BANDI:
1987 was the year we matured. By "we" I mean both me and melodic rock music industry. I was 13 years old and got turned into a man by some 18 year-old disco dancer blonde whose name I can't recall, I doubt I have ever learned anyway. Just about the very same thing happened to hard rock. 
'melodic rock is gonna be the next big thing'.
Some misterious people (the unseen forces of moneymen in suits and ties behind music industry) have decided that melodic rock is gonna be the next big thing. And that's exactly what happened.
Studio and stage technology has reached its prime, albums sounded better than ever before, stages were filled with enough lights, sound, technology and enormous amount of power enough to take a rocket to the moon, land it, and light up the whole damned place over there.
Everyone wanted to rock. Even Michael Jackson dressed in leather for "Bad" and grew (adopted) long hair, employed rock musicians. Reagan had his prostate operated (told ya everyone wanted to rock) and challenged that fat fella with the spot on his head in Moscow to TEAR DOWN THE
WALLS !!!
The Berlin wall that was for that matter. Some people must have been more
fortunate with their lower domains than Reagan and as a result the population of the world hit 5 billion. Everyone
rocked.
'Nancy Wilson looked better than the cover girl of
Playboy'
People looked good back then. Nancy Wilson looked better than the cover girl of Playboy, the tattooes on Cher's butts made us all have wet dreams, and the Germans also had their electrified midget in the form of Doro Pesch. Each to their own. Posters of Jon Bon Jovi, Joey Tempest, Diamond Dave "made it to more ceilings than paint" (just to stick to Dave's way of wording it).
My hair finally grew to a length I was content with (down to the middle of my back, modelled after pictures of Bon Jovi... or a mane of a lion, at lkeast that's what my mom used to say).
Motley Crue and Vince Neil were in their prime, not only because "Girls, Girls, Girls" (debuting at the #2 spot – selling actually more than the #1 – of billboard) but because Vince didn’t wear 200 pounds back then. He looked good. So did the rest of the band, yet it did not stop Sixx from
almost handing himself a golden shot.
More milestone albums were released that year than I have big enough memory to remember. Aerosmith found their way back on track with "Permanent Vacation", so did Alice Cooper with "Raise Your Fist and Yell" though it did not hit as big as "Poison" a bit later, it had the promise for better things to come for good ole Alice.
'who in their right minds would not mention Whitesnake's "1987"
Guns n' Roses’ "Appetite for Destruction" reached an audience wider than any rock or metal band has ever hoped to. Disco bimbos were wearing GnR T-shirts, discorats were posing in leather boots. And who in their right minds would not mention Whitesnake's "1987" when it comes to 1987?! Classic. Maybe I should spell it out for ya: C-L-A-S-S-I-C.
Excessive tours were on their way: Bon Jovi and Europe were all over the world, the former even headlining Monsters of Rock, both (along with many, many other bands) spending more time in Japan than the size of the country would have anticipated.
Oh well, all those crazy cut-eyed bimbos... Bon Jovi's "Livin' On a Prayer" won the "best stage performance video" category at the MTV Awards (what a stupid category after all) and there were great live performances by melodic rock industry greats there.
Talking about MTV, 1987 was the year when Headbangers' Ball premiered, firming the presence of rock in TV. Let's not forget about our
(RockUnited.com's) Bailey Brothers here and their contribution to the scene even if many of you would probably associate Headbangers' Ball with that ugly Vanessa girl who kept on pushin her husband's stupid named band into spotlight for years.
Not that it would matter but 5 out of every top 10 song on MTV countdowns were melodic rock, giving us rockers some secretly nurtured pride.
Yes, this was the year of White Lion's "Pride" and guitars in general. Satch's "Surfing with the Alien" and Tony MacAlpine's "Maximum Security" were released
then.
'flying high with "Hysteria" and "Crazy Nights"
Established names like Def Leppard and Kiss were flying high with "Hysteria" and "Crazy
Nights" while a crazy German dude was flying low, landing on Red Square making fool of the entire Soviet anti-air defence system. Signs that more and even bigger changes were on their way.
Who was to talk about decline and grunge and such in 1987? Nobody. Yet the evil was on its way. 1987 was the introduction of Prozac and betcha that was the first step towards grunge and the nihil of the late 1990s...
URBAN:
'You're all I need, make you only mine. I loved you so I set you free. I had to take your life' (Sixx/Lee). 'Girls, Girls,
Girls' surely must be the best of the worst eighties albums. Seriously, the album went straight to no. 2 on the albums chart
in USA, a feat unmatched by any metal album since Led Zeppelin's 'The Song Remains The Same'.
How the hell did that happen
anyway? It's just too weird really... to even name the two albums in the same friggin' sentence.
