I received my first comment on a video made almost a year ago, with over 1200 views! Please welcome @tcconnection to the show! They took offense to my looping of Sebastian Bach’s amusing laugh in the video at bottom.
The ironic thing about @tcconnection is that they have none – zero, nada – videos on their channel, but still had the balls to post this.
The other ironic thing is that I have, in fact, made videos that benefit society. Check out Adventures in Epilepsy for example.
How much do you wanna make a bet that @tcconnection never replies, and never makes a video of their own?
In 1994, Rush were inducted to the Canadian Music Hall of Fame, after a mere 20 years as a recording band. Not bad for three nerds from Southern Ontario. I had my VCR running that night, and this is the whole segment, complete and uncut, with all introductions and fades, unlike other copies on YouTube. Tom Cochrane was selected to induct them.
“Tonight we’re here to blow the lid off our three friends,” says Cochrane.
This 17 minute segment includes interviews with Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson, and Neil Peart. Tom Cochrane narrates the story of the unstoppable band with the rock solid fanbase. It’s funny in hindsight to hear Neil talking about having fans as old as 40. There is testimony from fans both young and old.
Celebrity fans also appear with awesome stories and tributes:
Mike Myers (Wayne’s World)
Sebastian Bach (Skid Row)
Tyler Stewart, Andy Creegan, Jim Creegan, and Ed Robertson (Barenaked Ladies)
Peter Collins (producer)
The Tragically Hip (performing “Limelight”)
Kim Mitchell (Max Webster)
Joe Carter & Paul Molitor (Toronto Blue Jays)
Les Claypool, Larry Lalond & Tim Alexander (Primus)
Vernon Reid (Living Colour)
Chris Cornell & Kim Thayil (Soundgarden)
Ben Mink
Sam Sniderman (Sam the Record Man)
Ray Danniels (Rush Manager)
As a precursor to things Alex Lifeson would say and do in the future, he is the comedy relief here. His son Justin also has a comedic bit, proving it’s in the genes. Poignantly though, Alex wishes for another 20 years…which, sadly, is all they got.
This is a beautiful tribute to Canada’s greatest export. Watch the whole thing; you will not regret the 17 minutes.
I love admitting to my past musical sins. Perhaps others will learn from my mistakes.
I was in grade 11, a mere 16 years old, when the music video for “Youth Gone Wild” hit the airwaves. Skid Row were the latest thing, a band promoted by Jon Bon Jovi himself, from his home state of New Jersey. We didn’t know yet that the lead singer, Sebastian Bach, identified as a Canadian. He grew up in Peterborough Ontario, just on the other side of Toronto. In fact, I didn’t know that I already had something of Bach in my music video collection. I had a brief clip of him, with teased up hair, in a prior band called Madame X. This band was led by Maxine Petrucci, sister of Roxy Petrucci from Vixen. They featured a young Sebastian Bach and Mark “Bam Bam” McConnell whom Bach would play with in VO5. I wasn’t into any of those bands. I was pretty hard-headed about what I liked and disliked.
In Spring 1989, I first encountered “Youth Gone Wild” on the Pepsi Power Hour. It could have been Michael Williams hosting, but whoever it was, they hyped up this new band called Skid Row. I liked getting in on new bands from the ground floor. Made them easier to collect when you started at the start. At that point, I wasn’t even sure how many albums Judas Priest actually had. I was intrigued enough to hit “record” on my VCR as the music video began. I caught the opening “Ba-boom!” of drums, and sat back to watch.
While I wasn’t blown away, I kept recording. The key was the singer. If the singer sucked, I’d usually hit “stop” and rewind back to where I was. The singer passed the test: he didn’t suck. I kept recording.
After about a minute, I pressed the “stop” button, and lamented that this new band wasn’t for me. What happened? What did Skid Row do to turn me off so quickly?
I can admit this. I’ve always been open about the fact that I was very image-driven as a teenager. We all were! With the exception of maybe George Balazs, all the neighborhood kids were into image to some degree or another. I was probably driven by image more than the average kid, consuming magazines and music videos by the metric tonne. So, what exactly was wrong with Skid Row?
I’ll tell ya, folks. It was serious.
The bass player had a chain going from his nose to his ear.
I just could not. I couldn’t put a poster on my wall with some band that had a bass player with a chain that went from his nose to his ear! No way, no f’n way.
