Skid Row (Skid Row album)

Skid Row was formed in 1986, in Toms River, New Jersey, when guitarist Dave Sabo met bassist Rachel Bolan in a local guitar store where Sabo worked. As they shared similar musical influences, they began rehearsing in Bolan's parents' garage. Guitarist Scotti Hill came from Bolan's previous club band, and Sabo's acquaintance, upstate New Yorker, Rob Affuso, played drums in a Rush tribute band.[4] Once the band was formed, Skid Row started gigging in nightclubs throughout the Eastern United States and quickly built a small following.[5] Sabo was a childhood friend of Jon Bon Jovi and they had agreed if one of them succeeded in the music business, to help the other out. Skid Row caught the attention of Bon Jovi's manager Doc McGhee while opening for Bon Jovi on their 1987 Slippery When Wet Tour. McGhee suggested the band replace original singer Matt Fallon because he lacked the rest of the group's drive.[6][7]

Sebastian Bach was introduced to Skid Row by the parents of Jon Bon Jovi, who saw Bach sing at rock photographer Mark Weiss' wedding. After completing the lineup, the group signed with Richie Sambora's and Bon Jovi's publishing company Underground, unknowingly giving them the lion's share of the group's royalties. Skid Row later restored Sambora's share of the royalties, but Bon Jovi kept his, which caused a rift between Bon Jovi and Bach.[6] After negotiating with Geffen and A&M, Skid Row finally settled with Ahmet Ertegun and Atlantic in 1988. The band used the Royal Recorders studio in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin with producer Michael Wagener to record its debut album. The unpretentious studio was in the back end of a hotel, where the band stayed. Skid Row worked according to a schedule made by Wagener and stayed "dry" while recording.[8] The sessions went smoothly as the band had been playing and performing the songs for the past year.[9] The label initially pressed 150,000 copies of the album and booked the band an opening slot on Bon Jovi's 1988–1989 New Jersey Syndicate Tour.[4]

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[10]
Christgau's Record Guide	C+[11]
Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal	7/10[12]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music	[13]
Kerrang!	[14]
Los Angeles Times	[15]
Q	[16]
Rock Hard	7.0/10[17]
Sputnikmusic	[18]

Upon its release in January 1989, Skid Row did not immediately connect with listeners and received mixed reviews from the music press.[13] With the success of the "I Remember You" single which cracked the Billboard Top 10 in the autumn of 1989, the album took off and eventually sold over 5 million copies, establishing the band as one of the top metal acts of the late 80s. Phil Wilding of Kerrang! found the album quite formulaic, but wrote that the praises for Skid Row expressed by Bon Jovi band members and the range of diversity in their music were "a big hint that they could be something very special in the future."[14] Q magazine described the album as a fusion of rock riffs and commercial hooks, and proclaimed it a notable debut.[16] Spin's Erik Davis said Skid Row was slightly different from contemporary albums by Warrant and Great White because it contained less "fake-gutter narratives of sluts and bad boys", and instead leaned more towards Bon Jovi's earnest anthems.[19] Aniss Garza was more critical in the Los Angeles Times, finding the record "highly unoriginal" and lacking any lyrical substance or musical ingenuity.[15] Robert Christgau in his negative review remarked how the band attempted some social commentary and was not "offensively sexist" if only by heavy metal standards, jokingly saying that the disreputable women in the songs were at least "characters rather than objects".[11] Rock Hard reviewer wrote that this album is an example of how "independence and originality are by no means as in demand" in the US music world as the following of the "success schemes" established by bands like Guns N' Roses, with only a couple of good songs saving it from "sad mediocrity".[17]

Modern reviews are generally more positive. Canadian journalist Martin Popoff described the album as a "basic well-executed corporate metal feast" and praised Bach's performance for carrying the record and "raising the average to something worth reckoning."[12] He thought Skid Row represented a "grittier, more street version of hair metal", unlike its California-based peers.[20] AllMusic's Steve Huey classified the album as "typical pop-metal fluff" of the late 1980s, but praised it for the consistent songwriting and said Bach's vocals gave the songs the much-needed nasty attitude.[10] Sputnikmusic's Dave Donnelly considered Skid Row one of the more talented bands of the glam era because of its charismatic frontman, and described the group's debut as mainly a "party album" best remembered for its ballads.[18] The critical and commercial success of Skid Row made the band a regular feature in rock magazines such as Hit Parader, Circus, and Metal Edge in the late 1980s and early 1990s.[21]

The 17-month worldwide tour included an appearance at Moscow Music Peace Festival in August 1989 to a crowd of 70,000. The event was organized by McGhee as a penance for drug smuggling and featured artists managed by him or his brother. Skid Row made its UK debut at the Milton Keynes Bowl supporting Bon Jovi, and headlined London's Hammersmith Odeon two months later.[22] After finishing the tour in support of Bon Jovi's New Jersey album, Skid Row opened on Aerosmith's Pump Tour, which launched in October 1989 and lasted a year. At the concert in Springfield, Massachusetts in December, a fan threw a bottle onstage during Skid Row's set. Upset, Bach threw the bottle back into the crowd and hit a 17-year-old female fan in the face. The incident was filmed by a fan and Bach was arrested after the show. He was set free on $10,000 bail and received three years of probation.[23] At another show in 1990, Bach wore a T-shirt with the anti-gay slogan "AIDS Kills Fags Dead". Bach said he put the T-shirt on after a fan threw it onstage, but later regretted the incident, saying he does not support homophobia.[24] Thanks to heavy touring and the band's exposure on MTV, Skid Row quickly went platinum and remained a Billboard top 10 album three months after its release.[9] The album spawned three singles: "Youth Gone Wild", "18 and Life", and "I Remember You", of which the last two charted in the top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100.[25] "Piece of Me" was released as a promo single and also featured a music video.[26]

Credits are adapted from the album's liner notes.[27]

• Skid Row at Discogs (list of releases)