Motley Crue were all about needles, spoons, and drug residue in '87. Hell, Nikki Sixx had one of his yearly o.d.'s and dated
the equally psychotic Vanity from Prince and Vanity 6 fame (she appearantly lost a kidney, sight and hearing due to
drugs).
'the secret of success in 1987'
Sixx couldn't stand the music he wrote on the album and the drug dealer was his best friend. Gee... the secret of success in 1987' - dope, drugs, more drugs, and hardly any rock n' roll??
The geezer's from Aerosmith did things the other way around though. They were fed up with cheques going direct to drug dealers. The 'Toxic Twins' decided to lose their alchohol and drugs habits (at least for a couple of years) and managed to come up with their best record since their (70's) heydays.
Gene Simmons decided to lose his bad habits of sub-standard acting, cakes, and cookies. The KISS album of the year, 'Crazy Nights', had a string of rather successful singles and managed to break into Top-3 in the U.K.
Meanwhile, yet another stoopid kid falls down a well in America and the drama unfolds on live television. Thank God that U.S. kids are too fat nowadays and the whole 'kid-down-a-well' concept is no longer relevant.
What can you possibly say about 'Hysteria', that you haven't heard already? Nada. Well, it's a shocking poor album, if you're into drums and a proper bass production. You have 200 layers of guitars and vocal harmonies and one dodgy electronical drum-kit. Did anyone say tin cans???
'C'mon... it's just a drummer'...
It's obviously a smashing record (song and material-wise), and kudos to Def Leppard for standing by their one-armed drummer. I seriously doubt that any of us (YOU included!) would keep a drummer with merely one arm in your band. C'mon... it's just a drummer... it's not like we're talking about a proper musician or anything (then again, you try playing guitar with one arm, heh!).
By the way, radio stations as well as MTV in the states, refused to play the Motley Crue song at the beginning of my rant. We could watch it all the time on MTV Europe though...
KIMMO:
Good ol' 1987, what a year it was. Surely worth naming an album after it, wasn't it, Mr. Coverdale? If 1986 was the breakthrough year, in 1987 the hard rock boom was in full rage. I got my first part-time job delivering newspapers, and spent most of my humble earnings on albums, tapes and magazines. Kerrang! became a weekly read, and I noticed that the albums Derek Oliver and Dave Reynolds raved about were often just what I was after... and however qualified my english teachers were, I must say that Kerrang!, Metal Hammer and other mags helped me more to improve my english. Not to mention the lyrics of all the bands on my list...
Choose a year:
[ 1987 ]
[1980] [1981]
[1982] [1983]
[1984] [1985]
[1986] [1987]
[1988] [1989]
Alan, Bandi, Kimmo, Martien & yours truly, Urban of RockUnited.Com have been spending weeks, months, wading through a bunch of weird looking artcovers and albums of the eighties! Indeed, not an easy task, tracking back in space and time, especially since some of us were almost still in diapers (sticky) at the early days of this era of grand and fantastic music. Check out the left-side border for our yearly write-up in 'black', and this is RockUnited's official 'Best-Of-Album Chart of 1987', calculated from the individual charts. No live-ones, EP's or compilations are included, merely studio albums. You can find them all and complain about our personal taste (or rather the complete lack of it) further down this page! This is merely our humble and tiny celebration of the hairmetal days or daze for that matter. Enjoy or not - this is the eighties: 1987.
THE ALBUMS OF
THE YEAR: 1987
80.
Gowan - Great Dirty World
79. Malice - License To Kill
78. Faster Pussycat - Faster Pussycat
77. The Rods - Heavier Than Thou
76. Sacred Reich - Ignorance
75. Body Electric - Walking Through Walls
74. Obsession - Methods Of Madness
73. John Waite - Rover's Return
72. Foreigner - Inside Information
71. Refugee - Burning From The Inside Out
70. Exodus - Pleasures Of The Flesh
69. Motorhead - Rock N Roll
68. Loverboy - Wild Side
67. Brian McDonald Group - Desperate Business
66. Twisted Sister - Love Is For Suckers
65. Keel - Keel
64. Leatherwolf - Leatherwolf
63. Lee Aaron - Lee Aaron
62. Celtic Frost - Into the Pandemonium
61. Dalton - The Race Is On
60. Helix - Wild in the Streets
59. Lizzy Borden - Visual Lies
58. Warlock - Triumph and Agony
57. The Cult - Electric
56. Testament - The Legacy
55. Pink Floyd - A Momentary Lapse of Reason
54. King Diamond - Abigail
53. Vinnie Moore - Mind's Eye
52. Triumph - Surveillance
51. Candlemass - Nightfall
50. Kane Roberts - Kane Roberts
49. Phenomena II - Dreamrunner
48. Running Wild - Under Jolly Roger
47. Tony Macalpine - Maximum Security
46. Ace Frehley - Frehley's Comet
45. Autograph - Loud And Clear
44. Shy - Excess All Areas
43. Pretty Maids - Future World
42. Cher - Cher
41. Dio - Dream Evil
40. Sammy Hagar - Sammy Hagar
39. Richard Marx - Richard Marx
38. Mad Max - Night Of Passion
37. Savatage - Hall Of The Mountain King
36. Jimmy Barnes - Freight Train Heart
35. Heart - Bad Animals
34. Night Ranger - Big Life
33. Great White - Once Bitten
32. Tommy Shaw - Ambition
31. Black Sabbath - The Eternal Idol
30. Glen Burtnik - Heroes & Zeroes
29. Petra - This Means War
28. Alice Cooper - Raise Your Fist And Yell
27. Michael Bolton - The Hunger
26. MSG - Perfect Timing
25. Rush - Hold Your Fire
24. Y&T - Contagious
23. Treat - Dreamhunter
22. Bryan Adams - Into The Fire
21. John Norum - Total Control
20.
