Speaker 1: Hey, friends, this is Jay from the Okie Book Cast
and you're listening to the Surely You Can't Be Serious
Podcasts with my fellow okies Jason and d Hello everybody,
and welcome back to the Surely you Can't Be Serious
podcast where it is the middle of the night on
the open road and the heater don't work and it's
oh so cold. But don't go getting tired because you're
looking kind of beat. The music that we're talking is
gonna knock you off your feet.
Speaker 2: That is good.
Speaker 1: We are here today to talk about one the only
great White.
Speaker 2: That's right, car Caradon Carkarrius, otherwise known as Great Whites.
Speaker 1: Great White. Now it will be interesting to talk about
how they got their name, how it wasn't even really
related to a shark at all. But we are comparing
this album Twice Shy, which is their fourth total album,
with an album from the cult called Sonic Temple.
Speaker 2: These are both big albums from the summer of nineteen
eighty nine. I mean, we're kind of riding the crest
of hair metal. It's about to crash and burn yep.
But these are some of the last big remnants. Although
a lot of people would say the Cult that was
never hair metal.
Speaker 1: I would say the same thing about Great White. I
think that Great White got lumped in with the hair metal.
But they I mean, in listening to their music, they're
really more blues. They're like English rock blues than they
are hair metal. It was just they're in that same
time and they're you know, they've got black leather pants on, right,
But I mean, who wasn't wearing black leather pants in nineteen.
Speaker 2: Eighty nine, No doubt right.
Speaker 1: I would put these guys more in a category with
like Tesla and Black Crows, Cinderella Cinder for sure, yeah,
not Poison Motley Crup. Now, this is a really great
pair of eppisodes for me because I told you, whenever
you suggested that we do these two albums, I'm like,
I've never heard the Cult before it went by me.
I never heard a song, didn't wasn't familiar with them,
wasn't familiar with their music at all. And it's not
much more for Great White. I mean, I knew who
Great White was because once Bitten Twice Shy was all
over the radio and all over MTV all of the time, right,
And I had this great experience as a new Guitar
player where I came across a video that Great White
had done like a very early MTV Unplugged show, and
they did this cover of the Led Zeppelin song Babe
I'm Gonna Leave You.
Speaker 2: That is a fantastic performance in one of the very
first MTV Unplugged TV shows. Yeah, I've got a great
story on that. Let's hold that for a minute.
Speaker 1: Okay, Yeah, fantastic. All right, guys, we for this episode,
we have had a Patreon blast. Thank you everyone, five
executive producers for this album. Excuse me for this album episode, Jason,
who are our executive producers?
Speaker 2: All right? So Carrie Ahearn, who has been a Patreon
re member before, she's back with us.
Speaker 1: Welcome back.
Speaker 2: I love Carrie.
Speaker 1: Welcome back.
Speaker 2: So she's done it. Chris and Jeanie Alexander, they're back.
Speaker 1: Welcome back. Chris and Jeanie. Genie helped us out.
Speaker 2: Hoped she did depeche Mode with us.
Speaker 1: Oh I was silent an episode. Yeah, check that one out. Okay.
Speaker 2: Then we've got Dirk Smith who's a new patreonmember.
Speaker 1: He's reached out to us on email, Dirk giving us
some great intel on some stuff. I love it. Thank
you for joining, Dirk. We're super happy to have your board.
Speaker 2: That's it. Thanks Dirk. And then Eugene Ussel. I'm not
sure I'm saying his last name right, but Eugene has
been jumped in on Patreon. He's been great for us.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much. Love to have you as part
of the Patreon family. Eugene.
Speaker 2: And then Chris Connell.
Speaker 1: Yes, that one threw me a second. I was like,
did Chris Cornell just join He's not alive? No, Chris Connell. Yes,
Chris Connell joined us. Chris, Welcome to the Patreon family.
We are so happy to have you guys. These are
our executive producers. If you're interested in becoming an executive
producer one of our episodes, go to our Patreon page,
Patreon dot com slash Shirly Podcast.
Speaker 2: Thank you, Carrie, Chris, Jeanie, Eugene, and Chris.
Speaker 1: Let's get into the album, get into these songs and
find out what these guys are all about. Awesome.
Speaker 2: Okay, before we do, I've got just a couple of
little background details for you on the album. Okay, So
this was their fourth album, like you said, This was
released April twelfth of nineteen eighty nine. Of course, the
lead singles once Bitten, Twice Shy. We're going to talk
about that, and that owned that summer for me. It
was just on the radio every fifth song. It went
two times platinum. And the cover. I want to talk
about the cover of this album for a second. Here's
the cover and I showed this to you a minute ago.
Speaker 1: You've got two bottom halves of ladies that are artfully
wrapped in the most appropriate places with some red ribbon
or satin sheets if you will.
Speaker 2: Red satin sheets. You've got a giant white dorsal fin
going right through the middle of this bed.
Speaker 1: Yesday.
Speaker 2: Notice they've got these little anklets that you get at Destined,
you know, on the beach, made of shark teeth, right,
which is really cool.
Speaker 1: Side note, there have been like two major shark attacks
within the last week. There have been at the beach
that I'm about to go to vacation on. Yeah, it's
a little concerning, but fortunately no deaths, but some really
serious injuries. That's right. Okay, So I'm sorry you're at
the album. Yes, the shark swimming through red satin sheets somehow,
all right, do you know who these.
Speaker 2: Two wonderful bottom halves belong to No, I don't, all right.
One of them is Tracy Martinson.
Speaker 1: That's the girl whose face was on Once Bitten.
Speaker 2: That's right, And she was in the video for Rockney.
She's in the video for Save All Your Love.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Two songs that I absolutely think are bangers which you're
not familiar with, and I'm marking it down. I'm spiking football.
You will love those songs. Okay. So one of them
is Tracy Martinson, girl from the One Spitten album.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Second one is Bobby Brown.
Speaker 1: Shut up.
Speaker 2: She's the cherry pie girl.
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and she's gonna make an appearance in the We're
gonna talk about her in just a minute a little
more in depth. She's in the One Bitten Twice Shy video.
Speaker 1: Be sure and go back and check out our top
five songs of nineteen nine because I talk a little
bit about it. Touch on her anyway. Sorry, are we
ready to jump in track by track? Now?
Speaker 2: Let's jump in track by track?
Speaker 1: Okay. Song number one off of the album is a
song called move It. Okay. I'm not sure why. We
start off with the sound of a bus taking off.
Speaker 2: The beginning of a journey, right right.
Speaker 1: Well that the intro to the song is such a
slow burn. If you were arguing that these guys were
hair metal, I'd say, okay, let's listen to the beginning
of this song, because this is not a hair metal
way to start a song. This is a slow blues
burn that builds and builds, builds until Mark Kendall's raging
guitar comes blasting through your speakers.
Speaker 2: So this is a great kickoff song, right, Yeah. I
think this is like the start of a concert type
of song where you've got the drummer, you can't quite
see what's happening, the shadows and the lights are moving,
guys are beginning to take their place as you've got
this beginning build. I love this song. I think there's
a great beginning song. It's a good rocker. It's a
great kickoff to the album. Yeah, Okay, I've got this
incredible story that I've been waiting to discuss with you.
You know, you and I have talked a little bit
off air.