I pressed rewind, and prepared to record the next video over Skid Row.
That summer, the glorious, legendary summer of ’89, I went with Warrant. I bought their debut album sight-unseen, based on a blurb in the Columbia House catalogue. Warrant were the selection of the month. “What the hell,” I thought, and checked the box to order it immediately.
Meanwhile, Bob Schipper and the girl I liked, named Tammy, were really into Skid Row. They knew all about my issues with the nose chain. They got under my skin about it a bit, but I wouldn’t bend on Skid Row.
“18 and Life” was the next single, a dark power ballad that was easy for me to ignore. “I Remember You” was harder to pass on. It was the perfect acoustic ballad for 1989. You had the nostalgic lyrics, which Bob and I both connected with. Somehow, we knew that 1989 was the absolute pinnacle. We knew this would be the summer to beat! Bon Jovi and Def Leppard were still on the charts. Aerosmith and Motley Crue had new singles out with albums incoming. We walked around singing “Summer of ’69” by Bryan Adams, except we changed the words to “Summer of ’89”. We just knew. “Got my first real six string…” we sang. And we both had our own fairly new guitars that we could barely play.
“I Remember You” was a massive hit, and still I resisted.
“Because of the nose chain?” Bob Schipper questioned me.
Absolutely because of the nose chain!
I stood firm for two years. Bob Schipper went to college, and Tammy was long distance and not meant to last. I felt a bit like an island by the time 1991 rolled around. I felt alone. My best friend was gone, I had no girlfriend, and most of my school friends went their own ways. I was a loner like I’d never been in my life before. Music was my companion, and my beloved rock magazines were my library.
That’s how Skid Row eventually got me. Sebastian Bach had a good friend in Drew Masters, who published the excellent M.E.A.T Magazine out of Toronto. Drew’s praise for the forthcoming second Skid Row album, Slave to the Grind, was unrelenting. He caught my ear. I was looking for heavier music in my life, not satisfied with Priest’s Painkiller as one of the heaviest albums I owned. I wanted more rock, and I wanted it heavy.
The other thing that got me was the collector’s itch. When I found out that Slave to the Grind was released in two versions with different exclusive songs, I was triggered. I had to have both.
“I’ll make a tape, and put both songs on my version!” It was a pretty cool idea.
Costco had Slave to the Grind in stock. They had the full-on version with “Get the Fuck Out”, the song that was excluded from the more store-friendly version. Columbia House stocked the tame version, which had a completely different song called “Beggars Day”. I bought the CD from Costco, the vinyl from Columbia House, and suddenly I was the only guy in town who had the full set. I made my cassette with joy, recreating the Skid Row logo on the spine, and writing the song titles in with red ink.
“Get the Fuck Out” was track 6, side one. “Beggars Day” was track 7, side one. I still have them in that order in my mp3 files today.
Sure, there was an audible change in sound when the tape source went from CD to vinyl, but I couldn’t afford two CD copies. Little did I know how cool it would be later on to have an original vinyl copy of Slave to the Grind.
I loved the album. I loved all three of the ballads. The production was sharp. There were excellent deep cuts: “The Threat”, “Livin’ on a Chain Gang”, and “Riot Act” were all as great as any of the singles. Furthermore, the singer had taken it to new heights of intensity and excellence.
I let Skid Row into my heart that day. It was a good decision. Skid Row accompanied me through times good and bad, lonely and angry. They were my companion through it all, and they’re still pretty good. It was meant to be!
Park Avenue leads to…SKID ROW! But Skid Row leads to Grant’s Rock Warehaus!
This week on Grant’s Rock Warehaus, we talk about a band that Grant has been digging seriously for the last several weeks, ever since seeing former singer Sebastian Bach on an 80’s cruise. We don’t talk just Bach. We tackle the Johnny Solinger years, the unfortunate tale of Erik Grönwall’s short stint, and of course, current lead singer Lzzy Hale. Take a look at my Skid Row collection, including The Atlantic Years box set (unboxing!), my original 1991 vinyl of Slave to the Grind, my Japanese Best of Skid Row, and a rare promo single from 1995.
Grant and I tried to cover as much ground as possible. Album artwork is discussed, and a few underdog records are praised. I tried to highlight what I think are some incredible and underrated ballads that might be forgotten in the shadow of “I Remember You”. We shone a light on the talent of all the members, and questioned what they could have done differently through their career. Leading to the present day, we have some suggestions for Skid Row about their future and reissues we want to see happen.
