New here

[obiwancanubi]

Pretty new here. Lurked a few days to see if this place had activity.

Kicked out of some FB group called VV Full Shred because they made a rule that you couldn't post images or even the name Mark Slaughter. I questioned its realistic expectations because of how big a deal Slaughter was to the success of VV, arguably his biggest commercial single. You cant just ignore that "Love Kilss" happened?

I guess I was wrong, you can be expected to ignore it, dude banned me and slowly I was removed from all my other VV FB pages without reason. Pretty sure he contacted them all. Funny thing is I never posted in them, just liked photos and said, "great tune!" To linked videos.

Oh well.

[Kuron]

Welcome to the community.

[obiwancanubi]

Thanks man.

[obiwancanubi]

Big VVI fan, not a fan of KISS


Realist that doesn't hold unrealistic expectations of rock stars.

[Kuron]

I questioned its realistic expectations because of how big a deal Slaughter was to the success of VV, arguably his biggest commercial single. You cant just ignore that "Love Kilss" happened?

Favorite and best are two entirely different critters and many people are not capable of being objective enough to discuss the difference. The full shred folks are definitely not known for being objective.

We will never know how well the first album could have done, because Fleischman killed its momentum with his lawsuit. The second album was far more radio-friendly. Two entirely different kinds of albums, yet both got to #64 on Billboard which was not bad for the time as the market was over-saturated. The band broke up and replaced Vinnie and Bobby, reformed as Slaughter and went on to mega-stardom. VVI was truly one of the most talented bands of the 80s.

Realist that doesn't hold unrealistic expectations of rock stars.

I learned at an early age to just treat celebrities as people. They are just people and like all of us, they are flawed.

[AnkhWarrior]

Welcome!

[obiwancanubi]

I questioned its realistic expectations because of how big a deal Slaughter was to the success of VV, arguably his biggest commercial single. You cant just ignore that "Love Kilss" happened?

Favorite and best are two entirely different critters and many people are not capable of being objective enough to discuss the difference. The full shred folks are definitely not known for being objective.

We will never know how well the first album could have done, because Fleischman killed its momentum with his lawsuit. The second album was far more radio-friendly. Two entirely different kinds of albums, yet both got to #64 on Billboard which was not bad for the time as the market was over-saturated. The band broke up and replaced Vinnie and Bobby, reformed as Slaughter and went on to mega-stardom. VVI was truly one of the most talented bands of the 80s.

Realist that doesn't hold unrealistic expectations of rock stars.

I learned at an early age to just treat celebrities as people. They are just people and like all of us, they are flawed.

I am more partial to the self titled album. Found it more aggressive and original. ASG was good but definitely something Chrysalis had their paws on and pushed for a more radio current pop sound to sell. And in a market where they were handing out platinum albums like free samples they did pretty well.

I was not aware Robert sued the band, I was always under the impression it had to do with touring, family and not liking the money Chrysalis was reimbursing him to tour.

Dana was the string puller, he found VV to make himself a rock star, when he found VV too difficult to manipulate, because VV just goes and does what VV wants he took Mark and marketed his face and some horrible tunes on MTV for a fortune. He understood the market that 14 year old girls were buying ballads and falling in love with singers. Fly to the Angels was a perfect example. Bobby leaving for Nelson was similarly a smart financial move. Fancy looking fellows in spandex sold music. Ugly guys like WASP didn't make a lot. Dont misunderstand me, I love 80s hair music, but some of it was created to sell. Bands like Slaughter and Nelson did that and they made a lot of money, and good for them, they are very well off if they didn't blow it on hookers and heroin. I felt hands like Sleeze Beez and WASP who were not pretty and had that edgier sound made the better music, but it wasn't there commercially for them.

[obiwancanubi]

Welcome!

Thanks!

[Kuron]

I am more partial to the self titled album. Found it more aggressive and original. ASG was good but definitely something Chrysalis had their paws on and pushed for a more radio current pop sound to sell. And in a market where they were handing out platinum albums like free samples they did pretty well.

Please do not get me wrong, I love BOTH albums and Vinnie is a huge inspiration for me as a guitarist and a songwriter. I was listening to him as a kid on the Treasure album.

The first album was balls to the wall metal. The best metal album of the 80s, hands down. The second album was meant for radio play. The best of both worlds.

I love melodic rock, so the second album definitely holds up better for me. But, I play the first when I am in the mood. I am glad I still have the original CDs. I do not know about the first album, but they definitely chopped up ASG for the remaster to the point they destroyed it.

