Monthly Archives: February 2020

Classic Songs to Be Discovered, Derivative Works, Influenced, Music, My Stories, Unsung Heroes

Evil Wind

From the “Desolation Angels” album as Paul Rodgers is channelling what Santana should have sounded like at the turn of the decade. The first 4 songs of this album are a knock-out punch combo.

I’ve been gone such a long time,
I never thought I would return,
Now I found myself standing in the rain,
Waiting for your key to turn, yeah, yeah.

You been on the road for so long, it’s not the same when you get home. People have moved on because once you stop being around, you start to disappear. Out of mind and out of sight.

I remember reading a story about Bob Seger and how his kid didn’t recognize him when he returned from the road.

Evil wind, passed me by,
Troubled waters, pay me no mind.

You’ve gone through a difficult situation to return home only to find the situation is even more difficult.

I have crossed the waters
That will keep them miles apart,
Now I know the time has come
To make a brand new start.

Acceptance of the situation and acknowledging it’s time to move on.

By the end of the 70’s, those iconic bands were struggling to replenish their audience. And for the ones that didn’t look music video worthy, well, their career was at a standstill. They had to be in it to make music because they loved writing music. Some of the artists re-invented themselves and became even bigger in the 80’s. Aerosmith is one such band, but Tyler and Perry did have a pretty boy look.

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A to Z of Making It, Classic Songs to Be Discovered, Derivative Works, Influenced, Music, My Stories, Unsung Heroes

Promised Land

What does the promised land mean for you?

That is the question that Chris DeGarmo, Eddie Jackson, Scott Rockenfield, Geoff Tate and Michael Wilton are asking on the overlooked eight-minute title track of their 1994 album after the mega success of “Empire”. It is a dark piece, full of space so the notes resonate in the atmosphere.

Do you see the promised land as success and your name in lights everywhere?

Do you see the promised land as being at home, surrounded by loved ones, doing your duty and having a laugh?

Do you see the promised land as some magical place that fame and success was meant to bring?

Or do you see the promised land as a place of loneliness, disillusionment and disappointment as it is not the utopian paradise you envisaged?

Because even though we all have ambitions to be successful, success also comes with drawbacks.

But what is clear, is that the promised land is something which is special to all of us and for us alone to discover. But it’s hard to quantify, because from birth, we are told that success relates to money and material possessions.

“Look at my house”.

“Check out my car”.

“Like my Rolex watch”.

We are conditioned to believe that we need to show people how we are successful because culture and society is setting the definition. “Making it” to me is not about how many houses and cars and money I have. It’s not something I want to teach my kids to strive and attain for because it’s so easy to get caught up focusing on attaining instead of living and life will just pass on by.

The promised land to me is all about balance. I want a family that I can spend time with, have laughs, watch movies, go to concerts and experience as many memories as I can. I also want to create art with words and music and I want to work and I want to spend as much time travelling as I can. I also want to keep coaching.

I appreciate each day, I love life (including all of its ups and downs) and I know each day is a blank canvas to create something. Sometimes, some things get more attention than others, but in the long run, it all balances out.

There is no unique riff to kick off the song, but a feel, with jarring bass and guitars coming in and out.

Standing neck deep in life,
My ring of brass lay rusting on the floor.
Is this all?
Because it’s not what I expected

“Operation Mindcrime” was released in 1988 and “Empire” was released in 1990. Those two albums saw Queensryche move from a cult following to a global following.

After a decade of slogging it out, they had finally reached a level of fame that was deserved. That ring of brass was given, but a few years later it was rusting on the floor, because it wasn’t what they expected.

And it wasn’t only Queensryche who experienced success like this.

David Coverdale via Whitesnake had seen a decade of hard work lead to mega success in 1987 and again with the “Slip Of The Tongue” follow up. Coverdale then folded the band.

Metallica went from cult thrash metal act to a mainstream metal monolith. This in turn led to them trying to emulate the success and when it didn’t happen, addictions took over.

Motley Crue had seen a decade of drugs and sex pay off in the mega selling “Dr Feelgood” and a global tour that would eventually break the band up and kill their personal relationships.

Bon Jovi was no different, with album and your cycle which led to Jovi putting the band on hold after the “Jersey” tour.

