More Metal Martyr Guilty Pleasures
One of my guilty pleasures from a long time ago was back in the late 80’s when I was a lot younger and wasn’t into metal yet because, well I lived in a small town and the hardest music I heard was on the radio. The radio stations at that time didn’t play any metal in my area at that time and it wasn’t until a few years later that I got into it. Until then the best things in my very small cassette tape collection was a few Aerosmith tapes which were some good ones back then) and a few others that I don’t quite recall.
One band I was fond of back then was White Lion…yeah I said it. Pride had just come out and I was about 11 years old and I really dug the songs Wait and When The Children Cry. Mainly the two songs they played on the radio. The problem with White Lion back then and now is that they were stuck to those singles and on every album there was a good handful of songs that were always pretty good. Most songs were about the typical things that 80’s songs were about. Sex, love and good times. A lot of people back then would have called them a Heavy Metal band. Hard rock maybe, but I would never call them metal. Lady Of The Valley was one of the hits on that record as well. Big Game was a bit different as they tried to mix some political messages in there a little bit and also had Broken Home, A song about an abusive father, which is actually a really good song. The cover of Golden Earring’s Radar Love still stands out. Their third record with Atlantic Records, Mane Attraction, allowed them creative control but was not as well received as the previous two records. Warsong, one of my favorites on this record was a strong political song which was in light of the gulf war at the time. Till Death Do Us Part was a cool sappy ballad and Blue Monday is a great instrumental tribute to the late Stevie Ray Vaughn.
Today Mike Tramp, the lead singer of White Lion has kept the band going without any of the original members. One thing I will say about this band is that Vito Bratta was a great guitarist and do to a wrist injury that still causes him some pain he doesn’t manage to play much guitar anymore. James Lamenzo has played with various great artists since his departure from White Lion and currently plays for Megadeth (Hell Yeah!). Greg D’angelo works out of his home and his most recent musical ventures were with Britney Fox 2007 summer tour where he filled in a bit.
White Lion have not been a favorite of mine in about 20 years but every now and then I’ll still listen to a few songs. Don’t be afraid to embrace the bands of your past in fear of people doubting your “Metalness”, because everyone has that band in the back of their mind they they used to listen to. Unfortunate for me, metal was not a big hit in small upstate NY hicktowns. Hell, half the time we were just happy to hear a good radio station that didn’t play country music or Jesus preaching.
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Tags: , 80's rock, aerosmith, big game, britney fox, mane attraction, Megadeth, pride, stevie ray vaughn, white lionRelated Stories
POSTED IN: About Me
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