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Hollywood Rocks Review
by Morley Seaver

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Ahhh the '80s. Hair metal. Shredding. Glam 'n sleaze. Axl vs. Bon Jovi. Axl vs. Vince. Axl vs. the rest of his band.

Some of the most snarly, flashy, and sometimes androgynous rock of this time period came out of the L.A./Hollywood area. You've probably read about bars like The Whisky, The Roxy, The Troubadour, and Gazzarri's (which in the mid to late '70s was one of the regular homes of Dave-era Van Halen). These are the factories that spawned a plethora of metal bands.

Grunge and flannel shirts put the nail in the coffin for a lot of these bands as people moved away from the "rock star" worship type of thing. They moved onto bands with a message --- like Pearl Jam. Except they eventually got tired of Eddie's weight-of-the-world-is-on-my-shoulders agenda.

With people looking for an alternative to the endless drone of screamo bands, Deadline Records has put together a massive, 4 disc, 78 track collection (that's 5 hours of music, people!) of all the bands from that era (actually ranging from 1978 to 1993). All the guilty parties are present, from Dokken to Poison, and Keel to Bang Tango. The cool thing is that all the cuts are demos --- some even taken from band members' personal collections. There are also some b-sides, live cuts, alternative takes and more.

I got to listen to a 17 song promo sampler CD that has a cross section of what's on the box set. Some of the stuff is better than what I remember. Some of it is as average as I remember.

On the good side: Dokken, Warrant, Rough Cutt (with the excellent vocals of the amazing Paul Shortino), Pretty Boy Floyd, and Love/Hate.

On the blah side: Bang Tango, Keel, Stryper (remember the bumblebee suits?) and Great White (I'm a fan of the band but this is a boring song - "Down on Your Kness").

Doing what they do (and either you like 'em or you don't) is Quiet Riot, WASP and Poison.

This is a great snapshot of that moment in time…a period when bands were about having fun and also giving the audience 110%...even if sometimes they looked a bit goofy.


CD Info and Links

Hollywood Rocks

Label:Deadline Records
Rating:

Track Listing:
DISC 1: EARLY '80S (1980-1985):
1. Killing Time - Hollywood Rose
2. Run For Your Life - Hellion
3. Dr. Rock - Mickey Rat
4. Time Warp - Plain Jane
5. Whatever Happened To Fun - Candy
6. Cold Day In Hell - Steeler
7. It's Not Love - Dokken
8. F**k Like A Beast - W.A.S.P.
9. Hold On To 18 - Black 'N Blue
10. Looks So Good - The Joneses
11. Kokomo Joe - The Zeros
12. Let's Get Crazy - Quiet Riot
13. No Reason To Live - Armored Saint
14. In Your Direction - Rat
15. Be My Slave - Bitch
16. Too Good For Heaven - Kery Doll
17. Last Action Hero - Warrant
18. Break Down The Walls (That Stop the Rock) - Sin
19. Sleepless Nights - Xciter

DISC 2: MID/LATE '80S (1985-1988):
1. Look What The Cat Dragged In - Poison
2. American Metal - Lizzy Borden
3. Roll The Dice - L.A. Guns
4. To Hell With The Devil - Stryper
5. On Your Knees - Great White
6. Bulimia Babe - Demolition Galore
7. Rock The Box - Harlow
8. Dr. Monster - Slut
9. Electric Gypsy - L.A. Guns
10. Dead End Zone - Decry
11. Bitch On my Back - Nitro
12. Babylon - Faster Pussycat
13. Hold On - Rough Cutt
14. Sinner Street - Tuff
15. 12 O'clock High - Odin
16. Strong Medication - Salty Dog

DISC 3: LATE '80'S:
1. Right To Rock, The - Keel
2. Innocent, The - Jailhouse
3. Rainbow Bar & Girls - London
4. Hellraiser - Cherry Street
5. Hollywood - Junkyard
6. Love In Cold Blood - China
7. Someone Like You - Bang Tango
8. Fading Away - Black Cherry
9. Mean Street Machine - King Kobra
10. Cat's Paw - Motorcycle Boy
11. Rip, Rattle And Roll - Tommi Gunn
12. We Got Tonight - Stars From Mars
13. Her Monkey - Cats In Boots
14. Meteor Boy - Lions & Ghosts
15. Give Me A Line - Angora
16. I'm No Angel - Virgin
17. Desperation Town - The Hangmen
18. Inside Out - XYZ
19. Commercial Suicide - Kills For Thrills
20. Action - D'Molls

DISC 4: EARLY 90'S (1990-1992):
1. Def Generation - Electric Angels
2. Planned Disaster - Burning Tree
3. Feel The Shake - Jetboy
4. 8 Arms - Big Bang Babies
5. Sexx On The Sun - Lypswitch
6. Hollywood Angel - Syanide Kick
7. Changed - Darling Cruel
8. Days Gone By - Saigon Saloon
9. Tonight's Your Night To Rock And Roll - Rebel Rebel
10. California Slide - Spiders & Snakes
11. Take Me To The Mountain - Hardly Dangerous
12. I Like My Music Loud - Skull
13. Cold - Yesterday's Tear
14. Shut Up! - Pretty Boy Floyd
15. Chicago - Blackboard Jungle
16. Wish It Was Summer - Love/Hate
17. High On A Dream - Mondo Cane
18. Hai Karate - Fizzy Bangers
19. Take A Bite Outta Me - Alleycat Scratch

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