Ecstasy... such a wasted radio hit!?

[PinkWiz]

goosebump inducing... especially the solo! such a killer songwriter... would've been a perfect song to use in a movie as the credits roll at the end.


[youtube][/youtube]

[Genebaby]

There were a LOT of potential radio hits on ASG. That Time Of Year should have been massive. The music, the lyrics, the playing is all goose bump inducing and worthy of wider acclaim.

My sister likes the ASG album after hearing it blasted so many times when we were younger.

[poserboy71]

Everyone wasted Vinnie's talent ... ...including himself.

[erg2]

That Time Of Year should've been a huge radio and video hit at the time.
I think at that point Chrysalis had figured out Vinnie and was trying to get out of the Vinnie Vincent business. That album barely got promoted.

[PinkWiz]

That Time Of Year should've been a huge radio and video hit at the time.
I think at that point Chrysalis had figured out Vinnie and was trying to get out of the Vinnie Vincent business. That album barely got promoted.

Yeah, Chrysalis promoting the That Time Of Year video as "The Vinnie Vincent Invasion featuring Mark Slaughter" kinda hinted at what they were up to...

[erg2]

To be honest, I didn't know they did a video for that time of year. I just remember the Love Kills "featuring Mark Slaughter" and sitting through that entire Elm Street movie and not even hearing the song!

[reneroxx]

OkAY really,mm that time of year i cant remeber if says featuring mark slaughter,but ectasy that song i love it the voice of mark slaughter is like an angel oh hell i finish dead why this song never have a video ? mm all the songs of the all systems go they need a video.
I picture a video from burn and oh shit rocks my mind i dream make a machine of time for say to them my ideas

[myvryn]

Funny. I had a friend who was a HUGE Slaughter fan. She was shocked when I told her that he used to sing for Vinnie Vincent; she was even more shocked when I told her that he sang so much better. She didn't believe me, of course, and went on and on about how good "Fly to the Angels" was.

So I played Ecstasy for her, followed immediately by Fly to the Angels. Her reaction. "Oh well, that's a different version of Fly to the Angels. That must be a live version or something." Then I showed her the disc was actually "Stick it To Ya." I had played the album version.

Vinnie was such a good song writer and got the most out of the people that he surrounded himself with. Mark's voice hasn't been matched since ASG.

[erg2]

Mark's voice hasn't been matched since ASG.

And if Youtube is any indication, it's only gotten worse with age...much, much, much worse...

[PinkWiz]

So true... the only album I can tolerate Mark's voice on is ASG. The Slaughter albums are just fukn brutal... I've said it before, I don't care how many "hits" they had, they just sounded second rate and elementary compared to Vinnie's songwriting. Especially with Mark's falsetto whine over the top of it... ugh!

[poserboy71]

Vinnie could've refused to record the album. Fuck him !!!

[erg2]

Vinnie tends to blame other people for his failures, but if he had taken more charge of his career at the time:

- he could've stood up for Robert Fleischman and made sure he stayed in the band when the first album came out.

- he could've stood up for his belief and NOT allowed Mark Slaughter into his band as the singer, if you believe his current stance that he never wanted him.

[PinkWiz]

I actually believe Vinnie about not really wanting Mark in the band. I think Dana probably pushed for that and all Vinnie felt after letting Robert go was regret and that's why the band split so fast. At the time it seemed Vinnie just wanted to satisfy Chrysalis so he went along with Mark... but yes ultimately it was still Vinnie's fault for treating Robert the same way KISS treated him.

[AshesToAshes]

I've always wondered why Ecstasy and That Time of Year weren't really popular among fans of ballads and slow songs in the late 1980's. They should've been huge! I agree with everyone, both of these songs give me goosebumps every time I hear them. And Mark's voice was the best it's ever been. It's a shame Vinnie threw everything away...

[erg2]

... but yes ultimately it was still Vinnie's fault for treating Robert the same way KISS treated him.

