Motley Crue, Poison, and The New York Dolls in Holmdel NJ

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Motley Crue “Wild Side” at PNC 2008 footage by The Sexy Armpit

Tonight the concert tour that many of us rock fans dreamed about since we were kids is stopping at the PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel, NJ. Motley Crue, Poison, and The New York Dolls will rock the amphitheater tonight in what’s sure to be a kickass show. The parking situation at PNC is terrible but it’s a hell of a night and it’s a great venue for a show once you get inside. The Sexy Armpit will see you there if you are going!

This tour marks Poison’s 25th anniversary tour which they are billing as “Glam-a-Geddon 2011,” and there are rumors that this may be their last tour, at least for a while. They’ve been touring almost non stop since the early 2000’s. Motley Crue is said to have a new CD on the way and aside from Mick’s health issues, they show no signs of slowing down. With their new lineup, The New York Dolls are promoting their most recent album Dancing Backward in High Heels.

Now for some Poison footage Sexy Armpit style with “Talk Dirty To Me” from 2008:

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Lady GaGa Likes THE BOSS

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Lady GaGa’s enthralling Monster Ball Tour stopped at the Prudential Center in Newark on April 22nd, 2011 and The Sexy Armpit was there to witness the spectacle. Since I previously saw GaGa in Atlantic City, I wasn’t surprised when I saw her dramatic Monster Ballads type performance of “You and I,” during which she pounded away on the keys of her flaming piano, even occasionally foregoing her fingers to use her stiletto heel. She usually dedicates “You and I” to someone and this night it went out to her grandfather, a New Jersey native. I’m glad that YouTube member music4life324 captured GaGa’s intro to this song because here GaGa elaborates on her other associations with New Jersey. GaGa always makes it well known that she’s from New York, but it’s interesting to see how many New Yorkers have plenty Jersey connections as well.
Even several years after her debut, GaGa is still winning fans over. Recently, HBO premiered their presentation of The Monster Ball Tour taped at Madison Square Garden. Even the queen of glam rock on the Internet, Allyson from Bring Back Glam recently described GaGa’s latest video for “Judas” as “Metal,” and I fully agree. Of course there was a barrage of comments left on her post, many of which took exception to putting the pop icon in this category. Unfortunately, there aren’t many rock or metal bands who are badass enough to be called METAL nowadays! Isn’t it sad when our pop icons have more metal attitude in their petite 5’1 firecracker of a body than most actual metal bands today? I’ll take GaGa’s stiletto heels, pyro, and exposed butt cheeks any day.
It’s also pretty cool to know that GaGa knows who the BOSS is and I’m not talking about Judith Light. Many of the tracks on GaGa’s latest album “Born This Way” (available today) are influenced by Bruce Springsteen. She even had “The Big Man” Clarence Clemons do a guest spot on “Edge of Glory.” The following GaGa quote from an article on Billboard.com is taken from an upcoming MTV documentary, Inside the Outside, airing 5/26:

“Springsteen had such an influence on our home,” she says. “My father gave me, I believe it was for Christmas, a Bruce Springsteen songbook for the piano and on it was ‘Thunder Road,’ which is my favorite Bruce Springsteen song. My dad said, ‘If you learn how to play this song we will take out a loan for a grand piano, a baby grand.’ So I remember it was the hardest thing for me. I was playing these huge (classical) pieces, like 15 pages long, … and then there was this Bruce Springsteen song. I opened up the book and there was like chords, guitar chords. I was so confused. I didn’t understand it, so I just started to read it and eventually, eventually I got it down.” – Lady Gaga Reflects on Springsteen Influence for ‘Inside the Outside’ Doc by Phil Gallo 5/18/2011 Billboard.com

Kip Winger Thursday: The Greatest Kip Winger Story Ever Told!!!

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For those of you who aren’t familiar with Kip Winger Thursday, it’s a day that can alleviate some of the tension from the stresses of the economic crisis, the soaring unemployment rate, and other terrible atrocities. It’s a day when all we have to do is fondly recall the more carefree atmosphere of the days of ’80s hairbands. When the sunset strip was crawling with bands like Motley Crue and Guns N Roses and all was right in the world…well, my world at least. I think Stevie Rachelle said it best “When Def Leppard rocked and Skid Row Ruled,” in his song “American Hairband.” Grunge came in like a lion but it totally went out like a lamb. Nowadays who really cares about grunge anyway? Life is challenging, and depressing as it is so why would we want our music to make us even more angry and morose? Don’t you want to have fun and party?

