Hello,
What bands do you think of when you hear the phrase "hair metal"? The first bands that probably come to mind are Def Leppard, Motley Crue, Guns N' Roses and Bon Jovi. How long until Cinderella comes to mind? If you're like me they are probably about the 6th or 7th hair metal band that comes to mind. I think that is unfortunate as Cinderella had a different sound than those other bands. Not a better or worse sound, just different. Cinderella embraced the blues fully in their music, which set them apart from the more popular bands.
On August 2nd, 1986 Cinderella released their debut CD, "Night Songs". According to the person who maintains this Wikipedia page for Cinderella, they broke out because they were the opening act for Bon Jovi on their "Slippery When Wet" tour. Indeed that may play part of it. However I think there were a few other things working in their favor. 1a) They were in the right place at the right time- they were at the start of the hair metal boom. I remember being in Pegasus Records in the early 80s looking at how well Quiet Riot was selling CDs. I thought how cool it would be if several metal bands could sell a lot of records, never thinking that it would actually happen just a few years later. 1b) Like many other 80s bands, Cinderella took full advantage of MTV. 2) Cinderella did rock, but again it was a different type of rock. Like Led Zeppelin and many other bands before them, they included blues in their sound. That made them intriguing and also much more distinctive.
"Night Songs" has been certified triple platinum, meaning sales of 3,000,000 units. Of course that pales in comparison to the sales of Bon Jovi's "Slippery When Wet" & Def Leppard's "Hysteria". It probably is a lot of the reason that Cinderella doesn't have the durability and influence of those bands. However I challenge you to listen to "Night Songs" and "Long Cold Winter" and not enjoy getting your butt kicked. Long live Cinderella!
Here's the full album of "Night Songs":
1) "Night Songs":
2) "Shake Me" (live):
3) "Nobody's Fool":
4) "Nothin' For Nothin' ":
5) "Once Around The Ride":
6) "Hell on Wheels":
7) "Somebody Save Me":
A live version of the same song:
8) "In From The Outside":
9) "Push, Push":
Live:
10) "Back Home Again": This is a great song in and of itself, it's a nearly perfect album closer.
For those of you wondering where "Don't Know What You Got ('Til It's Gone)"is. That song wasn't released until their second CD "Long Cold Winter". I remember seeing Cinderella in concert after "Long Cold Winter" was released. The whole band put on a hell of a show. But one of the highlights was "Don't Know What You Got". Lead singer Tom Kieffer descended from the Salt Palace's roof, playing a piano and singing that song. That was a very cool moment.
I can't remember which musician had the first so called heavy metal ballad, but once that idea caught hold it seemed every metal band needed their own ballad. Of all the heavy metal ballads I think that "Don't Know What You Got" is among the best.
themusicaddict
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