Speaker 1: About this, but oh I'm excited here. Let's go.
Speaker 2: Okay, So Great White started in nineteen seventy seven or eight.
Speaker 1: Yeah, So listening to Mark Kendall talk it was seventy eight.
He said, Wikipedia is wrong, it was not seventy seven.
He said, I met Jack Russell in seventy eight, and
I got the story on that. If you want to
know how they met, tell me. Yeah. Okay. So Mark Kendall,
I mean, obviously a wicked good guitar player. He is.
He underrated as far as guitar players go. You don't
hear his name come up at all. But he is
phenomenal guitar player. Just take that, babe. I'm gonna leave
you riff that he plays, and it's amazing it. As
a new guitarist, I was like, I want to learn
how to play like that. I went to a guitar
teacher and I said, can you teach me how to
do what he's doing in this song because it's so incredible.
But he was a guy who decided seventeen years old.
He's walking along the beach. He's been learning how to
play guitar, and he says to himself, I am giving
myself only one option. I am going to make it
as a guitarist, and that's it. There is no fallback plan.
I will either be successful as a guitarist or I
will be a bum and those are my only options.
Speaker 2: Okay. Wow.
Speaker 1: And so he starts a couple of bands and by
the time he's twenty, he's playing some shows, but he's
not super happy with the singer that he's got. Yeah,
and somebody just hits him up and he's like, hey,
I saw this kid playing. He was singing in somebody's backyard.
You know, it's like a backyard party like we talked
about with Van Halen, where people just show up, they
just do stuff. And he goes, this guy could wail.
I mean he could, he could belt. And as it
turns out, that sixteen year old kid was a guy
named Jack Russell.
Speaker 2: Man. That's so crazy.
Speaker 1: So they get together and Jack listens to Mark's band
and he's like, these guys kind of suck. Would you like,
maybe me and you form our own band, And Mark
Kendall's like, let's do it. And they drop Mark Kendall's
band that he's in and they form a band called Highway,
which then becomes Live Wire. Then some other stuff happens,
and we'll get into that in just a second.
Speaker 2: Okay, So we got to talk about this. This is one
of the most incredible stories of Great White Yeah, in
a history of a band that has terrible things happen.
Speaker 1: This is one of the worst.
Speaker 2: This is one of the worst, and but it works.
Speaker 1: Out something, it does work out. So Mark Kendall is talking.
I mean they're just playing clubs at this point, right, sure,
And he's like, I had jobs and potato chip factories.
I was doing everything I could, he said. I was
out painting the back of the AMPM science, you know,
like the convenience store grocer plays, right, and he goes
and I look down and I see a newspaper that
says winter Man Jack Russell arrested for shooting. And he
was like, Jack Russell, I know a guy named Jack
Russell and that's where he's from. And he's like, I
better go call his mom. He calls his mom and
he's like, I saw this in the paper. Is this Jack?
And she's like, yep, that's Jack.
Speaker 2: So Jack Russell had problems with drugs and alcohol from
the very beginning. He and Mark Kendall get together. Jack
Russell is what sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, Yeah, not quite eighteen,
I don't think, yeah, no, right, seventeen yeah, okay, So
at age seventeen, He and this idiot friend of his
decide one of the ways they're gonna get their hands
on drugs since they don't have money, is they're gonna
rob drug dealers.
Speaker 1: Brilliant, rights, I mean, that's so patently obvious.
Speaker 2: I mean, who has drugs drug dealers and who doesn't
call cops drug dealers? There you go, right, I mean,
this is a brilliant plan.
Speaker 1: But then you do you have to take that next
step of what do they do? Instead of yeah?
Speaker 2: Okay, right, all right, So Jack Arrels sold his buddy
go to this well known drug dealer's house and it's
like rattel Jimmy, I mean, it's like nice, It's like
a mansion, right.
Speaker 1: Yeah, is this the mansion built by Bugsy Siegel?
Speaker 2: But we've talked about him many times. But he's got
a twenty two pistol okay, twenty two caliber, huh, which
we've talked about. It's not a big bullet, but it
is quite enough to kill somebody, that's right. Yeah, got
the ski mask on. He breaks in and the only
person in there at the moment is the maid. Okay,
she's Vietnamese. She doesn't speak great English, and he comes
up with the ski mask on. At first she thinks
he's joking, Like, she thinks it's a joke, right, He says,
where's the coke, pointing the gun at her, where's the cock?
Where's the coke? She's like in the fridge, in the fridge,
and she said, no coke, pepsi And he said that
at that moment he knew it was just not going right.
She runs off and hides like in a closet, and
he's coming back and he's like banging on the door
and he's blackout, high out of his mind, like he
doesn't really remember any of this, and this is what
the court reporters have read back to him. Right, So
he comes back and he's banging on the closet, going
where's the coke? Where's the coke? Well, next thing he knows,
he's wandering around. He's arrested by the police. They take
him down and they're like, why did you shoot her?
And he's like, shoot who what are you talking about?
They're like, you shot the maid. It's like, I didn't
shoot the maid. Well, he shot the maid.
Speaker 1: I shot the store clerk. I shot the store clerk exactly.
Speaker 2: Because a viddy so he fires through a solid oak
door with a twenty two bullet. It hits a Saint
Christopher's medallion that she's wearing, and Rick Achet's.
Speaker 1: Off of her heart.
Speaker 2: Wow, Like the medallion protects that bullet from killing her.
He said at that moment that medallion saved her life
and his. Yeah, he gets eight years in.
Speaker 1: Jail, sentenced to eight years. Now can you imagine, as
I mean from Mark Kendall's perspective, like he's just formed
this band, just gotten it together. It sounds great, they're
doing great, they're moving up, and then help start this
crap all over again.
Speaker 2: Exactly. This is not nobody. Jack Russell has an incredible voice.
Speaker 1: Well, what are you gonna do? He's in prison for
eight years.
Speaker 2: Eight years. Guess what he's out in eleven months. Wikipedia
says he served eighteen months. I heard Jack Russell himself
say eleven months because he knows it's for sure because
he signed his record deal within the year. Within twelve
months of shooting the maid. He had signed a record deal.
Eleven months later he walks away.
Speaker 1: Yeah, he did all of the programs because he was
I believe, just under eighteen years old. Whenever this happened.
He was able to take advancege of like the youthful
offender programs that they have and build himself up all
of these points, which knocked down what is the total
of his sentence?
Speaker 2: Yeah, So, all the while this is happening, Mark Kendall's
auditioning other singers for Great White. Actually wasn't Great White
at the time.
Speaker 1: No, no, it wasn't. So yeah, he has to rebuild.
So he pulls Donnie Costa for bass yep, and Tony
Richards for drums yep. And if you're a WASP fan,
those names are familiar because they both went on to
play for Wasp after that. Yep. And he gets a
singer named Butch Say. It sounds like Rob Halford from
Jewish Priest. Yeah right, yep. And then this female singer
shows up. Her name is Lisa Baker, and they're like, oh,
she's better, and they dump but Say and Lisa Baker
becomes their singer, and that's when they give themselves the
name Dante Fox.
Speaker 2: Kind of an interesting name. Yeah, you know, you get
Britney Fox a couple of years later.
