Garbage Days Revisited #15 (part 1): Michael Monroe - "Whatcha Want?" (2002)

 

"Some self-proclaimed selfish hypocrites lay down their laws and rules to make ya think there's gonna be some great reward for all your suffering some day soon" - Michael Monroe - Right Here Right Now

As you might have guessed from the title, this week's Garbage Days Revisited is a two-parter dealing with Michael Monroe and Hanoi Rocks. As well as being one of my favourite bands, they're also a bit of an oddity in that there were two albums released in 2002, one the group's first reunion album and the other Monroe's final solo album for almost a decade, that probably had an equal share in drawing me into being a fan. So today we'll deal with the latter of these and tomorrow the former. Got that? Okay, good, let's do this.

Similar to the Clash, I think it was probably through the Manic Street Preachers that I first became aware of Hanoi Rocks as Nicky Wire would go on to anyone who'd listen about what a huge influence they were on the early Manics in interviews back in the day. My first encounter with the band was after picking up a budget 2CD compilation of their early stuff called Decadent Delicious Dangerous (I think it was on Castle records). I have to be honest, on my early listens I didn't quite know what to make of it - as someone who'd been brought up on the Wildhearts and Terrorvision, the skeletal stripped-back sound of those early Hanoi albums was something that didn't quite click with me on my first listen. Of course, in time they'd grow to become firm favourites of mine...but let's save that story for when we do part 2 of this article tomorrow.

The story of Hanoi Rocks' sudden end following the death of drummer Razzle thanks to Vince Neil's stupidity has been told many times before and I'll not dwell on it here. After the band broke up in 1985, guitarists Andy McCoy and Nasty Suicide would go on to form the Cherry Bombz with ex-Lords of the New Church and Sham 69 bassist Dave Tregunna and former Toto Coelo (of I Eat Cannibals fame) singer Anita Chellemah. When that fell through after one lacklustre live album, McCoy would go on to a number of projects including the Suicide Twins (again with Nasty in tow as the name suggests) and his early '90s LA band Shooting Gallery which also featured Tregunna and ex-Dogs D'Amour guitarist Jo Dog.

Monroe would go on to a solo career which started out promising with 1987's Nights Are So Long and his biggest selling effort, 1990's Dead, Jail Or Rock 'n' Roll (the title track would give him a minor hit in the States and become his calling card - it also featured Axl Rose, another high profile Hanoi fan, in the vid). However, after that he seemed to start to lose his way a bit, first teaming up with ex-Billy Idol guitarist Steve Stevens to form Jerusalem Slim (similar to the Cherry Bombz, one album which ended up sadly being decidedly less than the sum of its parts) before getting back on track by reuniting with Nasty Suicide and Hanoi bassist Sam Yaffa to form Demolition 23 who put out an absolute stormer of a self-titled album in 1994, equal parts Hanoi, Dolls and Dead Boys and something I'm sure I'd have been all over at the time if I'd actually known it existed.

Thereafter though, Monroe seemed to stall a bit. Demolition 23 would sadly fall apart after that one classic album and his next couple of solo albums (1996's Peace Of Mind and 1999's Life Gets You Dirty) were a bit of a disappointment, lacking the spark of earlier efforts. However, he came up with a storming return to form in 2002 with Whatcha Want which was the first album of his I bought after reading a glowing review in Kerrang!

The album kicks in with a barnstorming take on the old Eddie & The Hot Rods classic Do Anything You Wanna Do which still ranks as one of my favourite cover versions of all time. I mean I like the original as well don't get me wrong but the sheer energy and sky-surfing guitars (courtesy of none other than '80s hair metal perennial Adam Bomb) really take this version up to the next level. With two arse-kicking Monroe originals (the call to arms of Right Here Right Now and the mournful Stranded) and a balls-to-the-wall cover of the UK Subs' Lie Down And Die, it's pretty clear that this is gonna be a white knuckle ride throughout.

The album is split between originals and covers with Monroe turning in thunderous takes on the Dead Boys' What Love Is, the Records' Rumour Sets The Woods Alight, the Boys' Jimmy Brown and X-Ray Spex's Idenity as well as some excellent originals like Life's A Bitch And Then You Live and Shattered Smile. The heartbreaking closing cover of Leonard Cohen's Hey That's No Way To Say Goodbye, dedicated to his late wife Jude Wilder, is a genuine "no, it's just something in my eye" moment as well.

However, following this album Monroe's solo career would quickly be put on hold as he and McCoy would reform Hanoi Rocks (albeit with themselves as the only original members - they would be joined by ex-Electric Boys and Silver Ginger 5 guitarist Conny Bloom and Monroe's solo band's rhythm section of Lacu on drums and Timpa on bass, the latter of whom would soon make way for another former Electric Boys member Andy Christell). A proper comeback album would duly follow just a couple of months later and that's where we'll pick up this story in part 2 tomorrow but essentially it would mean that Whatcha Want would basically end up going on the back burner (interestingly, Hanoi's comeback album would feature a track called Whatcha Want which makes me wonder if the two were recorded alongside each other). However, it definitely deserves investigation as it's basically a high energy rock 'n' roll riot with plenty of great moments on it. Give it a spin and see for yourself.