56. Skid Row - "The Gang's All Here"

Curveball number three. You remember Skid Row? 18 & Life? Sebastian Bach, a blonde bombshell of a walking cheekbone? The last hair metal band to make it big before Grunge swept all the scum off the street? As the last in, they were the ones that took the brunt of the impact when the walls tumbled around Glam Metal’s seemingly impenetrable fortress. Within mere years they went from arena botherers to a band that could not fill a club. Then followed a further two and half decades of terminal decline, line-up hi-jinks, lead singer merry-go-rounds, and a plethora of awful albums. They seemed to only exist so that we could scream along to ‘Youth Gone Wild’ every now and again.

This is one hell of a rebirth. They have brought in former HEAT vocalist (and winner of Sweden’s answer to Pop Idol) Erik Grönwall on vocals and have got serious about making a decent album. “The Gang’s All Here” is simply revelational. It is like the last thirty-three years never happened and someone left the tape running at the end of the sessions to record their astounding self-titled debut. It shares that same DNA that made their first record such a monumental piece of vinyl. It balances slick production values with a sense of danger and unpredictability. It is unashamedly commercial but that does not mean it underplays the grit and grime. 

It also realises that you may be the prettiest kids on the block, but it doesn’t mean a dime if you don’t have the songs. For four decades they have traded on twenty-two pieces of genius that they crafted in their collective early twenties. Inexplicably it is only now that they seem to have found the ability to mould songs that live up to their legacy. A complete and utter Curveball. Who knew Skid Row still had it in them?