Basically, any act that got a music video on constant rotation on MTV experienced success like this. And then they had to see if the riches they earned gave them what they really wanted.

Somewhere along the way
Friends I once held close fled the fast lane.
I didn’t notice, I just had to make it.
Head down, nose in the grindstone

In the quest to be somebody, as Blackie Lawless said, the people they knew got let down and forgotten. So when they’d return home and expected a victory parade, there was none. No one even cared.

The lyrics of “Stay Hungry” from Twisted Sister come to mind because it is a song about the drive to make it, so when Dee Snider sings, “expect no sympathy, there’s none to be had”. And there isn’t any sympathy. You made the decision to pursue this dream, this quest to be a rock and roll hero and your all friends have moved on because they got left behind.

Life’s been like
Dragging feet through sand,
And never finding,
Promised land.

The promised land isn’t what you thought it would be. Your marriage is crumbling, there is a dispute over assets and your thinking, my life was so much better off when it was less complicated.

But it wasn’t, because there is no safety net in life. And if you want conformity, expect death. And we are getting so much better at re-evaluating our mindsets, finding new ways to set goals and to create our own promised land. Not someone else’s.

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Grit

My Maths teacher, 30 plus years ago, walked up to the black board and wrote 70% and 30% on it.

He then walked away from the blackboard and started talking. We called him the Duffster or Toupee in the playground, but always addressed him as Sir in class.

So he starts telling us that everything in life is 70% perspiration and 30% inspiration. And he spoke about how digging in and persevering is more important than everything else.

And those words stuck with me my whole life. I don’t know from whom he got that quote or those numbers. He never mentioned a source. Maybe it was his own interpretation of something he read like genius is 90% perspiration and 10% inspiration. But what is interesting is how the billion dollar self-development industry is making a lot of money retelling history in an attempt to inspire people to be better versions of themselves. As if people don’t have a natural bias to want to be better versions of themselves.

As we get older, we change and evolve from the versions of our past selves. Even if we’ve hit the dirt and fallen on hard times, we are still better than before. Because we have experienced different things and maybe we never found the promised land that we thought we would find, we still have grown.

I’ve heard about “Grit” and read the book by Angela Duckworth, watched the Ted talks and did the survey.

And all I could think off was these lyrics from “Stay Hungry” by Dee Snider;

If your fire is faded and you can’t feel it no more
If you’re tired and overrated, let me show you to the door
Expect no sympathy, there’s none to be had
Open your eyes and see
There’s no room for the wannabees, the has beens or the bad

It’s the definition of hunger to succeed. There is no helicoptering parents and if you want love there’s the door because that dream your chasing has no room for pretenders.

And to rise higher, everyone has to go beyond what came naturally to them since birth. The more we grow in our skills, the more we have to give.

Because to be high performers you need to develop habits and consistently execute them. Twisted Sister developed the habit to gig relentlessly. And they got better at performing, that they became the live act to see.

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Best Of January 2020 – Part 1

My end of year lists this year will be a simple post as I’m wrapping up each month this time around. And here we start with January.

Saint Asonia – The “Flawed Design” album

No one even knows the personnel in this band and the platinum awards they have had as previous members of “Staind” and “Three Days Grace”. It’s the times we live in. Everyone is unknown, unless you’ve released a sex tape.

So, in case you are not aware, Adam Gontier from Three Days Grace is on vocals and Mike Mushok from Staind is on guitars. And this time around, they have surrounded themselves with some heavy duty guest vocalists.

“Sirens” features Sharon Den Adel from Within Temptation (who have filled the void left behind when Amy Lee decided to put Evanescence on hold) to awesome effect.

Have we been standing on an empire?
When every floor is made of sand

That sinking feeling when you know that everything you owned or thought you had sinks and disappears. Because history always carries a lesson of empires falling and new opportunities arising, of people losing everything and finding hope to rise again.

“Beast” and “The Fallen” are all great songs along with “The Hunted” which features Sully Erna on vocals.

I’m fighting with this beast inside
Will it ever die? Will it ever leave me alone?
Leave me alone

That inner fire, the voice which whispers to get back up when you are knocked down, is the same beast that fires rage and hate when the fight or flight trigger is pushed. It never leaves us, its always there.

It’s the way life goes
When we are waken we get taken

From “The Fallen”, about a life who struggles to find clarity and purpose and once they find the answers, it’s too late as their time on this Earth is at an end.

