During a 7 year stretch in the late 80s and early 90s, American Glam Metal band Warrant enjoyed a wave of success that saw them sell over 10 million albums worldwide.
The band formed all the way back in 1984 when guitarist Erik Turner grouped a line-up together and began gigging relentlessly in California. After being impressed by a band called ‘Plain Jane’, Erik decided to recruit frontman Jani Lane whose songwriting skills became a critical addition for the band.
Their work on the club scene created a bidding war that eventually saw the band landing on Columbia records and their huge advance was probably the inspiration for what became their debut album, 1989’s ‘Dirty Rotten Filthy Stinking Rich’. The album shot to number 10 in the charts and produced a succession of popular singles covering the full range of Warrant’s sound from ballads to rock anthems.
The band’s big hair and leather helped them fit in with the Hair Metal trends of the times and made them an MTV favourite alongside the likes of Motley Crue and Poison.
The bands next two albums, ‘Cherry Pie’ and ‘Dog Eat Dog’ continued the group’s success and saw them tour the world and make festival appearances at the likes of ‘Monsters of Rock’.
Deeper into the 90s though, the band struggled to deal with the cultural changes that Grunge brought and were dropped by their label. The line up changed repeatedly but the band continued strong and even reformed the original line-up in 2008 however 2011 saw the sad passing of Jani Lane. The band have managed to continue on though and toured in 2012 to promote the 20th anniversary of their biggest success, ‘Cherry Pie’.
Steve Lacy
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