5 Great 1980s Hard Rock Bands That You Should Know, But Never Made It Big

If there is one common theme to a band not making it big it is wrong place, wrong time. The public’s shifting and fickle tastes in music often conspire against success. But that’s not the only reason.

You can’t  underestimate luck in the success formula.

Many talented hard rock bands were left by the wayside for no other reason except that they were unlucky.

The other reasons for not making it?  Bad management, an indifferent record label, poor distribution, a lack of exposure and personnel turmoil within the band. Also in the late 1980s an oversaturation of the market with a  lot of bands sounding indistinguishable from one another. Finally, the rise of grunge / alternative was the coup de grace for hundreds of hard rock bands.

With the exception of Badlands, where the band imploded and the singer died in 1993, we present here five 1980s bands that should have been huge but never got there.

Zebra

I can say positively that Zebra’s music is unknown to the vast majority of rock fans. With one possible exception – the 1983 hit, Tell Me What You Want.

From 1983 on, their record label, Atlantic Records, dropped the ball and did nothing right in promoting Zebra.

The trio of Randy Jackson (vocals, guitar), Felix Hanemann (bass, keyboards) and Guy Gelso (drums) has remained constant since 1975.  Zebra still tour theaters and clubs. With proper exposure and airplay they should have been playing arenas all this time.

Each of their four studio albums, has several strong, versatile songs.

The theme of many of Zebra’s songs – Can’t Live Without; Better Not Call; Take Your Fingers From My Hair; Hard Living Without You; One More Chance; – is having your heart broken.

If Randy Jackson did not write from personal experience, it is an impressive feat. Jackson has an exceptional gift for putting into words the yearning for lost love. The anguish resonates with anyone who has experienced heartbreak. Decades after their release the songs remain fresh and can still touch a listener’s soul.

Badlands

A superstar band with master guitarist Jake E. Lee (formerly with Ozzy Osbourne), vocalist, Ray Gillen (briefly in Black Sabbath)  drummer Eric Singer (Black Sabbath & later Kiss), and bass Greg Chaisson.

Two albums, Badlands (1989) and Voodoo Highway (1991) in normal circumstances would have catapulted this band to worldwide success. Great catchy songs with superior musicians that stand head and shoulders above standard fare is usually a recipe for success.

How this band did not succeed is a combination of personnel conflicts, musical direction and the course of the music industry in the early 90s.

Then there’s the  talented Gillen who contracted AIDS without telling anyone including his bandmates about his condition. His personal appearance changed dramatically between albums from 1989 on as he lost a lot of weight and looked haggard. When Gillen left the band in 1992 he was seriously ill. No one is sure about how he contracted AIDS,  It’s unknown If Gillen was straight or gay or even in fact that he knew he even had AIDS.

Some musicians and close contacts say Gillen surely knew of his diagnosis and still was having unprotected sex. Others like Jake E. Lee say Gillen told him he was having stomach issues. Lee said that he asked Gillen about drug use and Gillen replied he didn’t shoot up because he didn’t like needles. But once, for the experience of it, he shared a needle with his uncle who was gay. The uncle did die of AIDS and Lee speculates that is possibly how Gillen got the disease.

After Gillen’s death on December 1, 1993 several families successfully sued the Gillen estate for giving their daughters AIDS; with some of the girls dying. However this may be apocryphal as we can find no record of any lawsuits searching through thousands of news accounts.

Why does any of this matter?

Atlantic Records will not reissue the Badlands albums. They are also not available on stream services. The reasons are speculative. One theory is Atlantic does not want to generate any income from Badlands in deference to Gillen’s victims.

Unlikely because record companies care about one thing – making money. The most likely scenario – there isn’t enough of a market to re-issue the albums.

Dirty Looks

Anyone who likes AC/DC will almost certainly be a fan of Dirty Looks.  Killer hooks and a singer with a Bon Scott voice and attitude.

But because of a variety of reasons Dirty Looks toiled in obscurity for almost 25 years and we briefly recounted the sad fate of Dirty Looks here.

Dirty Looks had it all. Original songs, great musicianship and an excellent live show. But it did not translate into sales or even people becoming remotely aware of this vastly underrated band.

Founder, singer, songwriter, and guitarist Henrik Ostergaard died at the age of 47 on January 27, 2011 of liver disease.

What do Dirty Looks have in common with Zebra and Badlands?

