Skid Row Albums – Dominating The Heavy Metal Charts
With five full featured studio Skid Row albums, this heavy metal American band has tasted sweet success in the late 1980s up to the early 1990s. Formed in Toms River, New Jersey the band has sold over 20 million copies of their album. One of the most admirable things that the band achieved is that it took them just three or so years to come out with their first album. This is something that most bands do not experience.
It was Dave "The Snake" Sabo and Rachel Bolan who started the band. Through the years there have been some changes in the line up with the most famous of their former members was Sebastian Bach who was their vocalist back then. Sebastian's departure happened when he tried to get the band to open for KISS. The other members did not like the idea and said that they are too big to be just an opening act. As a result, Sebastian left the band. Their current line up, aside from the two founders, are Rob Hammersmith, Scotti Hill, and Johnny Solinger.
They had a bleak moment with their relationship with Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora. The band signed over their publishing rights to the two, at that time Bon Jovi was looking for new acts to sign up for their new publishing company, Underground Music Company. The band was left with little percentage of their publishing rights. However, some of it was returned to them later on.
'Skid Row' is their debut album and it was released on January 24, 1989 and since become five times platinum record awardee by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). It was able to reach the number 6 spot in the Billboard 200. It was then that demand for their Skid Row merch got started.
'Slave to the Grind' was released on the 11th of June 1991. It was considered a major success for the group as it ranked number 1 on Billboard 200. It was also considered an improvement for their music as it contained heavier lyrics that deals with wider social problems.
'Subhuman Race' is the third of the Skid Row albums and was released on March 28, 1995. It was the last album in which Sebastian Bach recorded with the band. The album was notable for the shift in the band's sound from pure heavy metal to more of an alternative metal sound.
'Thickskin', their next album after almost 10 years since the last, was released on August 5, 2003. It was notable for featuring for the first time their new lead vocalist, Johnny Solinger. But another band member had also left and this time it was Phil Varone.
On October 24, 2006 the band released their latest album to date, the 'Revolutions per Minute'. However, the album was not accepted well by the critics and yet it still enjoyed healthy sales. It was produced by Michael Wagener, the same producer who helped them with 'Slave to the Grind', more or less 15 years ago.
These Skid Row albums, although not all experienced great acceptance and kind words from the critics, still helped the band achieve the popularity they are enjoying today. Their studio albums and band merch are continuously in great demand by their fans who want to have a piece of a great American heavy metal band.