It’s all here, on Grant’s Rock Warehaus with your host, Grant Arthur!
Celine Dion was the host. Sebastian Bach (Skid Row) and Gil Moore (Triumph) were up to present an award.
For context:
On February 24 1993, Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, with a record low 21% approval rating, announced he was resigning. Bach and Moore were at the Junos a month later, on March 21. Watch what Sebastian does.
GETTING MORE TALE #846: The United Federation of Planets
I used to be an optimist. In my younger, more impressionable 20s, I felt like humankind had the universe by the balls. The things we could achieve when united were remarkable but only the tip of what we could do collectively. Where did I think we’d be by 2020?
Not here, that’s for damn sure! I didn’t think we’d have the flying car, or free energy. I thought we’d be on a better road than this.
At that younger age, I immersed myself seriously in science fiction. Clarke in particular, but Roddenberry was also crucial to my mindset. The optimistic future of Star Trek was the one I chose to believe in. Gene Roddenberry was not wrong about what humanity could do when united. I believed unity was our ultimate destiny, as we left behind our tribal pasts and prejudices. I thought it was inevitable that eventually we would have something like the United Federation of Planets. Prosperity through technology and collective wisdom.
It makes me sad and broken to see that we have not made many strides towards Roddenberry’s future, but have taken many steps backwards. What would Gene think? While I think he would be delighted to see that technology has leaped faster in some regards than he predicted, he would also be crushed by our continued divisions.
It’s in the news every day. People are angry. Some have forgotten the basic manners that their mothers taught them while others are behaving like, frankly, assholes. Covid has us all stressed, and it has brought some of us together more closely while dividing others even more sharply. I try to consume as little news as possible but it’s all but unavoidable to see this bullshit. Even if one only reads music news, it is everywhere. Ratt and Bobby Blotzer’s son feuding with Sebastian Bach and Dee Snider over the wearing of masks during this pandemic. This cultural tension has pervaded every aspect of society. At least you can buy some sweet Kiss-branded masks now. Yet the amount of hate in the air over this issue is actually quite scary.
Incidentally as a side note, as our economy continues to be devastated by this disease, every brand in the world should start making masks. Metallica, Maple Leafs, Kiss, Kellogg’s Froot Loops. People are going to buy them and it’s time to strike while the iron is hot. Only by adapting to this pandemic are we going to save businesses. But back to where we were.
I used to believe good would always triumph over evil. That is what all my favourite stories taught me. Good is stronger. Show humanity some adversity and we will unite and overcome.
Roddenberry did predict we’d need a Third World War before we get there. I hope he was wrong about that too.
Star Trek was popular because people wanted to live in that world. Star Trek fans exist in every part of the political spectrum. Millions dreamed of being the helmsman on a starship, and to live in that world. A world where the Earth knows no war, no poverty and no starvation. Some of Arthur C. Clarke’s fiction was equally optimistic. I figured guys as smart as Clarke, who conceived the communication satellite, were smart enough that they were probably right about the future. Yet here we are, stuck in the mire like it’s still the 1950s.
Of course it’s not too late. We can still turn around and say “I don’t care if you are this or that, and believe in A, B or C.” We’re going to have to. Why can’t everybody see this? Humanity has no hope of survival if we can’t rise above our tribal differences.
I met Thussy back in 2007. He joined the team at work and we became friends immediately. We liked the same stuff. Trailer Park Boys, Guns N’ Roses, comedy. He is responsible for getting me into Super Troopers, which admittedly took a couple tries. We were also both getting married around the same time, so we had similar complaints and gripes to talk about. Drama with bridesmaids and seating plans, egads.
Thuss is a gamer, and we enjoyed chatting games. Axl Rose did a voice (a radio DJ) in the video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. You could switch between stations, and if you chose the rock station you got Axl. It was one of the few things Axl did that was released during that long dry spell between albums. Of course, this led to ample discussions of Chinese Democracy.
“It’s never coming out,” Chris insisted. I hated to say he was right, but it sure seemed that way. He refused to back down on his position. We’d been fucked with by this band for so long. Guns had missed several release dates, so many that it had become a joke. Axl chewed up managers and spat them out like stale bubblegum. Then the Dr. Pepper soda company offered to buy a Dr. Pepper for everyone in America if Axl managed to make his 2008 release date. Axl seemed good-naturedly amused by the idea, offering to share his Dr. Pepper with Buckethead when the album comes out. (This because Dr. Pepper said the only Americans exempt from this offer were former Guns members Buckethead and Slash!)