Speaker 1: Yes, that's true, But what happens is Lisa Baker. It's
invited by another guy to join his band. The band's
name is Exciter and the guy who invited her to
come join is a guy named George Lynch. And if
you know who Dawkin is and you know what Lynch
Mob is, you know who George Lynch is.
Speaker 2: George Lynch is one of the truly I mean we
talk about great guitar players. He is aficionado. I mean,
this guy is unbelievable. And then Jack Russell gets released.
Guess what, guys, I'm free, and they're like, well, we
already got a singer. And he's like, let me audition.
If I don't make your audition, I'll go away. I'll
leave you alone. You won't hear from me, right, And
so he comes in and auditions, and Mark Kendall's like, yeah,
we need to have Jack sing for us, and Costa
is like, yeah, we need to have Jack Russell come
sing for us. The guy that voted against him was
Tony Richards. Tony Richards like, I kind of like the
way Butch sings and they're like, dude, shut up, We're
not going to just cover Brue Judas Priest for the
rest of our life, right, get that guy out of
here and bring in Jack Russell, and so that's that's
what happens, and the band comes back together and they
begin performing as Dante's Fox. And when they're performing together,
there's an interesting dynamic that they do. Okay, they have
basically a dark side and a light side on the stage.
So Donnie Costa will dress like all in black.
Speaker 1: He like put he puts like cheese graters on his
guitar so that he can make his knuckles bleed while
he's playing, like he looks like a demon. And then
Mark Kendall is on the other side of the stage
and he's in like a white jumpsuit and he's got
blonde like shot like almost white blonde hair, and he's
playing a white guitar. And so it's this duality. And
every time he would introduce him for a solo, Jack
Russell would say great white people, and that's he would
introduce Mark Kendall as great white But we got to
move on. Song number two.
Speaker 2: Song number two is called Heart the Hunter.
Speaker 1: That is an incredible hook.
Speaker 2: Yeah it is.
Speaker 1: This is a great song.
Speaker 2: This is a great song. Is If you like this song,
I mean you'll like the rest of the songs on
this album, and they have a kind of a formula
that works for them. It's crunchy guitars, it's passionate vocals,
heavy drums, it's a lot of fun. I like it.
Speaker 1: I would say that the chorus on this one, the
hooky chorus, it kind of reminds me of the early
days of def Leppard, Like this is something that you
get off of High and Dry or maybe Pyromania. That's
just the way that the chorus, I don't know sounds
to me, has got that kind of feel to it.
Speaker 2: You could easily slide and die hard the Hunter.
Speaker 1: There you go. Okay, So they're now together as Dante's Fox.
They're doing these white and black shows, right, and they're
doing demos. And one of the bands that's there in
Hollywood performing at the same time is a band called
Docin Yep, and Don Docan is friends with these guys. Yeah,
and so he hits up this guy named Alan Niven
to come watch them. He's like, you, guys, you've got
to hear these guys. They need management. Come come listen
to them play. Alan Niven goes and listens to them
play and thinks, no, they're not for me.
Speaker 2: Really, Yeah, Okay.
Speaker 1: And Don's like, did you hear him play? And he's like, yeah,
not for me. He's like, nah, go back and listen again.
He goes and listens again, comes back again and he's like, no,
they're they're not They're not my guys now. Alan Niven
is is a very up and coming guy. I mean
his he and his partners have signed Molly Crue, they've
signed Berlin throw back to our Top Gun episode. Yeah.
And he's like, yeah, this is just not this doesn't
fit within our stuff. And Don Dowcin is like, let
me go to a show with you, okay, Yeah, And
so they go to the show together and it's like
the end of the show, Alan seems unmoved, and then
they come out with an encore, right, and they do
an encore of a humble Pie song, and the humble
Pie song is called I Don't Need No Doctor's point.
At the point, Alan Evan is like, Okay, I can
work with these guys.
Speaker 2: Gosh, his voice, I mean, he sounds very Robert Plant
and yet better than Robert Plant.
Speaker 1: Well I don't want to go there, but there he
was there. He has those moments. His voice is incredible.
He's trying to think of a different name because he
just doesn't like Dante's Fox and like they Dante's Fox.
The end of the band drives by in a limo
and Mark Kendall is sticking his head out of the
window and is like whoo and you know, just being
a crazy, you know, twenty something year old guy, right.
And one of their fans is standing next to Alan
Niven and he's like, there goes great White.
Speaker 2: Oh, that's fantastic.
Speaker 1: And he's like, that's it. That's what we name the band.
Speaker 2: They do their first gig at the Tribute or in Hollywood.
But here's the key. So I heard Jack Russell talk
about this somehow or another. Alan Niven convinces the DJs
at k M E T and KLOS, which are rock
stations in Los Angeles, to start playing songs off of
their original EP, and he says that never happens, like
you don't get an unsigned band who's dropping an EP
and convinced the rock radio station in Los Angeles to
play your stuff?
Speaker 1: Right. And in case you don't know who Alan Niven is,
if that name is meaningless to you, not only did
he manage Berlin, not only did he manage Motley Crue
during their early days. He also manage this band that
you might i've heard of, Cold Guns N' Roses just
side story, side story here. He was their manager up
until just before the release of Use Your Illusions and
like the two the usual Illusion one and two.
Speaker 2: Go back and listen to those episodes.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Axel Rose wanted him out. The rest of the
band was like, no, Alan's great, why do we And
Alan's like, and then Axel's like, I'm not going to
finish these albums until we get rid of Alan Nevin. Yeah,
what a dick.
Speaker 2: I'm not singing another note until we dump our manager.
Speaker 1: Sucks.
Speaker 2: Yeah, So because of this, they get a little notoriety
in LA which I love this story. Yeah, Like they
feel like, oh man, we have made it because they
played six Flags Magic Mountain in front of six thousand people.
Speaker 1: That's a big deal, dude.
Speaker 2: Six Flags Magic Mountain sounds like a fantastic gig too. Yeah,
And so that summer they begin touring. They tour with Whitesnake,
they tour with Judas Priests, they tour with Kiss docin Scorpions.
That's kind of a who's who of early eighties bands
right there.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And So during this time they had recorded an
EP called Out of the Night, and after that six
Flags act, that's when Emi comes and says, hey, we
want to sign you. And then, like you said, they
start touring with those guys. Now here's the story that
I was I was gonna blow your mind with. Oh yeah, okay, okay.
So while they're doing their Judas Priest tour, they are
without a drum riser and they're like, hey, we need
a drum riser for the show that we're doing, and
the engineer is like, oh, hey, I know an old
rocker here who's nearby. He's got a drum riser. He'll
totally let us use it. So they go over to
his house and they say to this guy, They're like,
can we use your drum riser? He's like, yeah, can
I come see the concert? And so they're like yeah sure.
So he lends them their drum riser and then rides
on their tour bus like a taxi over to the
show and watches this show right right now? This is
this is nineteen eighty two, eighty three, right. Do you
know who the old rocker is? No, this is Ozzie.
Who is this? This guy named Ian Hunter.
Speaker 2: Get out of Town. That is a fantastic nugget.
Speaker 1: No way, yes, Yeah, Like years before Once Bitten Twice
Shy has come out. They are hooking up with Ian Hunter,
getting a drum riser, and he's coming out to their show.
I mean, he's just an old has been rocker at
this point that they just are like, oh, hey, make friends.
