My TOP-10 All-Time Favorite Glam / Sleaze Albums!!!

First off, I've always been into the 80's / early 90's era of this kind of music. Call it glam metal, hair metal, sleaze or whatever. I prefer sleaze myself. It sounds raw and badass, which is the kind of this music that I like the most.


10. Guns N' Roses - Appetite For Destruction (1987)

Classic, classic, classic. 28 million sold copies worldwide. Everybody loves it, including me. Enough said.

9. Ratt - Out Of The Cellar (1984)

Or is it "Out IN The Cellar"? I always forget which one it is, weak of me. Anyway, I don't love this album for "Round & Round", although I love that song. No, I love this album because it is in its whole a solid, great album. The one thing I love the most with Ratt is their sound / production they have on their albums. Great guitar and drum sound, and the vocals are great, at least I think. This album is also the one of theirs that has the best song, to me anyways. They also have this chick Tawny Kitaen (spelling?), who later married David Coverdale, on the album cover, crawling on the floor. Pretty sexy, huh? I think so.

8. The Almighty - Blood, Fire & Love (1989)

This is a band I have listened a lot to. Coming from Scottland, these guys are no posers. They drink beer, pick up a guitar and rock 'n' roll. They never really made a polished album but rather evolved into more of a metal sound and than punkrock. However, their first two albums were great, raw, big balls rock 'n' roll. The opener of this album, "Resurrection Mutha", starts off with a deppressing gospel synthezeiser, only to kick into a double-bass driven, diesel smelling rock 'n' roller. In some ways, they remind me a lot of Motörhead, also a big influence as said by the band themselves. Just kick in this album and join the ritual. It's all blood, fire and love.

7. London - Cry Wolf (1986)

A classic old glam act from L.A. This was a band that has featured many people that got famous with other bands, for instance Nikki Sixx (Mötley Crüe), Blackie Lawless (W.A.S.P.), Izzy Stradlin (GN'R), etc. None of these famous guys appeard on any London album, but they weren't needed either. While London never got the attention they deserved, they sure as hell made great music and this album is, to me, their ace.

6. Blue Murder - Blue Murder (1989)

I love Whitesnake's self-titled 1987 album which featured guitarist John Sykes, one of my faves. After that album I believe David Coverdale fired John and their next album "Slip of the Tongue" sucked in comparision. Now THIS album right here is the proof that the success Whitesnake got to enjoy (well, not John ...) was because of John Sykes. THIS is what should've been Whitesnake's follow-up to "1987". This album have many similarities with "1987" and the only thing that makes it feel different from Whitesnake is the vocals. If I should be honest, I actually prefer John's vocals over David's, although he is just an amazing and powerful singer. All-killer album right here. If you loved Whitesnake's "1987", be sure to check this one out.

5. Saigon Kick - Saigon Kick (1991)

This is a truly underrated band in my opinion. I love this band! This one (their debut) and their second album "The Lizard" are classics in my book. They have kind of a special sound which I would describe as Skid Row meets Jane's Addiction meets Warrior Soul. This is my fave SK album simply because it has most of the songs I love by them. A must hear / have*.

4. Mötley Crüe - Shout At The Devil (1983)

Nothing really needs to be said about this one. It's a classic and every metalhead should own it. This was one of the first, IF not the first, album of this genre that I ever heard, and it's had a great impact on me through the years. This is an immortal classic.

3. Sleeze Beez - Screwed Blued & Tattooed (1990)

Originally from the Netherlands, I thought for a long time that these guys were another American west coast act. I sure can't tell any difference in quality or hear any foreign accent in the singers voice. Leaning towards the Guns N' Roses and Alice Cooper sound riff-wise, this band plays great party metal, with some love ballads, of course. The difference is that the Sleeze Beez are somewhat slightly more polished, at least on this album, than for instance GN'R. The band's most classic tunes are found here: the power ballad "Stranger Than Paradise" and the rocker "Heroes Die Young". Overall there are no fillers, only killers.

