18. Great White Great White 1984 (EMI)
Glam Metal
The white shark consumes the dirty ratt.
The Lowdown
The shark consumed the ratt and ended up with indigestion as far as commercial sales went, might just be a perfect way to describe the fortunes of LA band Great White and their debut album after it flopped on its release. The band had started out many years earlier and were a real live spark on the LA scene, where they known as covers band that covered mostly blues rock and Led Zeppelin tracks. Within this time and like a lot of other fellow west coast metal bands, there was a huge shifting of band members in and out of the band and it was only band leaders vocalist Jack Russell and guitarist Mark Kendall that remained ever present. By the time of their 1983 Don Dokken produced EP
Out of the Night the band had veered their sound into something more radio friendly. They had literally gone from being a bar hard rock outfit (albeit a covers act) to a band that sounded amazingly at times like fellow LA glamsters Ratt, as well as a host of other similar hair metal bands around this time. They had also supported Dokken on that band’s 1983 US Tour and Dokken producer Michael Wagener would soon be on hand to produce their debut album in 1984. The Great White debut might not exactly be a metal classic or even a must listen to album, but what it does have is ten quality tracks over a almost 40 minute period, that the band feel extremely comfortable playing. The album opens with “Out of the Night” and every time I hear this song I still think it’s a Ratt song, but most importantly the song sets the tone for the other nine songs that follow and they all tend to carry the same speed and energetic feel in one way or another. Other tracks of note include the voluminous “Stick It” probably the best known track on the album and there are wholesome metal chunks like “Bad Boys” “On You Knees” “Streetkiller” and “Nightmares” the last song here, kind of reminds me of the direction that Alice Cooper would take by the end of the 1980s. Of the other tracks “Hold On” is one of those typical 1980s type sounding singles that normally went down a storm on MTV especially with an accompanying video, strangely enough though it wasn’t even a single from the album. The album also includes a cover of The Who song “Substitute” it’s a tricky cover but the band get it right by largely taking the Quiet Riot approach to the song. “No Better Than Hell” is worth a mention, as it’s the most ambitious track on the album and a left-of-field track especially with its ‘British new romantic’ style blended in with the heaviness of the band and “End of the Line” could easily be a Scorpion’s song. The band might not have anything as addictive sounding as Ratt’s “Round and Round” Dokken’s “Just Got Lucky” or Black N’ Blue’s “Hold on to 18” in their locker, but what they do have over these glam metal rivals (all have been reviewed this year) is greater level of consistency song for song and for that reason alone, Great White have found themselves placed higher on this year’s list, which may be a surprise given the album’s lukewarm reception when it came out in 1984. Given the fact that the album was produced by Michael Wagener (one of the producers to have at the time) it should’ve been destined for some kind of commercial success, instead in turned out to be a major flop, so much so that the band would be dropped by their label EMI and would have to wait for Capitol to pick them up in a few years time, in the meantime and throughout 1984/1985 the band toured as support to the likes of Whitesnake and Judas Priest. Overall the Great White debut is going to appeal to anybody into what I call ‘sure bet’ glam metal material and it probably sits somewhere in between Ratt’s
Out of the Cellar and Dokken’s
Tooth and Nail in terms of sound and style.
Jack Russell- Vocals
Mark Kendall- Guitar
Lorne Black- Bass
Gary Holland- Drums
Production- Michael Wagener