Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. CDL--L.A. Guns: The Ballad of Jayne

There aren't a lot of songs by glam metal bands that I like (I'd be hard pressed to name a second one), but for whatever reason this week's tune is one of them.  One supposes that just about any genre is capable of creating a song that's a cut (so to speak) above--and this week's band certainly did....

L.A. Guns formed in, of all places, Los Angeles in 1983, and their history is just slightly easier to follow than string theory.  A few of their original members would move on to form a little band called Guns n' Roses, but by the late eighties the band's line-up would morph into their original incarnation.  The band would have a modicum of success through the early nineties and have spent the last thirty years changing members like a new mother changes diapers.  There are currently two versions of the band (at one point there may have been a third): LA. Guns and Riley's L.A. Guns.  Both versions released a new studio album just this year.  For their career, L.A. Guns have released fourteen studio albums (not counting the two by the Riley incarnation), and twenty-nine singles.  Despite the myriad changes, the band has managed to have a forty-year career and is still making music--and you can't beat that.

"The Ballad of Jayne" was one of five singles to be released from the band's second studio album, the threateningly named Cocked and Loaded.  Both would become the highest charting of the band's career, with the single reaching #33 (with a bullet!) on the Billboard Hot 100, and the album peaking at #38 on the Billboard 200.

Fun Fact:  Some have surmised that the song was written about the late actress Jayne Mansfield but the band has denied this is so.  For those not familiar, Mansfield was a sex symbol of the fifties and sixties who tragically was killed at the age of thirty-four when her car slammed into, and eventually slid under, a tractor-trailer.  After the accident, the Highway Safety Administration recommended a bar be put on the back of semis to prevent cars from sliding under them.  This bar is sometimes called the "Mansfield bar."

Exactly what happened to Jayne?  Overdose?  Suicide?  Murdered by a jealous lover?  It's never explained, but the protagonist is going to regret not holding onto her for the rest of his life.  The song is sparse--there's a nice mix of acoustic and electric guitars, the drums are subtle yet driving, and the vocals are accentuated so as to highlight the story's tragic overtones.  A lot of the ballads from this era were overwrought twaddle, but L.A. Guns managed to put together enough magic--there's something to be said for their subtlety, too-in four minutes to take "The Ballad of Jayne" from the usual drivel to that  stratosphere reserved for special singles--and this one's special enough to put a glam metal tune into the pantheon that is Friday Night Jukebox.

Lyric Sheet:  "Now she's breaking hearts in heaven/Shining bright in the sky/I still hear her voice in the wind/I still think of her in the night..."

Enjoy:

Republicans = Nazis

Peace,

emaycee

Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. CCXXXVIII--Guns N' Roses: Patience

Shortly after Guns N' Roses released Appetite for Destruction, I told my then boss at the music company where I worked that I thought GNR had a chance to be as big as Led Zeppelin had been back in the day.  My boss (an idiot) scoffed--but I tell you what, while they might not have become quite as influential as Zeppelin, they came pretty darn close.

Guns N' Roses had its beginnings in 1985 with remnants (and then some others) from the Los Angeles based bands Hollywood Rose and L.A. Guns.  As with most of the other bands featured here who became larger than life, their history is a bit long to recap in a paragraph so I'll just recap some of their highlights. The five original members (Axl Rose, Slash-great rock and roll nickname--,Izzy Stradlin, Duff McKagan, and Steven Adler) survived together until the mid-nineties, but those first ten years could best be described as incredibly tumultuous, with much infighting and even more drug abuse.  Eventually lead singer Axl Rose consolidated control of GNR--though the original band reformed in 2016 for a world tour.  They've released six studio albums, two of which have hit #1, two of which hit #2, and one each at #'s 3 and 4, and one greatest hits package which hit #3.  They've sold over one hundred million records worldwide and are the 41st best selling music artist of all time.  Their debut album, the aforementioned Appetite for Destruction, is the best selling debut album in American history, and is the 11th best selling album of all-time in the U.S.  Their reunion tour grossed $562 million and is the second highest grossing tour ever.  They were elected into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2012 (their first year of eligibility), and show up on numerous best bands/albums/songs of all-time compilations.  The band has not been without controversy--numerous law suits, and charges of racism and misogyny have dogged the band (much deserved) many times through the years.  Despite that, their legacy as one of rock's greatest band is secure.

"Patience" was the only single from their second album G N' R Lies (released in 1988).  The song would reach #4 (with a bullet!) on the Billboard Hot 100, and has been a staple of their live shows since its debut.

Fans of Friday Night Jukebox (both of you) will correctly surmise that "Patience" is a song directly up emaycee's alley.  A ballad with credible lyrics, not one, not two, but three acoustic guitars, and in a bit of a twist, the song opens with almost a minute of Axl Rose whistling (for those who think this is minor, try whistling a tune for a minute--it isn't easy).  I've always been of the belief that the true measure of a guitarist's greatness is how well he or she does with an acoustic guitar (don't take that the wrong way--I loves me some electric guitar) because of the nuances (the lack of power generated by an amp).  Just listen to the fancy acoustic parts in this one--Slash's fingers dance ever so nimbly again and again.  But what really takes the song into the stratosphere--and solidifies its greatness--is the song's coda, wherein Rose rips apart his vocal cords to tell the woman of the song in a quasi-rap how much he needs her, while the acoustic guitars strum lightly and the band provides a calm backing with their cooing of "patience, yeah..." over and over.  Just a great song from a great--if greatly flawed--band.

Lyric Sheet:  "Shed a tear 'cause I'm missin' you/I'm still alright to smile..."

Enjoy:

Fuck Donald Trump,
emaycee