Hanoi Rocks to split

It's fair to say that I was a lot less moved by this news than I might have been 15-20 years ago (had they not already have been and gone by then)!

I got into them around '87 off the back of Appetite For Destruction - G&R citing them in various interviews before reissuing the original Hanoi albums on their Uzi Suicide label - and admittedly their 80s output hasn't stood the test of time that well (certainly not as much as Appetite say, or first New York Dolls album). But one of best gigs I've seen was the Camden Palace show on their first comeback tour. Much better than the night before at Bristol Bierkeller, I can only assume they'd had more luck buying whatever drugs it was they needed in London.

Yes, pretty much everything about them is derivative (McCoy plundered London Calling for all its worth, and various Dead Boys and Dictators riffs are easily detectable - I'll go into more detail there another time), but there's no disputing that he's one hell of a guitarist and Monroe, although not the greatest singer, is a frontman that we would all want to be in a band with.

On the one hand I won't miss them as I haven't bought any of their recent albums (but heard the first two without getting too excited) and haven't been to see them for about four years. But after what happened to them in 1984 - and considering how much I dearly loved this band in my youth - it's a sad day as they never achieved the worldwide commercial success that so many lesser bands took for granted in their wake.

Full details at: http://www.hanoirocks.info/

See also:
Hanoi Rocks - The Nottingham Tapes