Wildside

Anyone familiar with this hard rock band? They have a truly fascinating backstory which you can read on their facebook page:https://www.facebook.com/WildSide.OFFICIAL

This is a band that only wasn't succesful due to their album coming out right in the middle of the Grunge uprising.

Yes, I am familiar with them. I like their first album, but their second album is complete crap. Their demo compilation The Wasted Years is also very good. I particularly like their cover of the G&R demo "Crash Diet."

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I like their first album, but their second album is complete crap. Their demo compilation The Wasted Years is also very good.

That's how I feel about each of them as well. "So Far Away" and "How Many Lies" are my favorite songs on the first album.

It's surprising to keep reading in their backstory about how oblivious they were to what grunge was in '92/93 knowing that they would try to make a grunge album just a couple of years later. I guess that explains why it's so terrible though.

With the second album I got the feeling the record company threatened to drop them unless they changed their sound to be more in line with the popular Grunge bands.

There's still one part to the band's story that has yet to be posted on their page, hopefully it will be posted next week and we'll get some insight into why the band released a grunge album and whether they think it's any good or not.

I have gone "tubin'" with them a few times but was never really impressed enough to put down any cash.

Vocalist Drew and bassist Benny apparently have left comments on several Wildside Youtube videos, in one for "Killing Machine" Benny mentioned that he didn't particularly like the grunge direction the band took. They were just caught so off-guard that they didn't know what else to do.

Ah, Wildside. These guys seem to be one of those bands that has such a storied and mythical history that surrounds them, but the actual music doesn't quite live up to the hype. Their Under the Influence album still goes for crazy amounts on the web.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Wildside-Under-The-Influence-1992-12-tracks-HARD-ROCK-MELODIC-ROCK-/121910332417?hash=item1c626c0c01:m:muksTwhbuE_g0P70CuiRlLw

I used to see that one all the damned time in an old used shop I would frequent and never gave 'em a second glance. I think the jailbait cover skeeved me out a bit. If I knew then what I know now...

My cassette tape of the debut suits me fine. I play it occasionally. The demo thang that WF mentioned sounds interesting though. Thumbs up for that Counselor.

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Vocalist Drew and bassist Benny apparently have left comments on several Wildside Youtube videos, in one for "Killing Machine" Benny mentioned that he didn't particularly like the grunge direction the band took. They were just caught so off-guard that they didn't know what else to do.

I think alot of bands were blindsided by Grunge and the way the industry embraced it and just dropped them out of the blue...

Love this band...They have an awesome and very active facebook page where the members  post...
Before they were wildside they were called Young Gunns...Their are a few recordings by Young Gunns available... You can find Wildside's music on Amazon and I see they now have a remastered digital version of the old stuff..

I've heard the name but that's about it.

By the time they came along the hair metal ship had already left port...they got lumped in with all the other bands who showed up too late to the party, i.e. Kik Tracee, Southgang, Sweet F.A., etc.

James B. wrote:

My cassette tape of the debut suits me fine.   I play it occasionally.  The demo thang that WF mentioned sounds interesting though.  Thumbs up for that Counselor.

Fat Freddy wrote:

I've heard the name but that's about it.

By the time they came along the hair metal ship had already left port...they got lumped in with all the other bands who showed up too late to the party, i.e. Kik Tracee, Southgang, Sweet F.A., etc.

Man those are some good bands in that list.  I'd add Child's Play too.



As far as Wildside goes, I sort of agree with MG.  After all the hype I'd heard about the band, when I finally heard some I was like "Meh, they sound like a ton of other bands that came out around the same time".

Some other great forgotten hard rock bands: Tuff, Pretty Boy Floyd, Vain, Love/Hate, Romeo's Daughter, Mammoth, Thunder, Witch, Sea Hags, Salty Dog, Jetboy, the Bang Gang, and Junkyard

More good bands!

This should be its own thread,  "Bands Killed By Grunge" or something.

