I was saddened today when I read that Kevin Dubrow, lead singer of Quiet Riot, was found dead in his Vegas home. I was lucky enough to meet Kevin on several occasions and interview him on my radio show. From my contact with him he seemed like a truly warm and lighthearted person. Talking to him gave me the feeling that he was just happy to have been a part of the rock/metal scene in one of it’s most important eras. Unfortunately, no information has been released on the cause of death. I remember seeing Quiet Riot open up for Poison at the PNC Bank Arts Center one year, and boy did they show up everyone on the bill! They were fantastic and sounded like they were just breaking onto the music scene. Just yesterday I was playing “Metal Health” on Guitar Hero and today he’s gone. On behalf of The Sexy Armpit, we’ll miss you Kevin…
Hark the Hair Bands Sing!
A friend of mine, Steve, once said that everything in my life ties back to Hair Bands. While my hair is the furthest thing from being “hair band” status, the hair band flavor runs deep within my soul. I don’t have much of a choice either because it’s something I grew up with. Hair Metal was all over MTV and on the radio when I was a kid. It just seemed like the culmination of pop and metal was a perfect mix. It was only an added bonus when they threw in the spandex, leather tassels, HUGE hair, and the uncomfortable closeups of the guys in the band creepily smiling at you through the television.
After years of being glued to MTV watching videos for hours, I’ve come to despise videos that have been made within the last ten years. The hair band video mentality was that of a party and the escapist themes sucked you right into the plot. Was Tawny Kitaen dancing for us? As far as I knew she was. Who cares if she was porking Coverdale. Was Bret Michaels a complete woman in the “I Want Action” video? Hell yes, but the guys weren’t paying attention to that because we actually rocked out to it. The women ate it up because for some reason women seem to be attracted to guys that look like women. Alas, it was a great time for music videos.
Nowadays I’d be hard pressed to find you a video that I actually enjoy unless its some wacky homage to the hair band era. The ones that are actually cool aren’t even shown on TV. If you have VH1 Classics you can catch alot of these bands, but I don’t have the time to watch for 18 hours to see the new Quiet Riot video. Luckily with the existence of official band websites, we can now enjoy great Hair Band videos online including the ones that are made TODAY!
If you like to dabble in the hair band scene, you must check out “Oh Come Oh ye Faithful,” the latest video from Twisted Sister which appears on their Christmas album. It hearkens back to the golden days of Hair Metal videos when no one gave a shit about anything but having a good time and checking out some hot ass. Whether you love the genre or not, the videos are completely over the top and much more entertaining than the majority of videos made in recent times.