Chad Bowar of About.com recently interviewed very own Eddie Trunk. Portions of the discussion appear below.
Q: Is a second book like a second album, where you have your whole life to do the first one, but only a few months for the second one and a lot more pressure and expectations?
A: That’s a great question. (laughs) Certainly the expectation is there for people who have the first book. The first book was incredibly well-received by most people, more so than I think me or my publisher ever envisioned. All the elements
that people loved about the first book: the layout, the mix of photos versus text, the personal stories, the playlists, all the anecdotes; they are all there. This book is a sequel in the truest sense of the word.
The big difference of course is this one has 35 chapters on bands that were not in the first book. I really wanted to include many of these bands in the first book, but I ran out of space. I hope it lives up to the expectations and the precedent that was set by the first book. Obviously, as you move into another 35 bands, not every one is going to be a household name. But a lot of people are looking forward to reading about some of the more off-the-radar bands. And there’s plenty about established bands, as well.
Q: Was there an artist or artists that people complained weren’t included in the first book that you were able to put in this one?
A: I didn’t really hear from so many people about bands that weren’t in the first book. I did hear from a lot of people about bands that were in the first book that they were kind of surprised about. An example of that would be Bon Jovi. Younger people especially don’t quite understand the connection that Bon Jovi had with this scene when they first came on it. If you’re not my age (I’m 49), you might not understand that they were very much a part of the hard rock/metal scene early on, and have evolved past it. Billy Squier, same story, from book one.
There were a couple of bands that I’m personally very close to that weren’t included in the first book that are in this one. People were like, “I can’t believe you didn’t include Overkill in the first book.” Overkill is a band that I was personally very close to from the beginning, being they were a Jersey band, and they are still friends to this day. One of the guys said, “Jesus, we’ve known this guy for 30 years and didn’t make his book!” (laughs).
It was nothing personal, I love Overkill. But each book has to be a balance between bands I feel are important to include, bands I feel are important to include because of my personal relationship with them, and there are bands that I’m a really big fan of that maybe weren’t ever all that popular, but I want to include. So it’s got to be a balance. Obviously you have to have some name bands in there so that the book sells and enough people recognize the names. Then there are those bands that I love and want to talk about. So I’m happy to say Overkill is in this book, as are Testament, who were a big part of my early years in the music industry. Same with White Lion. I have a huge history with those guys. In this book I was able to include those guys and get their stories out.
Q: One band that’s included in the book that you have championed is Y&T, who I think are very underrated.
A: I’ve always loved Y&T. As a kid I used to go see them at clubs like L’Amours in Brooklyn in the early ‘80s. I’ve seen them so many times over the decades. I think Dave Meniketti is one of the great singers and guitar players who doesn’t get the accolades he should. I was really glad to be able to include them. One of the things that happened with the first book that I hope happens with this book is that you have the big bands that everybody knows like Ratt and Whitenake. But you also have Y&T and Riot and Angel, bands that maybe not everybody knows. That is something I hope people get turned onto through the book. Everything I’ve ever done is about sharing music that I love and maybe getting people to discover stuff they didn’t know about.
Q: Some classify Y&T as “hair metal,” a term you do not like and have talked about on your show. Do you have a problem with it if it’s used as a term of endearment?
A: I’m not the thought police (laughs). I just say how I feel about things. Why I was vocal about that is that mostly younger people that didn’t grow up in the times where these bands were crucified, don’t realize that was born as a derogatory term. It was a statement that was applied to these guys that really hurt them for decades. I had Jake E. Lee on That Metal Show recently, and he said he couldn’t get gigs throughout the ‘90s because every time he’d go in for an audition, bands would say, “There’s that hair metal guy.”
Read more at About.com.
It wasn’t THAT bad of an era, some good music came out of it. Besides everyone was dressing that way at the time, and unfortunately that’s what they had to do to get signed. If you were a new band in the 80’s and trying to get signed and you were too cool to dress that way then you were probably an out of work construction worker while Pearcy and Sixx were touring the world banging all your girlfriends. But did it need to move on? Of course it did, because I don’t think anyone wanted to see Chris Cornell in spandex and lipstick.
Ballard & Child made hooks & riffs for the stuck in a rut songwriting.
YOU, YOU CAN RUN BUT YOU CAN T HIDE. Let s compare THE MOB RULES, DEHUMANIZER, HOLY DIVER and THE LAST IN LINE to oh I don t know SABOTAGE, MASTER OF REALITY, BLACK SABBATH and DIOs best with the SABs HEAVEN AND HELL. Bill Ward is this genre s best ever drummer. No doubt about it. Appice is 10 years younger, that s his edge. Did you see Ward on T.M.S. The guy is a soft spoken gentleman. CLASS, through and through. Appice is good in his own right, but Ward is an immortal. Appice is a guy who can follow up an immortal. The TV show MASH was good but never as good following the departures of Wayne Rogers and Mcclean Stevenson. Black Sabbath is a lot like MASH.
Bill Ward wasn’t a slobbering drunk in ’72 like at the starting gate for the Heaven & Hell Tour. Best ever? Carmine Appice could make Ward look hurtin’ just on his ’79 Rod Stewart tour. Ever hear of Hal Blaine? Ever see Bonham or Moon in concert? I did the same years I saw Ward. No comparison. Rick Rubin never used him for a reason. He can’t play anymore at expectations like millions of dollars at stake. Ask Ozzy.
id prefere to call that phase of 80s metal and hard rock pop metal
Bon Jovi and Poison wrecked this type of music. they and everything after them is horrible. bands like Kix , Wasp, Faster Pussycat, Bullet Boys, early Motley, Ratt all had great alblums early in their careers. another major shift was when Van Halen stopped being a great hard rock band and trying to be like Journey. they were sucsessful at it so with that and Bon Jovi alot of these bands thought that was the way to survive and stay relivent at that time. BTW, All the heavy hitters were also adopting the look. Ozzy, Kiss, Judas Priest. Look at Panteras first alblum. Also Axel Rose is clearly supporting this in welome to the jungle Video
Yup, sadly everybody was doing it. Remember Steve Harris’ black and white striped spandex jumpsuit? I’m not gonna call Steve Harris a poser, are you? At least Maiden made up for it with mummies blasting pyro out of their eyes and Eddie roaming the stage. THAT is how you do a metal show people!