Speaker 2: Okay, we're gonna talk about if you don't know why,
that's such a mind blowing.
Speaker 1: Fact, it's gonna come up.
Speaker 2: Hang tie, hold tight.
Speaker 1: Okay Ian Hunter remember the name.
Speaker 2: Wow, that is a great nugget. Yeah, okay, So let's
move on to the next song. This song is called
Highway Nights.
Speaker 1: So you mentioned that they play with a formula. Could
this be any more like move it? I mean, once again,
we start with the sound of a bus us waving
again and then it's a gradual build blues song. It's great.
I like the music, but I'm like, I feel like
you should have spaced these a little more than just Yeah.
One song in the We've Got a We've Got a
Bus intro sandwich with the first three songs on this.
Speaker 2: Album right, and the drums to be sound very John Baum.
I mean I think more led Zeppelin in this one.
Speaker 1: This is There on the Road song, like every band
has to have There on the Road song. This is
the you know, Highway Nights, redtail Lights lead.
Speaker 2: My every band has this song light On.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: By the way, do you remember the early name for
the band Highway Highway. Okay, so let's move on to
the next song. This song is called the Angel Song.
Speaker 3: Angel Retailing, Combatita Lively, Treats You Bad Shows, Raision Star,
and Scott Way.
Speaker 1: Both of these songs are obviously minor chord songs, right,
that's right, Yeah, like Save All Your Love, I'm Feeling
e minor, the Angel Song, I'm feeling a minor. It's like, yes,
this is a minor key sad power ballot, but now
we got piano instead of the cool guitar. But I
still I love it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's it's the power ballad on this album that
makes me want to weep because it's so good. This
was the second single. This reached number thirty on the
Hot one hundred, which again it deserved better.
Speaker 1: In eighty nine.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but this song is about innocence, broken dreams, disappointment, death.
In fact, I would say that the lyrically it's very
similar to Fly to the Angels by Slaughter, which, right,
you know, it's about death. Every band in the eighties
to have a successful album, you had to have a
really good power ballad to go along with your rockers.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's it. So this one. Writing credits include Mark
Kendall and Alan Nivin. Yeah, you know Mark Kendall. It
was neat to watch him, watch him be interviewed because
he's he's always this guy that's kind of struck me
as an aloof kind of you know, untouchable guy. But
then when I've seen his interviews, he is the most friendly,
you know, like just does tons of interviews, very cordial,
very well spoken, great, just very friendly guy, great telling
a story, all of this stuff. So it was it
was great to see him talk. But he mentioned when
the question came up about Alan Nivin writing some of
their songs, he was like, yeah, you know, like we
all have our weaknesses. I have my weaknesses, and Jack
at that point was not strong on coming up with
lyrics for the song. You know, incredible voice, could do
whatever you wanted him to with the lyrics you gave him.
He just wasn't great about coming up with words, and
so Alan just kind of came in and it was
something where it would be suggestions at first, and then
it was, hey, I wrote these lyrics for you, what
do you think? And he said, you know, the whole
band would be involved in the writing process, and everybody's
suggestions were taken and considered. But Alan really kind of
stepped in to become a lyric writer for them on
this album, more so than he had been previously.
Speaker 2: By the way that piano is played by band member
Michael Lardie. Okay, I've got a quote from him, a
stinging quote. Oh they we'll talk about later.
Speaker 1: Oh all right, okay, Street.
Speaker 2: They're making beautiful music here, not so much later.
Speaker 1: There are things that happen with rock bands from time
to time.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm spiking the football. This is the best song
on the album. Ooh, okay, I love me some power ballad.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, that's interesting that you say that, because I
hollered at Kevin Davis before this episode, because he and
I had talked about the Cult and he said, you know,
he'd seen the Cult live like several times. I don't
remember how many times it was, but like three at least.
So today I was like Hey, what do you think
about a Great White? You know the band, and he said,
love it. Favorite song, it's the Bone.
Speaker 2: It's bluesy, I love it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, this is a great one. This is a great one,
and you know, subtle suggestions of the band.
Speaker 2: I thought this was a single because I've heard a
lot of radio play from this one.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: By the way, I talked to Chris Webber Pete remember
Chris Webber today on the phone, and was asking him
if he had any memories of Great White. He said
he had a friend who was at a just a
music festival in New Orleans. He called it Howling Wolf,
which I'm not familiar with, but his buddy was just
sitting there and looked over and like did a double take,
and there's Jack Russell of Great White when watching a
band perform. And he walked over to him. He's like, Hi,
are you Jack Russell. He's like, yeah, good to meet
you and shook hands talked for a few minutes. That's awesome,
just a man among the people.
Speaker 1: Well, it's funny that you say that. So I asked Kevin,
did you ever see them live? Because he had mentioned
seeing the Cult live, and he said, I saw Jack
Russell's Great White about five years ago, and they were
very good. And then he said I saw him in
the bathroom for the show, and he said he looked rough,
but he sounded great. Yeah, which is in opposition to
his report on the cult, which we'll talk about when
we get to that app interesting. Yeah. By the way,
Patrian member Kevin Dates, we love you guys.
Speaker 2: I listened to a podcast where Eddie Trunk was interviewing
Jack Russell. And he's done all these terrible things to
his body, and his health has been terribly poor. At
times he's had to use a cane, but he's never
lost that unbelievable voice. Yeah, this bite mistreating it with drugs, alcohol, cigarettes.
Speaker 1: Well, you told you were the one that told me
the story about his doctor telling him, in no uncertain terms,
what would happen if he had another drink?
Speaker 2: Right, yes, and I'll tell you that story here in
just a few minutes. All right, all right, hit stop
on your tape player, kick it out, flip it over
side to This song is called Baby's on Fire.
Speaker 1: Got to go down because I need a distraction. I've
been trying it on with everyone in sight. She's been
waiting so long for me to come tonight. Another bit
of subtle suggestion and the lyrics by a hard rock fans.
Speaker 2: It that's it. So, I mean, this is the formula, right,
it's crutchy guitars, it's pounding drums, it's funky blues.
Speaker 1: Sign I mean talk about a long intro. I mean
you're a full minute and nearly fifteen seconds into the
song before you realize, oh, this is not just a
guitar solo. Right, this song does have lyrics and I
like it. It's fine, right, it's fine, it's fine, it's fine. Now.
Speaker 2: I don't want to be too clever with this, but
based on the title of this song, Baby's on Fire, Yeah,
I think we need to talk about February twentieth, two
thousand and three.
Speaker 1: Yeah, what you're referring to was a fire at the Station,
which was a big club in Rhode Island. And yeah,
I mean it's it's an incredible event because that night,
we need to say. The band split up in two
thousand and one. Jack Russell's addiction had gotten too much
of you know, his bender went on too long. The
band couldn't depend on him now. Sadly, they just kind
of quit returning his phone calls. He was kind of
irritated that. He's like, I understand. He goes, if somebody
in my band now was behaving like that, I would
fire them. That's what I would do. I would fire them,
and he goes, But they didn't fire me. They just
quit talking to me. Right, It's not the thing that
you know, somebody you've been friends with and toured with
and worked with for the last fifteen years should be doing.
And I mean it's at two thousand and one, we're
closer to twenty at that point.