I agree that there was probably a LOT of pressure from people and business surrounding him to just go with Slaughter, but for a guy that yelled so much about how poorly he was treated by KISS and how he had to leave KISS to fulfill his artistic dreams then he kinda pussed out on everything he stood for by not sticking with the singer he felt was best for his vision.

Either that or he's a hypocrite...or completely full of shit.

[poserboy71]

Full of shit.

[erg2]

Full of shit.

It would certainly seem that way.

[reneroxx]

mmmmmmmmmmmmm punto de vista thats a ral ecstasy i love the opinions ,as women who i am i think i like to hear avantasia with vinnie in guitar

[doublev2]

That said the videos were not cheap ones and the label did out out a lot of national ads. They obviously didn't lobby mtv too much but they got him on the ball and the nightmare thing. I think chrysalis didn't do too bad now I think of it... I think the love kills video came out just when the band split. That time of t
Year only got one play on the ball while they were still a band , which was when vv hosted. I don't understand why it got so lost.

[gonnarock]

Funny. I had a friend who was a HUGE Slaughter fan. She was shocked when I told her that he used to sing for Vinnie Vincent; she was even more shocked when I told her that he sang so much better. She didn't believe me, of course, and went on and on about how good "Fly to the Angels" was.

So I played Ecstasy for her, followed immediately by Fly to the Angels. Her reaction. "Oh well, that's a different version of Fly to the Angels. That must be a live version or something." Then I showed her the disc was actually "Stick it To Ya." I had played the album version.

Vinnie was such a good song writer and got the most out of the people that he surrounded himself with. Mark's voice hasn't been matched since ASG.

I got into Mark's singing from listening to his recording with the VVI and I was actually surprised at the difference of his voice from band to band.

I do agree that his vocals were better with the VVI. I think that when Mark was working with Vinnie his vocal ability was better utilized. Mostly because of the way that Vinnie wrote the songs. Maybe because he was a great singer himself, he could understand how to get the most out of a person's voice.

[Genebaby]

Vinnie certainly did well with Robert too. I love his work on the songs on the first album.

[erg2]

Fleishman's vocals on the first album are some of the best hard rock vocals I think I have ever heard.

[gonnarock]

I do like Robert's voice too. I guess I do tend to forget about him sometimes because his image wasn't put forward as much. But for giving credit where credit is due, Robert's vocals were amazing and maybe even better than Mark's vocals sometimes. His lower range I think was stronger.

[Brooklyn_Born]

Fleischman wins hands down, better vocalist, better range...Slaughter just looked better, he suited the glam image...

[Genebaby]

Plus Mark was young and hungry, therefore more willing to be molded by Vinnie.

[gonnarock]

Plus Mark was young and hungry, therefore more willing to be molded by Vinnie.

Very good point! And also Mark's overall personality comes out as being very easygoing too. Probably was very easy to be told what to do initially.

[doublev2]

Funny , I don't see it as a radio hit but its better than slaughters fly to the angels and forever by kiss. That time of year for sure a hit.

[PinkWiz]

Fly To The Angels flat out sucks and Forever... well I could give or take that one. Ecstasy... I can't get enough of that tune and if Vinnie would not have shit everything down the drain I think ASG could've had a couple of big hits... That Time Of Year should have def been a hit. Chrysalis was just fed up with his bullshit by this point. Can't say I blame them...

[Genebaby]

With the right promotion and push Ecstasy would have been a fantastic follow up to That Time Of Year, and then Ashes To Ashes!!!!

[doublev2]

yeah, once Mark left VVI that was it. They were supposed to shoot a video for Ashes to Ashes in September but the band was gone. I do think it was weird that Ashes wasn't the fist single. Its not normal to have two ballads as the first videos.
Fly to the angels was huge. Who knows why.

