Style: alternative, hard rock, post-grunge
Label: Skid Row Records
Year: 2003
Home: n/a
Members: Johnny Solinger ~ vocals
Scotti Hill, Dave "The Snake" Sabo ~ guitars/b. vocals
Rachel Bolan ~ bass/b. vocals
Phil Varone ~ drums
Today I saw the news over my morning coffee that vocalist Johnny Solinger passed away from liver failure at 55. My ex-girlfriend died at 33 from the same thing, thanks to an alcohol problem, so I am empathetic. While not a household name, for about 16 years he fronted Skid Row, replacing iconic bad boy & vocalist Sebastian Bach. Solinger toured extensively with the band & did 4 studio albums, before going solo. I've seen solo Bach twice in concert. Skid Row came to town once in recent years, but I think I'm like many people who see a Bach-less Skid Row as not so alluring & one step from a tribute band. Its not helped by the fact that Solinger was replaced by famed vocalist Tony Harnell of TNT & more recently by ZP Threat of Dragonforce. No dis on either of those guys & their desire to have a steady paycheck with a known band. I have tons of albums with Tony & I've seen ZP twice with the force, but Skid Row for many of us is Bach. Their lack of post-Bach hits partially verifies that in our mind, as they never found a commercial life beyond him. His solo career hasn't exactly sent the world kicking & screaming, so some would say they need each other. This leads to the obvious question: Is the Solinger era of Skid Row getting a bad rap? Many bands have made great music after losing an iconic members & even after the chart hits vanished. Deep Purple & Journey come to mind. In honor of Solinger I decided today to listen to his debut with the boys, Thickskin. There are 3 factors that weigh heavy going into this album: a new singer, a reunited band with a changed membership & a changed musical scene. Starting from the last point, when this was released in 2003 the rock scene Skid Row had been a part of was dead & buried, & musically had given way to grunge, alternative & the mainstreaming of heavy metal via industrial. A majority of the band's peers were reinventing their sound to keep a foot in the game. Much of that output has been deliberately forgotten, by the bands & fans. The reinvented bands may have played as well as ever, but they wore the new styles like a skinny man wears a XXL suit - it doesn't fit right not matter what you do to it. Skid Row had no special foresight & joined the pack of chameleons. It is easily forgotten that underneath the commercial gloss Skid Row were much heavier than many of their peers. Bach called them heavy metal in his autobio. Their Slave To The Grind rocks likes a beast. So, for those who were shocked by hearing the band rock hard on Thickskin, I wonder if they heard anything beyond the hits? Yet, Slave To The Grind is the harder rocking album. Though their roots were in metal they actually choose to go in a different direction, thus Thickskin becomes the band's alt-rock & post-grunge album. I wonder what would have happened had they stuck to the metal? Though the opening track "New Generation" might start with a pounding rhythm that hints at the past, once Solinger's synthesized vocals come in it is obvious this is not what you might be expecting from Skid Row. What is really scary is how much of the album immediately brought to mind alt-rock & post-grunge bands of the early 2000's, aka my college days. If I didn't know better I'd say this was some of those bands, with hints of things like Soundgarden thrown into the mix. Yet, while this is a rolling in-your-face album I can't help but wonder where Skid Row went. If I played this album & asked you to guess the band, you'd likely have no clue. It makes me sad, as maybe the band never found a distinct sound after all the years, or they jettisoned their distinctive sound for some reason, or they lost their sound with the change in membership. Whatever the answer, when I turn to Skid Row, I want Skid Row, not Staind, Creed or Silverchair. I do have to give kudos to the guys for making an enjoyable album, which is worth hearing, but I'm personally not a fan of this style so I'm pushed away a bit. Its hard to get over the shock that this isn't an unreleased Creed album. Its a bit too on the nose musically. Even when they do mix things up, as its not really exactly like Creed, it still isn't the Skid Row I know. Did Bach have that much of