Tuesday, April 28, 2009

From The Closet - Don't Treat Me Bad


From The Closet "Don't Treat Me Bad" by Firehouse - The other night I was at Drinkers in Philly which not only has some great beer specials ($2 PBR's that get discounted to $1.50 if shotgunned), but they play some of the greatest tunes ever consistently. The next day after some early morning hockey Heidi and I were headed into Philly again for a nice long run. What do these two events have in common? Well both events involve the band Firehouse. While we were at Drinkers "Don't Treat Me Bad" came on and I was pumped. It was the first time I had heard the song in a very long time, and like a fine wine it had aged to perfection. On our way downtown for our run I picked up a Monsters of Rock CD that we had picked up at the library and what song was smack dab in the middle? If you guessed a little number from former from the closet inductee Lita Ford you would be correct, but you would also be correct if you said "Don't Treat Me Bad." The metal gods of the 80's were trying to tell me something; and that something was that a from the closet post was well overdue and there is no better feature than Firehouse.

Check out the video below and you will be amazed at how gloriously 80's these guys are....except this video is from 1991! I know I couldn't believe it! The perms and the balls in a vice vocal stylings are straight 80's. What is more hilarious and surprising is that the band achieved a great deal of success and critical acclaim in an era killed by grunge. Check out the wikipedia history of the band here (notice they beat out Nirvana at the American Music Awards).

Regardless of the conception of the song, "Don't Treat Me Bad" oozes 80's and has to be one of the catchiest tunes ever. I watched a few live videos of these guys jamming the tune and they can really play for a hair band. No fancy audio production on CJ Snare's vocals, this guy rips it live. This clip has inspired me to remove "Livin' On A Prayer" as the karaoke jam of choice, I just have to memorize more than just the catchiest chorus ever. Instant classic straight from the closet.

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