CHAPTER 10 – Tommy
Thayer pre-KISS
10.01. Rules Were Made To Be Broken
10.02. Give ‘Em The
Old 1, 2, 3
The first two Black ‘N Blue
demos to be recorded which had their copyright registered in February 1982.
Both of these demos were recorded while the band were
still based in
10.03. Chains Around Heaven
In 1984 Black ‘N Blue were one of several notable bands to appear on the first
Metal Blade “Metal Massacre” compilations. When released on
Other notable artists on
that debut release included Metallica, Ratt, and Steeler. In terms of
music history Metallica’s recording of “Hit The Lights,” which featured James Hetfield,
Lars Ulrich, and Lloyd Grant, would be the stand out track on the album. The
second printing of the album would include a new version of “Hit The Lights” that included Dave Mustaine
and Ron McGovney in the band’s lineup in place of
Grant. That band would be one of the very few who included material on the
numerous “Metal Massacre” compilations to actually make it in the industry. Ratt included “Tell The World,”
and would be one of the first bands on the original release to find success.
Ron Keel’s pre-Keel band Steeler included “Cold Day In Hell” on the album. Ron would later have two of his own
band’s albums produced by Gene Simmons, though Keel would meet with no better
success than Black ‘N Blue did. Steeler didn’t last,
but Keel nearly had a chance of making it in the mid-1980s. Steeler’s
role in 1980s metal is more as a stepping stone for two of its members, Ron and
guitarist Yngwie J. Malmsteen
(who was not yet a member of the band at the time) who would move on to Alcatrazz (with ex-members of Vinnie Vincent’s pre-KISS
band Warrior) and solo success.
Black ‘N Blue’s contribution
to the album would be a demo recording of “Chains Around
Heaven” which had written by Tommy Thayer and Jamie St. James. It was only
included on the 1984 second printing of the album replacing Steeler’s
“Cold Day In Hell.”
10.04. Violent Kid
10.05. I’m The King
Second batch of Black ‘N
Blue demos that had their copyright registered in April 1982.
10.06. The Strong Will Rock
10.07. Squeeze Me
Final demos recorded by
Black ‘N Blue in
10.08. Violent Kid
Demo recording done at Larabee Studios,
10.09. Sign In Blood
10.10. Wicked Bitch
Recorded
with Don Dokken and Michael Wagener in
10.11. School Of Hard Knocks
10.12. Cold Heart
4-track demos recorded in
10.13. Hold On To 18
10.14. Lifeline
Demos recorded in
“Black ‘N Blue” Album Notes:
Produced
by Dieter Dierks.
Recorded and mixed at Dierks Studios,
10.15. The School Will Rock
10.16. School Of Hard Knocks
10.17. Autoblast
10.18. Hold On To 18
This song would be Black ‘N
Blue’s debut single. A video would be made for promotional purposes.
10.19. Wicked Bitch
10.20. Action
10.21. Show Me The Night
10.22. One For The Money
Tracks 10.19, 10.21 and 10.22 were new tracks written
in late 1983 prior to the band going to
10.23. I’m The King
10.24. Chains Around Heaven
“Without Love” Album Notes:
Recorded
at Little River Studios in
10.25. Rockin’ On
Heaven’s Door
10.26. Without Love
Written in March 1985 by
Jamie St. James, Tommy Thayer, and Jim Vallance, this
song would also be a single from the album.
10.27. Stop The Lighting
10.28. Nature Of The Beach
10.29. Miss Mystery
Written in March 1985 by
Jamie St. James, Tommy Thayer, and Jim Vallance, this
song would be released as a single. Additionally, a promotional video would be
made for the song. When John Kalodner recruited Bruce
Fairbairn to produce the album Bruce would bring in
his friend Jim Vallance to help the band expand the
song-writing.
10.30. Swing Time
Originally the title of the
album, this song would be issued as a single (Geffen 2538) backed with “Rockin’ On Heaven’s Door.”
10.31. Bombastic Plastic
10.32. We Got The Fire
10.33. Strange Things
10.34. Two Wrongs (Don’t Make It Love)
10.35. Same Old Song And Dance
Track 10.35 was a CD only
bonus track, a cover of the Aerosmith classic.
10.36. Lip Lock
10.37. Rock And Roll Animals
10.38. Run, Run
10.39. Sign In Blood
10.40. Summer Heat
Tracks 10.36-10.40 are a
group of demos that had their copyright registered in August 1985.
10.41. Lovin’ Every Minute Of
It (Album)
Both Tommy Thayer and Jamie
St. James sing backing vocals on this Loverboy album,
though the tracks are not specified.
