Hidden Treasures - Classic Rocks Last Breath (Part I - 1990)

[Scott]

In 1990 the sounds of Classic Rock was running on fumes.  The signs were there... Hair Metal had been played out, hip-hop and rap were taking the radio waves over. Just take a look at the releases from 1990 and you can easily see the changes coming.

I was so pre-occupied at the time that I didnt even notice. In 1990 I had 2 kids and was trying to find a new job. Kind of stressful year for me, so music had taken a bit of priority shift in my life. New music wasnt purchased as much as in the past, and since I no longer followed radio, I tuned out Mtv as well. Too busy to notice the changing winds...


So lets take a two week trip into the last breathes of our beloved Classic sounds... First up, 1990!


but first... some wiki-facts - sponsored by Jons-Mind-O-pedia as always - to help set the stage...

• January 21 – MTV's Unplugged is broadcast for the first time, on cable television, with British band Squeeze.
• March 20 – Gloria Estefan's tour bus is involved in an accident. Estefan suffers several broken bones in her back.
• April 4 – Gloria Estefan returns to Miami, Florida after undergoing back surgery following the March 20 accident.
• April 27 - Axl Rose marries model Erin Everly, daughter of singer Don Everly, in a Las Vegas ceremony. Divorce papers are filed on May 24, then withdrawn, then filed again in October.
• August 13 - Curtis Mayfield is paralyzed from the neck down in an accident at an outdoor concert in Flatbush, Brooklyn, after stage lighting equipment collapses on top of him.
• October 20 - A Florida jury acquits 2 Live Crew of the obscenity charges stemming from a June 10 performance of their act known for its sexually explicit lyrics.
• October 22 – Pearl Jam, then named "Mookie Blaylock", play their first show as a band at the Off Ramp club in Seattle, Washington.
• November 27 – "Vocal" group Milli Vanilli admits to lip-synching hits such as "Girl You Know It's True." They later have their Grammy award revoked.
• December 15 - Rod Stewart marries model Rachel Hunter.

PLAYLIST --> http://www.podsnack.com/CA69EFD9E8C/a1csgn39

	ZZ Top Recycler 1 - My Head's In Mississippi The continuation of Eliminator's synthesized blues boogie made sense on Afterburner, since it arrived two years after its predecessor. ZZ Top's choice to pursue that direction on Recycler is puzzling, since a full five years separates this from Afterburner. It's not just that they continue to follow this path; it's that they embalm it, creating a record that may be marginally ballsier than its predecessor, but lacking the sense of goofy fun and warped ambition that made Afterburner fascinating. Here, there's just a steady, relentless beat (Frank Beard is still chained to the sequencer, as he has been for a decade), topped off by processed guitars turning out licks that fall short of being true riffs. Put it this way, apart from "Doubleback," a continuation of the arena pop of "Stages," the other number that really works here is "My Head's in Mississippi," the closest they'd come to the greasy boogie of "La Grange" since Degüello.
	Firehouse Frehouse 2 - Home Is Where The Heart Is Firehouse's self-titled debut was a slick, polished collection of pop-metal. While louder numbers like "Don't Treat Me Bad" sounded good on the radio, the true strength of the record was the group's knack for power ballads like the Top 10 hit "Love of a Lifetime." Firehouse had trouble coming up with a consistent set of high-quality material throughout their debut, but when they landed on a power ballad, they never sounded less than fine.
	Damn Yankees Damn Yankees 3 - Bad Reputation Damn Yankees took the unblemished, radio rock ballad "High Enough" to its deserving number three spot on the singles chart, with its power stemming from the oily melody and the made-to-order guitar playing of Ted Nugent. Both Tommy Shaw and Night Ranger's Jack Blades give "High Enough" an even quantity of lushness and might, which helped the album itself climb to number 13 and gain platinum status. "Coming of Age" is the album's second-best track, which has the band rocking out without going over the edge and sounding too contrived. The rest of the album finds the group reliving their glory days, which is to be expected, and tracks like "Runaway" and "Come Again" come through as avid little rockers. Only "Piledriver" and "Rock City" sound silly and pushed, most likely influenced by Nugent himself. As the 1990s approached, the slick sound of guitar rock may have been dwindling, but Damn Yankees do a fine job at keeping it alive at least for a little while. By the time their next album was released, the decade had no room for their brand of arena rock, which sounded more passé than ever before, despite a decent sounding single which kicked it off.
	Scorpions Crazy World 4 - Tease Me Please Me After the release of Savage Amusement in 1988, the Scorpions expressed disdain toward the album, feeling that it was too polished when compared to their other work. Their longtime producer, Dieter Dierks, was replaced with well-known rock producer Keith Olsen, who would produce Crazy World and assist in making it one of the Scorpions' greatest recordings. Their music had certainly changed since Savage Amusement, sounding a little bit heavier and less glamorous. But even with the metal sound, the songs remain melodic and catchy. The power ballads on the album, "Wind of Change" and "Send Me an Angel," are arguably two of the band's greatest slow numbers, boasting soothing harmony and lyrics. Crazy World remains the Scorpions' finest '90s album and is sure to please its listeners.
	Ratt Detonator 5 - Shame Shame Shame Ratt's fifth album, Detonator, finds the band breaking a long running relationship with producer Beau Hill, who helped develop the band's sonic trademarks through the '80s. The results on Detonator are clean and focused, but lack some of the live-sounding energy of the band's earlier work. What's more, the presence of hit makers like Desmond Child and Jon Bon Jovi suggests that the band has lost some confidence in its abilities to write songs -- and ironically, Detonator was the first Ratt album not to achieve platinum sales. Still, there are some strong moments here, including the crushing, detuned guitar riff of "Shame Shame Shame" and swaggering "All or Nothing," which (along with the rest of the album) spotlight the considerable skills of guitarist Warren DiMartini.

