Vinnie Vincent Invasion

[Sir GuitarCozmo]

Rules.

That's all.

That's the entire thread. Mods, you can lock this.

[TAC]

Twisted

[Sir GuitarCozmo]

Dude those two albums are on fucking fire. I like All Systems Go better, but they both kick major ass.

[kingshmegland]

Fleischman blew.  So much better with Slaughter.

[TAC]

I saw VVI open for Alice Cooper on November 19, 1986 at the Worcester Centrum.

[Sir GuitarCozmo]

Fleischman blew.  So much better with Slaughter.

ANYTHING is better with Slaughter, FOR SURE, but I don't agree with your assessment of Fleishman. I thought he sounded fantastic, really.

I saw VVI open for Alice Cooper on November 19, 1986 at the Worcester Centrum.

DETAILS, I NEED DETAILS

[El Barto]

Saw them open for Maiden on the SiT tour. You guys probably got Yngwie as an opener. Y'all win.

[Sir GuitarCozmo]

Either would've been a win.

[TAC]

Saw them open for Maiden on the SiT tour. You guys probably got Yngwie as an opener. Y'all win.

We got Waysted for the SiT tour, which being a huge UFO fan was great!

Saw Yngwie open for AC/DC in 1985.

I saw VVI open for Alice Cooper on November 19, 1986 at the Worcester Centrum.

DETAILS, I NEED DETAILS

Vinnie was sick and they came on a bit late. They mustered only three songs.
Boyz Are Gonna Rock
Animal
Twisted

[jingle.boy]

Well, when Navy-Seal Cozmo shows up, it's to be taken as a sign of what needs to be listened to today.

[El Barto]

Saw them open for Maiden on the SiT tour. You guys probably got Yngwie as an opener. Y'all win.

We got Waysted for the SiT tour, which being a huge UFO fan was great!

Saw Yngwie open for AC/DC in 1985.

Every time Waysted was scheduled to be in Dallas they cancelled, leading me to assume they were a myth. And we got Yngwie for that ACDC show, too.

[Sir GuitarCozmo]

Well, when Navy-Seal Cozmo shows up, it's to be taken as a sign of what needs to be listened to today.

^this

[Stadler]

As huge a Kiss fan as I am, other than Ace's solo stuff (which I love because I like his voice) I rarely venture off the reservation.  I should check these out.   I'm a fan of the man's music, for sure.

He also grew up not far from me (Stratford, CT), though he was 15 years ahead of me so I don't know him. 

HAHA; I saw this on Wikipedian and thought it was... interesting:    "In 1980, Vincent moved to Los Angeles, California where he became a staff songwriter for the television series Happy Days and Joanie Loves Chachi. Many of the series songs were written on Vincent's acoustic guitar while sitting at the Cunninghams' kitchen table on the Happy Days set, during off-time from the show's rehearsal schedule. Vincent has said the times of working at the Paramount lot were genuinely "happy days"."

Good one, Vinnie.   

[FreezingPoint]

In my opinion, one of the most fascinating stories of the music biz. A band that had everything going for it. Label support, some known quantities, didn't come in too late in the scene, shredding was coming into its own and Vinnie could definitely do that, but the band fell apart anyway.

Then Vinnie disappeared only to resurface at odd times, and of course this last time - looking like kind of a Star Trek Mirror Universe Hillary Clinton.

Got the S/T on vinyl a couple of months ago, and that's a monster play, even if Fleischman's voice wore on me over the course of the album. May or not be his fault - the songs were just in that upper register the entire time. Definitely need to pick up All Systems Go at some point too.

If anyone is interested in the band or just fascinating stories in general, I would highly recommend Bobby Rock's (the drummer of VVI) book The Boy is Gonna Rock. Really great stories of recording the albums and the tours associated with them. He has some on his blog as well. Honestly, I wasn't too interested in the band until I started reading those stories.

[pg1067]

Saw them open for Maiden on the SiT tour. You guys probably got Yngwie as an opener. Y'all win.

I also saw VVI open for Maiden on that tour (Feb. 16, 1987 at Long Beach Arena).  We had really good seats, so I had the opportunity to flip off the singer.  He returned the favor.  We had a real connection.  I wouldn't have flipped off Yngwie or his singer.

[Volante99]

Bottom of the barrel hair metal with a below average shredder.

...and this is coming from a hair metal fan.

[Sir GuitarCozmo]

 

[Lowdz]

Fleischman blew.  So much better with Slaughter.

The first album is where it’s at for me. It made my top 50.

I’m very on the fence with Slaughter’s voice. I can’t stand Robert Plant and his Plantisms put me off.

The first album is just over the top, the follow up was tame.

[kingshmegland]

Fleischman's voice grated on me. It makes that 1st album unlistenable.