Speaker 2: But well it's back it up just a step from there.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: In nineteen ninety two, during the making of Psycho City, Yeah,
Jack and Mark both became clean and sober. Yeah, with
the help of Steven Tyler.
Speaker 1: Yep, right right, Yeah, they.
Speaker 2: Quit drinking, quit smoking, they got fit, they like worked
out right.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and then still ugly though. Sorry, guys, I just
I pointed out to Jason, like, I think another reason
this doesn't fall into the hairband scenarios. These guys are
not musicians, right, They got some they got some interesting
look about them, not what I would describe as a
pretty boy act. That's right.
Speaker 2: So after eight years of being clean and sober. Yeah,
in the year two thousand, they both both Jack and
Mark fell off the wagon.
Speaker 1: Uh huh.
Speaker 2: Jack said he went from like friendly drinking to freebasing
like that. Wow, he said, It's just he cannot be trusted.
He is a full blown alcoholic drug addict and can't
be around it at all ever. Right, and so when
the band broke up in two thousand and one, Mark
got clean and sober again and could just could not
be around a drug addict.
Speaker 1: The thing was is that when they split up, as
weird as that was, the question was who gets to
keep being Great White?
Speaker 4: Right?
Speaker 1: I mean, because I mean to hear Jack Russell say it,
he was like, I didn't get fired. I fired everybody else.
And so it was it's and so what if you know,
the litigation or whatever it was that they had to
get through things. It then became Jack Russell's Great White
and it was just him singing with an entirely different
band for quite a while. And then, as you said,
we have this kind of weird thing that happens the
night that they play at the station in Rhode Island,
where they don't build themselves as Jack Russell's Great White,
They just build themselves as great White. Yeah.
Speaker 2: So in two thousand and two, Jack Russell reached out
to Mark Kendall and said, hey, man, it's been a while.
What do you think you want to try and do
this thing again. So the two of them got together
with another couple of dudes, different guys that you know,
we're not in the original man, right, And so Mark
Kendall joined him on this tour. And then in February
of two thousand and three, they're playing this local club
in Rhode Island called the Station, called the Station, yep,
the Station Nightclub, and they set fire to a pyrotechnic
as the concert's starting.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it was their tour manager. They had just they
were just opening the show. Their opening song was Desert Moon.
Oh yeah, okay. And I don't know what goes on
in people's heads on why they decide things were a
good idea. But the guy's name was Daniel Lachelle yep.
And he ignited flammable acoustic foam on both sides and
the top center of the drummer's alcove at the back
of the stage.
Speaker 2: All right, So I heard the story on why that
stuff was there. This is kind of an interesting story
in itself. So there had been a lot of noise
complaints around this club, and so they put all this
foam on the walls to keep the sound from going
out and disturbing people in the neighborhood. Oh okay, Yeah,
Well that foam was extremely flammable, and when you light
a giant pyrotechnic next to something super flammable, you have
two hundred and thirty people injured and one hundred people killed.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it was The design of the club was bad.
The club was bury old, like one hundred years old.
I mean it's just alcohol soaked wood. The design of
the club. The entrance has a hallway, like you're immediately
in a hallway. So when the fire started and it
was fast, it was fast. One of the owners was
there and he was near the entrance and so he
immediately got out, but he was like he was having
to scream at people to get out of the way
of the door so that other people could get out
because the fire was coming so quickly. The bouncer who
was there, I mean, this was a guy who was
beloved in the community. He'd actually been on Letterman multiple times.
I think the stupid human tricks he just had a
weird He had an operation at some point in his
life that gave him the like it was a operation
for something that a side effect was he could balance
anything on his chin, Like he put a full sized
canoe on his chin and balance it, or a human
being on a stand and bounce it. So he would
be on Letterman on these stupid human tricks. He's working
as a bouncer at this club, and you watched the
documentary on this and his brothers. He's saying in ninety
seconds he went in and out of that club nine times,
grabbing people and bringing them out. And the interviewers like,
how do you know it was nine times? And the
guy says, because I've had nine families come and tell
me your brother saved my life, saved my son's life,
saved my daughter, wife whoever's life. So this amazing guy
goes back in and out so many times that trying
to save people that on timey number ten, he doesn't
make it out.
Speaker 2: You know who else was killed was one of the
guitarists in the band. Yeah, his name was Ty Longley. Yeah,
young guy married, she was pregnant, Yeah, three months pregnant,
and he knew somebody in the crowd and was trying
to protect them.
Speaker 1: Yeah, there was an exit at the back of the stage,
and that the rest of the band goes out that
back just like it. Yep. Yeah, But because he had
had a friend in the crowd, he was like, I
don't want to leave my buddy behind, right, you know,
how would you feel if you did exit through the
easy exit and then your buddy dies? So it makes
it makes sense, But you were telling me he took
his guitar with him.
Speaker 2: He used his guitar to break windows to get people out,
And we looked at there's a great diagram in the
picture of it. You and I were looking at it
were like, well, there's a giant bottleneck. You just can't
get out fast enough.
Speaker 1: Now.
Speaker 2: It was the deadliest fireworks accident in US history and
the second deadliest nightclub incident.
Speaker 1: The owners of the club were charged criminally with this.
I think they were ultimately acquitted, and I felt listening
to him talk. I felt bad for him. I mean,
they were guys who just were you know, they made
an investment in a club. They were actually trying to
sell it like it was on the market.
Speaker 2: Sheesh Well and Daniel the tour manager, he lights the pyrotechnice,
he gets fifteen years, he serves four. You know why
he got out or why he was paroled so quickly
because family members went to bat for him, like people
who lost members of their family in the fire. They
were like, that's not this guy's fault. He didn't need
a rotten jail forever. Wow, he's paid his price, let's
get him out.
Speaker 1: Wow.
Speaker 2: I hate to bring the podcast down, but you cannot
talk about the history of Great White without discussing this
incredible fire.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it was a monumental event in their history for sure.
I feel like we need to move on. Let's let's
let's go back to happier times. Let's go move on
to our next song that's not Babies on Fire.
Speaker 2: Let's go to the House of Broken Left.
Speaker 1: Okay, I'm gonna say that this is my favorite song
on this album.
Speaker 2: I'm not surprised that you love it.
Speaker 1: And if it's not also David Wright's favorite song, I'll
eat my hat.
Speaker 2: Okay.
Speaker 1: This is so Blue Jean Blues by Zezy Top, Like
it's just that slow, just my heart is ripped in half.
The blues of the blues, like truly sad blues, which
is appropriate for how the song came to be, you
know this story.
Speaker 2: So yeah, so Mark and Jack Russell had just recently
gone through these terrible breakups.
Speaker 1: Yeah, divorce for Jack Russell.
Speaker 2: Divorce, his first divorce. And they're sitting there like looking
pitiful on the amps, you know, waiting to begin in
practice or whatever, like bummed out. And Alan even comes in.
It's like, what is this the house of broken love.
Speaker 3: With the devil? Help the devil in the.
Speaker 2: Broken love, which I think is hilarious. Yeah, but yeah,
they were just in the dumps going through breakup.
Speaker 1: How many times have you heard somebody say something and
you're like, that'd be a good songtime, Yeah, exactly. And
then I could just imagine that's a broken love. That's
a broken love, Like that got something we could do
with that? That's it.
