Great Metal Albums of 1984: Great White

Going back to the debut album by American metal band, Great White, after so many many years, I feel that I owe them a small apology. I did enjoy their debut quite a lot back in 1984, but it quickly got pushed aside when albums from more established bands came my way. Therefore, the album didn’t get the respect from me it deserved. This was the main reason why they didn’t get too much mention in “Rock and Roll Children.” In fact, their main mention in the book was probably my first mistake when I wrote the book. In the story and in real life, Great White supported the mighty Judas Priest on tour. This was the first concert I write about in the book and the one I knew least about. I didn’t go and could only glean bits and pieces from people who did. So it wasn’t the best idea to have the first concert one I knew very little about.

Now onto the album. Like I said, I may have discarded this album too soon in favour of others because I now realize just how good it was. However, in order to fully appreciate it, one should mentally drift back to 1984. Back then, I found the tracks “Out of the Night” and “Bad Boys” to be typical of the time metal tunes. Both songs are done well but they are about being bad and things like sex and music. Listening today, I would not be surprised if anyone thought it was all done before with them. The same could be said for “Down On Your Knees.” I wonder if they were influenced by AC/DC here but Mark Kendall hammers a cool guitar solo on it. It doesn’t matter because I like them anyway and there are better songs between them. “Stick It” has a really cool opening metal riff and just kicks ass throughout, definitely my favourite song on the album.

Many people might not think so but I really like their cover of The Who’s “Substitute.” I think what I like about it the most is how they alter the lyrics to make it more metal.

“I can see your pants are made of leather”

and

“I can see right through your Satan crap.” 

Great stuff and well played too. “Streetkiller” is a good, hard, in your face metal tune. “No Better Than Hell” starts in similar fashion but slows down into a more melodic rocker but the hard chords with the chorus still makes its mark. “Hold On” goes the other way. It’s hard in the meat of the verses but goes more melodic for the chorus. Still, its a nice switch up. “Nightmares” starts with one of those tunes designed to help babies sleep before going into a metal frenzy. That’s also what the song is about. Maybe I should start playing it every Halloween. That takes things to the closing song, “Dead End,” which is definitely the best track to end the album on because everything that has gone on before all comes together perfectly here.

Track Listing:

  1. Out of the Night
  2. Stick It
  3. Substitute
  4. Bad Boys
  5. Down On Your Knees
  6. Streetkiller
  7. No Better Than Hell
  8. Hold On
  9. Nightmares
  10. Dead End

Jack Russell- lead and backing vocals

Mark Kendall- guitar, backing vocals

Lorne Black- bass, backing vocals

Gary Holland- drums, backing vocals

Maybe if I listened to Great White’s debut album more, EMI wouldn’t have dropped the band due to its lack of success and the band wouldn’t have opted for a more bluesy direction in later albums. Because from what is on here, they could play metal well.

Next post: I thought I’d best keep with the flow I started above so it will be, Judas Priest- Defenders of the Faith

To buy Rock and Roll Children, go to: https://spread-luv.ga/info/kindle-free-e-books-rock-and-roll-children-by-michael-d-lefevre-9781609763558-pdf.html

 

 

 

18 Responses to “Great Metal Albums of 1984: Great White”

  1. They have one song I like and I should probably visit more.

    Liked by 2 people

  2. As is the case with many of the bands of the day, they have split into Great White and Jack Russell’s Great White.
    I saw the Jack Russell version a few years ago at a fair. They were good, but it was sad to see how far they had fallen from their peak.

    Liked by 1 person

  3. What a great write up. I didn’t know Great White until Recovery but this has piqued my interest. I was a fan for quite a long time so it’s great to know there’s other stuff out there

    Thanks Man

    SFTD

    Liked by 1 person

  4. Unfortunately the band may be best know for the awful Station nightclub fire.

    Liked by 1 person

  5. My buddy had this one.. I’m with you as 1984 so much tunes came out that some stuff got missed or in this case got skipped and dropped like Great White….
    They had pretty good run….but all these groups that splinter into other acts gets real tiring but these guys I guess have to you or it will be a case of “Would you like Fries with your order sir?”

    Liked by 1 person

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