[TAC]

Nah, it seemed genuine.

Slaughter's voice was godawful. Fucking poser.

[Sir GuitarCozmo]

I'll take that with a grain of salt, coming from someone who doesn't like Winger either. 

[kingshmegland]

Don't get me wrong, I liked the music a lot.

[jingle.boy]

I'll take that with a grain of salt, coming from someone who doesn't like Winger either. 

+1.  I love Mark's voice.  Musically, Slaughter (the band) had some great highs, but some terrible lows as well.

[ZirconBlue]

In my opinion, one of the most fascinating stories of the music biz. A band that had everything going for it. Label support, some known quantities, didn't come in too late in the scene, shredding was coming into its own and Vinnie could definitely do that, but the band fell apart anyway.

Did they fall apart, or did they just replace VV and change the name to "Slaughter"?   

[kingshmegland]

If memory serves me right, The bassist went to Slaughter and the drummer went to Nelson.

[Sir GuitarCozmo]

Why do I seem to recall them literally kicking him out at a bus stop and rolling on to mega success as Slaughter?

[pg1067]

Did they fall apart, or did they just replace VV and change the name to "Slaughter"?   

Why do I seem to recall them literally kicking him out at a bus stop and rolling on to mega success as Slaughter?

If Wikipedia is to be believed, Chrysalis Records released Slaughter from its contract after the second album was released, and Mark Slaughter and Dana Strum (bass) left to form the band Slaughter because they had "grown annoyed with what they perceived to be Vincent's domination of the project."  VVI's drummer, Bobby Rock (not to be confused with Bob Rock), joined a band I'd never heard of before called Nitro with singer Jim Gillette, guitarist Michael Angelo Batio and bassist T.J. Racer.  Batio became known as a "shredder" who ambidexterously played a double-neck guitar, but I've never heard of Gillette or Racer.  After playing on Nitro's 1989 debut album, Rock joined Nelson (throughout the 90s) and, later, played with Lita Ford.

[Sir GuitarCozmo]

Jim Gillette had an instructional thing, Vocal Power from Metal Method, that used to be advertised in EVERY issue of Guitar for the Practicing Musician.

https://youtu.be/vm3fjteswgU

https://metalmethod.com/description/vocal-power-jim-gillette

[Stadler]

Google "Lita Ford Jim Gillette"; it's not a pretty story (and I'm not judging, because I don't know who is telling the truth there; Lita seems to get the benefit of the doubt, but I get the sense there's a lot more to the story than either side is willing to share.)

[pg1067]

Jim Gillette had an instructional thing, Vocal Power from Metal Method, that used to be advertised in EVERY issue of Guitar for the Practicing Musician.

I subscribed to GFTPM for 3-4 years, so I'm sure I saw those ads, but I don't remember them.  The guy I remember was Doug Marks, and I always thought, "well...who the hell is this guy?"

Google "Lita Ford Jim Gillette"; it's not a pretty story (and I'm not judging, because I don't know who is telling the truth there; Lita seems to get the benefit of the doubt, but I get the sense there's a lot more to the story than either side is willing to share.)

Ouch!  I skimmed through one 5 year old article that contained a scathing missive against Lita by her then 18 year old son, and pretty much everything in there was not good for her.  That she not only lost custody but also the right to visitation is pretty telling.

[Sir GuitarCozmo]

Doug Marks was associated with that in some fashion, if I recall correctly.

[Stadler]

I always thought they were the same company and Doug Marks did the guitar/sight reading, and Jim did the vocal thingy.

EDIT:  Wikipedia is your friend.  Marks started the company and later added other "teachers", including Gillette and Michael Angelo Batio.   It also says that Myles Kennedy has talked about using the "Metal Method" to learn.  That makes me laugh for some reason. 

[Stadler]

Jim Gillette had an instructional thing, Vocal Power from Metal Method, that used to be advertised in EVERY issue of Guitar for the Practicing Musician.

I subscribed to GFTPM for 3-4 years, so I'm sure I saw those ads, but I don't remember them.  The guy I remember was Doug Marks, and I always thought, "well...who the hell is this guy?"

Google "Lita Ford Jim Gillette"; it's not a pretty story (and I'm not judging, because I don't know who is telling the truth there; Lita seems to get the benefit of the doubt, but I get the sense there's a lot more to the story than either side is willing to share.)

Ouch!  I skimmed through one 5 year old article that contained a scathing missive against Lita by her then 18 year old son, and pretty much everything in there was not good for her.  That she not only lost custody but also the right to visitation is pretty telling.

Exactly; but then again, you hear Gillette's side of the story and it's just as fishy.    Total speculation, and I'm showing my bias here, but add to that that he looks like he hit the juice hard at some point.   Either way, it's a sordid story all around.