2. W.A.S.P. - The Headless Children (1989)

One of my favorite bands, vocalists, songwriters, everything! This album would be at no. 1 if it wasn't for the fact that this one actually leans toward a more straight (badass / biker) heavy metal sound rather than glam / sleaze, like their earlier albums. This album is just epic, heavy, cool, beautiful, dark and simply amazing. No words can describe it, really. This is an album you just have to hear, period.

1. Spread Eagle - Spread Eagle (1990)

Undoubtedly this one is my all time fave sleaze metal album. It's got everything I like. These guys come from New York City, the dark, tall-buildings city with lots of dirty gutters. It shows. These guys have more balls than any other, at least American, bands in the same genre. It's like they take Mötley Crüe and Guns N' Roses and throw in more balls and metal in the mix. They only made two albums, although their second and last album "Open To The Public" was more experimental and to me, not nearly as good (it has the awesome tune "Devil's Road" however!). Their classic "hit" song "Switchblade Serenade" is what made me instantly love SE, but after listening to their debut, I felt that it was the real deal. This one is close to my heart.

Also worth mentioning:

Skid Row - Slave To The Grind
Warrior Soul - Last Decade Dead Century
Bang Tango - Psycho Café
Crashdïet - Generation Wild
Every Mother's Nightmare - S/T
Slik Toxik - Doin' The Nasty
Dangerous Toys - S/T
Slaughter - Stick It To Ya
Vinnie Vincent Invasion - All Systems Go

And FUCK Poison. I hate Poison.

SAMAEL quick reviews

As I've listened a lot to SAMAEL lately I thought I'd do some quick reviews of each of their albums ... Sometime in the future I'll probably do something more about my fave Sam-albums. We'll see...

Worship Him (1991)

Never really been a big fan of black metal. Got Mayhem's "Deathcrush" EP many years ago. Thought it was both cool and crap at the same time, haven't listened since. Unfortunately, pretty much the same goes for Samael's debut. I won't say it's a bad album, but certainly one of the most boring kinds of metal I've heard. I'm glad they re-worked "Into The Pentagram" though!

Blood Ritual (1992)

Still their doomy black metal sound but at least this one's better than the debut. To me, this album is starting to show more of the way Samael would take in doing their music. A great step forward, though still pretty boring compared to their later stuff. One awesome classic here in "After The Sepulture". They did an even better version of this song on a self-titled vinyl single / EP, on which the song had doomy, dark piano along the riff.

Ceremony Of Opposites (1993)

Here things are starting to get more interesting. It's their last black metal album, but it's also a great step toward what they would become known for. A classic that should be heard by any metalhead, no doubt. Some classics here also.

Rebellion (1995)

An EP including re-worked versions of "Into The Pentagram" and "After The Sepulture". Also features a cover of Alice Cooper's "I Love The Dead" and the classic title track. Last song is the somewhat unnecessary "Static Journey". Good EP anyways.

Passage (1996)

The band's "big" breakthrough album. Drummer Xy(tras) started programming the drums and took over keyboards instead (although still sometimes combine live- and programmed drums live). The band also added a guitarist to the line-up for this one. To me, this is a very logical and great step for the band to explore, which I believe they really succeeded with. Most tracks on here are just amazing. A true classic.

Exodus (1998)

Another EP this time consisting of left-over tracks from the Passage-sessions. This is yet another great collection of not-fillers-at-all. In fact, I'd rather see most of these tracks on "Passage" rather than some of the songs that are on it. The re-issue of "Passage" did however include this whole EP and made everything complete, to my appreciation. Greatest thing about this EP, to me, is the re-recorded version of the Ceremony...-song "Son of Earth".

Eternal (1999)

My favorite Samael album. This is just some pure and amazing artistic pieces on here, Samael's ace. Some fans love this, some hate it. I understand both parties, but I personally love it more than anything else they've done. Not a single bad song on this baby and the keyboards are just outstanding. The only thing I dislike (very little) is the guitar sound. It sounds like their amp was a microwave owen. A must have!!!

Reign Of Light (2004)

This is yet another special Samael-album to me, but not really in a positive way. Apart from their first two (black metal) albums, this is my least fave album of theirs. The reason is the strong oriental influence on this album. I'm not a big fan of folk music of any kind, especially not oriental. It's not a bad album, but to me it don't really gives me much more than "On Earth", "Telepath" and the title track. Artistically however, this is yet another great step for the band to evolve.