Speaking of Child's Play, would anyone happen to have their 1993 album "Long Way"? That thing is like crazy rare(its selling for around 200 dollars on Musicstack right now) and i'm not willing to pay an arm and a leg for it, i'll happily settle for a CD-R.

I'm in the same boat.  I thought I had a line on that one on Ebay several years back but I didn't trust the seller (He was from Belarus or something as I recall)


BTW, sorry for derailing your thread...

That's OK, I don't think it's too far off-topic.

I DO have some obscure Junkyard CDs though that were supposedly culled from the Sixes, Sevens and Nines recording sessions if you're interested.

Based on the appearance of the CDs, I think these were already CD-Rs when I got them but I'd be happy to burn a copy. One is called "Joker" and the other is called "XXX"

tohostudios wrote:

I DO have some obscure Junkyard CDs though that were supposedly culled from the Sixes, Sevens and Nines recording sessions if you're interested.

Based on the appearance of the CDs, I think these were already CD-Rs when I got them but I'd be happy to burn a copy. One is called "Joker" and the other is called "XXX"

I'll consider it.

PM me your address if you want a copy.  Based on the scant liner notes these tracks were recorded between January and May of 1992 after the band came off the road supporting Skynyrd.

The notes for the "XXX" album add this:
 

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While we were busy the world shifted.  Grunge hit and the (third) record never came out until now

That Child's Play track was pretty badass, Toho. Don't think I ever heard that band before, I was vaguely aware of 'em back in the day but there were too damn many hair bands out there to keep up with every one of 'em

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Tuff, Pretty Boy Floyd, Vain, Love/Hate, Romeo's Daughter, Mammoth, Thunder, Witch, Sea Hags, Salty Dog, Jetboy, the Bang Gang, and Junkyard

Love me some Love/Hate and Jetboy, but can take or leave most of the others you mentioned.

Bang Gang, Thunder and Junkyard were OK, but the Sea Hags were fuggin' god-awful.

I was at the Sea Hags' big-deal New York City area debut show at L'amour in Brooklyn and we walked out on 'em after about three songs. They were all strung out and it showed, badly... they could barely stand up and it sounded like each guy was playing a different song. Babylon A.D. opened that gig, and they ate the Hags for lunch.

Vexer6 wrote:

Speaking of Child's Play, would anyone happen to have their 1993 album "Long Way"?  That thing is like crazy rare(its selling for around 200 dollars on Musicstack right now) and i'm not willing to pay an arm and a leg for it, i'll happily settle for a CD-R.

I absolutely love the first 2 Jetboy albums and I had Salty Dog on in the car on Saturday.

Fat Freddy wrote:

That Child's Play track was pretty badass, Toho. Don't think I ever heard that band before, I was vaguely aware of 'em back in the day but there were too damn many hair bands out there to keep up with every one of 'em

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Tuff, Pretty Boy Floyd, Vain, Love/Hate, Romeo's Daughter, Mammoth, Thunder, Witch, Sea Hags, Salty Dog, Jetboy, the Bang Gang, and Junkyard

Love me some Love/Hate and Jetboy, but can take or leave most of the others you mentioned.

Bang Gang, Thunder and Junkyard were OK, but the Sea Hags were fuggin' god-awful.

I was at the Sea Hags' big-deal New York City area debut show at L'amour in Brooklyn and we walked out on 'em after about three songs. They were all strung out and it showed, badly... they could barely stand up and it sounded like each guy was playing a different song. Babylon A.D. opened that gig, and they ate the Hags for lunch.

My best friend friggin' loves the Hags and I just can't take the dudes voice and the fact that they were whacked out on smack the whole time. In all seriousness, Keith, you need to write a book. Call it "Tails of Fat Freddy's Cat" or something like that man.

I agree, I never could get into Seahags.

But Love/Hate, Thunder, Jetboy, Junkyard,Kik Tracee, Sweet F.A....

I've got 'em all.