#7 Cinderella - Night Songs: Bitches Wear Polka-Dots

ROCKTOBERFEST: A Most Excellent Countdown of the 31 Most Bitchin Glam Metal Albums

#7 Cinderella – Night Songs (Released 1986)  3x Platinum, #3 on Billboard 200

Tom Keifer (Wicked talented) – Vocals, Lead & Rhythm Guitars, harmonica

Jeff LaBar (The Love Child of Eddie Van Halen and Gene Simmons) – Lead &Rhythm Guitars

Eric Brittingham (Least Glam Metal Name EVAH~!) – Bass, Backing Vocals

Fred Coury (80's Snare to Die For) - Drums

Night Songs

We stay in 1986 with the other huge album of the golden era to come from this era: Cinderella’s Night Songs (aptly named, wont ya say?). The year 1986 was a sort of calm before the storm. In 1987, we saw the rejuvenation of heavy metal with bands re-defining their sounds with pop-saturated metal (Def Leppard, Whitesnake), the sleaze counter-revolution (Guns N Roses, Faster Pussycat) and the glam traditionalists showing they still kick-ass (Motley Crue, Dokken). While 1986’s debut from Poison oozes glam from the cover, to the lyrics and to the sonic attack. Cinderella brings a glam style that would have fit in the halls of Versailles under the Sun King. Lyrically, the band keeps it straight-ahead with partying and sex, but there are some common blues tropes that find their way into the music (Back Home Again, the title track). The music is the key differentiator as Cinderella brings a definitive metal edge to their sound. From the wails and howls of Tom Keifer to the high-wattage riffs from the talented guitar duo. Not to mention that wicked sexy snare that epitomizes the 80s with each crash and snap. 

Louis XIV would be proud!

Long Cold Winter (#31 on this prestigious list) saw Cinderella move in a blues direction with their music, which would be completed on their next album, Heartbreak Station. However on Night Songs, the band finds itself rocking just as hard they partied. The captured the First Wave of Glam Metal sound and gave it a fantastic send-off before it was killed off by the rise of pop and sleaze metal.

The first choice cut off the album is my dad’s all-time favorite glam metal song. Somebody Save Me. As my dad always aptly puts it, “There is no fuckin denyin this monstah riff.” Easily one of the best riffs in glam metal history. Keifer’s vocals just lend this song and this band so much credence. You can feel how pissed off he is throughout the songs. The song is a ferocious, driving, head-banging rocker. The riff is the real center-piece and the solo is relatively un-moving.  I just got to comment on the video, Jeff LeBar’s hair is FUCKIN HUGE!!! 

The first single off the album was the KISS-inspired Shake Me (the rhythm section is very bouncy and I love it). The chorus is the ultra-80s sounding, gang-shout of “Shake Me!”. Of course, Keifer fills-in in letting the lucky lass know “Don’t break it”. While the song is a standard 80’s metal anthem single, it is just contagiously fun and always love when it comes up on shuffle. In the video, Tom Keifer, ever the badass, picks up a guitar says I am just goin to shred on this. As lead vocalist, I always thought it was pretty BITCHIN he handled all the solos. The less said about Cinderella’s mega-creepy keyboardist the better. O those eyes, how they leer. This video also taught me mean bitches wear polka-dots!

The major hit and one of the top 5 power ballads of all time is Nobody’s Fool. Unlike most power ballads, instead of wallowing in one’s depression, Keifer tells this bitch to fuck off and that he is coming back stronger than ever. It is definitely one of the most empowering power ballads out there. It is pretty heavy for a glam power ballad and one that brings the huge-end production values that make these songs so endearing. The chorus is anthemic and readily accessible. The hook is definitely the guitar/keyboard/drum crescendo to the chorus. In the video, the bassist is rockin those hideous glam bangs that everybody was so fond of in the mid-80s and at least they were paired with acid-washed overly shredded jeans. That would have been an nightmare. 

Next up is the powerful, metal-bending Nothin For Nothin that just pulverizes the listener into submission with a killer riff. The riff is an up-tempo crusher that features a great lead guitar hook that sounds like an engine revving and the squeal of peelin rubber. Great hook in the form of the gang-chorus that has you shoutin along with them. Cinderella doesn’t showcase the best solos of the metal bands, but this one is a definite face-melter. Keifer’s wail keeps the listener involved throughout the song.

Personally as a fan of heavy metal, I like when my glam metal remembers to put the metal in glam metal. That is exactly what Cinderella offers on this album, which is why this album has always been a a personal favorite of mine.

Since we are getting close to the top 5, here is a review of #11-31 that can be found by going through the archives.

#11 Faster Pussycat – Faster Pussycat (Sleaze)

#12 Hanoi Rocks – Two Steps To The Move (Glam Punk)

#13 Ratt – Invasion of Your Privacy (First-Wave Glam Metal)

#14 LA Guns – LA Guns (Sleaze)

#15 Quiet Riot – Metal Health (First-Wave Glam Metal)

#16 Motley Crue – Dr. Feelgood (Pop Metal)

#17 Whitesnake –Whitesnake (Pop Metal)

#18 Def Leppard – Hysteria (Pop Metal)

#19 Poison – Open Up and Say Ahhhh (Pop Metal)

#20 Vain – No Respect (Sleaze)

#21 Crashdiet – Rest In Sleaze (New Wave of Swedish Sleaze)

#22 WASP –Last Command (First-Wave Glam Metal)

#23 Dokken – Tooth &Nail (First-Wave Glam Metal)

#24 Steel Panther – Feel The Steel (First-Wave Glam Metal)

#25 Motley Crue – Theatre of Pain (First-Wave Glam Metal)

#26 Crashdiet – Generation Wild (New Wave of Swedish Sleaze)

#27 Faster Pussycat – Wake Me When Its Over (Sleaze)

#28 Ratt – Dancing Undercover (First-Wave Glam Metal)

#29 Pretty Boy Floyd – Leather Boyz With Electric Toyz (Bubbleglam)

#30 LA Guns – Cocked & Loaded (Sleaze)

#31 Cinderella – Long Cold Winter (Pop Metal)

Once Around The Ride finishes this review with a bass-heavy attack as Keifer howls through this heavy metal attack.