[gonnarock]

Ashes To Ashes would have been a fantastic single. The video would have been explosive and just great. I wish that they could have made a video for Ashes To Ashes or another song off ASG. It makes me sad to think they didn't do more videos. Vinnie wanted Ashes To Ashes to be the single, but it was the record label that said they wanted That Time Of Year. Which That Time Of Year is a great great single for sure. But the follow up could have been Ashes To Ashes. And my favorite guitar solo is the Ashes To Ashes one. I love the volume knob effect. I think that sounds so incredible.

[doublev2]

yeah, i love the extended ashes solo.
that time of year had a video but i never even saw the single. Only saw the love kills single in europe and i think it came out after the band split up or at about the same time.
how can the radio play that time of year if the single doesn't exist. Also I think that time only got one or two plays on mtv until Slaughter made it big.
Its a real shame because if the videos had taken off surely vv would have been able to replace everyone and continue on promoting the album. I think the other problem was that people forgot VVI by the time 88 came around mainly due to the lack of real success of the first record which i believe was mainly down to only one music video. It started ok but then fizzled out.

[gonnarock]

There was also by 88, wasn't that when the metal scene was starting to get replaced by the grunge scene? That could have also been the problem too. That grunge movement hurt a lot of the bands during that time. And that was a shame in its self. It seemed to be a dark time for music that I sort of wish hadn't caught on with the people who were buying records so much.

If it could have been up to me, the VVI would have gone on and on and kept progressing. If only GFH could have come out, things could have been so different. That direction that Vinnie was heading in was so original and new. If that album could have been released it would have been phenominal. Vinnie would have been at the forefront of a new movement I gurantee it.

[doublev2]

no metal scene was big into 1990. Slaughter's album only came out in january 1990 and they had all those hits. The grunge thing really kicked in in 1991/1992 but still in 91 the metal scene was strong. also there was a bigger divide between thrash metal and heavy metal/hard rock I remember. Not much cross over like now.

[doublev2]

i bought stick it to ya the day it came out because I thought it would sound like VVI. How wrong I was. I didn't mind up all night but it played too much on mtv and you can only listen to it a few times. I think burnin' bridges was a great tune though, but again not to the level of VVI. I was such a big VV fan I knew the dates of all the related releases eg. Bobby Rock - Nitro, Skull and Nelson and Slaughter etc. I had a fanzine called 'Gutter Press' in high school that I ran up my parents phone bill trying to get stories from publicists and release dates etc. I was like 14 - so I knew all the stuff about these bands. I remember calling asking about Skull - No bones about it and the label (which was VV's also) were shocked anyone knew anything about the release - i only knew because it was VV related.

[Brooklyn_Born]

The final nail in the hair metal coffin was hammered in when soundgarden, Alice in chains & pearl jam hit it big on the back of nirvanas nevermind...Dinos right 91/92 was about the time & by 93/94 all the hair metal bands were being dropped by their record labels and went from playing large arenas to clubs... It was sad for us metal fans...

[PinkWiz]

By Oct. of '91 smells like teen spirit changed everything... well the powers that be changed everything. Couldve been any "grunge" type band with a catchy hook... nirvana just happened to be the lucky ones. At the moment... thats what the labels felt like shovin down the publics throats...

[gonnarock]

Grunge is not happy music to me. I like my music to make me feel good and escape reality as it is. I never understood the grunge scene at all. Not a fan of that at all. I wish that the metal bands could have just kept coming. But you are right, Pinkwiz, had it not been Nirvana there would have been some other band to come along, that is just how the music business seems to go. But it is interesting how even though at the time the labels were dropping the bands, now the metal bands are getting big again. There is a new found interest and I keep thinking that once you fall in love with the metal music its there for you always. I have loved this music since I was 14 and its still got a quality to it that cannot be denied.

[doublev2]

yeah , hair metal lasted a little longer after Nivarna but not much. Its like hair metal, thrash metal and industrial rock (eg nine inch nails) fans all kind of merged into grunge.