Speaker 2: At least I got something out of this divorce. This
was the third single Releast January of nineteen ninety that
reached number eighty three on the Hot Whenever.
Speaker 1: He is a travesty again, that's crazy.
Speaker 2: Okay, I I got something for you on this one.
Speaker 1: Okay, the B side on this one?
Speaker 2: Do you know what the B side is b.
Speaker 1: Side on this one was Bitches and Other Women and
then the live version of Redhouse, which is an old
Jimmy Hendrix staple song.
Speaker 2: So this is like a medley cover of Bitch by
the Rolling Stones. It's only rock and Rolled by the
Rolling Stones and Women by Foreigner. So Bitches and Other.
Speaker 1: Women, gotcha nice. So we were talking before about you know,
borrowing Ian Hunter's drum riser and him coming to the
concert Judish Priest concert. Now they were with him. I
at that point they had done all these tours. We
talked about it, you know, Kiss Doc and Judas Priest,
White Snake back when White Snake still had Cozy Powell
as a drummer. Yes, there you go. But when they
get back home, hadn't had any significant radio hits. And
EMI is like, listen, guys, we're just not We're not
really going to promote this anymore. And they they've got
a multi record deal with them, but if you don't
get promotion, it's meaningless, right, And so they parted ways
amicably into their contract. But that meant that in nineteen
eighty five they were an unsigned band again. Oh wow.
And so they literally they had T shirts printed up
that said Survive eighty five. Like Alan Even's talking to him,
he's like, do you want to fight? He's talking to
Mark Kendall, He's like, do you want to fight or
do you want to give up? And Mark Kendall's tells
him about when he was seventeen years old walking on
the beach, I said to myself, I am either going
to make it as a guitarist or I'm going to
be a bum and those are my only two options.
And so I want to fight. And so through eighty
five they're trying to live, but they're really going back
to the club scene. And then a magical thing happens.
There's a song that they have called on your Knees okay,
and there's this group of concerns earned parents that get
together called the PMRC.
Speaker 3: Yeah I remember them.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Well, as it turns its fifteen, the Filthy fifteen
includes a great white song what called on your Knees,
And it's I mean, it's a juvenile like it sounds
if you were an uptight Tipper Gore. It sounds like
a rape song, but it's really just a you know,
rough love kind of song, right sure, And so they
get notoriety even though they're an unsigned band, they get
the notoriety of being on the Filthy fifteen with this
song on your Knees, and so they're thinking, we could
do this. We just have to get another album, right,
But they don't have a record label to cover the
cost of their album. So they're talking to the engineer,
and their engineer is like, Oh, I got a friend
or a cousin or something like that named Fred, who's
you know, he's looking to back a band on something.
And so they borrow fifteen thousand dollars from Fred. Whoever,
Fred Fred?
Speaker 2: Right, let's go Fred.
Speaker 1: They borrow fifteen thousand dollars for him, and they produced
their own album called Shot in the Dark. So on
Shot of the Dark, they have this song called Face
the Day. Okay, okay, here's here's what Face the Day
sounds like. So, just like they did before, they managed
to get this song played on a few radio stations,
and it actually becomes a kind of a successful song
in Texas and Arizona and ends up being the second
most requested song on KLOS.
Speaker 2: A big rock station in Los Angeles.
Speaker 1: Exactly. So what happens, Capitol Records calls them up. Now
Capitol Records is the parent company of EMI that had
just screwed them over months ago, and Capitol Records. It's like, hey,
we like what you're doing out there, how about we
sign you in. They're like, we did it. Like they
managed to survive eighty five. They end up signing with
Capitol Records. They go on the road with docin for
like five shows and one other thing that happens in
nineteen eighty five, Once Bitten gets released seven No. Eighty five.
What it was a movie?
Speaker 2: Jim Carrey and Laura Hutton Jim Carrey.
Speaker 1: And Lauren Hutton are in the movie Once Bitten in
nineteen eighty five, and are you ready for this? Do
you remember what Jim Carrey's character's name is in that movie? No,
it don't. His name is Mark Kendall. It is.
Speaker 2: You're exactly right?
Speaker 3: What stop?
Speaker 2: That is a mind blowing You're not gonna get that
anywhere else. But it surely can't be serious podcasts. Yeah,
great job, dee.
Speaker 1: Yeah. So then of course they released Once Bitten in
eighty seven, and then of course we get you know
twice Shy in nine awesome second last song on the
album she Only Well Once Again twelve string guitar, acoustic
guitar playing some minor chords, power ballad song. This is
a good one. It's acceptable. The melody gives me kind
of this you know, Bible Goes West, you know, Don
Bluth kind of song somebody's singing as they're staring at
the moon, kind of vibe about him. But but it's
not it's not bad. I would enjoy it.
Speaker 2: It's not bad, it's good.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 2: In the movie Twins where you've got Kelly Preston and
her kind of not the best looking sister, yes, right,
so save all your love is Kelly Preston, and then
this one's kind of the you know not, you know,
not as cute sister. Right, go back to our Twins episode.
Speaker 1: Oh my goodness, that's great. Yeah, so again, I love
the sound of Jack Russell's voice with a twelve string guitar.
And we talked like the voice is the thing that's
stuck with him, right, didn't you tell me, like he's
you don't even have a house now.
Speaker 2: He lives on a boat. He lives on a boat,
which we both agreed it sounds kind of fitting for
this kind of old.
Speaker 1: Rocker, you know. Yeah, sure, I mean Why why worry
about property taxes?
Speaker 2: Exactly right? Yeah, he says, he just lives on this
booney fishes.
Speaker 1: Yeah he likes to. Hey, it turns out he does
love sharks. I mean, if this guy hasn't gone shark
fishing on his houseboat, there's something wrong, something right, right,
that's right.
Speaker 2: You know I told you that in two thousand he relapsed.
He and both he and Mark k relapsed and he
went instantly to free racing cocaine. And you know, he
got down to one hundred and thirty seven pounds right,
had to use a cane. He went into a coma.
His liver shut down, and while he was in this coma,
doctor told his wife, I don't think he's going to
make it right. You need to prepare yourself.
Speaker 1: He's not going to leave, okay. Wow.
Speaker 2: Well when he did, he said, he told her, you know,
if he takes another drink, he dies, like this is
not okay. He needs to dial it back. No, he
needs to cut it out or else. And he said
that was exactly what he needed to have because he
is just a raging alcoholic. And he used that word
raging alcoholic. He said, I just cannot handle it and
so I have to be abstinate. I mentioned earlier that
Marc A. Lardie, who was in the band with him,
kind of made a cutting comment in the twenty tens
when he's like full on drug addict stage. They all
went to Janeye Lane's funeral, which Jannie Lane died of
alcohol poisoning. He married Bobby Brown. Janie Lane was the
lead singer for Warrant Right, Yes, flash back to our
best of eighty nine where you picked a song and
I picked a song and they weren't the same.
Speaker 1: Just leap yourself there.