On October 22 2008, I was working at my desk, listening to the radio when the DJ, Carlos Benevides, announced that they would shortly be playing a brand new single by Guns N’ Roses. It was the title track, a song both Thuss and I were already familiar with. He had a disc of rough mixes for many of the tracks, and I had the Rock In Rio bootleg CD set. We already knew half the new songs, and “Chinese Democracy” was a track I thought smoked. I called Thuss and he listened in as it played.
It sounded like shit on our little mono telephone speakers, but we were listening to brand new Guns! The overall listener reaction was mixed to negative, but I already loved it. “The album’s never coming out,” said Thuss.
“It has to, now. There’s a single out. It’s definitely coming.”
“No.” Thuss was insistent. “It’s never coming out.”
“But Dr. Pepper…” I began before being cut off.
“No. Not coming out. Never.”
The funny thing was, “Chinese Democracy” wasn’t actually the first song released from the album. A month earlier, “Shackler’s Revenge” became the first new Guns song in nine years, when it was released as part of the Rock Band 2 video game, which neither of us had.
A new release date of November 23 was announced. “Nope,” said Thuss. “Nothing is coming out on November 23.” It was, strangely, a Sunday. Generally, nothing came out on Sundays. It was absolutely an odd move that did throw the whole release into question for some.
I asked ye olde Record Store to hold a copy for me. “Do you want vinyl?” he asked. “No, just CD.” It was something I’d regret, when he sold out of the vinyl a week later. I emailed to ask if he had any left. “Do you remember me asking you if you wanted vinyl?” he scolded. “Yeah,” I sulked.
When I walked into the store on November 23 and was handed my precious copy of Chinese Democracy, it was so anticlimactic. There it is. It’s in your hands, the culmination of a decade and a half’s work. You’ve been waiting all this time for this album, and there it sits. An album that had “release dates” going back to 1995 and every single year since. Then, you witness Guns return to the live stage from their cocoon, different but recognizable. You watch them struggle to establish a lineup, and you hear rumour after rumour about song titles and release dates. Then you’re holding a CD in your hands, a pitiful little plastic case with a little paper cover inside. You hand the guy your debit card, he rings it in. Transaction approved, you are handed your receipt. Chinese Democracy goes into a little plastic bag. Even though it’s probably the most expensive and longest gestating album of all time, your little plastic bag weighs the same as if you bought Sex Pistols.
At least I’d be able to show it to Thuss. Monday the 24th rolled around.
“It came out. I have it,” I told him as I strolled into his office.
“No it didn’t. It never came out. It’s never coming out.” He was sticking to his story come hell or high water!
“Yes it did! It’s in my car right now! I’ll show it to you.”
“You have nothing,” he responded, refusing to come and look.
In the years since, Thuss has stubbornly stuck to his guns and his believe that Chinese Democracy has never come out. “I have the unreleased mixes,” he says. “That’s all there is.”
I emailed him to tell him I was writing this story, our tale of the time Chinese Democracy was released.
“So you are going to take a crack at some fictional writing…nice.”
I will never win this one!
So now I have two stories both titled “Chinese Democracy”. I say, why not? Peter Gabriel has three self-titled albums.
Power 30 host Teresa Roncon doesn’t let Baz off easy here. Yes she does bring up the “AIDS Kills Fags Dead” shirt, and Sebastian answers. It’s a fascinating interview from a different time, only a few years after “One In a Million” by Guns N’ Roses.
What do you think of Sebastian’s response on this?
And just in case you wanted to hear Sebastian’s laugh on loop again, here ya go!
This Sunday, a sneak preview of an upcoming episode of VHS Archives! Sebastian Bach of Skid Row sat down with Teresa Roncon on the Power 30 in 1992, and laughed real funny. I recorded it and 27 years later I made a clip of it. ENJOY!
Make A Difference Foundation – Stairway to Heaven/Highway to Hell (1989 Polygram)
In 1989, I proudly sported my Moscow Music Peace Festival T-shirt in the highschool halls. It was cool to see the rock bands on the forefront of heavy metal bringing music to the Soviet Union. Scorpions, Bon Jovi, Motley Crue, Cinderella, Ozzy Osbourne and Skid Row joined Russian metal band Gorky Park in the name of peace and being drug free.