The Hu – Wolf Totem

The version with Jacoby Shaddix of Papa Roach crosses over brilliantly.

The song isn’t original in its riffage, but its original in its sound, with the use of native Mongolian instruments. And if the feel and groove of this song doesn’t get you pumped up for a fight, nothing will.

If the lions want war we go fight em till the battle ends
If the tigers come running we go fight em till the battle ends

And the madness begins.

Smile Empty Soul – Hang Your Head

The main riff of “Hang Your Head” got me re-interested in the band. There was a period the band had me as a fan and then sort of lost me.  But they got me back again.

The dark machine will crush your dreams again

I’m not sure what the song is about, but the lyric sticks with me because the dark machine can be our thoughts, our fears, our devotion to the family and to not disappoint them.

CrashCarBurn – Under A Falling Sky

It’s s a great song.

Suddenly we find ourselves faced with overwhelming odds

What a great lyric to kick off the verse. A snapshot of society and the pressures to survive in this fast paced world.

Undivided enemies, they come to change the way we see things

We cant escape the hive mind, manipulated and controlled by strings we cannot see who try to change and control who we are.

Mustasch – Go To Hell

“Go To Hell” sounds like it’s got elements of “Run Like Hell” from Pink Floyd.

And these moustached dudes from Sweden really take their love of hard rock and classic metal into the modern world with a metal kick up the butt.

And I love this song as they just sit on this groove which makes me want to break my desk in half with abilities I don’t really possess.

Archon Angel – Fallen

Zachary Stevens from Savatage has such a unique singing style and voice, its so easily recognizable for any fan who has owned a Savatage album from “Edge Of Thorns”.

Here along the distant road lie memories as thoughts unfold

We’ve all been there, cruising in our cars, thinking and contemplating and replaying events from the past and dreaming of a future.

Life is full of forceful lies

Do we really tell the truth to each other?

We are left alone to find our way

We might have mentors and parents and others to help us and provide advice, but the journey is lonely and the decisions are ours, and ours alone.

I’ve waited so long but the dream never came

Because utopia never survives reality. Our emotions and needs and wants always divert us from our paths. But then again, no one said the path to achieving dreams is all straight and easy.

The Night Flight Orchestra – Divinlys

I am a sucker for the melodic rock approach of TNFO. It’s another song which sounds like many of their songs that came before, but still pleasurable to listen to with its modern take on an old sound.

And I always love how most of their songs start off with that double time drum beat. I call it the “Strutter” beat.

Free Spirits Rising – I Would Love To Rock The World

Drums, bass and a call to the promoters trying to get a show kicks off the song about a person wanting to rock the world and who wouldn’t want to rock the world.

Sign me up please.

But then all the messages left are unanswered trying to give rock a go. Still, I would like to sign up because by the end of the song, he would do it all again if given a chance.

Sons of Apollo – Desolate July

The album is a disappointment compared to the debut. But that’s okay, the debut had enough there to keep me interested in the band. And the standout track is “Desolate July” as it kicks off with a massive bell ringing, which reminds me of “Hells Bells” and “For Whom The Bells Toll”, but it sounds like neither. Instead it’s a retrospective slower tempo rocker.

And “Desolate July” is about David Z, the bass player for Adrenaline Mob who died tragically when an out of control truck hit their touring van stopped on the side of a road.

Without reason / A dream becomes a tragedy / I’m still not believin’ / Is this reality?

And it’s reality, that someone who is doing what they love, like playing music for a living, loses their life.

Ozzy Osbourne – Ordinary Man

He’s coping flak for writing with Elton John, but he never wrote with Elton John. Elton just sings on a second verse. The song is written by other musicians like Duff, Chad and Andrew Watts. Plus Slash delivers a killer solo, while Duff and Chad Smith deliver a great foundation.

And it sounds like other ballads that Ozzy has done like “So Tired” and “Road To Nowhere” and “Old LA Tonight”. But it still rocks.

The Ragged Saints – Secret In Our Hearts

Another melodic rock gem which is a modern take on an old sound. And I’ve been a fan of this band from Melbourne, Australia, since their 2013 album called “The Sound Of Breaking Free” entered my life via a cyberlocker that specialised in melodic rock titles. Yes I obtained it illegally.