Speaker 2: But you know, he's a full on, raging drug addict
at this moment, and he's in the bathroom and he
hears his former bandmate say, in reference to Jack Russell,
why doesn't that guy just die already? Wow? He said
that comment hurt him really bad. He's like, I don't
mind that they didn't want to be in a band
with me, but that one really hurt.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Well, and Lauren Black, who was their bassist, he
died as well from his drug addiction. So it's just
a tragic I mean, it's it's a rough industry to
get in in the eighties and make it out Alive
Drugs Kids. Yeah, so Once Bitten gets certified platinum by
April of eighty eight. Okay, And so they go out
on a year long tour and they are touring with
T and T, David Lee, Roth, White Snake probably the
new version at this time, Monsters of Rock Tour, Twisted Sister,
and importantly a band mentioned before in case you don't remember,
their name is Guns and Roses. And that's important because
the guitarist, not the lead guitarist, but the rhythm guitarist
for Guns N' Roses, a guy named Izzy Stradlin says
to Alan Niven one day, Hey, these guys have this
album Once Bitten. You know this song by Ian Hunter.
It's like, now, let me play it for you. It's
it's a song called once Bitten twice shy man. So
Alan Niven brings this to the band and they're like, okay, sure,
why not, I know whatever? This is fun. And so,
in case you don't know, Ian Hunter is the guy
who used to be the singer for Mata Hoopel back
in the seventies. Yeah, yeah, and he had split with them.
In his first album out that he called Ian Hunter,
he had this song called once bitten twice shy on it.
It was a minor hit. I hit number fourteen in
the UK, never showed up in the US at all.
Just this kind of minor thing that because is he
straddling the rhythm guitarist for Guns N' Roses is a
well versed musician. He happened to know about it, and
that's how we get to the song that we're about
to play for you, Sad.
Speaker 2: This song is so awesome and it just ruled the
summer of nineteen eighty nine.
Speaker 1: This is a fantastic song. I don't care that it
was popular. I still love it. The piano on this,
the funk and fun and the they're just having a
great time playing this song because they have no idea
that they are making a worldwide mega hit song that
will blast the airwaves for the next six months.
Speaker 2: That's it. They thought it would be fun to do,
but they didn't really think it's gonna be a hit.
Speaker 1: No.
Speaker 2: This song goes all the way to number five on
the Hot one hundred. Okay, before you tell me what
the four are that beat it out, because I know
that you have got it. Yeah, they didn't even want
This is the single off the album.
Speaker 1: The band didn't even there there. It's like, really you
want this cover? Yeah?
Speaker 2: No.
Speaker 1: The record guys came in and they're like, yes, this
is it. This is the obvious single off of it.
And they're like really, and Alan Niven's like, guys, how
do you not know that this is They're like, okay,
you know they would have picked another song.
Speaker 2: Oh this is so fun. I can tell you stories
of me and Patre. I remember Chris Bauer aka Bomber.
We would thump this song as we're going to school,
going to football practice, going all over the place.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: And in fact, he had the single I've Once betten
Twice Shy, which the B side has a bonus song
that we're gonna talk about once we get done with
this one. Oh yeah, okay, yeah, Now then the hot
one hundred.
Speaker 1: You're gonna give me the four songs, the four songs
that beat this one out. Yeah, okay, maybe not the
best way to put that, The four songs that topped
this one on the chart.
Speaker 2: Yes, And I told you this is a kind of
a Hodge nineteen eighty nine. I'm a big proponent of
eighty nine, but the musical landscape in eighty nine was
weird because hair metal was there, but it was changing.
You had kind of the rise of sort of R
and B, and then you had sort of rap and
it was just a kind of a hodgepodg So number
four you have So Alive by Love and Rockets.
Speaker 1: That's that's a big one. Yep. I feel like we
should do a Patreon episode on that one. It's a
great one man.
Speaker 2: Number three is Batanance by pra Oh my gosh, maybe
the worst number one song of the eighties. I love
it because all it is is just quoting Batman stuff.
But it's just junk, you know.
Speaker 1: It is a bit junky but fun.
Speaker 2: Yes. Number two is on our Own by Bobby Brown,
the Ghostbusters two song Wow. And then number one is
right Here Waiting by Richard Marks, the song about Cynthia Rhodes.
Speaker 1: They go back to our other Patreon episode where we
can't discuss it because there's a secret.
Speaker 2: It's a secret.
Speaker 1: That's it. Yes. By the way, guys, if you want
to join our Patreon family, we have some of our
most fun episodes. We cover one hit wonders and other
novelty songs on there. And sometimes it's like a mystery song.
You have to guess what the song is. But if
you guys are interested in doing that, go to Patreon
dot com slash. I got called out on Facebook and
God bless you sir for letting me know mistake. It's
not backslash. There is no backslash in a url slash
Shirley podcast. And you can become a Patreon member where
you will hear all of our super secret episodes that
we share with our Patreon family. Lots of very fun
stuff on that.
Speaker 2: Okay, I got a nugget for you on one's bitten
twice I d okay, Yeah, all right. So the music
video is directed by our man Nigel Dick.
Speaker 1: Oh, Nigel Dick.
Speaker 2: Nigel Dick, Yes, I do so, and it was huge
on him TV. Right, this is on all the time. Yeah,
we talked about little miss Bobby Brown, yes, who later
went on to become the Cherrypie Girl. She's on the
cover of this album.
Speaker 1: Later went on to become the missus.
Speaker 2: Jai Lane Lane. Yeah, she's also in the video. You
can see her. She's nineteen or twenty, you know, very beautiful. Yes,
but there are a lot of lady friends from the
band there, right, Yeah, it's just a little big happy
family there. And you know, the band told me they
were the best look in town. I can't say that.
I'm not saying that. I gotta no.
Speaker 1: You don't leap yourself if you want to, boy, Okay.
Speaker 2: But anyway, it's a great video. All it is is
they're in a warehouse and just kind of jamming out
Girl's next, Yeah, hot chicks.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's it. Fun video, fun song, love it absolutely so.
Ian Hunter, the same guy that had just years before
lent them the drum riser and used their bus as
a taxi to get to the show. His song is
now their biggest hit, and as it turns out, he
gets money from that. He don't get just a little
bit of money, Like this song has probably made him
a million dollars, Like it's it's crazy. But even back
then it's he's it's getting checks in the mail. I
told you he was kind of this washed up. At
this point, he puts a band back together, they start touring.
He starts playing once bit and twice shy, and people
come up to him after the show go why are
you covering a great white song?
Speaker 2: Because I love them right, and they gave me a
million dollars. Yeah, yeah, I love it all right, Li.
So we've given plenty of warnings about illegal drugs and
how they're terrible for your health and how they almost
I mean they did kill one of the guys in
this band and almost killed everybody else. Yeah, but I'm sorry.
This song is so fun.
Speaker 1: We've got to cover two bonus songs. So if you
had the extended version of this album, you got it
later on. This song made it on Wasted Rock Ranger
and another song called slow Ride, which you would say
best two songs on the album.
Speaker 2: I mean, it's in the conversation. I love both of
these songs.
Speaker 1: Okay, So before we hit Wasted Rock Ranger, because that's
the one we're gonna talk about, I just want to
get a sample of slow Ride for people who have
who may not have heard it.
Speaker 3: Go outside.
Speaker 1: So when you told me about Wasted Rock Ranger, I
found the extended edition. I saw a slow Ride on here.
I'm like, oh, they did a fog Hat cover. No
that is not that's not that slow Ride. This is
a different slow Ride.
Speaker 2: I love the song, and thing's great.
Speaker 1: You said you thought it. I mean, if it was
on the original album, you said it would have been
one of the top three songs.
