The Hair Metal Files: Vain
Personnel:
Davy Vain- vocals
Danny West- guitar
James Scott- guitar
Ashley Mitchell- bass
Tom Rickard- drums
If you spend a certain amount of time in the hair metal underground, you hear this sentence a lot: “(insert band here) should have been huge.” Once you get past the Poisons and the Mötley Crües and the RATTs, there is only one place to go, obscure. You join a few message boards and get turned onto some of the second tier bands: Faster Pussycat, L.A. Guns, and Britny Fox. You like them too, so you eventually get even more obscure. You find yourself going even deeper, listening to Dangerous Toyz, Bang Tango, Tuff and Pretty Boy Floyd. Once you start dropping Spread Eagle references in casual conversation, there’s no going back.
I know this, because I was an active member of this underground. I engaged in arguments about which band had the superior version of “Toast of the Town,” Mötley Crüe or Pretty Boy Floyd. I discussed the merit of Dokken post-George Lynch. But most of all, I listened to obscure bands who should have been huge. Tyketto, Shark Island, Bang Gang, Southgang, and Slik Toxic all had their supporters. In my opinion, that sentence only applied to one band.
Four months into my tenure at the Poison message board, my friend Thom asked me if I’d heard Vain.
“I’ve heard of them.”
“Dude, you need to get a hold of that record. They are amazing.”
Vain only released one album on a major label, No Respect. It had been out of print for over a decade and was one of the most sought after records on the Aqua-Net market. A used copy on CD could fetch $100, and that was on the cheap end of the spectrum. Like Leather Boyz With Electric Toyz, I had to settle for a cassette. After listening to it for a day, I made a copy so it wouldn’t wear out.
The thing that sets No Respect apart from dozens of other hair metal records is its immediacy. The opening track of nearly every hair metal record is a slow build. The build lasts for about a minute before the band enters full-on rawk mode. Vain doesn’t have time for such indulgence. Danny West plays the riff for “Secrets” for two seconds before the band comes roaring in. Except for a couple ballads, Vain never stops.
The crux of the hair metal scene was the Sunset Strip, but Vain came from San Francisco. Thrash metal was born there, and the heavier sound is reflected in No Respect. In fact, lead singer Davy Vain produced Death Angel’s second (and equally underrated) record, The Ultra-Violence. Davy Vain is an anomaly among hair metal singers. He never screams, nor does he use a fake punk or blues affectation. His voice slithers like a snake, with a rich vibrato. His voice oozes sex, which is appropriate because every song on No Respect deals with sex. However, the Vain boys aren’t having fun with their sexual escapades. There is an underlying current of paranoia on No Respect. The album’s lead single, “Beat the Bullet,” is about sexually transmitted diseases. This is territory that the average hair metal band never crossed. In Davy Vain’s world, sex has very real consequences. Another interesting thing about No Respect is the lack of profanity. Davy’s mouth is clean throughout the entire album, until “Aces,” when he proclaims that he is a “bad motherfucker.” He uses the word so sparingly that it doesn’t lose its visceral power.
No Respect is not just the Davy Vain show. Guitarists Danny West and James Scott play their asses off throughout the entire record, creating intricate tandem leads. They never succumb to the clichés of hair metal. It’s almost like they are Thin Lizzy with two-hand tapping. Ashley Mitchell and Scott Rickard hold it all together. Rickard isn’t a technical drummer, but like Steven Adler, he’s got feel.
In a just world, Vain would have been on the same level as Guns n’ Roses. Unfortunately, Island Records had no idea how to handle them. They managed to open for Skid Row on a tour of the UK, but never quite broke through in the states. By the time they were ready to release their second record, All Those Strangers, they had been dropped. Vain continues to make albums to this day, and while all of them have their moments, No Respect is their masterpiece. This video is just a small taste of their power.
Recommended Listening: If you are a fan hair metal or hard rock in general, you need to own a copy of No Respect. Fortunately, it’s back in print, so now you can score a copy without breaking the bank.