[RJhog (Admin)]

This looks like a great play list.  Got it lined up for tomorrow.

[Niels (Mod)]

I don't think, I'll get the time to listen, but at the time, I did buy the ZZ Top-album and got very tired of it within a couple of days. I loved Eliminator and Afterburner, but this one was boring as hell. Ratt had dissapointed me with their last couple of realeses, and I don't think, I ever noticed this realese. Damn Yakees I never bought, but I heard it at a friends house. Scorpions was at that point of no interest to me. I saw them live in '89, and I guess that was the end of my interest in that band. But again, I heard the album a few times at a friends house. In fact most of the "classic Rock"-scene was very dissapointing to me in 1990. The only okay album that year was probably "Empire", but even that one was a disspaointment, and not at all as good as "Mindcrime".

In '90, I started to buy different kinds of music, like Funk/soul, Jazz, Big Band and a lot of classical albums (Mozart, Beethoven aso), but also "going back" to albums, I hadn't paid much attention to before, like "The Wall", Led Zep's II and HOTH and albums by The Doors, The Who, Eric Clapton and David Bowie.

My hair was growing longer and longer during that year, but the longhaired music released in those 12 months, were total crap. 

[Scott]

I think this kind of proves the point...  the 80's sound had gone stale.  And I have to wonder if history aint repeating itself given the story that was posted the other day about classic albums selling more this past year than new music releases.

[Scandal 2000]

Interesting playlist. I loved four of the five albums you have listed here that these songs came from, but don't care for most of the songs you chose to be honest. 

1) I love ZZ Top's 70's work. Those albums are all stellar. The Recycler album to me was the bottom of the barrel for ZZ Top. I never did like the song "My Head's in Mississipi.

2) Some hair metal fans (which I am one of them) like to complain about Firehouse, but I always thought their first couple of albums were great. "Home is Where the Heart Is" is a decent song, but there are tons of better songs on that album in my opinion.

3) Bad Reputation is a good song off of a really solid album. 

4) To me, "Crazy World" was the Scorpions last truly great album (they have been hit or miss since then). The song you have chosen is a great rocker.

5) Ratt is one of my favorite hair bands but for some reaosn I never liked the song, "Shame, Shame, Shame." Detonator is a good album but to me you can't beat their "Out of the Cellar" album or "Invasion of Your Privacy."

[Scott]

Jon hates Firehouse (so we should post more of them), I love their first 3 albums and find them very solid.  Of course I live in Charlotte where they are from so...  call me a homer!

[Jon]

I was a bit tired of ZZ Top when this came out, the album really didn't offer anything new except for this song. I played this over and over again. Still like it today.

The Damn Yankees debut ain't bad at all, still like their followup better, but this is a good track.

Never bought this Scorpions album, and it was because of the song featured here. And then came the next song which was played over and over again on the MTV. I liked "Savage Amusement" a lot, but when I heard that "Tease Me" song, I had to step back and wonder what I was doing with my life. I actually do like the followup to this, "Alien Nation" is a good song (and a pretty good movie, if you ask me).

