Take Me to the Top

Can new bands like Vains of Jenna, Crashdiet or even Lynam survive?

I talk a lot about the newest Glam talent coming from Sweden. I also talk a lot about newer American hard rock bands...but the question that always remains in the back of my mind is "can they make it?"

Think about this: the summer concert season is now officially underway. Just about every tour I can think of features a legacy rock act. Think about it: Poison, Motley Crue, Cinderella, Warrant, Alice Cooper...hell, even Ringo Starr and his All-Star band are hitting the road in the next three months. In each instance, all the bands have been around for, well, decades. Moreover, fans often complain at the quality of these performances. Just read comments on the slew of music message boards on the Internet to confirm my assertion. People say Vince Neil skips every other word during Motley shows and Tom Keifer can't hit the high notes...and C.C. still can't play guitar and you get the point. Yet, each summer, these are the only tours that make money. Truly a baffling business model.  

 
At least this summer Lynam opens for Lynch Mob, Warrant and Cinderella. It's great for Lynam to be a part of the package and I hope some more people learn to love that band as much as I do. Still...is it fair for new acts to always be relegated to playing at 6 p.m. instead of the headline spot? I don't think so.

Think about every major festival this year. It doesn't matter if you prefer really heavy metal and are therefore heading to Wacken Open Air or love Glam so you're going to Sweden Rock or Rocklahoma - in every instance, legacy acts make up most of the bill. Sure, there are two new bands - Avenged Sevenfold and Bullet for My Valentine - that are now starting to break into headlining spots at major festivals. During the recent Taste of Chaos tour, Avenged Sevenfold acted as the headliner and all the other bands were newer talent.

Still, the biggest grossing tours of each year are always legacy acts like the Rolling Stones or Madonna. Vains of Jenna toured with Poison last year and it didn't gain them any headlining arena shows for this summer. Come to think of it I haven't seen VOJ live since last summer. 

I know the music business is an angry mistress. It's hard to break and even harder to break big. I'm not sure I'm looking forward to the day that Motley Crue is no longer a headliner BUT I do think some new talent needs a chance at the top. Just my two cents. Thoughts?

Comments

[Joe]

I remember when I was a kid you always had the chance to see a new upcoming band open for a headliner then (for example Motley Crue opening for ozzy)..Judas Priest taking Iron Maiden on tour..I wish the big headlining bands would take more of the newer acts out and introduce them to the world..I hope to see Crash Diet over here soon.

[NikkeSixx]

There are only a few bands that could make it in my opinion. Crashdiet, Bullet For My Valentine, Trivium and hopefully Cinder Road ( saw them opening for Kiss, AWESOME! got to talk with the guitarist and basist after the show) Haven't heard Lynam but i don't think VOJ will make it.

[Xavier]

I think the problem for those new acts to make it bigger is not the concerts, but the fact that still is so hard for those bands to get their singles as hits on radio stations and TV music chanels, even though glam is experiencing a kind of new come back, still we are far from the hey days, when you could see Cinderella, Posion, Motley Crue, Warrant, etc...all day long on MTV and all over the radio waves...and thats why those bands have now still such a great number of followers...if anything has to change, we need the new singles of glam bands again all over the radio waves and their videos all over the TV chanels...then will come the headlining shows !!

[Pat]

What time of the day were Motley on at the US Festival? Certainly before Ozzy and Van Halen. It's up to these new bands to upstage their superiors; I can't imagine it has ever been easy for new bands to make it (with the exception of the late 1980s..). New guys - much like the older bands still living off their past success - have to escape their comfort zone in order to achieve something more.

[GG ALLAN]

LYNAM blows. They were horrible on the Motley Cruise and only have 3 guys in the band.

The only bands that have the look and songs to make it are: Miss Crazy, Blacklist Union, Crashdiet. Hardcore Superstar, Gemini Five, Loud n Nasty, Danger, Sister, Damaged Dolls, Crazy Lixx.

But most of these already made it in Sweden and they don't have an American Label.

Hell, BIG COCK can't even get any EXPOSURE!

[MotleyCrue666]

I think there is only a couple bands that have a chance of making because of the buzz around them.

5. Dirty Penny - they have all the Rocklahoma people talking about them

4. Lynam - Really talented and playing to hundreds of people in the home state Alabama and going on tour with Cinderelle and Warrant and Lynch Mob.

3. EndeverafteR - They are EXTREMELEY TALENTED! They know how to play their instruments and have people talkin' about there new video baby *3. Opened for Kiss, Poison, Cinderella, and many more.

2. Hardcore Superstar - They have basically made it in Eurpoe and Japan selling semi-large theatres and bigger everynight. Nominated for Swedish Grammy's and Swedish Metal Awards. They have been around a while opening for AC/DC and many more. They are have a specific sound and they simply ROCK!

1. Crashdiet - Every glam fan knows them they have had big problems (R.I.S. dave Leppard) but are back and bigger than ever with songs like Falling Rain and In The Raw. They were already selling out small theatres with Dave Leppard and have had a succesful tour with Hardcore Superstar through Euprope, Asia, and Australlia and more. Soon they will come to America and they will bring metal back where it belongs, no doubt about it!

[Randy]

The problem is lack of airplay. Bands in the 80's had the luxury of MTV. New bands don't have that today. They can tour, and tour, and tour, but that's not gonna do it. Hell, at the Poison show last year, the place was practically empty for VOJ. My wife and I met this girl who was going crazy for them. She was excited that someone else had even heard of them. I love 'em. I bought the import version of the album at least six months before Bam released it here.
Backyard Babies, and Hardcore Superstar could be huge here, but BB has barely toured here, while HS has completely ignored the U.S. Then again, why tour it if your albums aren't released here? It doesn't make business sense.
Labels complain about declining album sales, yet they release shit like Lindsay Lohan, Ashley Simpson, Paris Hilton, and the rest of the Britneys, instead of releasing real bands and building careers of real musicians.

[Bonnie]

Avenged Sevenfold aren't really all that new, in my opinion. They're not an "old band" like Motley Crue, but I think the true NEW acts are bands like VOJ, Dirty Penny, the Pistoleros, etcetera etcetera. That's not what I came here to say, though, so I'll move on.


I don't get it. I thought part of being a new band WAS being "the opener". Isn't it what they call, um, **PAYING YOUR DUES**? Sure, it would be nice if a new band could get a headlining spot and more exposure, but that's just not how it goes. If they WANT to be the featured band, they have to WORK FOR IT.


(And personally, I don't think that "A7X" and that Bullet band are even really glam anyway. Metal, sure, but not glam/hair metal. My younger sister went to Taste Of Chaos, and none of the other bands playing on that tour were glam either. But whatever, it's not my blog.)

[Kenny Ozz]

How can GG ALLAN trash Lynam and them praise Blacklist Union? He sounds confused. Ive seen BU twice and was thoroughly unimpressed.

[Chey]

I did notice that Vince Neil does that when he sings live. Its kinda wierd. i think its a recent thing. I don't remember him doing that when i saw them in 2006 with Aerosmith.

[Inknsleaze]

hmm.. I think the bands will maintain their gritty tough street sound when they stay underground..

Maybe the music will stay raw when the have to actually do something for the music..

but that's my opinion