Faster Pussycat - Faster Pussycat
Emerging from the same bars and clubs on Sunset boulevard as Guns N Roses and released just a few weeks after 'Appetite For Destruction' came the self titled debut from LA's Faster Pussycat.This album was always going to be compared to 'Appetite' and Like GnR, Taime Downe's (Vocalist) gang of vagabonds did cover many of the same subjects, girls, partying, drinking and drugs.
Although it didn't have the big budget production of 'Appetite' the storytelling about the underbelly of Sunset Strip was just as engaging.
It was as if the party bands (Poison, Warrant) had left town with their pop sound and left the pirates behind to fight for LA.
This was the sound of sleeze for the late 1980's, from the dripping attitude of the vocals and the low slung riffs of the twin guitar interplay - the ingredients were were all there.
The songs were strong such as 'Don't Change That Song', 'Smash Alley' and 'Cathouse' (an ode to the infamous club owned by Taime & MTV VJ Riki Rachtman), and worthy of gracing any prime time Aerosmith album.
Faster Pussycat didn't just finish there as 'Bathroom Wall' is just dirty, a heady mix of early Motley Crue and NY Dolls, and my personal favourite 'Babylon'.
Instantly recognisable due to the pussycat intro crashing drums and rousing chants of 'Shut Up' this would've got any party started in the late 80's.
Faster Pussycat could have pushed on to the one of the leading lights of the scene however like many of their contemporaries by the 2nd album they had gone for a more mainstream sound to appeal to the radio pluggers and tried for the commercial breakthrough. The momentum was lost. Shame.
Video For Bathroom Wall
Why I ♥ This Album
Faster Pussycat was released in 1987. That year was a watershed for me, when I had finished my exams,left school,turned 16, fell out of infatuation and got a job.
When I left school I was just an average type of student, mainly due to losing interest in school for the previous two years, doing just enough to get by and staying under the radar.
In Andover, where I lived, at 16 you had four opportunaties when you left school;
1 - College
2 - Apprenticeship
3 - Work for The TSB Trust Company
4 - YTS
Option 1 - I had asked to go to college ,although I wasn't the most gifted of teenagers, I did seem to have a talent for acting and dancing. The college in Andover had a wonderful course in Theatre arts, but this dream was soon shot down by my mum and step-father who said that they would only support me if I went to college to get a trade - and theatre to them was not a trade!
Later in life I bumped into an old friend who had done the course that year and went onto become a light technication at some top theatres in the West End and is rolling in it!
Option 2 - Many of my school friends took up apprenticeships with the local building firm, Kings. The late 1980's, like the present climate, were hard economic times for some businesses and unfortunatly Kings went under, thus many of the apprenticeships were not finished.
Option 3 - Andover's biggest employer at the time was the TSB trust company and each year they would take on the cream of students at 16. I had an interview with them, which really didn't
go well as I found it hard to be enthused and bouyant about having an office job in a banking firm and I think this must have come across to the interviewer - YAWN!!!!
Option 4 - YTS (Youth Training Scheme) was the only option left open to me, apart from destitution.. The scheme was a government brainwave to employ and train young people, as well as to keep them off the national statistics of unemployment! In the first year the pay was £28.50 per week which would rise to £35 in the 2nd year. At the end of the 2 years
it was believed that you would have had sufficent training and therefore be more attractive in the job market to secure a full time job. The scheme was often highlighted in TV programmes such as Brookside as cheap labour with no prospect of a job at the end of it whatsoever.
It was my brother John who got me an application form to work at the local Burton's menswear shop on the scheme. As a company Burton's took it all very seriously and wanted to train their apprentices for City and Guilds exams. It worked well for me as I was only on the scheme for a few months before I was taken on full time, but it wasn't my dream.
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| Scene Of My First Proper Job, Andover High Street |
I have no regrets about any of the above as I wouldn't have met the people that I have along the way in this journey called life, but looking back I can offer this piece of advice - no matter how hard it may seem to ignore
your parents, do so and..... FOLLOW YOUR DREAMS !!!!!
