Skid Row (Skid Row album)

Skid Row was formed in 1986, in Toms River, New Jersey, when guitarist Dave Sabo met bassist Rachel Bolan in a local guitar store where Sabo worked. As they shared similar musical influences, they began rehearsing in Bolan's parents' garage. Guitarist Scotti Hill came from Bolan's previous club band, and Sabo's acquaintance, upstate New Yorker, Rob Affuso, played drums in a Rush tribute band.{{cite magazine|last=Wild|first=David|title=Skid Row: Pretty Bad Boys|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/features/pretty-bad-boys-19910919?page=3|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160807193408/http://www.rollingstone.com/music/features/pretty-bad-boys-19910919?page=3|url-status=dead|archive-date=August 7, 2016|magazine=Rolling Stone|date=September 19, 1991|access-date=June 5, 2016}} Once the band was formed, Skid Row started gigging in nightclubs throughout the Eastern United States and quickly built a small following.{{cite book|last=Hur|first=Michael|title=Shadows of the Music Industry|date=2014|publisher=Lulu.com|isbn=978-1-31230-605-9|page=172}} Sabo was a childhood friend of Jon Bon Jovi and they had agreed if one of them succeeded in the music business, to help the other out. Skid Row caught the attention of Bon Jovi's manager Doc McGhee while opening for Bon Jovi on their 1987 Slippery When Wet Tour. McGhee suggested the band replace original singer Matt Fallon because he lacked the rest of the group's drive.{{cite web|last=Ling|first=Dave|title=How Skid Row and Sebastian Bach Went To War|url=http://teamrock.com/feature/2003-12-10/skid-row-it-didn-t-matter-what-we-did-it-wasn-t-our-time-anymore|work=Classic Rock|date=December 10, 2003|access-date=June 5, 2016}}{{cite book|last=Metzer|first=Greg|title=Rock Band Name Origins|date=2008|publisher=McFarland & Company|isbn=978-0-7864-3818-1|page=172}}

Sebastian Bach was introduced to Skid Row by the parents of Jon Bon Jovi, who saw Bach sing at rock photographer Mark Weiss' wedding. After completing the lineup, the group signed with Richie Sambora's and Bon Jovi's publishing company Underground, unknowingly giving them the lion's share of the group's royalties. Skid Row later restored Sambora's share of the royalties, but Bon Jovi kept his, which caused a rift between Bon Jovi and Bach. After negotiating with Geffen and A&M, Skid Row finally settled with Ahmet Ertegun and Atlantic in 1988. The band used the Royal Recorders studio in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin with producer Michael Wagener to record its debut album. The unpretentious studio was in the back end of a hotel, where the band stayed. Skid Row worked according to a schedule made by Wagener and stayed "dry" while recording.{{cite web|last=Derrough|first=Leslie Michele|title=Interview with Dave 'Snake' Sabo of Skid Row|url=http://www.glidemagazine.com/122089/dave-snake-sabo-skid-row-interview/|work=Glide Magazine|date=August 4, 2014|access-date=June 8, 2016}} The sessions went smoothly as the band had been playing and performing the songs for the past year.{{cite journal|last=Black|first=Lee|title=Born to Be Wild|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=msdh3F68Q44C&q=skid+row+band&pg=PA46|journal=Spin|date=December 1989|pages=45–47|access-date=June 6, 2016}} The label initially pressed 150,000 copies of the album and booked the band an opening slot on Bon Jovi's 1988–1989 New Jersey Syndicate Tour.

{{music ratings

|rev1=AllMusic

|rev1score={{Rating|4|5}}{{cite web|first=Steve|last=Huey|title=Skid Row – Skid Row|url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/skid-row-mw0000198647|website=AllMusic|access-date=June 20, 2011}}

|rev2=Christgau's Record Guide

|rev2score=C+{{cite book|last=Christgau|first=Robert|author-link=Robert Christgau|year=1990|title=Christgau's Record Guide: The '80s|page=[https://archive.org/details/christgausrecord00chri/page/372 372]|publisher=Pantheon Books|isbn=0-6797-3015-X|url=https://archive.org/details/christgausrecord00chri/page/372|access-date=June 9, 2018|url-access=registration}}

|rev3 =Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal

|rev3Score = 7/10{{cite book | last1 = Popoff | first1 = Martin | author-link1 = Martin Popoff | title = The Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal: Volume 2: The Eighties | publisher = Collector's Guide Publishing | date = November 1, 2005 | location = Burlington, Ontario, Canada | isbn = 978-1-894959-31-5 | page=326}}

|rev4=The Encyclopedia of Popular Music

|rev4score={{Rating|2|5}}{{cite book|last=Larkin|first=Colin|author-link=Colin Larkin (writer)|year=2007|title=The Encyclopedia of Popular Music|publisher=Omnibus Press|isbn=978-0-85712-595-8|edition=5th}}

|rev5 = Kerrang!