The album, “Sonic Playground Revisited” also came out a few days ago and “Absence Of Light” really stood out, with it’s Rainbow/Malmsteen (Odyssey) era feel along with “Turning Cold” which has this Aussie pop rock sound crossed with Euro melodic rock.

Mark Morton – Ether album

Mark Morton is really showcasing his diversity. He is so much more than just the guitarist in Lamb Of God.

“All I Had To Lose” and “Black” (Pearl Jam cover) feature Mark Morales on vocals, “Love My Enemy” features Howard Jones, “The Fight” features John Carbone on vocals and “She Talks To Angels” features Lzzy Hale. Here is a pretty cool review.

Shakra – Too Much Is Not Enough

The riffing has this Five Finger Death Punch vibe, and it connects and the vocals are melodic.

Apocalyptica – Rise

I felt like crying and I still felt hopeful at the same time.

Jasta, Howard Jones – Heaven Gets What It Wants

Jasta is another artist that is showing his diversity and songwriting chops. Hatebreed is what brought him to the masses, and he wrote and produced most of the songs for Dee Snider’s solo album “For The Love Of Metal” and his solo output is a who’s who of modern metal talents. And on top of that, he has his highly successful podcast.

Avenged Sevenfold – Set Me Free

When this band plays straight ahead metal and rock, I’m in.

And there is a lot of guitar here, which I dig especially when that open string lead break starts about the 4.10 minute mark.

This track also hooks me, because it was recorded for 2013’s “Hail To The King” album, which is my favourite album (their sort of “Black” album) and it’s just behind their self-titled “White” album.

Red – Sever

I really like this band. The moods they create with the music and the vocals just resonate.

Paralyzed the soul that I bared again
I gave more than I could give

We don’t know how much we have given until we are back on our own and doing all the things we stopped doing while we kept a relationship going.

Time won’t stop another setting sun
Facing this pain like a loaded gun

There is one thing certain in life, time always moves forward, never back. And unresolved emotions and memories from the past, will never go away unless they are settled and resolved.

With the turning of this knife
I’ll sever

That’s it Part 1 done, Part 2 coming up.

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The Record Vault – Bon Jovi In The 90s

When I heard that Bon Jovi was back together and recording, I was looking forward to the “Keep The Faith” release.

I enjoyed what JBJ and RS did on their solo albums and of course I enjoyed NJ and SWW and the rest of their 80s output.

The “Keep the Faith” single dropped and although Jon Bon Jovi’s “Jennifer Aniston” hair moment took a lot of the conversation, their was no denying the power of the track. And I purchased the CD single.

The bass riff to kick it off, the piano chords, the U2 Edge Like Guitar in the pre Chorus and of course the massive arena rock Chorus.

Underpinning it all are the melodies and lyrics of trying to keep our heads up even when the world tries to knock you down. For some of the youth of the 80s who had grown up with metal and rock music, we needed a little bit of faith and hope at this time.

Then the album dropped and “Dry County” just got me hooked. The full 10 minutes of it, their opus and a song they never attempted to rewrite again.

Why have multiple 10 minute songs when one is enough?

And it’s also home to their worst song as well in “Bed Of Roses”. Well that was until the next album and “This Ain’t A Love Song” took its place. Jovi does Ballads well, but these ones felt just too orchestrated and lacked authenticity.

Plus it’s the home to some of their grooviest in “Save A Prayer”, a bonus track.

But “Dry County” (along with their earlier albums) is the reason why I still give Bon Jovi a chance, even after their last three current albums.

Then came “Crossroad”, a cash grab “Best Of” because it had a few new songs like the number 1, “Always” and top ten “Someday, Ill Be Saturday Night”.

“These Days” came out and although I wasn’t really enthused with “This Ain’t A Love Song” I was still a first day buyer.

And the first two songs “Hey God” and “Something For The Pain” kick it off nicely, until “This Ain’t A Love Song” ruined the flow.

Hey God, do you ever think about me

“These Days”, “Lie To Me” and “Damned” (which is “Keep The Faith” part 2) follow nicely and “Something To Believe In” and “If That’s What It Takes” are worthy editions but after that, the album becomes repetitive and a bit of a bore. “My Guitar Lies Bleeding In My Arms” has some moments. And I don’t like “Diamond Ring” at all.

