The story of skid row began with founding members bassist Rachel Bolan and guitarist Dave Snake Sabo
both the Frank Zappa film Baby Snakes, and some strange body hair he possessed.
Sabo lived a few blocks away from jon bon jovi who he was friends with growing up & It would be
that relationship that would be instrumental in Skid row’s success with Sabo telling Loudersound
that the pair had made a pact when they were only 7 years old to become rockstars with the
first person getting their promising to help out the other. He would recall to loudersound
“It was obvious that Jon was gonna get there first, but he said that when our band was right
he would go out on a limb for us,” “And he was true to his word. Jon came to see us live,
critiqued us and provided the benefit of his experience, which was invaluable he'd say.
Bolan and Sabo who came from the Jersey Shore; In the mid eighties Sabo was working at the Garden
State Music Store when he met Bolan who came in one day looking for some strings for his bass.
Sabo would recall to Rolling Stone “He used to come in all the time, and he just had this aura,
or whatever you call it, about him.” in a separate interview Sabo would tell Loudersound
I’ll never forget that moment. This guy walked in wearing a red beret and a pink
leather jacket. He looked like a freakin’ star. I just had to strike up a conversation he'd say.
The pair hit it off, but Bolan was already in a band at the time called Godsend, which
he had played in for about a year, a group that also helped him develop his songwriting skills.
Soon enough, the pair joined forces in 1986 but while you may think the band’s name Skid Row came
from the infamous neighbourhood in downtown los angeles, it didn’t. Prior to calling themselves
skid row, bolan and sabo threw around some names including Darkness after the Aerosmith song with
Sabo telling Rolling Stone “We thought up the name when we were driving down the Garden State
Parkway, We were on our way to practice, trying to think of what to call ourselves, and we saw
tire marks on the road from an accident. I think I said, ‘Skid Marks,’ and Rachel said, ‘Skid Row.’
and thus the band's name was born. With a name in tow both Bolan and Sabo would be bring different
and some similar musical influences to Skid Row. Bolan would tell Loudersound “When it came to
writing we very quickly realised that while we both came from different musical backgrounds – me
from Judas Priest and Iron Maiden, while Rachel’s roots are in The Ramones – our styles
complemented each other. It also helped that Kiss and Van Halen were a common denominator.”
It didn’t take long for the pair to find bandmates as they found guitarist Scotti Hill, a new york
transplant who had moved to Jersey to play in the states music scene, while drummer Rob Affuso was
an NYU graduate whose resume included playing in a Rush tribute band. Finding a frontman was a more
difficult task. The band would enlist singer Matt Fallon who had previously played with Anthrax and
hit the club circuit around New Jersey, New York and Connecticut It would be Sabo’s old friend Bon
Jovi who by 1986 was a big star, who got Skid Row to open for 3 shows for his band while they were
playing some December shows in Pennsylvania. At this time Fallon was still fronting the group and
Skid Row were still unsigned, but following the gigs it became apparent something needed to change
with the band. Sabo would recall to Loudersound what happened next saying “It was exciting playing
in front of 7,000 people, sold-out, with one of my best buds as the headliner,” “Then Doc comes
into the dressing room and goes, ‘The band’s great; the songs are great; but you need a
singer. He’s not the guy. He’s not a star.’” McGee promised to sign the band in addition to
several major record labels sharing a similar sentiment if they could find a new frontman.
Fallon was soon fired and the band would undergo a 9 month search for a new singer.
Future MOtley Crue frontman John Corabi was offered to audition for the band, but things
didn’t work out. It was during their search for a new frontman the band would pen the hits
including “Youth Gone Wild”, “18 and Life” and “I Remember You” that appear on their debut album.
The foursome soon grew so frustrated with the search for a singer that they even formed a
short lived cover band named The Blows which played Sex Pistols and Ramones cover tunes.
But their prayers would finally be answered. Enter Sebastian Bach.
