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."