Do you have a Warrant?

Warrant is playing at Jergels tonight. I keep shifting between caring and not caring.

Pros:
Great catalog
Not sitting at home alone
Embracing my hair metal roots is therapeutic
Scantily clad middle aged women

Cons:
Jani Lane is dead
I typically don't do hair metal nostalgia shows
New material
Scantily clad middle aged women

Jergels is a cool venue overall. It's the type of place that can host an up and comer, a nostalgic touring band, a local popular band or just pack 'em in with a bike night. It has a great stage, lighting rig, PA and open floor. It's clean, classy and not too expensive. It holds 500 at capacity, and the staff is a+ overall. The downside is the location, it's a little far from everything.

Seeing Warrant at Jergels is not a bad ticket. They could be playing a much worse venue.

Warrant was a hair band that actually had really good songs. They pounded the same LA scene as Poison, and was only a few years or so behind them on becoming massive. I distinctly remember dancing with my crush at a Erie Civic Center dance to their 1989 massive hit power ballad "Heaven" during the summer vacation between 8th and 9th grade. She wore a white button up blouse, jeans and flats, I wore a t-shirt, jeans, hightop sneaks, and a fringed Suede coat. It was August, I was sweating.

The song was a single from their L.P. "Dirty Rotten Filthy Stinking Rich." As far as hair metal goes, this album was tits. The lead single "Down Boys" was a clever song with a double entendre meaning. It followed a mid-pace tempo, but was light years ahead of the rubbish competition coming out around them. It was easy to shine against Bang Tango and Danger Danger. The exception was Skid Row, no one came close to Skid Row, not even Warrant.

The L.P. went platinum as the record company designed it to, and Warrant entered the 1990's with momentum. If they only knew what was brewing in Seattle.

In September 1990, they released their sophomore album, "Cherry Pie," and their legacy was cemented. Cherry Pie (the song) was annoying but sent these guys to the moon and back. Jani Lane hated the song, as he spoke about at length during his Peter Green/Sid Barret phase after the fall of hair metal. However, the record was really good. Like really really good.

"I Saw Red" was the power ballad single, and again, it pushed the lyrical content boundaries of the genre. Jani Lane wrote great clever lyrics. He was a story teller with a knack for the 4 minute medium.

I wore my Warrant tape out that year. Then, like everyone else, I stopped caring.

People talk about the onset of grunge like a hammer falling on pop culture. It wasn't quite like that. It brewed for a few years before killing off the last of the Hair Metal stragglers. I personally believe that GnR, Metallica and Faith No More were equally as responsible. My interests changed along with my generation. I was becoming a man around that time, and by age 20, I had my sons, so there was not a lot of nurturing my artistic side due to family responsibilities and work. Soundgarden and Pantera became mainstays in my 6 disc changer.

I do recall hearing about Warrants 3rd album, "Dog Eat Dog," the crux of which was supposed to be really good. I still have not listened to it. I am sure Eddie Trunk loves it, and feels it's underrated.

So, do I go see them? No, I won't. This blog was nostalgic enough for me. Besides, I bore witness to Hall and Oats & Tears for Fears this year. Nostalgia fix overloaded.

So, my house is where the Down Boys go today. I have a Salmon Steak ready to broil anyway.

Nago