Ratt I could give or take. I really only like "Invasion Of Your Privacy", had "Dancing Undercover" for awhile on vinyl, think it's gone, could look, don't wanna. I do like "Way Cool Jr." but that's on a completely different album so there's no reason why I should mention it here, but I did.  

Thanks for the listen.  Y'all come back now, you hear?

[RJhog (Admin)]

I own or have owned only two of the five albums here (Damn Yankees and Ratt).  As far as those two go, I have always liked the Damn Yankees album.  I am a huge fan of Blades and Shaw's voices and how great they work together.  As for the Ratt album, I owned it at one time but I don't think I have it anymore.  I like the song Shame Shame Shame.  I also like Loving You's A Dirty Job.

As for the other three, the ZZ Top song sounds like, well, ZZ Top.  No surprise there.  And I was never a big fan of that Scorpions song, don't really know why.

The big, huge surprise for me was how much I liked the Firehouse song.  I have no previous experience with the band, but I do believe that now, if I come across a used CD of theirs, I just may pick it up.  Very nice.

Great job this week.

Oh, and my favorite album of 1990 is probably Empire.  But I remember just thinking that the coming grunge movement was just a logical progression of the kind of music I liked.  

[Niels (Mod)]

But did you know that in '90?

In 1990, there might have been tiny traces of what was coming. I don't know, if it was in '90 or at the beginning of '91, but I saw/heard some "underground" bands in special programs on TV, where I thought "this is unproduced noisy crap, and very loud" (I wish, I knew the names of those bands, but it could very well had been Soundgarden, Mudhoney and Nirvana). It wasn't until I heard "Smells Like Teen Spirit" in autumn '91, that I heard a sound (especially the riff and most certainly the drums), that WAS "a logical progression..", and it took me a few months, until I finally bought Pearl Jams TEN, and had found my new style of music, for the next couple of years. 

[RJhog (Admin)]

Not sure I know what you are asking me.  But remember, back in the very early 90's, I still listened to the radio.  Whatever the radio was playing, Nirvana, Soundgarden and Pearl Jam, I was listening to it.  When I went somewhere in my vehicle, I had either cd's or radio, and at that time I still listened to the radio.  And I did that into the early 2000's, which is why at that time, I liked bands like 3 Doors Down.  But not anymore.I cannot find a radio station that plays good current music.  Music like what most of us listen to here.  So to me, it was all natural progression.  I never thought of it any other way until now.

Another example, and Jon will just love this one.  Many folks say they stopped following Kiss when Dynasty came out.  They no longer made the kind of music those folks liked.  But not me, I never looked at it that way.  I always liked the next phase of their music, all the way up until the reunion in the mid-90's (yes, I'm a fan of Carnival Of Souls).  It never bothered me that they might be trying to follow a fad (disco, pop, concept, back to hard rock, hair band or glam, back to hard rock, grunge).  That is until they made Monster and to an extent, Sonic Boom.  If they do release another album with TT on guitar, I'm not sure I'll purchase it.  Not because I don't think Tommy is a good guitarist or anything like that, I just don't like the musical chemistry that they had with Bruce.  But my point is, it was always a natural progression for me.

[Jon]

The same could be said about Queen and their 80's output.

[Niels (Mod)]

It was because this Hidden Treassure's was about 1990, and your remark " But I remember just thinking that the coming grunge movement was just a logical progression of the kind of music I liked". Then it struck me, that I don't think, I was aware of Grunge, or that "underground movement", until probably early '91, and then I thought, that maybe you guys in US, was presented to this kind of music, before us europeans?! I don't think, that I heard Grunge on the radio, before "Smells like teen spirit", but I saw some TV-programs on danish TV, where this kind of music was presented, and that was probably around the very beginning of '91.

I hear you, regarding KISS. I loved Dynasty, and it wasn't until Unmasked, that I thought, they were going in a wrong direction. What made me less and less a fan, was that their sound changed to the worse, as you couldn't hear Ace's input anymore. That's why, I for example, don't care about "Creatures of the Night". It's not a bad album, but without Ace, it's just not as good, as it could had been. The magic dissapeared, and hasn't been found ever since.

[Scott]

I was caught totally off guard when grunge hit.  Hated everything about it for pretty much the entire decade...  Until a friend of mine got me into Stone Temple Pilots, then I went back and gave it a shot.  Gotta say, not much of it works anymore, but I do like the Foo Fighters which Im not sure you can call grunge, but certainly came from that movement.  Them, and Pearl Jam and Live and a couple one-offs are about it...