Drug free? Ozzy? It’s true that this was a little strange, but Motley were at least clean for the first time in their lives. The Scorpions had played behind the Iron Curtain before, and Sabbath were huge in Russia. Meanwhile Bon Jovi were one of the few bands to legally release an album in the USSR, and in return they brought Gorky Park to the US. I was lucky enough to have a girlfriend who recorded the televised part of the concert off MTV and sent me a copy. It was a pretty mindblowing video. Those Russians were going absolutely nuts, seeing their idols on stage.
Later on, the bands each contributed a song to a compilation album called Stairway to Heaven/Highway to Hell, each covering an artist who had been touched by substance abuse. The CD was produced by the biggest name at the time, Bruce Fairbairn himself. The proceeds went to an anti-drug charity, for all the good “just saying no” does. The album itself was a pretty great compilation of mostly exclusive music. Though almost all of it is now available elsewhere, that wasn’t the case in 1989, making this a tempting buy.
Gorky Park, the up and comers, started off with “My Generation”. Some find it too putrid to stomach. It’s virtually an original song with only the lyrics recognizable. The riffs and melodies seem otherwise new. So give Gorky Park some credit for at least not attempting a carbon copy, but then you gotta take off some points for turning “My Generation” into a Bon Motley song. Unfortunately for Gorky Park, their momentum halted when singer Nikolai Noskov quit in 1990.
Skid Row surprised the hell out of everyone with the Pistols’ “Holidays in the Sun”. It was the first indication that Skid Row had punk roots. “Holidays” was very much a look ahead to where they would go on Slave to the Grind. They were on the punk bandwagon a full two years before Motley decided to cover the Sex Pistols. It’s always strange to hear flashy metal guitar solos on a Pistols song, but it’s sheer joy to hear Sebastian spitting and screaming up a storm.
Scorpions had a new compilation out called Best of Rockers ‘n’ Ballads. Another Who song, “I Can’t Explain” was taken from it to be used on this CD. It is by far the better of the Who covers, as Scorpions really made it their own. Next, Ozzy’s track is quite interesting. It’s the only studio recording of the lineup including Zakk Wylde, Randy Castillo, and Geezer Butler. Geezer quit the band shortly after, and this incredible lineup never recorded anything else. I consider it the strongest band that Ozzy had after Randy Rhoads. The quartet did a live sounding cover of “Purple Haze”, unfortunately not the greatest version. It is at least a showcase for Zakk Wylde to go nuts on the wah-wah pedal.
I will argue that the best track on this album came from the band that was riding a brand new high: Motley Crue. Clean and mean, they were incredibly strong in 1989. They the balls to choose an obscure Tommy Bolin (Deep Purple) solo tune: “Teaser”. Motley put on that Dr. Feelgood groove, and Mick Mars laid waste to the land with his slidey guitar goodness. It’s no surprise that “Teaser” has reappeared on Motley compilations several times since. It has balls as big as a bus!
Another strong contender is Bon Jovi’s take on Thin Lizzy. “The Boys are Back in Town” fits seamlessly with that small town New Jersey vibe that Bon Jovi used to have. Lynott must have had some influence on a young Jon Bon, because all his old tunes are about the boys – back in town! Dino’s bar and grill could be in Sayreville NJ. Of course, Bon Jovi are a competent enough band to be able to cover Thin Lizzy and do it well.
Another surprise: Cinderella doing Janis Joplin. Singer Tom Keifer suited Joplin, though you don’t immediately associate the two! “Move Over” takes advantage of that Keifer shriek that isn’t too far removed from Janis. From there on though, it’s filler. Jason Bonham, Tico Torres and Mickey Curry do a pretty boring “Moby Dick”. It’s funny how John Bonham sounds bigger on the original, than three drummers on this remake. Then it’s a bunch of live jams from the Moscow concert: “Hound Dog”, “Long Tall Sally”, “Blue Suede Shoes” and “Rock and Roll” (Bonham on drums again for the latter). Vince Neil is hopelessly out-screamed by Sebastian Bach on the Zep tune. All the singers participated, but Sebastian Bach and Tom Keifer blew ’em all away.
This disc has been out of print a while, but isn’t too hard to find. 80s rockers need to have it for its historical value.
mikeladano.com 