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Entries in KIX (26)

Saturday
Jun072025

Available Now: 'Young & Wild: A Decade of American Glam Metal 1982-1992'

A three-CD set from Cherry Red Records is now available called Young & Wild: A Decade of American Glam Metal 1982-1992.


The package has 58 songs and includes the bands you would expect (Twisted Sister, Poison) and maybe some acts you wouldn't (Sammy Hagar, Mother Love Bone). The track listing looks basically chronological from when an act got famous and runs through the ten-year span the package covers. Odds are, you already own these songs on multiple formats (I do), but if you want a random mix all in one place, this set could be a good bet. Still, I would have probably chosen other tracks here. Like, I would not have chosen "Don't Close Your Eyes" for KIX nor "Bump And Grind" for David Lee Roth, but that's all personal preference.


The set is $33 bucks on Amazon.


Friday
May022025

Just A Reminder...

Happy Friday! This is just a reminder that musicians don't make (much) money off streams. Buy merch if you can.


If you don't recall, Bob Pare is a former touring guitarist for KIX. He's also a guitarist for Sun Dogs. Check out some of the comments on Bob's post if you can. There are other musicians posting about their digital revenue (or lack thereof )as well. Remember, all the folks we love don't have deep catalogs of stadium songs or hordes of former top hits.


Saturday
Sep212024

'Nothin' But A Good Time: The Uncensored Story of '80s Hair Metal' Part III

"The Final Chapter" is how Nothin' But A Good Time: The Uncensored Story of '80s Hair Metal ends.

There's interviews with Brian Forsythe of KIX (you know I love him), Warren DiMartini, Stevie Rachelle of Tuff and more. This section obviously focuses on the end of the Sunset Strip party, the introduction of grunge to the world and the surprise resurgence of Glam in the early 2000s (this site started in 2006).

Bret Michaels goes over the famous fight he had with C.C. DeVille backstage at the MTV Video Music Awards in 1991 and there's a long look at the drug and alcohol addictions of many bands. Honestly the pre-performance interviews with Bret and C.C. for MTV were cringeworthy because C.C. was so clearly drugged out of his mind. I'm glad the doc included those interviews - the female reporter was frustrated the entire time and getting more so as arguments between the two Poison members raged on.

RATT guitarist DiMartini didn't really want to talk about Robbin Crosby's heroin addiction, but he eventually did and it was pretty heart-wrenching. Fosythe talked about his own addictions, smoking crack ("the worst!"), being arrested and having to get a day job after the party stopped.

My favorite part of this final section of the documentary was Nuno Bettencourt's "Sebastian Bach story." Extreme and Skid Row were on a flight back from playing a gig together. Bach is drunk, the flight attendant cuts him off, he isn't having it and finds more booze... and chaos ensues. There's a fight, a physical interaction with the pilot and an old couple even gets involved. You need to watch just for this story - and the animations - alone, trust me!

Oh and there's a Beavis and Butt-Head Winger section too.

Reflecting on Glam music all these years later - and the rise of grunge - I have pretty much decided that Nirvana didn't kill the scene. The labels killed the scene. Like capitalists often do, they got too greedy and created too many cheap imitations of the real thing, diluted their brand and it all came crashing down.

Hindsight being 20/20, you have to believe big time music execs from that era probably wished they had passed on signing some of the third and fourth tier bands and instead put more energy into the continued creative development of acts like Poison and RATT. The right marketing and songwriting advice could have seen the best bands of the era keep right on plugging with big songs and videos all through the 90s. Instead, the baby was thrown out with the bath water and it was time to chase the latest new trend. Still, remember this: glam had more than a decade and true grunge basically had less than five years. I said what I said.


[RELATED: Part two recap and review]

Tuesday
Jun112024

Brian Forsythe On 'All Access Live' Tonight

KIX guitarist Brian Forsythe will be on the All Access Live with Kevin Rankin podcast tonight. You can watch on YouTube starting at 7 PM EDT. The YouTube is below.

The show teaser promises stories from Brian's KIX days and an explanation as to why the band decided to call it quits and more.



Wednesday
Jun052024

Ronnie Younkins Launches New Facebook; Teases New Music

Ronnie '10/10' Younkins of KIX seems to be doing a lot better these days. He has had a long fight for sobriety and it seems like he is in a good place now. Ronnie just launched a new Facebook and he is teasing new music too. Anything in the style of Aerosmith Rocks is going to be a winner in my book!



Wednesday
Oct042023

2023 Record Store Day 'Black Friday' Releases Announced

Record Store Day happens in April and also "Black Friday" in America. That's the day after Thanksgiving and the traditional start to the holiday shopping season.

There's some good stuff on the list this year including KIX, L.A. Guns and Skid Row. I am going for the special re-release of Kix Cool Kids. The Skid Row is a pressing of the cover album B-Side Ourselves originally released in 1992.

The L.A. Guns release is Live in Boston 1989. This previously unreleased live album features the band's classic lineup as well as track like "One More Reason," "Rip And Tear" and "Electric Gypsy."

See all of the Black Friday Record Store Day releases below.


Monday
Sep182023

Some Amazing KIX Final Show Videos

Truly the end of an era.


KIX performed their farewell show last night at Merriweather Post Pavilion near Baltimore, Maryland. As expected, former guitarist Ronnie Younkins joined the band on stage for some songs as did Brad Divens, who also once played guitar with the group. Now KIXchix has to tell us why he chose that screen name!


This clip shows the crowd on the lawn - it was rainy and still a ton of folks showed up!



Here's the band on stage and leaving for the last time.



A photo gallery too!