Slave to the Grind

在优秀团体有如过江之鲫的美国摇滚乐界，除了本身的丰厚条件之外，运气也是迈向成功的主要环节之一。成军于’87年的 Skid Row在好友 Jon Bon Jovi(Bon jove主唱)的大力推荐下，获得 Atlantic唱片公司的一纸合约，并于’89年推出了首张专辑「Skid Row」，随后在参与Bon Jovi的全球巡回演唱中，获得歌迷的极大回响，不但单曲"18 And Life"、"I Remember You"相继打入 Top 10，专辑销售量也达到200万张之谱，对一个新团来说，以首张专辑便能在竞争激烈的美国乐坛奠定根基，实属不易，而 Skid Row也因 Bon Jovi巡回演唱而培养丰富的舞台经验，为其演艺生涯的延伸铺路。为歌迷引领期粉的第二张专辑「Slave To The Grind」，在 Skid Row与合作默契十足的制作人 Michael Wagner共同录制完成，而团员：吉他手 Dave "The Sanke" Sabo、Scotti Hill，贝斯手 Rachel Bolan、鼓手 Rob Affuso 及主唱 Sebastain Bach 都亲自参与了词曲的撰写及录制工作，其中 Dave、Scotti默契配合快速狂飙的纯熟技巧，搭配节奏强烈的鼓及贝斯加入主唱 Sebastain高亢多变、狂野不羁的嗓音为其大胆取材的摇滚风格，强烈带给我们一股不安急躁的紧凑气氛，而继"18 And Life"、"I Remember You"二首赠炙人口的抒情佳作之后，"In A Darkened Room"发人深省的关怀之情和"Wasted Time"的优柔寡断情结，也将再次深值人心，而这支黑马的窜起，也为摇滚新生代带来成功典范。

Skid Row gets harder and heavier on their sophomore effort, matching Sebastian Bach's gritty, streetwise rants to lean, driving riffs that manage to back up all the attitudinal posturing. Largely missing are the bits of pop-metal fluff that filled out Skid Row; in their place are tales from the dark side about drugs, corruption, and the like, with Bach affecting a tough, threatening persona most of the time. The furious noise kicked up behind Bach is usually more threatening than his overwrought vocal delivery, but Slave to the Grind is powerful enough that it doesn't really matter. "Monkey Business," "Get the Fuck Out," and the thrashy title track crush most anything on the debut, and power ballads like "Quicksand Jesus" and "Wasted Time" are far less generic than their Skid Row counterparts. Many observers were surprised when Slave to the Grind became the first heavy metal album to debut at number one on the Billboard charts, but it really was one of the best -- and heaviest -- examples of mainstream hard rock/heavy metal in the genre's MTV heyday.