Wam Glam (Pt. 4)

#2



DEMOLITION 23 - S/T (1994)


Johnny Thunders was a New York Doll
Cared so much he didn't care at all
Stiv Bators went to Catholic School
Turned his sins into something cool

--From "The Scum Lives On," Demolition 23

There's a surplus of morons out there that'll swear up & down that Hanoi Rocks were nothin' more'n one of the thousands of poodle-tressed Sunset Strip douchebags (let's not forget they were from Finland) that forever stamped the 80's as the "MTV decade." Why is it then that they were accepted not only as friends by the likes of Johnny Thunders and the Dead Boys, but as peers? Easy. It's because Hanoi had more to do with 70's-style punk than any o' them bouffant-haired posers preenin' for pussy ever dreamed of. Their roots were Dolls, VU, early Alice Cooper and the Stooges, NOT Bon Jovi, Def Leppard and other unmentionable pop atrocities. Equally delusional are those on the other side of the coin-- who believe demigod status awaited Hanoi if only Vince Neil hadn't killed their drummer in that car-crash. The truth is, they were far too real to ever rise much above cult fandom.

Demolition 23, formed in 1993, saw the reunion of ex-Hanoi vocalist Mike Monroe and bassist Sam Yaffa (ex-guitarist Nasty Suicide would join 'em on tour but not on record). This was their only album, but what an album it is! Sweaty, bloody-knuckled, raunch 'n' roll that sounds as lived in as their weather-beaten leather jackets. Little Steven Van Zandt's sympathetic production gives the band an edgy rawness tempered with a glossy sheen when required (like the multi-tracked fist-pumpin' choruses). There's an atmosphere of regret and defeat that echoes throughout the tracks-- that punkers-with-hearts-on-their-sleeves vibe that Johnny & Stiv conjured so effortlessly, but is now all but extinct. Take for example the chorus of "Hammersmith Palais":

I ain't had no fun in London since the Hammersmith Palais/New York City's boring since the punks all went away/Tokyo's gone techno & Berlin's goin' crazy/Ain't had no fun in London since Hammersmith Palais -- snarled with authority by Mr. Monroe, I might add. Adding a further sense of loss to the proceedings are beautifully executed Thunders & Bators covers: "I Wanna Be Loved" by the former, and "Ain't Nuthin' to Do" by the latter. And yes, there's a reason those two names keep coming up in this screed-- their scrawny ghosts are not only stirred up by this fine release... they're channeled.

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