Era One (2005)

A special project by Vorph and Xytras, but as I haven't listened to much to this yet, I don't feel like saying too much about it. The only thing for now is that the song "Flying High" is amazing.

Solar Sun (2007)

Samael's next and last oriental influenced album, although it's not as much oriental as Reign Of Light. I had a half-hard time getting into this album because of it's influnces, but it eventually grew on me and I think it's a solid, good album. Not really their finest moment, but almost every song on this one ended up on my MP3. Best songs are the middle section - "On The Rise" to "Ave!".

Above (2009)

Originally thought to be released as another "virtual band", although scrapped (by the record company?) and released as Samael anyway. I would've prefered the original idea. The reason is that this album, mostly of all, has a horrible production. I almost can't stand it and certainly not through the whole album. The songs are not really the most fun bunch either. There are some good ones like "Polygames" and "Black Hole", but otherwise it's all very one-dimensional and almost meldodic death metal-sounding. Pretty boring songs with a horrible production ... This goes with their first two albums to the bottum.

Antigod (2010)

The band's latest EP. This time it's a pretty useless EP though. I imagine it only served as a support for their upcoming album at the time, as "Antigod" would end up on that one. There's yet another new version of "Into The Pentagram" on here, which I like the most of all versions. Other than that we see a remix, an instrumental and two live tracks ("Reign Of Light" and "Slavocracy"). It IS worth getting if you really liked the Rebellion-version of "Into The Pentagram" and wanna hear an updated version, but otherwise it feels pretty useless.

Lux Mundi (2011)

Possibly my second or at least third fave Samael album. I can't decide which one is better, this one or Passage. Hard one to say the least. Anyway, this album goes back to that era, Passage-Eternal, although picking up from Solar Sun at the same time. Every track on this one ended up on my MP3 and it feels like they're back on track with this one. The only thing I'd want to see with this album is the inclusion of "Into The Pentagram" from the Antigod EP, and this album would've been perfect.

Skinny Puppy.

So after listening a lot to electronic black metal gods Samael lately, the electronic influences started to bring me back in time. Skinny Puppy is an electronic group that I used to listen some to and now I've started listening again. I still listen to my old faves Godflesh, Ministry and those from time to time, but SP has kinda been in the shadows. But now when I listen', I hear so many new tunes that I never discovered before and I like their sound, really. Cool band for sure and here you have some:

Boken Om Okej

I will do this post in Swedish, as it will most likely only matter to them any way ....

Jag köpte denna boken (billigt på tradera!) då jag tyvärr missade hela jävla 80-talet. I år är det 10 år sen jag blev hårdrockare och under många år, fram till 2007 ganska så exakt faktiskt, så lyssnade jag endast på 80-tals hårdrock / metal. Det absolut enda, å jag menar ENDA, som fick vänsterprasslas med var t.ex 70-tals Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, etc. Dels var jag väldigt trångsynt inom musik på den tiden, men för övrigt lockade ingen annan, i synnerhet inte dåtidens (vilket mer eller mindre fortfarande är nutidens) så kallade metal heller för den delen. Jag verkligen älskade 80-talets hårdrock. Riffen, solona, ljudbilderna (produktionerna / ljudet på skivor för de som blir förvirrade), klädstilen, att de gavs ut på vinyl - allt! Jag kände mig verkligen oerhört vilsen i 2000-talet.

