Style: hard rock
Label: CBS
Year: 1989
Home: California
Members: Mark Anthony Fretz ~ vocals/harmonica
George Bernhardt ~ guitar/b. vocals
Brian Young ~ guitar/b. vocals
Doug Baker ~ bass/b. vocals
Mike Terrana ~ drums
There was a point where any band that was fairly listenable & from Seattle was ensured a record deal due to the grunge shadow that engulfed the town. A decade earlier every record label wanted their own L.A. hair/glam metal band, Bon Jovi, Def Leppard or Motley Crue to court across the circuit & make lots of money on current music trends. CBS chose BN, a cross between Def Leppard & Britny Fox with all the clichés of the genre ... from the squeaky high vocals & backing chorus, the acoustic power love ballad, the by the book Van Halen inspired guitar solos, even the sex laced album title ... but with less originality or distinctiveness than either of the aforementioned bands. BN isn't bad & quite enjoyable & might be just as memorable & enjoyable as the more successful but similar sounding Britny Fox, but in the shadow of bands that came before BN's nondescript sound just doesn't stand up as anything particularly special or unusual or any more or less memorable, really. There's nothing actually wrong with this album. It's about as by the book as you can get & if you love L.A. glam/hair metal then you're already used to the fact that a majority of the genre is highly imitative, but that to be enjoyable the music doesn't have to be creative. It's almost impossible to follow the paint by numbers & not make a good hair metal album. It may sound cliched but a majority of the hair metal music was indeed no more or less cliched & became successful because of it. There is one stand out track in the next to the last "Make A Wish" that is the best power ballad on the album where some of the clichés, particularly the high-pitched vocals, are thrown out the window for something that shows some personality of its own. It even eclipses the obvious eye raising cover of "Love Potion #9". BN was just not one of the lucky ones. BN did only this album, a couple tours opening for Love/Hate with future L.A. Guns singer Jizzy Pearl & Loverboy, then broke up, supposedly disillusioned with the music business but one also expects a lack of commercial success & being washed away in the flood of better bands like Guns N' Roses didn't help any. If anything, BN can be remembered for where the members went afterwards. Guitarist George Bernhardt went on to play with Rick Springfield, Jeff Scott Soto of Yngwie Malmsteen fame & drummer Gregg Bissonette of David Lee Roth, Spinal Tap & Joe Satriani. Guitarist Brian Young went to Talisman. Drummer Mike Terrana stayed the most prominent face in the industry working with Axel Rudi Pell, Yngwie Malmsteen, Steve Lukather, Jennifer Batten, Gamma Ray, Tarja Turunen, amongst others. This album has since become a minor collector's album in rock circles.
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