Violation (album)

{{More citations needed|date=April 2024}}

{{Infobox album

| name = Violation

| type = studio

| artist = Starz

| cover = Starz-violation.jpg

| alt =

| released = 1977

| recorded = 1977

| studio = Record Plant and A&R Recording, New York City

| genre = Heavy metal

| length = 36:00

| label = Capitol

| producer = Jack Douglas

| prev_title = Starz

| prev_year = 1976

| next_title = Attention Shoppers!

| next_year = 1978

}}

Violation is the second studio album by the American band Starz, released in 1977.{{cite news |last1=Lanham |first1=Tom |title=Starz: Band that should have made it makes comeback |work=Oakland Tribune |date=16 Dec 2005 |location=Music |page=1}}

The single "Cherry Baby" peaked at number 33 on the Billboard Hot 100 in May of 1977.https://www.billboard.com/charts/hot-100/1977-05-07/ It was the band's highest-charting single.

Critical reception

{{Music ratings

| rev1 = AllMusic

| rev1score = {{Rating|3|5}}{{cite web | url = http://www.allmusic.com/album/violation-mw0000263360 | title = Starz Violation review | accessdate = 2013-02-23 | last = Henderson | first = Alex | work = AllMusic | publisher = Rovi Corporation}}

| rev2 = Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal

| rev2Score = 8/10{{cite book |last1 = Popoff |first1 = Martin |author-link1 = Martin Popoff |title = The Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal: Volume 1: The Seventies |publisher = Collector's Guide Publishing |date = October 2003 |location = Burlington, Ontario, Canada |isbn = 978-1894959025 |pages=253–254}}

| rev3 = Record Mirror

| rev3score = {{Rating|3|5}}{{cite magazine|last=Brown|first=David|url=https://www.worldradiohistory.com/UK/Record-Mirror/70s/77/Record-Mirror-1977-04-30.pdf|title=Albums: Starz – Violation|magazine=Record Mirror|date=30 April 1977|page=22|location=London|publisher=Spotlight Publications Ltd.|access-date=7 December 2023|via=World Radio History|issn=0144-5804|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230623131129/https://worldradiohistory.com/UK/Record-Mirror/70s/77/Record-Mirror-1977-04-30.pdf|archive-date=23 June 2023}}

| rev4 = The New Rolling Stone Album Guide

| rev4score = {{rating|0|5}}{{cite book |title=The New Rolling Stone Record Guide |date=1983 |publisher=Random House |page=487}}

}}

The New Rolling Stone Album Guide gave the album zero stars. Martin Popoff, in The Big Book of Hair Metal: The Illustrated Oral History of Heavy Metal's Debauched Decade, called Violation a "proto-hair metal semi-classic".{{cite book |last1=Popoff |first1=Martin |title=The Big Book of Hair Metal: The Illustrated Oral History of Heavy Metal's Debauched Decade |date=2014 |publisher=Quarto Publishing Group USA |page=24}}

Track listing

{{track listing

| headline = Side one

| all_writing = Starz, except as noted.

| title1 = Cherry Baby

| length1 = 3:47

| title2 = Rock Six Times

| length2 = 3:15

| title3 = Sing It, Shout It

| writer3 = Jon Parrot, Sean Delaney

| length3 = 5:10

| title4 = Violation

| length4 = 4:26

}}

{{Track listing

| headline = Side two

| title5 = Subway Terror

| length5 = 3:45

| title6 = All Night Long

| length6 = 3:26

| title7 = Cool One

| length7 = 3:40

| title8 = S. T. E. A. D. Y.

| length8 = 5:25

| title9 = Is That a Street Light or the Moon?

| length9 = 3:06

}}

{{track listing

| headline = 2005 CD edition bonus tracks

| title10 = Do It With the Lights On

| note10 = demo version

| length10 = 3:34

| title11 = Cool One

| note11 = demo version

| length11 = 3:22

| title12 = Rock This Town

| note12 = demo version

| length12 = 2:47

}}

Personnel

;Starz

  • Michael Lee Smith – vocals
  • Richie Ranno – guitar
  • Brendan Harkin – guitar
  • Pieter "Pete" Sweval – bass
  • Joe X. Dube – drums

;Production

  • Jack Douglas – producer
  • Jay Messina – engineer
  • Sam Ginsberg, Dave Martone – assistant engineers

References