![]() ![]() I was on board from that point, despite having ditched anything else with a whiff of hairspray and eyeliner by that point. It’s an electric and insanely lively performance, and musically fuck all to do with Glam Metal, fusing instead British Punk sentiment and attitude with good old-fashioned Rock ‘n’ Roll, which is why people still talk about them now (Guns ‘N’ Roses debut album is a straight fusion of Hanoi Rocks and Aerosmith for a start). I didn’t come across them until the fag end of the 80’s when a dear late friend, who loved the band unequivocally educated me with a worn-out VHS copy of their seminal performance at London’s Marquee Club (it’s long since deleted but you can find it on YouTube, and the soundtrack at least is available on the “All Those Wasted Years (Live)”). Whether they would have kept going for much longer is debatable anyway – excess, substance abuse, a bit more excess, back-to-back albums, a little bit more excess, a gruelling touring schedule and divisive egos were already working away at their foundations after a whirlwind four years since their debut album hit the racks and the band relocated to London from Stockholm. The fact that he got away so lightly in the eyes of the law is as much of a crime as the early death of this hugely influential act in the eyes of many. By the time that brief dalliance occurred, Hanoi Rocks were already gone, unable to keep going for long after the death of drummer Razzle at the hands of Mötley Crüe’s Vince Neil driving under the influence. Although I came from the Prog and Rock end of things originally, the more raucous sounds, wild image and excessive lifestyle of the Glam movement caught my ear for a while, although you will be pleased to know I grew out of it quite quickly. Imagine if you will a teenaged version of me starting to get into Hard Rock and Metal music for the first time in the late 1980’s. Hanoi Rocks – Oriental Beat (40th Anniversary)
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