Born in the bahamas to an accomplished painter and gallery owner father Sebastian Bach's birth name
was Sebastian Beirch as he was originally named would spend his youth in California
and in eastern Canada. He would admit to rolling stone he was and i quote a “straight-A bully”
at the private school he attended that was also attended by Prince Andrew who he described in the
same interview as and i quote “a fing ahole. By the eight grade, his father would admit Sebastian
started taking a liking to music, especially rock n’ roll, but Bach would would butt heads over the
way to go about having a career in music with his father thinking his son should attend juilliard,
but the future skid row frontman had other thoughts. By the age of 15 he’d drop out of
school and move to Toronto, Canada and change his last name to Bach. Standing six foot three
he looked a lot older than his age allowing him to get into clubs and play with bands live including
the act Kid Wikked. A band whose members in some instances were twice Bach’s age. Bach would soon
find himself performing at a wedding of a rock photographer Mark Weiss and singing on stage
with members of Twisted SIster and Kevin Dubrow of Quiet Riot as well as guitarist
Zakk Wylde . That wedding happened to be attended by David Feld, who knew the guys in Skid Row. Feld
would eventually land a job working for Atlantic Records, which Skid Row would eventually sign to.
I want to also note to you guys that in Sebastian Bach’s Wikipedia fact or fiction he claimed it was
jon bon jovi’s parents who were in attendance at the wedding and asked Bach to try out for
skid row. Rolling Stone magazine who profiled the band in 1992 claimed it was David Feld who
discovered the singer and got him to audition for the band so you guys can take your pick.
Either way skid row sent bach a tape featuring a 4 song cassette of Skid Row demos that would
include 18 and Life and Youth Gone Wild with Bach recalling to Loudersound
“I kept listening to the tape because I couldn’t get those two songs out of my head,” “I said if
I could reinvent the melody lines – especially in 18 And Life – and put in some Halford-esque
kind of notes, I could make this into something that I would really be proud of" he'd remember
Bolan would tell Loudersound his impressions of Bach saying
“He sang the songs so high that we had to reign him in, but after some work
on his voice it all fell into place,”. “Sebastian was very obnoxious and loud,
but we needed a singer. The good thing was that he also had drive – and then some. But frontmen
were supposed to have spirit, right? he'd say After meeting bach at the airport the band went
to a rundown club named Mingles in South Amboy, Jersey. Sabo would recall to Rolling Stone what
happened that night saying “That night we got drunk and decided to jam,” “We had so much fun
onstage together. It was a mess, but it was great. Then on the way out, we walked up the
stairs and somebody called Baz an expletive so he just started swinging. We’d just met the guy,
and all of a sudden we’re in our first fistfight. It was like instant bonding.” It would be Bach’s
personality was a blessing and a curse.. He was charismatic, but also unpredictable.
He would create headaches for the band in the years that followed & ahead of signing with a
major label Skid Row would sign a publishing deal with John Bon Jovi and Ritchie sambora’s company
Underground, something that would leave feelings of bad blood in the years that followed. The deal
with Underground would result in a lot of their publishing royalties going to theBon Jovi pair.
The band at one point came close to signing with Guns N’ Roses and Aerosmith label Geffen Records.
Skid Row would end up playing a poor showcase for Geffen with famed A&R man Tom Zutaut who
signed Guns N’ Roses and Motley Crue with Sabo “One day Doc called and informed me we
had signed to Geffen,” “It was the day I’d been waiting for my whole life, but I was dismayed.
This was the label that had told us we had maybe two or three songs good enough for an album.
Tom had asked us where we rehearsed, and when I told him he said: ‘Well you won’t be seeing me in
that garage’. I was amazed by his arrogance. It was like Geffen were doing Doc a favour.”
THe band ended up signing with Atlantic Records and recording their debut album which was self
titled with Alice Cooper/Dokken producer Michael Wagener. The album would be recorded
in the resort town of Lake Geneva. Located next to the studio was a convention center
where the band would track drums for their album . Their self titled debut record would be released
in 1989 and the band got some prime touring spots spending half a year on the road opening
for Bon Jovi on their New Jersey tour, as well as playing with Aerosmith. During their off days from
the tour the band even scheduled club shows to hone their live shows and reach more fans. And
It didn’t take long for Skid Row’s debut album to sell a million copies as it was propelled by the
success of three big singles including I remember you, 18 and life, youth gone wild garnering a lot
of radio play and play on mtv. While the band had a lot to celebrate Bach’s antics also created a
lot of problems for the band. In some respects Skid Row soon became more recognized for the
antics of Sebastian Bach than their music. Bach would publicly blast Jon Bon Jovi,
who discovered the band at the cost of him taking a large portion of their publishing.