I was not aware Robert sued the band, I was always under the impression it had to do with touring, family and not liking the money Chrysalis was reimbursing him to tour.

My comment was in regard to Robert suing over the video. Because of that suit, they could not release anymore videos off the first album, unless they sent Mark into the studio to recut the vocal tracks. With no video for a single, it would get no radio play. That album had potential for more singles.

What they did with the video was not unheard of. Dokken had done the same thing with the Breaking the Chains video. George lynch did NOT play on the album, but was shown in the video playing guitar.

Bobby leaving for Nelson was similarly a smart financial move.

I can't knock Nelson. Grew up listening to their dad and watching their grandparents. The whole family is talented.

Ugly guys like WASP didn't make a lot.

W.A.S.P. was one of my fave bands of all-time. I actually do some W.A.S.P. songs acoustically in nursing home gigs.

Big VVI fan, not a fan of KISS

The Bruce era of KISS is my fave era, but damn it was embarrassing to be a KISS fan in the 80's. Vinnie, Mark and Ace were all turning out better music in the 80's than what KISS did. I can honestly say Peter's 80's music was not better than what KISS turned out, but I liked Peter's much better, but I am a huge Peter Criss fan.


The 80's was awesome for metal and the 90's was looking good until Tesla killed it all. They killed it and grunge came in to fill the void. As great as Five Man Acoustical Jam was, it forever changed the course of music and killed off metal.

[obiwancanubi]

On the surface hearing someone say they play WASP at nursing homes sounds funny because they were so loud and leathery, not how you associated with sweet granny. But seriously, such a great thing. We get old. I am 43 but someday I will be 83 I hope some young whippersnapper plays me some tunes that I grew up to in the 80s. It's really great you do that for the elders, thank you.

Music did change, part of it was the rise of Rap music, the commercial success of Dr Dre and Snoop dog called to a lot of people. On the other hand Grunge did take over, a big part of that was aging teens, they identified with the lifestyle and the sadness of grunge. Hair metal was happy and party sound, so much of the teen youth is angry, confused and mad at others and grunge really spoke to that. I didn't get on the grunge train, I liked Soundgarden but it just was not me genre. I ended up transitioning to Thrash. Metallica, Megadeth and Pantera really appealed to me. It was more online with Hair Rock, just more aggressive and with a more mature topic. Went from naked girls and parties to music about Wars, government and destruction.

I do miss the innocence of hair music, I still enjoy it and find it fun to play as an artist.

[Kuron]

On the surface hearing someone say they play WASP at nursing homes sounds funny because they were so loud and leathery, not how you associated with sweet granny. But seriously, such a great thing. We get old. I am 43 but someday I will be 83 I hope some young whippersnapper plays me some tunes that I grew up to in the 80s. It's really great you do that for the elders, thank you.

I am 50 and grew up around many sets of my grandparents and great grandparents. All that is left is my grandmother (who raised me) and she is in a nursing home and on a good day (which are rare), may remember who I am. She is the one who instilled my love of music in me and encouraged it. *tears as I am typing this*. She is several states away and I do not get to visit her, but they do have a piano player come in a couple of times per month and play for them and she enjoys it from what the staff says.

I mainly do nursing home gigs nowadays. Showing my love and respect for our elders and our vets. Paying it forward for my Granny and one day, if I live long enough, I may be in a nursing home looking forward to some entertainment.

Always acoustic gigs, although I do bring my digital piano with me at times. Never an electric guitar. I always play Hold On To My Heart by W.A.S.P. and often, The Idol. Besides, W.A.S.P., I play one Savatage song (Sleep) and So Far Away by Avenged Sevenfold. It is cool in a way, as Avenged Sevenfold is a current band, and may be something their grand kids like. I play everything from Dean Martin's Sway to Thin Lizzy to America. I always bring a couple of extra acoustics in case one of the residents wants to play. Country, rock, its all good to me. Usually work some preaching in between the songs, too. It beats any paying gig I have ever had.

[Cernex]

Hello, hello, and welcome to the forums, obiwan!

[Genebaby]

Welcome to the VVFF, good to have you here.

Please post any pictures of any VVI members, they are all fine here.

[shramiac]

Yo!

[BigEd]

Welcome & Jump Right In....Great Group of People Here !

[poserboy71]

Howdy.
Don't splash me !