10.42. Jimmy Barnes (Album)
Tommy would appear on Jimmy
Barnes self-titled album (also titled “Working Class Man” in some markets),
playing guitar, in 1985, among a plethora of other guest musicians. Jimmy was
something of a member of the Bryan Adams club in terms of style, but had been
very successful in his native
10.43. Little Miss Dangerous (Album)
Both Tommy Thayer and Jamie
St. James sing backing vocals on this Ted Nugent album, though the tracks are
not specified. Also providing backing vocals is Sandy Slavin,
who’d later be a member of Ace Frehley’s solo band. Ted would later write some
material with Black ‘N Blue, though it would never be
released.
“Nasty, Nasty” Album Notes:
Produced by Gene Simmons
and Jonathan Cain*; Engineered by Mickey Davis; Mixed by Val Garay. Reached #110 on the Billboard
album charts.
10.44. Nasty Nasty
10.45. I Want It All (I Want It Now)
This song was also issued promotionally as a
10.46. Does She Or Doesn’t She
10.47. Kiss Of Death
10.48.
10.49. Do What You Wanna Do
10.50. I’ll Be There For You*
The
sole track on the album written and produced by Jonathan Cain of Journey.
This track would give Black ‘N Blue their first and only top-40 hit as the
record label pushed the band for radio friendly material.
10.51. Rules
10.52. Best In The West
This Black ‘N Blue song is
more notable for the guest appearance of former KISS drummer Peter Criss on
vocals. For futher details, please refer to the Peter
Criss post-KISS section.
10.53. License To
Kill
10.54. Chain Gang Woman
Both 10.53 and 10.54 were
produced by Max Norman. This final full-length Malice album, “License To Kill,” was released in 1987. Jamie St. James, Jeff
Warner, and Tommy Thayer all sing backing vocals on two tracks on the album,
along with Dave Mustaine and Dave Ellefson.
A further connection with Malice, would be the
formation of the band Monster by Black ‘N Blue drummer Pete Holmes and members
of Malice following the demise of their respective bands - not odd since they’d
played in the band Kharma prior to the establishment
of those respective bands.
“In Heat” Album Notes:
Produced by Gene Simmons;
Associate producer: Pat Regan. Recorded and mixed by Dave Wittman.
The final “Black ‘N Blue” album, “In Heat” only managed to reach #133 on the
Billboard album charts when released in 1988.
10.55. Rock On
Written
by Tommy Thayer, Jamie St. James and Gene Simmons.
10.56. Sight For Sore Eyes
Written
by Pat Regan, Jamie St. James, Tommy Thayer, and Gene Simmons.
10.57. Heat It Up! Burn It Out!
Written
by Jamie St. James, Tommy Thayer, and Jeff Warner.
10.58. Suspicious
Written
by Jamie St. James, Tommy Thayer, and Pat Regan.
10.59. The Snake
Written
by Jamie St. James and Tommy Thayer.
10.60. Live It Up
Written
by Jeff Warner, Jamie St. James and Gene Simmons.
10.61. Gimme Your Love
Written
by Jamie St. James, Tommy Thayer, and Adam Mitchell.
Might have been originally called “7 Year Bitch?,” a
song mentioned in Kerrang #156.
10.62. Get Wise To The Rise
10.63. Great Guns Of Fire
Both
written by Jamie St. James and Tommy Thayer.
10.64. Stranger
Written
by Jamie St. James and Gene Simmons.
10.65. Survival
Co-written with legendary
rocker Ted Nugent in 1988, this track would not be used on the album.
10.66. It’s My Life
Producer Gene Simmons would
get Black ‘N Blue to record the unused KISS anthem, though it would not be used
on the final Black ‘N Blue studio album since the band were
apparently unhappy with how the recording turned out.
10.67 Run For The Border
Co-written with Marc
Ferrari this song would take six years to appear on a Marc Ferrari release.
However, the song was recorded by the Japanese band Still Alive for their “No
Reason To Pray” album (1992).
“Doro” Album Notes:
Produced by Gene Simmons;
Associate producers: Tommy Thayer and Pat Regan; Engineered and mixed by Pat
Regan. In 1990 Gene Simmons recruited Tommy to associate produce (with Pat
Regan) former Warlock vocalist Doro’s self-titled album and follow-up to her
solo debut “Force Majeur.” Tommy would provide the
majority of the lead guitar duties on the album with Lanny
Cordola playing on one track, but he would also play
rhythm and acoustic guitars throughout the album. While the album would include
a couple of Simmons’ tracks though he would also have Doro cover Black ‘N
Blue’s “Rock On.” Recorded at Fortress Recorders in
10.68. Unholy Love
10.69. I Had Too Much To Dream
10.70. Rock On
A cover of the Black ‘N
Blue song
10.71. Only You
10.72. I’ll Be Holding On
10.73. Something Wicked This Way Comes
10.74. Rare Diamond
10.75. Broken
10.76. Alive
10.77. Mirage
“
Produced
by
10.78. Chain Reaction
10.79. Silence
10.80. Don’t Say We’re Over
10.81. Empty
10.82. When You Love Someone
10.83. Cry Murder
10.84. No Escape
10.85. Beyond Control
10.86. Pictures
10.87. Edge Of Love
10.88. Four On The Floor
A
song co-written by Tommy and Marc Ferrari that would be recorded by Marc’s then
band Cold Sweat for their album “Break Out.”
