Hosts: Neil & Chris
Duration: ~51 minutes
Release: 3 June 2024
This week Neil and Chris throw on the leather jacket of their youth and dive into Skid Row's self-titled debut, while also admitting their backs now hurt from gardening more than from the mosh pit. What started as a 15-year-old's lifeline of attitude and escape has become a middle-aged joy machine, blasting out of headphones while hamstrings complain and partners smirk at the irony of blasting “Youth Gone Wild” in your late forties.
Across the episode they trace how this record hit them as teenagers with no real safety net, then how it feels to come back decades later as parents, professionals and neurodivergent creatives trying to keep that spark alive. It is equal parts love letter and reality check, celebrating Sebastian Bach's high-wire vocals, Dave “The Snake” Sabo's endless pick squeals and dive bombs, and the sense that everything on this album is pushed to eleven just because it could be.
The heart of the episode is a run of clips and breakdowns from key songs like “Youth Gone Wild”, “18 and Life”, “I Remember You”, “Midnight/Tornado” and “Can't Stand the Heartache”. Neil and Chris pick apart why the opening pick squeal still makes them grin, how the triplet groove in “18 and Life” grabs you, and why Bach's voice soaring over the solos turns simple hooks into anthems. They also contrast Skid Row's slightly harder edge with the glossier Bon Jovi records of the same era, talking about where this album lands between hair metal shimmer and real street grit.
On the production side they dig into Michael Wagener's role as the quiet architect behind so many eighties metal records, from Dokken and White Lion to Master of Puppets and No More Tears. There is plenty of gear talk too, from modified Marshalls, Tube Screamers and MXR EQs to Floyd Rose trems and ovation acoustics, all wrapped around that huge drum sound tracked in a convention centre so the kit could breathe like an arena show.
Skid Row's debut sits at the tail end of hair metal's golden run, one of the last big records before grunge rewired heavy music tastes. For Neil and Chris it captures a moment when everything in rock was oversized, from the drum reverb to the hair, yet underneath the poses were real songs about violence, consequences and growing up too fast. Hearing it again as adults throws the lyrics, the naivety and the excess into sharp relief, making the joy feel even more hard won.
This episode is less a museum tour and more a chance to feel that adolescent rush again while acknowledging the bruises picked up along the way. If you have ever shouted along to these choruses in a bedroom, on a bus or in a car, you will find something in the mix of squeals, stories and smart production chat that reminds you why this album still hits.
Perfect for: Anyone who grew up on late eighties hair metal, listeners who secretly miss dive bombs and finger tapping, and curious rock fans who want to understand why Skid Row's debut might just be the last great blast before grunge kicked down the door.