For diversity and grown up lyrics, it’s one of Bon Jovi’s best albums. For the singles released, one of the worst A&R choices ever. And it sold more around the world than in the US because the whole world was in those same places that Jovi referenced in the lyrics.

We all needed something for the pain and something to believe in because what we did before wasn’t working anymore like working hard with the view that we will rise to the top.

Then came an expensive solo album in between movies for JBJ, which I enjoyed to listen to, as it captured the British popgeist that Oasis created and album closer “August 7” channeled Neil Young. But it did nothing in the U.S. while it saw success everywhere else.

For the record, the album had five producers, a shitload of engineers, a lot of musicians and Jovi got to write with some different writers this time, like Dave Stewart from the Eurythmics, Eric Bazilian (who wrote “One Of Us” for Joan Osborne) and Mark Hudson who wrote heaps with Aerosmith.

And Jovi realized that his strength and fame is with the Bon Jovi franchise as this became the last solo album he did.

Coming up next is Bon Jovi in the 2000’s.

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Got To Give It Up

This one is written by Gorham and Lynott and I like the way it starts, with a simple strum of a chord and the chorus vocal line. Then when the distorted guitars kick in, how can you not play air guitar.

Tell my mama and tell my pa
That their fine young son didn’t get far
He made it to the end of a bottle
Sitting in a sleazy bar

He’s singing from experience and spinning a story around it.

I’ve got to give it up
I’ve got to give it up
That stuff

He knows he’s got to quit but he cant. The people around him, will not let him, all of those beggars and hanger-ons. So he’s in a vicious cycle of album and tour and hotel rooms, either partying or being lonely and taking drugs and alcohol to cope with the highs of the stage and the lows of loneliness.

James Hetfield is fighting a constant battle with it and no one knows how long that can continue. It’s been 17 plus years from the other public rehab stint that we all saw on “Some Kind Of Monster”.

Will he return for another stint?

I’ve been messing with the heavy stuff
For a time I couldn’t get enough
But I’m waking up and it’s wearing off
Junk don’t take you far

It didn’t take him far. It was only a matter of time before the junk creeped up and took him out, way too early.

And rock and roll history is littered with people overdosing. Nikki Sixx overdosed and came back to life as one of the lucky ones while Robin Crosby got AIDS because of the junk and passed away in the late 90’s, unknown and unrecognisable. Slash recovered.

And speaking of guitarists, how good is that outro lead break.

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Crazy Circles

“Crazy Circles” is from the “Desolation Angels” album from Bad Company. While Led Zeppelin morphed into a band with synths in 1979, Paul Rodgers channelled his own Zep spirits and recreated what Zep might have sounded like if they stayed within their roots.

Life is like
A merry go round
Painted horses
Riding up and down
Music takes you
And you’re gone again
Crazy circles never seem to end

Damn right.

Music takes you on so many emotive rides.

We went to the show to connect. Our memento was the ticket stub and maybe a t-shirt, which once upon a time you could only get on tour.

Now people go to the show, to say they were there and take a selfie with the stage and the crowd in the background and to film it (like they are going to watch it back later). And ticket prices had an inflation rate that we wish our wages had. On top of bands scalping their own tickets.

But we still paid the price, and we still went.

Life is like
A game of chance
Some find riches
And some romance
Some find happiness
And some find sorrow
Some find it today
And some maybe tomorrow

Life in a nutshell.

Each day is a game of chance. Well it’s meant to be.

But maybe, we are too comfortable and in a routine, that we have forgotten to take chances. And we are constantly in a fight between happiness and sadness. Even in a relationship, there are ups and downs. It’s never perfect, nothing ever is, because humans always disappoint each other because of our own made up expectations as to what people should say and do.

If you don’t believe me, think back to arguments you might have had and how many times would you have heard the words, “you should have done this” or “how come you didn’t do this/that”.

In other words, we are flexing our own views and personality onto someone else.

Life is like
A carousel
You aim for heaven
And you wind up in hell
To all the world
You’re living’ like a king
But you’re just a puppet
On a broken string

So true.

How many of us crash and burn trying to be someone we’re not. You only have one life, so enjoy it and live it the way you want and not to show off in front of others what you have, or to spiral into debt to own possessions, which all get thrown away once you die anyway.