10.89. Unknown Tracks
During 1991 Phil Soussan, Tommy Thayer, and vocalist Jeff Scott Soto would
hook up to record some demos. Details concerning this project are currently
unknown.
“Shake The
Faith” Album Notes:
Produced by Cal Curtis and
released on Alfa Brunette Records (
10.90. Anti-Heroes
10.91. Suffocated
10.92. So What
10.93. The Pope’s On Dope
10.94. Crazy Jane
10.95. My Twisted View (MTV)
10.96. Dysfunctional
10.97. Destroyer
10.98. Public Trust
10.99. Weight Of The World
10.100. Medicine Man
10.101. Flying Blind
10.102. Runaway Train
10.103. Long On Love
Three
tracks co-written with Marc Ferrari and released on Marc’s “Medicine Wheel”
project in 1994.
10.104. All Hell’s Broke Loose
Tommy simply contributes
guitar on this track that was released on Marc Ferrari’s “Marc Ferrari &
Friends – Guest List” project in 1995.
10.105. Run For The Border
Six years after being
written by Marc and Tommy this song would finally be released in 1995 on the
“Marc Ferrari & Friends – Guest List” album.
10.106. Blind Faith
Tommy plays guitar and bass
on this track which he co-wrote with Marc. Ron Keel had previously recorded and
released the track with his female backing-band “Fair Game” for the “Bad
Channels” OST in 1991. This would be the final of the three older Thayer
collaborations included on “Guest List.”
“Mayday” album notes:
Produced
by Pat Regan. Recorded in
10.107. N862B
10.108. Ticket 2 Heaven
10.109. You Take My Heart
10.110. Last Chance
10.111. Fool
10.112. Sometimes
10.113. Superstition
10.114. Love Is A
Game
10.115. Sherry’s On Fire
10.116. Music Man
10.117. Friends Or
Lovers
10.118. Soul
Produced
by Sovory. This track would be
co-produced by Mars Lasar. Recorded at Saturn Sound,
10.119. Faraway Eyes
Written by Warrant’s Eric
Turner and Tommy, this song was included on the independent “Hollywood
Underground” album released in 1996 on Ear Candy Records. Eric organized the
project that included numerous guests from many 1980s hair bands including Jeff
Scott Soto, Marc Ferrari, and
“One Live Night” Album Notes:
Produced
by Patrick Regan and Tommy Thayer. Recorded at
10.120. Rockin’ On Heavens Door
10.121. Autoblast
10.122. Hold On To 18
10.123. Does She Or Doesn’t She
10.124. Heat It Up! Burn It Out!
10.125. Without Love
10.126. Miss Mystery
10.127. Violent Kid
10.128. I’ll Be There For You
10.129. Wicked Bitch
10.130. School Of Hard Knocks
10.131. I’m The King
“Live In
Released on Zoom records in
2001 “Black ‘N Blue: Live In Detroit, 1984” would be criticized by many
reviewers as sounding worse than many of the band’s unofficial bootleg concert
recordings.
10.132. Chains Around Heaven
10.133. Action
10.134. Autoblast
10.135. The Strong Will Rock
10.136. Hold On To 18
10.137. Wicked Bitch
10.138. School Of Hard Knocks
10.139. I’m The King
10.140. One For The Mone
“The Demos Remastered
Anthology 1” Album Notes:
Tracks 10.141–10.152 form a
collection of Black ‘N Blue demos initially released by Jamie St. James on Krazy Planet Records. Zoom Club Records would release the
collection in 2001 with different cover art.
10.141. Chains Around Heaven (1981)
10.142. I’m The King (1981)
10.143. Strong Will Rock (1982)
10.144. Squeeze Me (1982)
10.145. Violent Kid (1982)
10.146. Sign In Blood (1983)
10.147. Wicked Bitch (1983)
10.148. School Of Hard Knocks (1983)
10.149. Cold Heart (1983)
10.150. Hold On To 18 (1983)
10.151. Lifeline (1983)
10.152. Autoblast (Live, 1984)
10.153. Good And Evil (1984)
Song recorded for the first Black ‘N Blue album, but
not used.
10.154. Promise The Moon (1986)
Song recorded for “Nasty Nasty,”
but not used.