I remember it like it was yesterday. Wait, isn’t that how all “old” people start off long winded stories? Anyways, 25 years ago, George Bush was president, gas was $1.14 a gallon, postage was $0.25, and Skid Row released their second album, Slave To The Grind [Explicit]
After their highly successful debut album, it was announced that Skid Row was going to release their 2nd album Slave to the Grind in the summer of 1991. Before the album was released, Skid Row released the single “Monkey Business” which was also a video that took over MTV. I can still remember the feeling that I got from watching this video. I felt charged, excited, and pumped as all fuck but wait… was this really the same band that just a couple of years earlier did “I Remember You”? Was this the “18 & Life” band? Was this really the same guys that did “Youth Gone Wild?” I was so blown away because this song was so different from anything I could ever imagine them doing. Lyrically it was grown up, musically it was diverse and heavy as fuck with lots of cool layers, and Sebastian Bach was singing his fucking ass off. It was all I could do to contain my excitement until the day of the album’s release.
I clearly remember having my mom take me over to Turtles Records in Morrow, GA on the day the album was released and I was the first one in the door. I headed immediately for the display, picked up my album, and marched proudly to the register. I couldn’t wait to get home and crank this album. Right off the bat I was so blown away by the artwork. It was so dark and it was clearly conveying a message. I then looked at the song titles: “Slave to the Grind”, “The Threat”, “Mudkicker”, “Quicksand Jesus”, “Riot Act.” Just the song titles alone let me know that this album was not going to be a cheesy bubblegum follow up album but that this album was going to have a lot to say.
At 17 years old, listening to Slave to the Grind hit me like a ton of bricks. This wasn’t your ordinary fluffy hair band bullshit. Slave to the Grind was the album where Sebastian Bach solidified himself as one of the metals greatest voices (at the time) while guitarists Scotti Hill and Dave Sabo proved that they could hold their own as remarkable guitarists who sadly would never get the praise that they so deserved. Lyrically, Slave to the Grind is full of social commentary touching on issues like incarceration laws (Livin’ on a Chain Gang), drug abuse (Wasted Time), and social oppression (Slave to the Grind/Mudkicker). The showstopper for me, hands down, was “Quicksand Jesus.” The lyrical depth, the performance, and the musical arrangement is so outstanding. This song proved to me that Skid Row could write and play as good, if not better in some cases, as some of the greats that inspired them and without a doubt surpassing many if not all of their peers.
While the album is damn near perfect, the only song that didn’t sit well with me was the ridiculousness of “Get the Fuck Out.” I actually prefer the “censored” version of this album that contained the song “Beggar’s Day” in place of “Get the Fuck Out.” As a matter of fact, even that song sounded kind of like a sore thumb that would’ve been better placed on the debut album.
Slave to the Grind was such a middle finger, a big fuck you if you will, to the record company and anyone else who thought they had pinned Skid Row down as a fluffy, cheesy, Warrant-esque kind of band. Slave to the Grind is what made Skid Row huge players in the game and they were no longer a cheesy “glam” band. Skid Row was now a legitimate heavy metal band totally capable of running with the big dogs. I truly believed that Skid Row could’ve been one of the biggest metal bands of all time. After the album’s released, that thought looked like it would become reality.
Slave to the Grind was the first album to debut at Number1 on the Billboard 200 in the Nielsen SoundScan era. Skid Row then hit the road as the support act for Guns N’ Roses’ Use Your Illusion tour and then in 1992 hit the road as headliners playing sold out theaters and arenas all over the world with both Soundgarden and Pantera supporting them on different legs of the tour. Skid Row, at this point, was huge and I thought for sure that they would continue to climb that mountain. I was so sure they would reach the peak but things changed in ’95 with the release of Subhuman Race. Not only was musical landscape around them changing but the band was burned out and pretty much ready to call it a day as the day to day struggles with Sebastian Bach’s ever growing ego became way more than they could handle. As fast as they ascended, Skid Row descended into obscurity and then were gone.
25 years later, as I sit here listening to Slave to the Grind, my thoughts haven’t changed one bit. Slave to the Grind is a timeless heavy metal classic with a timeless sound. It’s heavy, it’s raw, it’s angry, it’s thought provoking, and it still hits me like it did the first time I heard it. Every time I listen to this album, It feels nostalgic but doesn’t sound it. It sounds every bit as massive and powerful as it did the day I heard it. “Quicksand Jesus” and “Wasted Time” still gives me goose bumps, “Mudkicker” still gets my blood boiling, and “Get the Fuck Out” still makes me roll my eyes. 25 years later, Slave to the Grind is still as important to me as it was back when it was first released. I feel like we grew up together and through the years, Slave to the Grind would always be there for me, never letting me down, whenever I needed it. Happy 25th birthday, Slave to the Grind. 25 looks good on ya!
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