Motley Crue - Girls, Girls, Girls
The
best of the worst Glam-Rock albums in the eighties. The band was basically
too f**ked up on drugs and alcohol to come with a better release. It still
managed to reach #2 on the Billboard? Mostly due to image, MTV, and a
couple of great tunes such as the title track and the morbid ballad,
'You're
All I Need'. Wicked!
19.
Saga - Wildest Dreams
Their
most "commerical" album up to date. Drummer Steve Negus and
keyboardist Jim Gilmour didn't fancy the idea and decided to abanndon
ship.
Saga soldiered on as a trio, signed a big contract with Warner bros. and
tried to breakthrough in the states. 'Only Time Will Tell', a minor
"hit", but the album went laregy unnoticed in US. Good
stuff!
18.
Manowar - Fighting The World
Wimps
and posers leave... ehh, well, you know the rest by now. The battle rages,
choose your side, death to false metal. Manowar made it into 'The Guinness
Book Of World Records' as the loudest band on planet in '87 - 160
decibels. What? 160 DECIBELS! What? 160, ehh, nevermind. Bombastic Conan
metal and darn catchy too. Hail!
17.
Lou Gramm - Ready Or Not
Ex-Foreigner
vocalist Lou Gramm with his first solo album. Most songs are the work of
Gramm and Bruce Turgon. The two of them would continue to collaborate on
the next Gramm album as well as the Shadow King project in '91. The
music on display is similar to Foreigner's (of course). Nils Lofgren on
guitars and 'Midnight Blue' was a minor hit.
16.
Anthrax - Among The Living
Bermuda
shorts and a skateboard image??? Worse things to come, I'm afraid. It's
unfortunately the last of the Anthrax classics, prior to all that 'Not'
madness. Lyrics revolve around Stephen King novels, comics, and being
'Caught
In A Mosh'. One of the greatest Thrash Metal tunes by one of the greatest
Thrash acts. Mosh!
15.
Dokken - Back For The Attack
Warning
- this album contains the theme song for 'A Nightmare On Elm Street 3 -
Dream Warriors'. Like, that's not scary enough, Dokken and Lynch were
going at eachothers throats by now, and you can find a track titled
'Mr.Scary'.
The album still managed to reach #13 on the U.S. Billboard chart though.
Excellent metal ala '87.
14.
Jeff Paris - Wired Up
Originally
the leader of Jazz rock ensemble 'Pieces' (akin Chicago Transit Authority)
and session musician/songwriter to Lita Ford, Cinderella, etc. This is
Jeff Paris' second solo album featuring three songs later recorded by
all-girl band, Vixen. Smashing rock!!! Drummer Matt Sorum would join Guns
N' Roses shortly afterwards.
13.
Stan Bush & Barrage
'The
days are filled with laughter and the nights are filled with tears. If
love can last a moment girl, it can last a thousand years'. House Of Lords
re-recorded 'Love Don't Lie' in '88. Here's the original version and
plenty more of them. You'll also get,'The Touch', from the Transformers
movie and 'Heart vs Head' from The Wraith. Nice!
12.
Marillion - Clutching At Straws
Yet
another superb concept album by the U.K. prog rockers. The story is set
around this 'Torch' character. 'A multi-media bonafide celebrity with an
allergy to perrier, daylight, and responsibility'. A 30 year old singer
with a liquid fixation to alcohol. Also the last album to feature Fish as
their frontman. 'we're just sugar mice in the rain...'
11.
Kiss - Crazy Nights
'They
try to tell us we don't belong. But that's alright, we're millions strong.
You are my people, you are my crowd. This is our music, we love it loud'.