|rev5Score = {{Rating|4.5|5}}{{cite magazine |title=Slippery Customers |magazine=Kerrang! |date=January 28, 1989 |last=Wilding|first=Phil |issue=223 |page=16 |issn=0262-6624 }}

|rev6 =Los Angeles Times

|rev6Score = {{Rating|1.5|4}}{{cite web|last=Garza|first=Aniss|date=May 14, 1989|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1989-05-14-me-293-story.html|title=Pop Stars|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|access-date=June 8, 2016}}

|rev7=Q

|rev7score={{Rating|3|5}}{{cite web|url=http://www.cduniverse.com/productinfo.asp?pid=1097084&style=music|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130129225750/http://www.cduniverse.com/productinfo.asp?pid=1097084&style=music|url-status=dead|archive-date=January 29, 2013|title=Skid Row CD Album|publisher=CD Universe|access-date=February 19, 2013}}

|rev8 = Rock Hard

|rev8score = 7.0/10{{cite magazine|last=Schäfer|first=Wolfgang|title=Review Album: Skid Row- Skid Row|url=https://www.rockhard.de/megazine/reviewarchiv/review-anzeigen.html?tx_rxsearch_pi1%5Breview%5D=6289|issue=31|year = 1989| magazine = Rock Hard |access-date=July 20, 2018 | language=de}}

|rev9 = The Rolling Stone Album Guide

|rev9score = {{rating|2.5|5}}{{cite book |title=The Rolling Stone Album Guide |date=1992 |publisher=Random House |page=644}}

|rev10=Sputnikmusic

|rev10score={{Rating|4|5}}{{cite web|first=Dave|last=Donnelly|title=Skid Row – Skid Row|url=https://www.sputnikmusic.com/review/4808/Skid-Row-Skid-Row/|website=Sputnikmusic|date=January 16, 2006|access-date=June 20, 2011}}

}}

Upon its release in January 1989, Skid Row did not immediately connect with listeners and received mixed reviews from the music press. With the success of the "I Remember You" single which cracked the Billboard Top 10 in the autumn of 1989, the album took off and eventually sold over 5 million copies, establishing the band as one of the top metal acts of the late 80s. Phil Wilding of Kerrang! found the album quite formulaic, but wrote that the praises for Skid Row expressed by Bon Jovi band members and the range of diversity in their music were "a big hint that they could be something very special in the future." Q magazine described the album as a fusion of rock riffs and commercial hooks, and proclaimed it a notable debut. Spin's Erik Davis said Skid Row was slightly different from contemporary albums by Warrant and Great White because it contained less "fake-gutter narratives of sluts and bad boys", and instead leaned more towards Bon Jovi's earnest anthems.{{cite magazine|last=Davis|first=Erik| author-link=Erik Davis| title=Skid Row – Skid Row|magazine=Spin|date=July 1989|volume=5|issue=4|page=114|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=D2y5iVad5loC&q=skid+row+spin&pg=PA114|access-date=June 6, 2016}} Aniss Garza was more critical in the Los Angeles Times, finding the record "highly unoriginal" and lacking any lyrical substance or musical ingenuity. Robert Christgau in his negative review remarked how the band attempted some social commentary and was not "offensively sexist" if only by heavy metal standards, jokingly saying that the disreputable women in the songs were at least "characters rather than objects". Rock Hard reviewer wrote that this album is an example of how "independence and originality are by no means as in demand" in the US music world as the following of the "success schemes" established by bands like Guns N' Roses, with only a couple of good songs saving it from "sad mediocrity".

