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L.A. GUNS
HIGH Four years
after Axl Rose split from the band to form Guns n' Roses, the 1989
power wailer "The Ballad of Jayne" hit Number Thirty-three on the
Hot 100.
LOW Their 2005 album,
Tales From the Strip, doesn't feature the band's founder Tracii
Guns — or any other member of the original group.
OUTRAGEOUS
MOMENTOriginal vocalist Paul Black got arrested
along with G n' R's Izzy Stradlin for copping heroin, nearly
costing both groups their record deals.
CURRENTLY Two L.A.
Guns are on the road: one led by original guitarist Guns and the
other by singer Phil Lewis.
LISTEN
Cocked and Loaded
[Photo: Getty]
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BANG TANGO
HIGH 1989's
funk-infused Psycho Café received widespread acclaim, and
"Someone Like You" was an MTV staple, though it never touched the
Hot 100.
LOW Singer Joe
LeSté joined an AC/DC cover band to supplement his income a
few years ago.
OUTRAGEOUS MOMENT
Girls used to pass out on the bus and wake up in strange cities.
What happened to them? "They got Bang Tangoed!" according to
LeSté.
CURRENTLY Playing
club and bar dates, including a gig at the King King in Hollywood
on December 20th — ten days after the venue holds an
ugly-sweater contest.
LISTEN:
"Someone Like You"
[Photo: Perrin/Retna]
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RATT
HIGH Their 1984 debut
single, "Round and Round," reached Number Twelve on the Hot 100,
and they were soon packing arenas.
LOW Founding
guitarist Robbin Crosby died of a heroin overdose in 2002. The
autopsy listed his weight at over 400 pounds.
OUTRAGEOUS MOMENT
Singer Stephen Pearcy claims to have had sex with a woman who
booked shows at an infamous Sunset Strip club in exchange for
gigs.
CURRENTLY Earlier
this year, Pearcy reunited with the surviving members of the band
for their first tour since 1999. They spent the summer playing
amphitheaters with Poison.
LISTEN
Out of the Cellar
[Photo: Dorland/Retna]
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WARRANT
HIGH Their 1989 power
ballad "Heaven" spent two weeks at Number Two on the Billboard Hot
100 chart. The next year they wrote their signature song, "Cherry
Pie."
LOW In 1992, they
walked into their label's office and saw their poster had been
replaced by one of Alice in Chains.
OUTRAGEOUS MOMENT
Lead singer Jani Lane's 2006 confession to VH1: "I hate that song.
My legacy is 'Cherry Pie.' . . . I could shoot myself in the
fucking head for writing that song."
CURRENTLY Lane quit
the band in 2004. But it soldiered on without him. He was recently
on VH1's Celebrity Fit Club.
LISTEN
Dirty Rotten Filthy Stinking Rich and
Cherry Pie
[Photo: Sullivan/Retna]
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BRITNY FOX
HIGH They won Metal
Edge's Best New Band award in 1988. The next year their
Lolita-laden "Girlschool" video became an MTV favorite.
LOW The band is down
to one original member for the '07 tour, bassist Billy
Childs.
OUTRAGEOUS MOMENT In
1991, while cutting their third album, Bite Down Hard, they did
lines of coke off the piano Elton John used on 1974's
Caribou.
CURRENTLY In a
December 4th MySpace posting, the band claims that it just parted
ways with its "out-of-control ex-manager" for "spreading all kinds
of bullshit." It is now trying to book dates for a 2008 club
tour.
LISTEN
Britny Fox
[Photo: Tisman/Retna]
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SKID ROW
HIGH Their 1991 album
Slave to the Grind become the first metal album to debut at Number
One on the Billboard chart.
LOW 2006's
Revolutions Per Minute, the group's second album without original
lead singer Sebastian Bach, failed to crack the Billboard Top
200.
OUTRAGEOUS MOMENT In
1989, Bach publicly wore a T?shirt that said aids kills fags dead.
He would later apologize, saying, "I didn't realize it would offend
anybody."
CURRENTLY Bach left
the band in 1996. Original members Dave Sabo, Rachel Bolan and
Scotti Hill now tour with singer Johnny Solinger.
LISTEN
Slave to the Grind
[Photo: Summers/Retna]
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Other Hairband Must-Haves
Bulletboys Bulletboys (1988)
Enuff Z'Nuff Enuff Z'Nuff (1989)
Faster Pussycat Faster Pussycat (1987)
Motley Crue Shout at the Devil (1983)
Quiet Riot Metal Health (1983)
Slaughter Stick It to Ya (1990)
Twisted Sister Stay Hungry (1984)