Min farsa föddes 1969 och växte således upp på 80-talet. Givetvis var han hårdrockare också, den jäveln. Han hade ju det helt perfekt! Jobb fick han direkt efter grundskolan dessutom, ett riktigt bra jobb och han tjänar skit mycket idag (han har kvar samma jobb). Jävla lyllosar back in the day alltså. Men så i alla fall, eftersom jag mer eller mindre drömde i flera år om att jag hade varit farsan istället så har jag givetvis kikat runt lite på nätet om Okej, så nu när jag fann denna boken köpte jag den. Jag kan säga av att de senaste fem åren har mycket hänt. Jag är jätte öppen inom musik nu, lyssnar på allt möjligt från alla tider, men efter denna boken ... Ja, någonstans vaknade min gamla "80-tals wanna be" persona vakna till liv igen. Inte grovt, men liiiiite. Jag menar, de hade för fan t.o.m dragit med en bild på Testament i den jävla boken! TESTAMENT! Mitt favo thrash band! Metallica kunde jag tänka mig skulle vara med, men inte Testa-fucking-ment! Det var ju förvisso bara en bild, eller jag har inte läst allt än så vet inte om det står något specifikt om dem, men bilden var överraskande nog! Mot slutet av boken var det även flera sidor om enbart först Alice Cooper, sedan även min Gudfar Ozzy Osbourne! I mitten var det Accept, m.m. Givetvis en jävla massa skitband är det med också, synthare givetvis.

Jag gillar 80-tals synth musik, t.ex Duran Duran eller instrumentalister som t.ex Jan Hammer eller Jean Michel Jarre, men i boken var det t.ex Peter LeMarc och sådant som jag inte alls kan relatera till. Noice var givetvis också med men det är inte heller något jag är förtjust i. Det enda svenska bandet som sjunger på svenska som jag vet med mig att jag gillar är Imperiet. Jag gillar t.ex inte Kent heller, vilket jag tror de flesta av mina vänner gör. Men nä, inte min grej bara. MEN, trots detta är det fortfarande kul att läsa, eftersom själva 80-talet är så spännande för mig. Jag menar jag har t.o.m läst om Carola och Lena PH i den här jävla boken!

En annan grej som farsan, som för övrigt (så klart) läste Okej regelbundet när det begav sig, nämnde var att jag säkert "kommer få se Samantha Fox naken" i boken. Det fick jag, några gånger. Jag fick se några andra med, inklusive killar. Jag bryr mig inte så, men det sved ändå någonstans i skälen av att se "Dag-Finn i duschen", även om jag absolut inte är homofob. Det var bara ... nää, näe. Hur som helst, en trevlig bok om man frågar mig som aldrig fick uppleva 80-talet. Jag har redan haft mycket kul med den och kommer säkerligen att ha ännu mer, om och om igen.

Flashback: 2008

In late 2007 I started listening to more early 90's (alternative) music. Jane's Addiction became my new favorite band, only to soon be beaten by Faith No More who still to this day are my favorite band. Other bands that grewed were Anthrax (who I had listened to for years then, but re-discovered when I heard their "Bring The Noise" cover), Soundgarden, Mother Love Bone, L7, Living Colour, Red Hot Chili Peppers, etc etc and especially Alice in Chains and the overlooked band Mordred. It was so much music that was different and totally awesome. I was like a total 1988-1994 metal dude for all 2008, with much of 2009 as well. I think that sometime during '09, the summer maybe, my 90's era was done. I was ready to go on to explore new music once again, and it's been very unstable since then. I haven't really found any new sound that I reaaally love and has stuck to, but not so long ago, after going through a lot of personal shit (family issues, moving away, dealing with my bad childhood etc), I started do things to make me feel better, and therefore I've gotten happier, so naturally I started listening to happier music. And there Faith No More came back once again. Now I'm pretty much in the 90's again, but not like back in the day. I listen a lot to FNM, Samael and some other stuff right now.

I just want to recommend all of you to never stop exploring new music. Don't limit yourself to one style. I did for many years, refused to listen to stuff that wasn't from the 80's (apart from Sabbath, Zeppelin.....). It really sucks to do that now when I think back on it. It's much more fun to have a lot of music, not only metal but all kinds of music, except for fucking radio music that is (Bieber for instance, don't know what else is raped on radio right now).

Faith No More opened so many doors in my life. Music is my life, therefore, when they expanded my mind, they changed my life. I love Faith No More. Best band ever!