Modern reviews are generally more positive. Canadian journalist Martin Popoff described the album as a "basic well-executed corporate metal feast" and praised Bach's performance for carrying the record and "raising the average to something worth reckoning." He thought Skid Row represented a "grittier, more street version of hair metal", unlike its California-based peers.{{cite book|last=Popoff|first=Martin|author-link=Martin Popoff|title=The Big Book of Hair Metal: The Illustrated Oral History of Heavy Metal's Debauched Decade|date=2014|publisher=Voyageur Press|isbn=978-0-7603-4546-7|page=162}} AllMusic's Steve Huey classified the album as "typical pop-metal fluff" of the late 1980s, but praised it for the consistent songwriting and said Bach's vocals gave the songs the much-needed nasty attitude. Sputnikmusic's Dave Donnelly considered Skid Row one of the more talented bands of the glam era because of its charismatic frontman, and described the group's debut as mainly a "party album" best remembered for its ballads. The critical and commercial success of Skid Row made the band a regular feature in rock magazines such as Hit Parader, Circus, and Metal Edge in the late 1980s and early 1990s.{{cite book|last=Klosterman|first=Chuck|author-link=Chuck Klosterman|title=Fargo Rock City: A Heavy Metal Odyssey in Rural North Dakota|date=2007|publisher=Simon & Schuster|isbn=978-0-7432-0227-5|page=103}}

In 2022, Loudwire placed the album at No. 4 on their list of the Top 30 Hair Metal Albums, saying Skid Row "were decidedly more edgy [than other hair metal bands of the decade], focusing more on razor sharp riffs than razor-slashed stage wear".{{Cite web |last=DiVita |first=Joe|date=2022-10-24 |title=Top 30 Hair Metal Albums |url=https://loudwire.com/top-hair-metal-albums/ |access-date=2024-11-11 |website=Loudwire |language=en}}

The 17-month worldwide tour included an appearance at Moscow Music Peace Festival in August 1989 to a crowd of 70,000. The event was organized by McGhee as a penance for drug smuggling and featured artists managed by him or his brother. Skid Row made its UK debut at the Milton Keynes Bowl supporting Bon Jovi, and headlined London's Hammersmith Odeon two months later.{{cite journal|last=Bon Jovi|first=Jon|title=Let Freed|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EFy_OzhWq-EC&q=skid+row+moscow+bon+jovi&pg=PA115|journal=Spin|page=56|date=November 1989|access-date=June 9, 2016}} After finishing the tour in support of Bon Jovi's New Jersey album, Skid Row opened on Aerosmith's Pump Tour, which launched in October 1989 and lasted a year. At the concert in Springfield, Massachusetts in December, a fan threw a bottle onstage during Skid Row's set. Upset, Bach threw the bottle back into the crowd and hit a 17-year-old female fan in the face. The incident was filmed by a fan and Bach was arrested after the show. He was set free on $10,000 bail and received three years of probation.{{cite web|last=Catlin|first=Roger|title=Bach: Put A Cork On Bottle Incident|url=https://www.courant.com/1999/12/02/bach-put-a-cork-on-bottle-incident/|work=Hartford Courant|date=December 2, 1999|access-date=June 8, 2016}} At another show in 1990, Bach wore a T-shirt with the anti-gay slogan "AIDS Kills Fags Dead". Bach said he put the T-shirt on after a fan threw it onstage, but later regretted the incident, saying he does not support homophobia.{{cite web|last=Goldstein|first=Patrick|title=Skid Row's Sebastian Bach Embroiled in AIDS Row|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-01-21-ca-727-story.html|work=Los Angeles Times|date=January 21, 1990|access-date=June 8, 2016}} Thanks to heavy touring and the band's exposure on MTV, Skid Row quickly went platinum and remained a Billboard top 10 album three months after its release. The album spawned three singles: "Youth Gone Wild", "18 and Life", and "I Remember You", of which the last two charted in the top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100.{{cite magazine|title=Skid Row – Chart History|url=http://www.billboard.com/artist/1493244/skid-row/chart?f=305|magazine=Billboard|access-date=June 4, 2016}} "Piece of Me" was released as a promo single and also featured a music video.

{{Track listing

| all_writing = Dave Sabo and Rachel Bolan, except where noted.

