Nelson: were they any good?

Yeah that creepy dog cover one was always in the used bins.

I just discovered that they have a collection of early demos called Before The Rain and they are free for Amazon Prime customers. I listened to a couple of songs and the difference between the demos and the finished product is striking. They had a gritty, tough sound before Geffen got a hold of them. You'd be surprised at what they sound like and how heavy they were.

Oh wait, I was lying. The demos are virtually indistinguishable from the album versions. These guys were always soft serve to the core.

Witchfinder wrote:

These guys were always soft serve to the core.

When you come from this background...


...The Nelson brothers looked like Slayer in comparison.

MetalGuy71 wrote:

Witchfinder wrote:

These guys were always soft serve to the core.

When you come from this background...


...The Nelson brothers looked like Slayer in comparison.

Well their Dad was loaded up with drugs when he was killed in a plane crash. That's a pretty hardcore way to go.

Their early demos were very reminiscent of stuff like SARCAFAGO and HELLHAMMER but then they got an A&R rep and a record contract and they began alienating their fan base.

Strong, melodic AOR band. Good hooks, excellent vocal harmonies. About as dangerous as Dora The Explorer at a One Direction concert.

I hated them and I still hate them.

I had no idea the Olsen twins had been around so long!

manny wrote:

I hated them and I still hate them.

They weren't significant enough to even waste the effort of hating them. I just ignored them.

Re: That "peace out" album cover. Anyone else reminded of "The Pros and Cons of Hitchhiking"? Ok, its not the same thing, but they both have a naked girl shown from behind walking down the road.

Temple of Blood wrote:

Their early demos were very reminiscent of stuff like SARCAFAGO and HELLHAMMER but then they got an A&R rep and a record contract and they began alienating their fan base.

They were on the Monsters of Rock Cruise a couple of years ago.  I went up to one of them and said, "Lita Ford - I have always loved you"!  Turned out it actually was not either one of them but some sidekick/intern/whatever.  I drink a lot.

Their first couple were kinda ok but Lighting Strikes Twice is fantastic.

I can see they ain't nobody's favorite, but I for one have always loved well polished hard rock 'n roll. Nothing
special, but I dig it. Those two guys look like pimples you just can't squeeze!

They were good... for what they were, AOR/pop rock. They weren't supposed to be balls to the wall metal and as far as I know was never advertised as such. As a kid growing up in the 80s, I loved this kind of music. Super macho-ism wasn't really a concern for me when it came to music. Good melody and memorability was all that was required and they delivered. Not surprised they don't have much love here as most members were teenagers (hormone heavy male teenagers to be exact) during Nelson's run. I'm sure they felt about Nelson the way I thought about boy bands when I was a teenager (though give Nelson some credit, they wrote their own music and IMO had more balls than Backdoor Boys or N'suck). However, despite the hate their getting here, I'm sure they were crying all the way to the bank .

It didnt help that they came out at a time when hard rock was at its lightest (1990). I like many of the lighter hair bands like Firehouse and Warrant and Winger and the like, but they made stuff like Keel sound like Testament by comparison. When it comes to the "hair bands", i much prefer the stuff that came out between 82-86 where it at least sounded like metal (granted, 1986 is when Bon Jovi broke out, and you had lighter stuff like Autograph and Night Ranger before that, but the point remains).

Quote :

They were good... for what they were, AOR/pop rock. They weren't supposed to be balls to the wall metal and as far as I know was never advertised as such.

This

S.D. wrote:

manny wrote:

I hated them and I still hate them.

They weren't significant enough to even waste the effort of hating them.  I just ignored them.

Ditto

Here's the new single, 'Rockstar', from Nelson's latest release to determine whether Nelson is the band for you...

Not bad!

Hadley wrote:

Not bad!

Yea, I thought so too. Better than I expected anyway. Without all the pressure of a big record label, these guys can put out some decent tunes on their own. Go figure.

It's ok. Better than expected.

First thing I heard when the song started........LOVERBOY! lol

DallasBlack wrote:

They were good... for what they were, AOR/pop rock. They weren't supposed to be balls to the wall metal and as far as I know was never advertised as such. As a kid growing up in the 80s, I loved this kind of music. Super macho-ism wasn't really a concern for me when it came to music. Good melody and memorability was all that was required and they delivered. Not surprised they don't have much love here as most members were teenagers (hormone heavy male teenagers to be exact) during Nelson's run. I'm sure they felt about Nelson the way I thought about boy bands when I was a teenager (though give Nelson some credit, they wrote their own music and IMO had more balls than Backdoor Boys or N'suck). However, despite the hate their getting here, I'm sure they were crying all the way to the bank .

Even though they were never even remotely close to metal, they were (unfortunately) labeled a metal act by some sources, perhaps the softest band along with Bon Jovi I can think of ever got marketed as a metal band. I can understand where a lot of bands who received the metal label in error got the label, but why Nelson ever got considered a metal band is beyond me.