This was an amazing album when it was released, alongside other well performed hair metal albums of 1989 such as Motley Crue's Dr Feelgood and Alice Cooper's Trash. But even though Skid Row was a debut album from the band, it more than holds it own against these established acts. The music is energetic and bouncy, the guitars squealing in all of the right places, and Sebastian Bach's high energy vocals make every song sound exciting. It comes out rocking hard from the start, the rock guitar riff of "Big Guns" extending into the fast paced "Sweet Little Sister". One thing Skid Row have done well here are repeatable and singable choruses, ones that everyone knows and can sing along to. The rhythm section on all of these songs is magnificent. Each song has its own timing and beat, which (while you are singing along) you can't help but find yourself banging away on the desk or table or knees in time. Rob Affuso's drumming is clean and clinical and lends itself to this kind of air drumming. I find this especially so in "Rattlesnake Shake" and of course "Youth Gone Wild", great songs to drum along to.
"Can't Stand the Heartache" is a mid-tempo song that transitions between the heavier and lighter songs. "Piece of Me", "Here I Am" and "Makin' a Mess" are great heavy songs, Seb's spitting lyrics wailing through over great guitar work. The closing song "Midnight" is awesome, perhaps a real insight as to what was to come on the band's follow up album a couple of years later.
The main winners on the album for the band in regards to radio play and singles sold are the two power ballads, "18 and Life" and "I Remember You", which dominated the airwaves during their release. Now as most of you who read my reviews are aware, I am no lover of power ballads. They invoke themselves to becoming a part of the hair metal and power metal genres, but unless they can bring something worthwhile to the table I believe all they do is suck the momentum and life out of an album at an inopportune time, and can damage said album irreparably. On Skid Row however, that is not (totally) the case. Both of these songs are driven dramatically by Seb Bach's amazing vocals, in such a way that you can't help but like the songs, and also sing along. "18 and Life" is not really a ballad in the sense of the word or in the way it is written anyway, but it is drafted into that category by many. It fits in nicely with the whole flow of the album. "I Remember You" is certainly a power ballad, but again it is performed so well vocally that it doesn't feel like a ballad. Bach's efforts on this song are sensational, and help to offset any sense of imbalance with the rest of the album.
I can totally understand if kids in 2013 put this album on and just want to tear shreds off it. It is most definitely tied to its era, when hair metal like the bands I've already mentioned alongside others such as Ratt and L.A Guns and W.A.S.P. were at their peak. Could a teenager in 2013 really get this? I was 19 when this was released, and it was one of those albums that really spoke to my youth and to my future, and as a result it will always be a part of my makeup. It could turn misery to joyousness in 40 minutes just by listening to it, and albums like that are very special. Too bad if you might sneer at a 44 year old jumping around the lounge room, singing "Youth Gone Wild" at the top of his lungs to his own kids. These songs still have this same meaning to me now, as much as Alice Cooper's "School's Out" and "Department of Youth" still do. While those that didn't grow up with this album might find it average or uninspiring, I can assure you that for me, and others like me, that it is still one of the best albums of our youth, and invokes the same joy today as it did all those years ago.
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