I’ve always said that an artist is at their best once they have lived and experienced.

Paul Rodgers at this time was 30 years old and he wrote some of the best lyrics of his career, summing up his life and experiences over the last 15 years.

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Toughest Street In Town

It’s written by Scott Gorham, Lynott and Gary Moore.

Outside the window the neon flashes
In the morning light
Down on the sidewalk there’s a woman with a problem
But she don’t know how to fight
She’s destitute and broken down
She softly whispers, is there no one around
And no one hears the sound
Her knees give way and hit the ground

This is the toughest street in town

Growing up in the 80’s, there was no internet. We lived apart and you knew the people in the street, in the town and maybe some other people in another town. Long distance phone calls were expensive and people sent letters to relatives.

A lot of us felt there was something bigger, more exciting out there, so we wanted out. And then we had peers who were more than happy to sell narcotics or work in the steel mill.

And the streets were tough.

Tough in the sense, that people would bash you just for the sake of bashing you as new immigrants adjusting to life in a new world, with different cultures. But everyone eventually got on, as everyone had jobs and everyone worked hard.

People from all the different religions and races appreciate hard work and commitment to betterment. And it became fun to walk down to the local pub, play pool, listen to AC/DC’s “Back In Black” album on the jukebox, have a few drinks and anything else that came with going out.

Then when the banks and the copper mill started closing, the drug dealers and hookers moved into the main street. Suddenly, you had a seedy side. And the drug dealers brought with them all the addicts from every nearby town, who would urinate and defecate in front of shop doors, pass out in parks, break into houses and just be general troublemakers. And suddenly we had homeless people in the street and suddenly we had homeless people dying.

It’s just another black spot
Where far too many people have died
It’s just another graveyard
And there’s not too many people left alive

Every town developed black spots, but the people of the place cared enough to re-birth it. If it was a steel town once upon a time, it became a coffee artsy town or a tech town or a green town and so forth.

And the toughest street in town became the nicest.

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Rock N Roll Fantasy

I didn’t hear “Desolation Angels” until I purchased it (along with the self-titled debut and “Straight Shooter”)  from a record fair in the 2000’s.

The Paul Rodgers cut “Rock’N’Roll Fantasy” opens the album. Before dropping the needle on the album, I remember reading countless stories in magazines about how Bad Company had been written off by the late seventies.

They had success with their first three albums, released over three years (1974,1975 and 1976). Then “Burnin’ Sky” came out in 1977 and it was competing with the first three albums for sales. They saturated and cannibalised their own market. And the album was ignored (compared to the first three), because for people of the era, the first three albums were still new releases.

But, then in 1979, they came out firing with a modern sound and a catchy song.

I love the music and I love to see the crowd
Dancing in the aisles and singing out loud, yeah

Rock N Roll music became an escape from the daily grind of life. The people attended the shows and the acts lapped it up. And rock and roll grooved, like this song. Because rock artists ruled over manufactured pop music artists, the record labels had no other option but to allow the rock artist to be creative.

And before music television, there was radio and we lived at the record store. A trip there was everything. Going to the concert was an event to let your hair down and connect with the music, whereas these days, people go to say and show they have been.

It’s their biggest single, but it’s never on those classic rock compilations.

If you want to hear dangerous, check out that bad boy sleazy riff from 1.15 to about 1.33. it’s dripping in rock and roll intoxication with its staccato style of playing.

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Desmond Child

If you grew up on hard rock music from the late seventies to the mid 90’s, you need to listen to this podcast on Desmond Child. He’s one of this songwriters behind the biggest hard rock songs.

He formed a band called “Night Child” and changed his name to Desmond Child. He was in the band “Rouge” and Paul Stanley saw em live after seeing the flyer on a telegraph post in NYC. No other connection, just a flyer. After the show, Stanley and Child spoke and agreed to write a song together, which became “I Was Made For Loving You”.

Child turned up to SIR studios. Kiss are rehearsing. The other band members break for lunch and Stanley and Child sit around a grand piano and the shell of the song is written. Then Stanley took it and finished the song with Vini Ponica. In between writing it and before it came out, Child had no other contact with the band until it came out. And when Child heard it, it was better than what he ever expected, which goes to show how a band performance can take a simple demo and make it sound like Kiss.

