Unknown Soldier

Overview
When most bands either make their critical or commercial breakthrough it normally happens on one of their studio albums and in some cases it takes a live album, but in the case of Finland’s Hanoi Rocks it happened to be on one of those ‘bits and bobs’ or ‘odds and ends’ albums. Therefore Self Destruction Blues was basically a compilation album of material made up from singles and b-sides etc that had been recorded by the band throughout 1980 and 1981, and strangely enough this material ended up being far superior than what had appeared on the band’s first two albums. Hanoi Rocks were without doubt one of the earliest examples from the glam metal genre and along with Motley Crue, Twisted Sister and the lesser known Girl from the UK, they were vital for the glam metal explosion that was about to happen. They were also one of those Scandinavian heavy metal/hard rock bands they were around before that whole scene took-off there several years later and due to local limitations quickly based themselves in London in the early 1980s and everything about Hanoi Rocks (btw a friggin cool name) smacked of glam rock down to the tiniest detail. The aesthetic of the band rivalled that of Motley Crue and in vocalist Michael Monroe they had their very own David Johansen and in Andy McCoy their very own Johnny Thunders or Keith Richards glam style of course. Added to this were the superbly named other guitarist Nasty Suicide and bassist and drummer Sam Yaffa and Gyp Casino (btw none of these were their real names of course) Like any glam inspired band they namechecked all the usual suspects, which included the New York Dolls, Kiss, Alice Cooper, Aerosmith and the British glam rock bands of the 1970s as well the Rolling Stones. But whereas Motley Crue were looking to follow the Van Halen line in the sleaziest way possible, Twisted Sister a heavy pounding metal sound in the most gharish way possible, Hanoi Rocks were far more indebted to the UK punk/art rock scene of the late 1970s and bands like The Clash, the Damned and Japan etc were as just as important to them as the previously mentioned usual suspects. The band’s first two albums included the decent and greatly named Bangkok Shocks, Saigan Shakes, Hanoi Rocks 1981 and the much weaker and disappointing second album Oriental Beat 1982, but in terms of quality Self Destruction Blues trumps either of those two albums imo. The album was written by Andy McCoy and produced by both Michael Monroe and Andy McCoy who had called themselves ‘The Muddy Twins’ taking their cue of course from the Stones and their ‘The Glimmer Twins’ Jagger/Richards, as Aerosmith had done many years earlier with the ‘The Toxic Twins’ Tyler/Perry.

Album
Self Destruction Blues sits largely as a stand alone album in this year’s listings, for the simple reason that it owes so much to punk more so than it does to hard rock let alone heavy metal, but it makes the list given its importance and feel for the soon to explode glam metal scene just around the corner in the USA. The album has so much energy and bite, and feels like a great starter ordered in a restaurant before moving onto the main course. This sonic bite is there from the moment the starter is delivered and starts with the raucous “Love’s an Injection” a song that will either gets you hooked or not tastewise when it comes to the rest of the album. On “I Want You” Michael Monroe sings ‘Oh, hold on, we’re gonna make this a big one’ and the song quickly comes off as a great take on any number of Rolling Stones’ tracks and shows the band’s ambition and the knowledge that their timing was right for a commercial breakthrough. The highlights of the album might be the slick “Kill City” a song which perfectly captures the band’s glam rock style with a Rolling Stones cum Blondie style ambience. Then there is the melodic “Whispers in the Dark” a classic sounding pop piece stiffened up by some heavy sounding guitar work. But there are some tracks like “Café Avenue” which are distinctly punk in their arrangements, instead of being more hybrid issues like some of the other tracks. Like any compilation album, not everything works on the album and the title track “Self Destruction Blues” with its heavy blues feels distinctly out of place on the album. Also “Desperados” which in places covers difficult Clash territory and doesn’t always work. On most of the songs Michael Monroe vocally come across as a great mix between Mick Jagger and David Johansen, and he also has the added feature of playing the sax as well! Also on the stone cold “Taxi Driver” he sounds like those two along with touches of Iggy Pop and Alice Cooper, showing that despite having a limited range that he can cover the whole spectrum. The strength of Hanoi Rocks is in the fact that they are able to meld their multitude of influences into their own sound and the whole thing comes across like a trashy back alley romp, as let’s face it there aren’t too many bands out there that can sound like the Rolling Stones, David Bowie and Blondie all the same time, whilst having mascara running down their faces! Overall Self Destruction Blues is dressed and dolled up to the nines, and sounds like one of those great albums that should be listened to before going out on a Saturday night out whether it be the 80s, 90’s, 00’s………… I’m sure you get the idea.
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Michael Monroe- Vocals/Sax
Andy McCoy- Guitar
Nasty Suicide- Guitar
Sam Yaffa- Bass
Gyp Casino- Drums

Production- The Muddy Twins

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