I am still listening to bands from the mid 80s and today's article is about Skid Row.
When I was watching Metal Evolution Skid Row vocalist Sebastian Bach featured in some interviews and he was soooo familiar. But I could not place him. Only when researching Skid Row the last couple of days I was able to match his face.
Sebastian Bach played Gil from Gilmore Girls from 2003 - 2007. Gil was a character I absolutely loved on the show, so it was not difficult to open up to Skid Row, it felt a bit as if I knew someone on the band already.
Skid Row was formed in 1986 in New Jersey by Rachel Bolan (bass) and Dave Sabo (guitar). Both are still members of the band today together with second guitarist Scotti Hill. Rob Affuso was signed as drummer. Finding the right lead vocalist took some time though. They first signed Matt Fallon, former singer of Anthrax. Fallon left and by chance 18-year-old Sebastian Bach was spotted singing at a wedding. He was asked to audition for the band and became their charismatic frontman in 1987. Young Bach was incredibly good looking and had the right rockstar attitude to go along with it.
Altogether Skid Row only released 5 studio albums and 4 EPs. They have sold about 20 million albums wordwide. The band was most successful in the late 80s and early 90s. Like so many other bands they suffered from the rise of Grunge and also the loss of their front singer Sebastian Back in 1996.
Commercially, the most successful albums were their debut album Skid Row from 1989 and their second album Slave to the Grind in 1991.
While Skid Row had somewhat of a slow start the band promoted the album with a 17-month-long tour, opening for Bon Jovi and Aerosmith. They were regularly featured on radio and MTV and in the end the album sold over 5 million copies and received 5x Platinum in the US. Skid Row was still glam metal but slightly less offensive and a bit grittier in sound than other glam metal albums. The band's look also featured less make-up and heels.
Slave to the Grind in 1991 presented a heavier sound and has been one of the band's heaviest albums to date. I was immediately reminded of Axl Rose's voice when listening to Monkey Business. As Guns'N'Roses was huge at that time it is now wonder that Slave to the Grind was well received. Incidentially, Skid Row promoted their album by opening for Guns'N'Roses in 1991. They also toured together with Pantera and Soundgarden in 1992. The album hit number 1 of the Billboard charts in 1991 and was awarded 2x Platinum.
I've been listening to the complete album a couple of times by now and it's definitely my favourite Skid Row album. I've put several songs on my playlist. And of course it also features the required power ballad: In a Darkened Room. Watch out for the dramatic break at 2:30 and Bach's outstanding self-staging. Here is another frontman that just loves himself.
Bach was the frontman Skid Row needed to promote themselves but his ego and volatility caused problems and frictions in the band. Skid Row's third album Subhuman Race was produced under difficult conditions. The band did not work well together with their new producer Bob Rock and they had difficulties getting along. Musically, it was darker than the first two albums and it mixed metal with grunge, alternative, punk rock, thrash metal and groove metal influences. Released in 1995 Subhuman Race peaked at position 35, only selling around 165.000 copies. Since the Subhuman Race tour 1995 - 1996 no songs from this album have been performed live apart from Beat Yourself Blind and Medicine Jar.
1996 Bach was dismissed from the band after an especially heated argument with Bolan and Sabo. He then continued a solo career, had several appearances on television and acted on Broadway.
1999 Skid Row hired their new singer Johnny Solinger who recorded two studio albums with the band and stayed with them for 15 years until 2015. Although Solinger was a decent frontman and good singer Skid Row never achieved the kind of success and fame they had with Sebastian Bach. The changing of the frontman did not serve the band very well.
I listened to Solinger's first Skid Row album Thickskin (2003) today without reading up on it beforehand. And when Ghost started to play I was like "Wow, this sounds like Creed".
During my early teen years we've all been listening to Creed, Silverchair, Marcy Playground and Lifehouse and this kind of post-grunge music sounds very familiar to me. If I had heard of Skid Row back then, I am sure I would have listened to them as well. Needless to say that die-hard fans of Skid Row and Sebastian Bach did not like the musical change at all.
The fifth and to date last studio album Revolutions per Minute was released 2006. The music on this album was less grunge influenced but punkier. The band also experimented with country sounds in this album.
Instead of releasing another album the band opted to release three EPs. United World Rebellion: Chapter 1 was released in 2013 and Rise of the Damnsation Army - United World Rebellion: Chapter 2 followed in 2014. The sound on those EPs were heavier and punkier again and closer to the original Skid Row sound in songs like Kings of Demolition or Let's go. But then again there are songs like This Is Killing Me where Solinger's style totally differs from Bach's.
Originally Chapter 3 was scheduled for 2015 but pushed back as Solinger was fired from the band in 2015. Johnny Solinger died in 2021 at the age of 55 from liver failure.
After firing Solinger, Tony Harnell took over as vocalist but left again after six months. In January 2017 ZP Theart (former vocalist of DragonForce and Tucker/Evans TANK) took over. United World Rebellion: Chapter 3 was announced to be a full length album instead of an EP and the band has been working on it since 2018. With yet another frontman I am curious to hear what the new album will sound like. With his power metal/speed metal roots from DragonForce ZP Theart will surely bring another spin to the sound of Skid Row as Johnny Solinger has done after following Sebastian Bach. I am looking forward to it.