During last week’s ’80s hard rock extravaganza aptly known as Rocklahoma, party is exactly what they did. For 4 days in Pryor, Oklahoma, fans of the genre relived the hairband glory days. It’s an opportunity to see your favorites from the era, as well as new bands who keep the scene alive like Wildstreet and Bang Camaro. Some of the classic bands that appeared this year were Anthrax, Overkill, RATT, Danger Danger, Kix, Nelson, Lizzy Borden, Skid Row, and Twisted Sister to name a few. The festival has been going on since 2007, and has been building up steam each year. The true fans show up hardcore, front and center for all 4 days! I happen to know one of those fans.

A friend of mine, Elise, wouldn’t miss Rocklahoma for the world. She takes her love of these bands to the next level.

On July 11th, 2009 at 1:04 AM, I received this text message from her:

“I just told Kip about u and KWT!!!!”

Apparently, Kip Winger was hanging out at the show and Elise had the chance to slyly slip in a mention for my ongoing Thursday meme dedicated to Kip Winger. To join in the fun, go to www.twitter.com/sexyarmpit. Kip was even in New Jersey a few weeks back and I had the opportunity to go to the show, but the idea of someone else telling Kip about Kip Winger Thursday felt so much cooler to me, especially coming from a girl who he was clearly digging! A BIG thanks from The Sexy Armpit, Elise!

Also, Bring Back Glam has an abundance of info on Rocklahoma and the reasons why it sucked this year, so head over and check out Allyson’s awesome blog.

The Sexy Armpit’s Guide To The Best KISS Songs You Should Download Part 3

Our KISS saga continues here at The Sexy Armpit.

KISS maintained their polished glam metal musical style with 1984’s Animalize. Although it stood as their highest selling album since ALIVE II and it contains several great tracks, 24 years later this album isn’t their most memorable. What I can’t believe is the fact that at the time it outsold both Creatures and Lick It Up, which are 2 of the very BEST albums that Kiss ever released. The late Mark St. John came into the band replacing Vinnie Vincent. During this time KISS held their own against most of the other dime a dozen “hairbands” out there, even though the KISS Army knew that their favorite band was colossal and shouldn’t be referred to as a “hairband.” It was still a solid effort but my favorite thing about this album wasn’t the music, it was the totally ’80s animal print on the cover. BEST TRACKS: Thrills in the Night, Heaven’s On Fire, Under The Gun, Get All You Can Take

To replace Mark St. John, Kiss welcomed Bruce Kulick to the band. In 1985 Kiss released Asylum which features 2 of the best songs of the “non makeup” era (Tears Are Falling, and Who Wants to Be Lonely) BEST TRACKS: Tears Are Falling, Who Wants To Be Lonely, Uh All Night!, King of The Mountain

With a sugary pop rock title track, Crazy Nights was a huge album for KISS. They continued with their lineup featuring Bruce and Eric, perhaps their strongest lineup musically. As KISS opted to lose their dark, raw, rock roots MTV embraced their videos and Kiss still enjoyed big success 13 years later. Crazy Nights was KISS in full on ’80s pop metal mode. BEST TRACKS: Crazy Crazy Nights, Reason To Live, Turn on the Night

Smashes, Thrashes, and Hits, a “best of” compilation released in ‘88, featured 2 new tracks that I’ve always enjoyed. For some reason they get torn apart by critics and fans on the Internet though. Who cares? Eric Carr also sings vocals on “Beth” on the album. BEST TRACKS: Let’s Put the X in Sex, You Make Me Rock Hard

If you remember anything about Hot in The Shade it could be the Sphinx wearing sunglasses on the cover. Or it could be the fact that Paul Stanley co-wrote the album’s biggest hit, Forever, with Michael Bolton. Even though it’s a little sappy, and it might have been your wedding song, it’s undeniably good. It’s sad to think that it was Eric Carr’s last KISS album when he and Bruce helped unify the band in so many ways. Judging by the maturity of the actual musical compositions and the sound, perhaps not the lyrics, KISS was still fully capable of crafting some excellent rock songs. BEST TRACKS: Hide Your Heart, Rise To It, Forever