Like it or not, it’s the most played song from Kiss on Spotify and for me “Dynasty” is one of those albums I had on LP and played to death and really like.

“Heavens On Fire” was the song that hooked Jon Bon Jovi, which Jovi sort of rewrote and called “In And Out Of Love”. Think of the Chorus “In and out of love” and “feel my heat”. Paul Stanley also told Child to write with Jovi and Sambora because Jovi was opening for Kiss and they are good guys. Again, if you grew up in the 80’s there was no escaping these songs.

In between this period, he did an apprenticeship with Bob Crewe (a song writer behind massive 60’s and 70’s hits) for 2 years, sort of like how all the great painters and composers from the past did apprenticeships with the great painters and composers before them. And Crewe told him, you cannot start writing a song, until you have a KILLER title. And then you write the lyrics to the Chorus first. Because that would tell you what the verses would be like. Child and Crewe wrote 38 songs together but nothing came out of them and he got a deal with Epic Records as a solo artist which fizzled out.

But before he started to work with Jovi, Child got a call from Jim Steinman who was working with Bonnie Tyler, and he wrote a song called “If You Were A Woman And I Was A Man”. The song was only a hit in France and Child was pissed that it wasn’t a worldwide hit because he new he had a hook and an awesome riff verse.

Child was still living off the royalties from “I Was Made For Loving You”.

So Child goes to Richie Sambora’s parents house in Jersey to write with Richie and Jon in the damp and musty laundry room.

And Child walked in with a killer title, “You Give Love A Bad Name”. He told the guys the title, and Jon Bon Jovi, delivered that million dollar smile. Jovi was sold on the title and he mentioned to Child how he had a song called “Shot Through The Heart” and the hook was good, so he wanted to reuse it. And like that, Jovi said “Shot through the heart and your to blame” and all three of them said, “You give love a bad name” in unison. The vocal melody is the same as the Bonnie Tyler cut and the verse riff is the same as the Bonnie cut.

That was the only song written that day and another session was organised in NYC where “Livin On A Prayer” was written, along with “Edge Of A Broken Heart” and one more. They also wrote a song called “We All Sleep Alone” which Jovi said was more of a feminine song and it ended up with Cher. Child mentions how Bruce Fairbairn’s production brought the songs to life and he knew they had a good album with good songs, but no one knew how it was going to translate commercially.

But he did mention how everyone from band management, label reps and distributors and MTV were all on board and aligned to push this album.

After, he started getting calls to write songs for other artists, but he couldn’t get a producer gig and he wanted to write songs and produce the song/record. It’s how he got the Alice Cooper “Trash” record. Alice Cooper’s team wanted the songs, Child stuck to his guns and said if you want my songs, you also hire me as a producer and Alice Cooper did and was back in the charts. He started working with Aerosmith because of the one and only John Kalodner. The “Done With Mirrors” album was a commercial dud, and Kalodner wanted an outside writer.

Tyler and Perry played him a guitar loop and Tyler sang the hook, “Cruising for the ladies”. Child told them it was terrible. Then Tyler said, when he was originally singing that hook, it was “Dude Looks Like A Lady” and all cylinders fired for Child, because the title had that sense of irony he was used to from his Bob Crewe days. And Vince Neil is that dude who looked like the lady but that was already old news. “Angel” was the next song written and Child was one of the first outside writers to write with Aerosmith.

But Child still wanted to be the star. He made an album called “Discipline” in 1991 but it did nothing and he felt it was because he wasn’t honest with himself.

Child did a catalogue sale in 1996 to Polygram Publishing, who now “own” the bulk of the songs he wrote from 1996 and before.

For Child, it was hard to find work at this time, as most of the bands he worked with were doing best off records and Child was basically broke. Imagine that, the co-writer of the biggest songs in the last decade was broke.

And then he got an offer to sell his catalogue. So Child sold, the writers and publishers share to Polygram and kept the performance royalty. The money from this sale allowed Child to pay off his debts, build a studio, start the next phase of his career, produce bands and take risks with other songs and to this day he still has money left over from that sale.

There are a lot of stories. And there was a period that if I saw a song on an album with Desmond Child as a co-writer, I would buy it. Because the dude had proved himself, over and over again.

The whole pod cast is 2 hours long. Here is the Spotify link.

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