an influence on their sound? Or, were they desperate to not sound like they did after after their scene died? Related to the second point I mentioned above, they've brought in drummer Phil Varone from Saigon Kick & Solinger, who had been kicking around with his band Solinger. Have their additions had so much of an effect that Skid Row is essentially a new musical entity? Doing a little digging on wiki, all 12 songs on Thickskin were written by bassist Rachel Bolan & guitarist Dave "The Snake" Sabo, with guitarist Scotti Hill contributing to 2. Solinger has only a writing credit for "Mouth Of Voodoo." Varone has none. Outside songwriters are credited on 4. Outside of the influence of the producer, Bolan & Sabo are steering this ship. Comparison is required. On the previous Subhuman Race Bolan & Sabo are each credited with 12 of the 13 songs, with Hill on 6. So, the pair are the dominating writing partnership in the past, too. Now comes the clincher in contributions from Bach & previous drummer Dave Affuso. Affuso has 4, while Bach has the same. To go back further, Slave To The Grind have Bolon on all 11 with Sabo on 8, Hill on 2. Affuso gets 1 & Bach has 2. Lastly, their self-titled debut with 11 songs has Bolan on 10, Sabo with 9, Hill has 1. Affuso has 1, Bach also has 1 ("I Remember You") & original vocalist Matt Fallon has 1. So, the departed members have, on the books at least, the least effect on the sound. The band didn't lose either a lyricist nor composer, while they also didn't bring in someone to fill those roles. I do have to give the band kudos for not relying on outside songwriters, which is pretty impressive in a world where labels often force them on bands. Thus, this new sounding Skid Row is due to the same team that crafted the earlier hit albums. I'm likely belaboring the point, but the musical change is so different its shocking & so authentic alt-rock that its really scary. I would love to hear Bach do "Lamb", which is the one track I could hear as a outtake from Slave To The Grind. The third & final variable of the equation is Solinger. Solinger is no Bach. Not even close. That's not a dis, as he's just a very different singer. He's actually a perfect fit for the new sound, as instead of acrobatics he's got a guiness, grit & fierceness that Bach didn't. Its like Freddie Mercury vs Paul Rodgers, night & day, Phil Collins vs Ray Wilson. I actually like his voice a lot. He sounds absolutely at home with the music, too. Once the huge shock of the music wore off I liked his voice even more, & even the whole album. On repeated listens it got better. Except for ... cause there's always an exception ... the new alt-rock version of "I Remember You", called " I Remember You Two". Why? Did they include this to show Solinger could cover the hits? If so, then changing the arrangement isn't showing he can do it, but showing maybe he can't. Also, to re-arrange this classic anthem feels like if a tribute band covered it. Let's pretend this track doesn't exist. To conclude, I feel like this is a good album, & the band shouldn't be judged as harshly as they were/are ... but it should not be considered a Skid Row album. This is not Skid Row in any way, shape or form. If they had called themselves something else I think it would have been a lot better for them. Not to mention anyone who didn't like the old Skid Row likely wasn't going to pick up the new album, even if there is a new sound. For example, I don't like what Bon Jovi has done since Crush, which means if their next album is an awesome industrial rock tour-de-force I'm likely not listening as I've tuned them out. Yet, if Jon Bon Jovi went solo I might listen. Though, for the record I do really like their 2020 hit "Limitless." Calling themselves Skid Row was not attracting new fans, & this new sound certainly was pushing away old fans. Now, if they had gone more metal, then I think they would have kept the older fans, though they might not have brought in anyone new. So, seeing this as Not Skid Row, while I'm not really into the alt-rock currents, there's a lot of variety & heavy metal parts here that balance the other parts. The songs are memorable & enjoyable. I would highly recommend taking Not Skid Row for a ride. So, going back to where I started this morning, R.I.P. Johnny. Sorry for coming to your party late. In my world, you're with Krishna now.
No comments:
Post a Comment