop the "a" in "lead," and then the band changed "balloon" to "zeppelin."  And Led Zeppelin was born.

Their debut album came out in January 1969, with its iconic cover featuring a photo of the Hindenburg disaster.  The album pushed the blues rock sound of The Yardbirds and similar bands to a heavier place, and it's often credited as one of the first heavy metal albums (though I'm not sure I agree).  However you want to categorize it, the album marked a sea change in music.  

The only single released from the album was also the first track off the album, "Good Times Bad Times."  Starting with Page's crunchy riff, with Bonham holding back in the background, the song announced that the "flower power" era of the '60s was coming to an end, and the era of hard rock that would last for the next several decades was here.  The song is a great introduction to Led Zeppelin and the band members' talents.  Page, of course, kills it on the guitar, both with the riff (written by Jones) and the solos.  Jones's bass holds everything down, and he has a nice little bass fill.  Bonham's bass drum triplets and fills let you know he's not your typical "hold down the beat" rock and roll drummer.  Plant, while more subdued on this song than some others on the album, still shows his vocal range.  And that first line just kind of grabs you:  "In the days of my youth, I was told what it means to be a man / Now I've reached that age, I've tried to do those things the best I can."  We can all relate to that sentiment.

I've also always been intrigued by the line "But when I whispered in her ear, I lost another friend."  The previous lines talk about being in love at 16 and a girl who swore she'd never leave.  So does that mean she was the friend and he lost her because he whispered something a bit too tawdry in her ear?  Or was she actually dating his friend, and he came onto her and she told her boyfriend?  Was this whisper what led (pun intended, motherfuckers!) her to leave him for a brown-eyed man?  These are the things that keep me up at night in Rocktober.

Rocktober is Here!

After eleven ho-hum months, we have reached the pinnacle of months of the year:  the one, the only Rocktober!

For the prior six years, I did my Rocktober Decade Countdown.  But we've only been through less than half of the roaring '20s.  So now what?  Well, fair readers, I have a lot of Rocktober themes in the hopper.  And yes, I have a hopper full of tennis balls with Rocktober themes written on them.

This year's theme is going to be first tracks off of debut albums.  I realize that, in the streaming era, albums maybe aren't as big of a deal as they used to be, but there is still something magical about listening to an album for the first time, especially when it's a band or artist that's new to you.  That first track is often your gateway to liking (or disliking) that band or artists.  And there have been a lot of great first tracks off of debut albums.  And there have been a lot of great bands and artists whose first track off their debut was maybe not so memorable -- and you won't hear those this Rocktober!

A couple ground rules:

1.  I'm not counting EPs or singles that might have been release before a band or artist released its first full-length album.

2.  I'm excluding bands or artists who only released one full-length album.  Sorry, New Radicals fans.

3.  If a band changed names or had some shift in members and re-formed, then I'm treating those as separate bands (for example, Ides of March into Survivor -- though rest assured, neither band will be featured).

4.  To the extent there were bands who had different releases in different countries, like many British bands in the '60s, I'm going to go with the album that was released first.

As I do every October, I'm gonna give you a daily dose of rock, at least on the weekdays.  There will be no repeated artists during the course of the month.  I'm going to try my best not to repeat songs that I have featured in prior Rocktobers or artists, but I make no promises.  As always, the week leading up to Halloween will feature songs with dark, evil, or macabre themes.  And my Friday choices will, of course, be from hair bands.  Retro Video of the Week will be suspended during Rocktober, but Hair Band Friday will continue because Hair Band Friday can never be stopped.  

As always, remember that this is Rocktober, so these will all be bands, artists, and songs that rock, even though they may not always be from genres or artists that you would consider "rocking" or "rockers."  There will be popular songs, songs that you may never had heard before, and maybe even some bands and artists you've never heard of.  Rest assured, though, everything will rock.

Hair Band Friday - 9/27/24

1.  "Dirty Love" by Thunder

2.  "Want to Be Wanted" by Mr. Big

3.  "American Dream" by Vixen

4.  "Black Widow" by Rough Cutt

5.  "House of Fire" by Alice Cooper

6.  "In 'N' Out" (live) by Van Halen

7.  "Media Overkill" by Scorpions

8.  "Dancing on the Edge" by Lita Ford

9.  "Get in Touch" by FireHouse

10.  "Heartache" by Kix

Retro Video of the Week: "Turn Up the Radio" by Autograph

Friday will mark the 40th anniversary of the release of American rockers Autograph's debut album, Sign In Please.  The album was the band's most successful, reaching #29 on the Billboard album chart and #87 on the Billboard year-end album chart for 1985, eventually going gold in the U.S. in 1985.

The success of the album can be attributed to the band's biggest hit -- and their only single to make it onto the Billboard Hot 100 -- "Turn Up the Radio."  Interestingly, the band didn't record the song until late in the sessions for Sign In Please, and the record company didn't want to include it on the record.  Thankfully, the band insisted that it make the album, and both the band and label were eventually quite happy with that decision, as the song was a Top 40 hit in the U.S., getting to #29 on the Billboard Hot 100, as well as #17 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart.

In the still-blossoming Hair Band Era, this song, with it's hooky sing-along chorus, was an important because the video got a good amount of airplay on MTV and helped bring the genre to the masses.  The video is also notable for its product placement, prominently featuring a PaperMate Sharpwriter mechanical pencil in the beginning of the video -- a nod to the album title -- and PaperMate helped fund the video, so that the band could have a higher production budget than an unknown band filming a video for their first-ever single would usually get.

Hair Band Friday - 9/13/24

1.  "Superstitious" by Europe

2.  "Never" by Ozzy Osbourne

3.  "Do What You Wanna Do" by Black 'N Blue

4.  "Heading for a Storm" by Vandenberg

5.  "The Story of Jonathan" by W.A.S.P.

6.  "I Wanna Be Her Slave" by Thunder

7.  "City" by Y&T

8.  "Stranger Than Paradise" by Sleeze Beez

9.  "Falling In and Out of Love" by Femme Fatale

10.  "Jump" (live) by Van Halen

Retro Video of the Week: "Just Got Lucky" by Dokken

Saturday will mark the 40th anniversary of glam rockers Dokken's second studio album, Tooth and Nail.  It was the first album with bassist Jeff Pilson -- who holds a special place in my heart because he played Steel Dragon bassist Jorgen in the movie Rock Star -- after prior bassist Juan Croucier left to join Ratt.  Pilson's impact was felt immediately, as he co-wrote all but one of the ten songs on the album.  The album reached #49 on the Billboard album chart and eventually went platinum in the U.S., despite the lack of a Top 40 hit on the Billboard Hot 100.  The album did feature the band's highest-charting single in the U.S., "Alone Again," which topped out at #64 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #20 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart.  The other singles off the album were "Into the Fire" and "Just Got Lucky," which respectively went to #21 and #27 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart.

I decided to go with "Just Got Lucky," which was co-written by Pilson and guitarist George Lynch.  The video has a pretty cool backstory.  Most of it is the band on a stage or in a hall of mirrors, but Lynch's guitar solo was filmed on top of a volcano in Hawaii.  The issue was that it was beginning to emit steam and smoke, enough so that Lynch had issues breathing and his feet began to get hot through his shoes.  After park rangers told them they needed to evacuate, the volcano blew while they were on the plane leaving.  Rock and roll!