One of the things I love about the Decibel Geek podcast is when they play a tune or talk about an album that for whatever reason got lost in the shuffle. This happened last week when Chris and Aaron played “April 2031” from Warrant‘s doomed 1992 album Dog Eat Dog.
I loved Warrant back in the day, was lucky enough to see them a few times. Once as an opening band on Motley Crue‘s Dr. Feelgood Tour, once as part of a package show (Aerosmith, Metallica, Warrant and the Black Crowes), and then as a headliner on the Cherry Pie Tour. Each time they put on a great show.
Melodic “hair” metal at its best, Warrant were treading water in a totally different musical landscape in 1992 when they released Dog Eat Dog. Grunge was quickly devouring the entire 80’s movement. Many bands were trying to change and modify their sound to try and stay relevant. Most often it would result in failure as it would alienate the existing fans and appear contrived to the younger fans. So it was at this time that Dog Eat Dog hit the stores. I went out picked it up and remember listening to it a few times and then quite honestly it got lost in the shuffle of other bands and other albums. I do remember noticing the darker more introspective lyrics and wondered if this was Jani maturing or just trying to swim against the grunge river.
So the album went into my library where it remained for years. Fast forward to last week’s Radio Sucks show when the guy’s started singing the praises of this release. Now I was still a little skeptical, after all Chris and Aaron are a little younger than me and were much more accepting of that whole era of music I would just rather forget happened. I pulled down my CD binder and headed for “W” to pull out the long ignored album.
I have to say, Chris and Aaron are right on the money with what they said on the show. This really is a solid album with a few tracks in particular that could very well be, the best Warrant ever recorded. “Machine Gun”, “The Whole in my Wall”, “All My Bridges are Burning” and “Bonfire” are all absolute killer rockin tunes. Ballads “Sad Theresa” and “Let it Rain” are Jani at his heartfelt best. I have to tip my hat to the Decibel Geek hosts for getting me to dig out this forgotten album and hearing it for what it is. Quite possibly Warrant‘s strongest album.