| title1 = Big Guns

| writer1 = {{hlist|Sabo|Bolan|Scotti Hill|Rob Affuso}}

| length1 = 3:36

| title2 = Sweet Little Sister

| length2 = 3:10

| title3 = Can't Stand the Heartache

| writer3 = Bolan

| length3 = 3:24

| title4 = Piece of Me

| writer4 = Bolan

| length4 = 2:48

| title5 = 18 and Life

| length5 = 3:50

| title6 = Rattlesnake Shake

| length6 = 3:07

| title7 = Youth Gone Wild

| length7 = 3:18

| title8 = Here I Am

| length8 = 3:10

| title9 = Makin' a Mess

| writer9 = {{hlist|Sabo|Bolan|Sebastian Bach}}

| length9 = 3:38

| title10 = I Remember You

| length10 = 5:10

| title11 = Midnight / Tornado

| writer11 = {{hlist|Sabo|Matt Fallon}}

| length11 = 4:17

| total_length = 39:28

}}

{{Track listing

| headline = 30th Anniversary Deluxe Edition disc 2

| title12 = Forever

| writer12 = {{hlist|Sabo|Bolan|Hill}}

| length12 = 4:05

| title13 = Makin' a Mess

| note13 = Live at The Marquee, Westminster, CA 4/28/89

| writer13 = {{hlist|Sabo|Bolan|Bach}}

| length13 = 4:11

| title14 = Piece of Me

| note14 = Live at The Marquee, Westminster, CA 4/28/89

| writer14 = Bolan

| length14 = 3:07

| title15 = Big Guns

| note15 = Live at The Marquee, Westminster, CA 4/28/89

| writer15 = {{hlist|Sabo|Bolan|Hill|Affuso}}

| length15 = 4:07

| title16 = 18 and Life

| note16 = Live at The Marquee, Westminster, CA 4/28/89

| length16 = 3:49

| title17 = Sweet Little Sister

| note17 = Live at The Marquee, Westminster, CA 4/28/89

| length17 = 3:55

| title18 = Rattlesnake Shake

| note18 = Live at The Marquee, Westminster, CA 4/28/89

| length18 = 3.43

| title19 = I Remember You

| note19 = Live at The Marquee, Westminster, CA 4/28/89

| length19 = 5.55

| title20 = Here I Am

| note20 = Live at The Marquee, Westminster, CA 4/28/89

| length20 = 5.34

| title21 = Youth Gone Wild

| note21 = Live at The Marquee, Westminster, CA 4/28/89

| length21 = 4.27

| title22 = Cold Gin

| note22 = Live at The Marquee, Westminster, CA 4/28/89

| writer22 = Ace Frehley

| length22 = 4.53

| total_length = 1:27:00

}}

Credits are adapted from the album's liner notes.{{cite book|title=Skid Row liner notes|year=1989|publisher=Atlantic Records}}

• Sebastian Bach – lead vocals
• Dave Sabo – guitar, backing vocals
• Scotti Hill – guitar, backing vocals
• Rachel Bolan – bass, backing vocals
• Rob Affuso – drums, percussion

• Michael Wagener – production, engineering, mixing
• David Kent – additional engineering
• David Michael Kennedy – front cover photography
• Mark Weiss – back cover photography
• Gina Guarini – logo design
• Bob Defrin – art direction
• Jason Flom, Dorothy Sicignano – A&R

{{col-begin}}

{{col-2}}

{{col-2}}

{{col-end}}

{{certification Table Top}}

{{certification Table Entry|region=Australia|type=album|award=Platinum|title=Skid Row|artist=Skid Row|certyear=1990|source=book|id=255}}

{{certification Table Entry|region=Canada|type=album|award=Platinum|number=3|title=Skid Row|artist=Skid Row|relyear=1989|certyear=1990|access-date=July 15, 2022}}

{{certification Table Entry|region=Finland|type=album|award=Gold|salesamount=29,570|title=Skid Row|artist=Skid Row|relyear=1989|certyear=1990|access-date=July 15, 2022}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=Japan|type=album|award=Platinum|title=Skid Row|artist=Skid Row|relyear=1989|certyear=1995|certmonth=8}}

{{certification Table Entry|region=New Zealand|type=album|award=Platinum|title=Skid Row|artist=Skid Row|relyear=1989|id=1990-09-21|source=newchart|access-date=2024-11-20|certyear=1990}}

{{certification Table Entry|region=United Kingdom|type=album|award=Gold|title=Skid Row|artist=Skid Row|relyear=1989|certyear=1990|id=5954-773-2}}

{{certification Table Entry|region=United States|type=album|award=Platinum|number=5|title=Skid Row|artist=Skid Row}}

{{certification Table Bottom|nosales=true}}

{{Reflist}}

• {{Discogs master|type=album|94193|name=Skid Row}}

{{Skid Row}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:Skid Row (American band) albums

Category:1989 debut albums

Category:Atlantic Records albums

Category:Albums produced by Michael Wagener

Category:Glam metal albums