R.I.P. Megadeth

Yupp, it's sad bla bla bla, but it's what I really feel about Megadeth to be honest. People, including myself at times, have been mocking on Metallica for selling out and Lars being an asshole etc etc, but honestly. Right now I give more respect to Metallica than Megadeth, or rather Dave Mustaine directly. To me, Metallica has done three bad albums which (not too unexpected I suppose) are Load, Reload and especially St. Anger. Megadeth has done 2,5 bad albums to me (Risk, half of Cryptic Writings and now Thirteen). But it's not really the albums that do it all for me. When I watched the Big 4 live last summer, Metallica were very good I thought, but Megadeth. It's like three guys and a fucking smurf on vocals! Dave Mustaine CAN'T sing for fucking shit anymore! To me, especially after their latest album "Thirteen", I would just want my old idols to call it quits.

I have also thought a lot about Dave Mustaine and his statements lately. He's confirmed that he's - new born, - a republican / conservative, etc. He also stated that "they take God out of school to dumb us down" or something. That kinda pissed me off because I ain't a believer, not very deeply at least and I don't even know whar religion that would be either, but I do have respect for peoples beliefs in both religion and politics. But Dave speaks out like a fucking moron, in my opinion. Like he knows best, like he IS right, etc. Well, I had a fucking horrible time back in school with religion. I hated it, but am I dumb just because I didn't take it in? Am I dumb because I don't trust my fate to some (to me) imaginary character? Am I dumb because I realize that only I can get myself a job, earn money, be able to eat, etc etc, and not get all that from nowhere, sent by God or whoever? In my ways religion, to me, can be both good and bad. Good in ways like it gives people hope and such, but bad in ways that some people are too weak to face reality on their own, trusting their whole life to God. That can't be healthy. But enough of this now...

Dave's political views have also angered me. Sure, be a republican, conservative, democrat, anarchist, whatever, I respect that. But at the same time, I can't always fully do it. He said something about America turning "too socialist" or something. I don't say be socialist, but isn't it fucking GOOD that kids up to 18 years old can be able to get free medical treatment? I think that is a logical thing in society, but Dave probably thinks it's shit and is too cheap to pay a few more dollars so kids can get free medical care. Stuff like that pisses me off. That also shows that he, for instance, doesn't give a shit about his fans being able to get medical either.

And now finally, the last thing that set me off about all this. The lyrics of "Whose Life (Is This Anyways?)". Dave sings "you hate the way I wear my clothes, you hate my friends and where we go" (or something like that at least). Come on!! A guy who is 50-years-old, is a multi millionair (at least) and dresses very ordinary and normal, sings shit like THAT? Me and my buddies used to be like that when we were like FIFTEEN. He's FIFTY, come on! The guy doesn't have a fucking right to sing something like that when he wears clothes as normally as can be! All this stuff makes me wonder what the fuck's happened to this guy.

I used to listen to PEACE SELLS and think that he, out of all hair metal bands, came with something important in his lyrics. I used to say "Dave Mustaine for president!" along with my buddies. He was clever and really got us with him. Now the only thing we say is "Thank god Dave Mustaine ain't president."

Sorry Dave, but to me, you and your band are done. R.I.P. Megadeth, one of the greatest bands to rock this world.

The band that changed by life, my favorite band of all time: Faith No More

Once upon a time, around 2005-06, when I heard FAITH NO MORE for the first time ever, I thought it was the worst crap I had ever heard. In late 2007, I gave them another chance and in 2008 they became my favorite and most listened band in my life. I was a real Mike Patton-wanna be back then, it was real serious, like a disease. My friends still have bad memories of me from that time. But anyway, now in almost 2012, I am me and FNM are simply my fave band. I thought I'd share some with ya!

Epic - the song that combined it all and opened up my mind for particularly old school hip-hop back in 2008, but also generally for other kinds of music. Today, this particular song is somewhat tiresome to hear, but I still think the video is very cool and the song still is what is to me - the key of my musical life.

Midlife Crisis (Live @ the Tonight Show) - the first song I heard by FNM. Heard it while playing Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas back in 2004-05. Great memories to this one.

Zombie Eaters (live) - One of my faves of theirs. Beautiful, heavy and crazy. A perfect combination.

The Real Thing (live) - my true favorite song of theirs. It sure is the real thing.

Anne's Song - a song with their first (album-) singer Chuck Mosely. I am a fan of both FNM eras and the Chuck one was great as well. I actually prefer Chuck's albums before the last two Patton albums.