Speaker 2: I think so, Yeah, I think so.
Speaker 1: But the fun, the fun one, the one we're here
that we got to talk about is wasted rock ranger.
Here we go.
Speaker 3: Well, I'm a wasted rock ranger.
Speaker 4: I live the life danger all the road, fine, higher high.
Speaker 3: I don't need no inspection. I need it's my abjection out.
If you let's follow, get me bye.
Speaker 1: This this great white singing country man. This is like
this is like on lies when they go I used
to love her, but I had to kill her. It's
that fun little we're just being crazy and wildly inappropriate.
And who's this trucker that we're listening to at the beginning?
Does he have any idea that they recorded him making
some comment to some poor truck stop?
Speaker 2: Probably year, No way, I love this song. It's so
fun man. And he's talking about hanging out with Jimmy
and his friends, you know.
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh. Yeah, So he's he's talking about the
fun of drug addiction.
Speaker 4: Right, So hey, your rock razer, sing this song and
follow it. When you read number one, you can't over
those more.
Speaker 1: Fun and going, which is really I mean, the guy
went to prison for shooting somebody in a drug robbery.
I mean, I don't know how he thinks it's okay,
And then of course loses his place in one of
these bands because of his whatever whatever. That's fine, but yes,
he's he's singing about how fun drug addiction is. That
he wouldn't be working for some fed up slob. He
left his wife and his family so that he could
go be a rock singer. If you're a wasted rock ranger,
you'll live a life of danger. Sing this song and
follow it till the end. When you reach number one,
you can overdose for fun and go and visit Jimmy
and his friends.
Speaker 2: Love it, man, it's so fun.
Speaker 1: That has some messed up stuff, but I love it.
Speaker 2: Yes, I told you. I said that there's no way
we can cover this album without talking about this song.
Speaker 1: Yeah for sure. Okay, we dropped the teaser at the
beginning talking about Babe, I'm Gonna leave You. I gotta
tell you. I remember, I remember the moment sitting in
front of the TV and seeing them play bab I
Want to leave You. I was listening to led Zeppelin
by that point. I don't think that I had come
to this song yet.
Speaker 2: This is.
Speaker 1: This is one of their earlier songs. Zeppelin's earlier songs, right,
maybe off the first album I remember it's very first album, Yeah,
sixty nine led Zeppelin. Led Zeppelin second song on the album,
if I remember correctly. Maybe Anyway, Anyway, they play this
song and I'm floored at how good it is. And
as I said, I went to the guitar teacher I
had at that time, and I'm like, hey, have you
heard this great white song? And he's like, well, yeah,
but it's a led Zeppelin song. And I'm like, Okay,
show me how to do this. And I was not
good enough at that point to figure out how to
do it. And then when I listened to the led
Zeppelin version. I hate to say this, I love I
still love the led Zeppelin version, I was a little
disappointed and I said this to you. I'm like, this
is one of the greatest covers of all time, and
your words were, it's better it is. I hate to
say it because I love led Zeppelin, but they did
such an incredible job on this song that I would
say it's better than the original, and it is a
it is a true to the original song. They haven't
like redone it. This is a very true to the
original song, and they did it better than the original.
Speaker 3: Summer comes alone. Bame bab bab bab bab Baby, Baby,
I don't want to leave you.
Speaker 1: Now. After I told you this, you told me a
story that blew my freaking mind.
Speaker 2: Okay, So this was played on MTV's second unplugged television show.
This is May sixth, nineteen ninety second, the second one.
You know that everybody knows unplugged. But right, yeah, so
this is the second show.
Speaker 1: Yeah? No, what was the first show?
Speaker 2: The first one was the Squeeze.
Speaker 1: Squeeze me right, yeah, the Squeeze.
Speaker 2: Oh, it was the first MTV unplugged Great White was
the second.
Speaker 1: I haven't seen the Squeeze, but I have to think
that afterwards they were like, well, we got another band
to come and do this. I don't know if this
unplugged thing is really going to work out, but man, well.
Speaker 2: I would say I would argue that, Babe, I'm going
to leave you is what launched MTV unplugged, right, Oh
for sure? Okay, so here's the deal. Yeah, Jack Russell
and Mark Kendall are right in the car together on
the way to this gig and they're like, you know what,
we should do this led Zeppelin song and they just
kind of popped in a tape you know the old days,
you know, cassette play and they're working it out on
the way over.
Speaker 1: They figured out the song on the way to the
Unplugged show.
Speaker 2: They listened to it in the car and they were like, yeah,
we should totally do this. They go backstage and they're like, okay,
they're re listening to it and they're like, oh yeah,
don't forget that part. Oh hear how that guitar kind
of does that and they kind of.
Speaker 1: Work it out. I mean, guys, keep in mind, this
is the full band. This is guitarist, bass, rhythm guitarist.
That is also I mean, if you listen, they're playing together,
they are playing picking the notes together, Mark Kendall and
whoever they had is their rhythm guitarist at that point,
and they nailed it.
Speaker 2: They nailed it, and in fact, this is the deal.
I mean, you and I agree, this gives us chills. Yeah,
Jack Russell said the one in rehearsal, the one that
they did prior to this one, was even better.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you said that they did one run through for
the audience, and then they did it live on the
show recording and you said that the first one was
even better than this one.
Speaker 2: That's why he said it still gives them chills.
Speaker 1: Wow. Wow, Well, okay, fantastic. We have finished up with
an incredible band, oh so many incredible stories and an
incredible album, but we're matching it up against something that
is truly worthy. So you guys come back next week.
We are going to be talking about the Cult and
Sonic Temple. I will be telling you about my virgin
experience with this album because I had never listened to
a single Cult song before I heard this album, and
I'm excited to talk about it. And we will be
joined by one of our our oldest Atreon member, mister
James Buckley. Back again. I can't wait to talk about
this album.
Speaker 2: We'll see you back here next week. All right, now,
just for pure reactionary purposes, we've talked about how you're
not necessarily a great white fan. You're kind of learning
their stuff. I jumped in in nineteen eighty seven with
once a Bit, and I told you there's a song
on there called Save All Your Love. It's one of
their big songs and I just want you to play
it because I think you're gonna love it. We just
get a live reaction from you on this one.
Speaker 1: Yes, this will be my live reaction at this song.
Speaker 3: Okay, weekend's always.
Speaker 1: I already love it.
Speaker 2: It builds, it's a builder.
Speaker 1: We know what. Second, it's my new favorite Great White song.
Speaker 2: It's fantastic.
Speaker 1: It's so good. I mean the acoustic songs with the guys,
with the rocking like I love when the children cry,
I love those, the power ballad songs, and that's fan fantastic, fantastic.
I'm sitting here and I like, while while it's going,
I'm typing into the computer, going what how did I
miss this song? Well, okay, so you're the answer. I
came up with it spent twelve weeks on the Hot
one hundred, peaking out at number fifty seven. Ah, that's
a travesty. And that was in February of eighty eight,
when any song like that should have been topping the charts.
I don't know how that flew under the radar.
Speaker 2: That's Chray stupid George Michael, which we love. But anyway,
I just knew you would love that song. Being the
guitar player and the soulful lyrics and the voice.
Speaker 1: It's fantastic. That's the type of song I want to
hear Jack Russell singer more than any other song.