Dirty Looks was also with  Atlantic Records who in the 1980s with the exception of AC/DC seemed unable to properly market or support many of their hard rock bands. Kix, Wrathchild America; Vicious Rumors; all got short-shrifted by the label.

19 albums were put out during Ostergaard’s brief life, many of which I’ve never heard. The one’s that I have heard from the 1980s and 90s are fantastic.

Fastway

Fastway should have and could have been a superstar band right off the bat. “Should have , could have” are the words most overused when it comes to music success, but in this case it is true.

In 1982 after being pushed out of Motörhead, guitarist “Fast Eddie” Clarke forms a new band with UFO bassist Pete Way, hence the name Fastway.

One immediate problem: Pete Way drops out of Fastway to join Ozzy Osbourne before Fastway ever records a song for an album. Fastway still signs with CBS records.

Fast Eddie recruits drummer Jerry Shirley from Humble Pie and session player Mickey Feat to play bass on the 1983 debut album Fastway. Vocals are done by a then unknown Irish singer – Dave King.

The result is a strong album with the opening track  Easy Livin’ setting the tone.

Richard McCracken formerly of the band Taste (Rory Gallagher and John Wilson) was then brought in to tour and be the permanent bass player. The album sells well enough to hit #31 on the Billboard charts in the USA.

The follow-up album All Fired Up (1984) is in the same vein as the debut. Crisp, hard rock with King’s extraordinary vocals setting the band apart from the competition.

The band’s trajectory was upward even if sales did not reflect it. But it was the beginning of the end. Shirley and McCracken left after the hardships of the All Fired Up tour. King and Clarke recruited new musicians and released Waiting For The Roar (1986) a big mistake. It’s a rock oriented album without the hard rock edge. Waiting failed miserably with Fastway’s fans and the record buying public ignored the album.

Fastway then returned to their hard rock / metal roots.

The band recorded the motion picture soundtrack to 1986’s Trick or Treat. Unlike most film soundtracks this one was excellent. Fastyway’s songs do much to elevate a forgettable movie to notability through a soundtrack. Album sales were steady and remained in the Billboard Top 200 for almost a year.

But Fastway was never going to be the same after Dave King decided to leave the band after the Trick or Treat album.

Clarke continued with a new Fastway band fronted by Lea Hart and session musicians. They recorded two more albums, both of which were disappointments musically and sales-wise.

Fastway was finished.

In 2011 Clarke put out one more effort as Fastway but without Dave King. It was a good effort, but the music did not capture the same magic as the original Fastway.

Fast Eddie Clarke died in 2018 at age 67. Dave King continues to perform in his own band Flogging Mollly.

Tora Tora

We did a brief review of the debut LP of this Memphis, Tennessee band here.

This failure to hit it big was simply bad timing, with the late 80s and early 90s not being the best time to be an emerging hard rock band. Though according to singer, guitarist Anthony Corder, their label, A&M Records had a label promotions man that really believed in the band and did everything he could to publicize them.

In an interview with Sleaze Roxx Corder said, “Back then, we were lucky enough that they had tour support that they could give us. Especially being a new band and not having credibility or proven track record, they kind of had our backs. They were like, ‘Look, we’ll find the tours for you. We’ll find some places for you to play. We’ll help you financially to get yourself out there and build your brand up.’ It was like getting hit by a strike of lightning. I’m not kidding ya!”

Tora Tora released their debut  album Surprise Attack in 1989 and the follow-up Wild America in 1992. Looking at Skid Row, Winger, Warrant, Poison, L.A. Guns and the rest of Tora Tora’s contemporaries who were commercially successful proves it’s often about luck rather than talent.

Both of these Tora Tora albums did not sell millions of copies. They were noticed by the music press and radio stations and gained some fans, but most aficionados of hard rock missed out.

An album recorded in 1994, Resurrection Day, was shelved and the masters are still in A&M’s possession. But another version was released by FNA Records in 2011. With no new product Tora Tora fell by the wayside.During the years of inactivity the band members went back to school, got jobs and raised families but music was always part of their lives.

By 2019 Tora Tora had recorded a new album Bastards of Beale.

Fortunately for their fans Tora Tora are still together and do occasionally tour. And incredibly it’s still the same four friends who started it all. The band members are Anthony Corder (lead vocals and guitar), Keith Douglas (guitar), Patrick Francis (bass), and John Patterson (drums).