It’s possible that the pinnacle of KISS’ career came in ’92 with the release of Revenge. Kiss came full circle as they recaptured their sound but they lost the charismatic and irreplaceable drummer Eric Carr. I miss Eric Carr ’til this day but Eric Singer was and still is a worthy successor. Bob Ezrin returned to co-write and produce and Vinnie Vincent was also on board to co-write a few songs. The music rocked in a serious way. Sure there was a lot of blatant KISS trademark sexuality, but there was also Gene’s return to his “demon” roots with “Unholy.” I always wondered what KISS’ next album would sound like since Revenge seemed to have helped them come to the realization that they were a legendary and still relevant band. From being featured in Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey all the way to one of the bands best ballads, Revenge is a diverse KISS effort and definitely a CLASSIC! BEST TRACKS: Unholy, God Gave Rock ‘n’ Roll To You, Domino, Heart of Chrome, I Just Wanna, Every time I Look At You

I’ll quietly tiptoe over ALIVE III since there’s no new material there unless we count their performance of The Star Spangled Banner. We’ll skip right over to KISS UNPLUGGED, which was the CD released after their acoustic MTV special. This intimate, bare bones KISS show was very meaningful to the band and the fans. We got to see Ace and Peter return to play with the band and at one point Gene, Paul, Bruce, Ace, Peter, and Eric are all up performing on the same stage at the same time. Without rambling too much about how awesome this album is, pick it up for yourself. Kiss Unplugged is as worthy of being called great as ALIVE! is. Even though the songs are performed acoustically, each one sounds perfect. It’s also such a different experience to hear these iconic songs in a stripped down style. If any album of KISS is going to prove their chops it’ll overwhelmingly be this one. BEST TRACKS: I can’t pick just one since they all sound so damn good!

Although it was recorded between 1995 and 1996, Carnival of Souls was finally released in 1997. Let me now defend the incessantly derided COS. It’s late release truly pissed me off but I was lucky enough to have a bootleg for over a year before it was actually released. When I first heard the tracks on the bootleg I almost pissed myself! It featured a dark, grungy, otherworldly hard rock sound that showed KISS venturing into new territory. Even early concept art for the cover of the album seemed fitting and a step forward from the typical KISS cover art. The album had some introspective moments, some hints of sadness, and even requisite anger. Kiss didn’t trust their intuition and held off on releasing the album. Perhaps the record company didn’t think they could compete with the bands of the day like Alice in Chains? When COS was circulating as a bootleg is when it should’ve been released. It was their answer to the shoe-staring grunge era music that ruled the day. The entire band sounds tighter, edgier, and more mature than ever. The lyrics are actually thought provoking, especially on “Childhood’s End,” which was co-written by present day Space Ace, Tommy Thayer. If only this album was released as a follow up to Revenge rather than an afterthought. BEST TRACKS: Hate, Rain, Master and Slave, The Jungle, It Never Goes Away, In the Mirror
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The reunion of the original KISS members spawned an album of new material called Psycho Circus in 1998. IT was great seeing “the band get back together” but at this point being a KISS fan was getting tedious. Just as we were getting used to Eric Carr, he passes away. Bruce Kulick was one of the most talented and longest tenured members of KISS. And now that we have Eric Singer truly making his mark on the band we might as well let both of those guys go to get Ace and Peter back. What a disaster! Psycho Circus was one of the most anticipated comeback albums in rock history and it didn’t live up to it’s potential at all. Of course we have the strong title track and the whole “psycho carnival” theme but there’s not much else going on here. “You Wanted The Best” while a guilty pleasure, is for die hards only since it’s cheesiness is incomparable. The song deals with all of the strife among the original members of the band. Rather than re-inventing the original KISS lineup as a formidable rock gang like they originally intended to be, they opted to ride the “reunion” railroad but they never passed go. They blew the opportunity to build on the creepy vibes given off in the title track. I give more credit to the Bruce/Eric/Eric lineup since for 13 years they were plugging away releasing music that continually improved upon the previous. BEST TRACKS: Psycho Circus, Within, Into the Void, I Pledge Allegiance To The State of Rock & Roll

Thank you for reading and I hope one day KISS will quit releasing “best of” compilations. I wish that Paul Stanley stops saying that fans don’t want to hear “New” KISS music because that’s not true at all. Hey Paul, maybe it’s that you guys are too lazy to make it? Shit, I would be too if I breathed the fumes of thousands of dollar bills all day. KISS needs to return to making the hard rocking tunes they were always known for.