Crazy, crazy, nights, indeed. Peaked at #18 in US and #3 in UK (the
highest charting in UK so far). The MTV keyboard sounding record according
to old fart fans. Catchy and fun!
10.
Bonfire - Fire Works
Their
"breakthrough" as well as their best album up to date. Bonfire's
debut was a bit of a let down, however, they bounced right back on track
with the Michael Wagener produced, 'Fire Works'. Big guitars, huge
choruses, catchy hooks. The ballads are heavily inspired by the ones of
fellow Germans, Scorpions. The rest, bonafide Bonfire.
9.
Gary Moore - Wild Frontier
'Wild
Frontier' speak of Belfast (Northern Ireland) and contains mostly songs
written about and inspired by Gary's homeland. It's the Gaelic sound all
over again or if you prefer, a hardrock version of Big Country. 'Over The
Hills and Far Away', reached #20 in the UK singles chart. Not bad, and the
album charted in most countries in Europe.
8.
Joe Satriani - Surfing With The Alien
Dude,
it's the Silver Surfer on the album cover! Ehem, the image from issue #1
in 1982 was used without Marvel's permission though. The music on the
other hand is all Joe Satriani as far as we know. A great variety of
techniques as Satch goes through speedy two-hand tapping as well as slower
work. Peaked at #29 in US.
7.
TNT - Tell No Tales
10.000
lovers in one? Tnt's best move... when they decided to ditch the Norwegian
singer as well as the corny metal of 'Knights Of The New Thunder'. The
sky-high vocals of American born Tony Harnell, plus vastly improved
songwriting, equals quality and a rather unique approach and sound.
Perhaps a bit short on songs, but darn good.
6.
Aerosmith - Permanent Vacation
The
real comeback album of the 'toxic twins'. Albeit, no longer addicted to
the drugs and alcohol, the band decided to bring in outside writers to
spice things up a bit. Des Child, Jim Vallance, and Holly Knight, helped
the dino rockers reach #11 on the albums chart in the states. The song,
'Angel', peaked at #3. Dude looks like a lady!
5.
Helloween - Keeper Of The Seven Keys Part: I
The
original plan was to release a double album with both parts at the same
time. However, their record label thought it was too much, because they
just hired a new vocalist (Michael Kiske). Quite a step back from the
aggressive and super fast metallica metal of 'Walls Of Jericho'. Helloween
came up with a new and superb style of german metal.
4.
Guns N' Roses - Appetite For Destruction
Fun
and games - welcome to the jungle! A milestone in hardrock. However, not an "instant success"
as they had to go on tour for almost a year, until the album finally
reached #1 in 1988 and so did the single, 'Sweet Child O Mine'. So
what if Axl Rose stole all his stagecraft and persona
from Shark Island's Richard Black?
3.
White Lion - Pride
'When
the chidren cry, let them know we tried. Cause when the children sing,
then the new world begins'. Cheesy? Yeah, but overall a darn catchy album.
The ballad peaked at #3. The first single, 'Wait', reached #8 in US,
pushing the album to #11 on billboard. Superb work by Vito Bratta, best
new guitarist of '87 in all the mags.
2.
Def Leppard - Hysteria
Can
you trust a one armed drummer? Def Leppard did! Kudos to the band for
simply not replacing him as 99,999% of all the other acts would.
'Hysteria'
reached #1 in US, UK, etc, etc. scored seven hit singles, and went on the
sell 15 million copies. Layers of guitars, vocal harmonies, 'Mutt' set the
standard for the rest of the 80's.
1.
Whitesnake - 1987
And
the #1 album of '87 goes to... 1987!!! It sort of make sense, yeah?
Whitesnake couldn't go any further in Europe, so they decided to conquer
America. Permed blonde hairdo, layers of make-up, and a b-movie actress
(Sexy Tawny), transformed Coverdale into a super-star on MTV. The album reached
#2 in US and the remake of ,'Here I Go Again', became their one and only
#1 single. Classic!!! (all album comment nonsense
by: Urban)
INDIVIDUAL LISTS OF 1987 *Personal Stuff* | |
|
Urban (Wally):
1. Whitesnake
- 1987 11.
Running Wild - Under Jolly Roger 21.
Jeff Paris - Wired Up 31.
Rush - Hold Your Fire |
Kimmo:
1. Bonfire - Fire Works |
|
Martien: 1. Marillion - Clutching At Straws |
Alan: 1. Stan Bush
and Barrage -
s/t |
|
Bandi: 1. Whitesnake - 1987 1987:
Songs
of the year:
Anthrax - I Am The Law |
Urban
(Wally): POP/Rock albums of the year: 1. The Smiths -
Strangeways, Here We Come
|
|
|
|
