No man is an island, and (almost) no band is without its imitators. Proof positive: the 1980s Los Angeles rock/metal scene, long the scintillating and sometimes scandalous topic of books, documentaries and nostalgic rear-view gazing from those who were there – and those who wished they were. Hearing the siren-call of record deals and fame, not to mention girls and booze by the gallon, Poison were early transplants to the West Coast scene, driving from Pennsylvania to LA in 1983. From the early 80s onwards, imitators, each version paler than the last, flocked to the Strip. The 1986 release and rise of Poison’s Look What the Cat Dragged In inspired another tsunami of hopefuls. So many, in fact, that by the early 90s even many of those who cared most about heavy music were ready to call it: “Grunge killed hair-metal!”
Frankly, by 1991 it deserved to die. The Strip metal scene had been limping along for years, the influx of acts from all across the country proving themselves umpteenth-generation photocopies of the local originators. Thanks to
