Sometimes I like to browse the music sections at stores, sometimes I find something interesting, sometimes not so much. Monday while out shopping with my wife I found this:
I was immediately fascinated, a little annoyed by the Xmas part, but I can be forgiving, at least the didn’t call it holiday!
So anyway I picked it up and read through the track list, it’s like a who’s who of eighties hair bands doing Christmas songs. Count me in, I could use a trip down memory lane, you know, relive my semi-youth.
When we were done at that particular store and were leaving, I was unwrapping it on the way to the car. My wife didn’t say a thing, she had already resigned herself to the fact that I was going to want to listen to it. She’s pretty cool like that, she is not a big fan of hard rock, even the eighties glam type, but she endured.
I am going to be extra nice and give you a track listing along with my thoughts about each song after it’s listing, so lets get down to business shall we!
- Jingle Bells- Skid Row: This one was a surprise. It started out normal enough, for about a second. Then they kicked it in and rocked it. All in all, pretty good, I liked it, my wife, not really.
- Happy Christmas (war is over)- Winger: First off, I wasn’t a real big Winger fan when they were popular, but I was surprised by this one. It was really good and they stayed fairly true to the original. I liked it, caught my wife singing along too!
- Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas- Jani Lane of Warrant: Alright, but honestly his voice just isn’t right for this IMHO. So this one I thought was just eh, my wife, she was gripping the steering wheel a little too hard.
- I’ll Be Home For Christmas- Twisted Sister with Lita Ford: How could something with such cool potential go wrong, well they stuck Lita on it, thats how. Don’t get me wrong, she had some good stuff in her career, this just wasn’t one of them. I liked it, till the second verse when she started caterwauling. I won’t even go into what my wife was doing, other than to say I didn’t know anyones face could scrunch up so much!
- White Christmas- Queensryche: Standard Queensryche fair. I wasn’t surprised, nor was I disappointed. I think my wife even enjoyed it a little bit. I don’t think she is going to run out and buy any of their old cd’s, but you know.
- Run Rudolph Run- L.A. Guns: This one rocked pretty well, I enjoyed it a lot. My wife had taken to talking over the ones she wasn’t enjoying, she talked a lot during this one.
- Rocking Around the Christmas Tree- Firehouse: This one was a surprise, they did a very nice job on it, again I caught my wife singing along to this one.
- Naughty Naughty Christmas- Danger Danger: This one was a stretch, even for me. Not bad, but not exactly something I would play for any of my Christian friends either.
- Blue Christmas- Tom Keifer of Cinderella: This was the one I wanted the whole CD for, I was definitely pleased with this one. I have always loved Tom’s voice and he really did very well with this song. I think my wife enjoyed it as well, at least her face was back to normal and she didn’t talk all the way through it.
- Jingle Bell Rock- Nelson: I will be fair on this one, I hated Nelson and never really enjoyed them during their heyday. That said, they did an admirable job with this and I found myself singing along with them. Wife, smiley but she did talk a bit.
- Silent Night- Faster Pussycat: OMG what the heck was that. I really enjoyed FP during their career but this was out there. When the heck did they go industrial? This was not the FP I knew and loved. My wife scrunched, she talked, she darn near wept.(I have listened to this one a few more times and it is starting to grow on me, but I still don’t know what happened to FP)
- Santa Clause is Coming to Town- Dokken: Vrooom, just like in the eighties, it was rockin with Dokken. I really liked it, my wife tried to jump out of the car, and she was driving!
- Happy Holiday- Enuff Z’Nuff: Yep their name says it all, enough is enough. My wife and I both scrunched on this one!
- Winter Wonderland- Stryper: Please don’t tell my friends this, but I really liked Stryper back in the day. I have been enjoying their new stuff as well. They did an excellent job with this, my wife even smiled again!
- Christmas Love- Billy Idol: Not bad, I mean it is Billy Idol so you know it is going to be gruff from the get go. I liked it, my wife tried to claw her eardrums out!
So there you go. I gave you my opinion on all the tracks, not that it matters much if your taste runs differently than mine. This ran very long, this may be the longest post ever! For me that is.
Sounds cool!
It is quite cool and honestly, all of the songs are starting to grow on me!
I would love to hear Queensryche’s version of White Christmas.
Tom Keifer’s voice has always grated on my last nerve. He never had the range to be a great metal vocalist. His voice always seemed to be cracking at the best parts.
As for Stryper…
Have you ever heard the flip-side of Winter Wonderland? Back in the day, they released it as a single on a picture disc. The photo side was Reason for the Season. Winter Wonderland was actually the B-side song. I should know, I still have a copy of it.
All-in-all, sounds like a worthwhile purchase. I may have to look into finding this CD.
As I was not a big, what do you call it?- Hard Rock? fan, I don’t remember what a lot of these bands sound like so I’m having a hard time imagining what these songs sound like. (Altho’ I loved Lita Ford singing “Kiss Me Deadly.” And of course Billy Idol, who could forget his voice.) But I enjoyed your review (especially Becky’s facial expressions…) and glad you’re enjoying this.
@M – I have always had a thing for Stryper and for Cinderella. I actually thought the cracking in his voice added something to the blues oriented songs that they did!
@Linda – Don’t worry Linda, there is still time to correct the error of your ways. I suggest you get some good hair bands in your music rotation now. There were a lot of ballads that I am sure you would enjoy.
Back then, I was not so much a fan. Over the years though, I have come to appreciate a smattering of Poison, Quiet Riot, Scorpions, a few others. Not sure if you consider these hair bands. I never was one to really categorize. I especially liked the band with the drummer with one arm who sang Pour Some Sugar on Me. They were probly my favorite. Guns and Roses I liked for about, I dunno, three and a half weeks. I’m sure I’ll think of some more when I get time to think.
Jeff,
Yeah, I suppose for those particular songs it did work.
Funny story about the Stryper pic-disc. When I picked it up, one of the ladies at the Christian bookstore saw it and said “Oh, my, they’re really pretty.” The other lady had to explain that they were guys. I just laughed…
To be completely honest, when it comes to “White Metal”, I’ve always loved Bloodgood more than anyone else. Saint comes in a close second, and Barren Cross behind them.
Linda,
That was Def Leppard. They were one of my favs, too. Their drummer was only 17 when they did their first world tour.
You’d probably like Stryper. They have the most incredible vocal harmonies. The music is pretty good too.