Couple that with a hugely controversial t-shirt that Sebastian Bach was photographed wearing
backstage. Add to that a december 1989 show opening for Aerosmith when Bach was struck in
the head by a bottle thrown from the audience. He ould hurl the bottle back into the crowd striking
an innocent young fan & it would result in Bach being on probation for three years and being
sued by the family of the young fan with Bach revealing to Rolling Stone in 1991 “I basically
gave them everything I’d earned,” I’ve done a whole video on this event the link is down below.
Bolan would admit his frustration with Bach telling Loudersound
“It used to bug the hell out of me when he said things that Dee Snider, David Lee Roth and even
Paul Stanley had used before,” “It was so obvious. As our career progressed, pretty much all the shit
that Sebastian said on stage became irritating. He’d tell an audience what a song was about, but
it had nothing to do with the lyrics I’d written. Unless I ignored it, I’d have walked off he'd say.
Tensions aside the band managed to release their second album Slave to the Grind
in June of 1991. The album cover would be done by Bach’s own father. The album made history becoming
the first hard rock album to debut at number 1 on the charts. The success of the album took Bach
by surprise who would admit to Rolling Stone “I thought this album would enter the charts at like
Number 100, not Number One,” “I felt…strange,” “I felt like I was walking a fin’ tightrope or
something.” Bach would hear the news that Skid Row had knocked rap act NWA from the number one spot
ahead of playing an opening show for GUns n’ ROses at the Spectrum in Philadelphia.
Dave Snake Sabo would tell Rolling Stone where the band’s mind was at when they put out their
second album 1991’s Slave to the Grind saying “For us, it’s not just that we want to sell
another four million records. What we want to do is stay around awhile, like Aerosmith.
We’d trade some sales for some respect, because we’re serious about the music.”
Rachel Bolan would add in the same interview “We’d like to be like one of the incredibly
cool bands we grew up on, whether it was the Sex Pistols or Kiss,
“We’d like to be great, you know?” The tour to support the album was only met
with more antics from Bach. During a summer 1991 show opening for Guns N’ Roses at Wembley Stadium.
It was at this gig that the Brent Council issued a written warning to the band not to play the
song Get the F Out warning the band they could be banned for life and could possibly face jail time.
Bach, going against the advice of his bandmates read the Council’s letter on stage to nearly
100,000 fans. And a year later Skid Row were headlining with Pantera and Soundgarden opening
in London Bach dropped his pants wiping his butt with a copy of the Daily Star.
Add to the friction, escalating drug use amongst the band members, it was no surprise that the band
was on their way to premature destruction. Bolan would recall to Louder Sound “We had
everything in front of us,” “It became a sore point. To this day I tell people never to do
drugs, they’ll end up destroying themselves or what they’re working towards.” By late
1992 the band would release a covers EP called B Side Ourselves that would end up going gold.
The following year in 1993 Skid Row’s manager would tell the band they should take a break
being quoted in spin magazine as saying “wait for all this seattle shit to die down.”
Two years later the band would release their third album 1995’s Subhuman Race. The band
would drop Michael Wagener deciding to work with Metallcia producer Bob Rock. Musical tastes had
significantly changed by this point in time and it can be heard on the album. The record failed
to achieve the success of the group’s first two records only peaking at number 35 on the billboard
album charts. And Sabo would claim he was dealing with writers block after the band got off the road
in 1993 telling Loudersound “When I came off tour I couldn’t write a song to save my life.”
Tensions only escalated within the group as the band didn’t enjoy working with Bob Rock and Bach
wanted a bigger role in song writing. With Sabo telling Loudersound “I could understand his desire
to write songs,” “Rachel and I had been learning our craft for eleven years. Sebastian could sing
18 And Life way better than I ever could, but writing a song like that isn’t something you
can just snap your fingers and learn. When that distinction got lost, that’s when the
real troubles began. The most interesting thing about Sebastian’s ego was that it grew more and
more out of control the smaller the band became.” Spin magazine did a pretty great piece on Skid
Row and a number of other bands on the state of metal in 1995.
The article would really shed light on how things had changed for the band in just a few short
years. Despite the fact that they were opening for van halen by 1995, Their touring crew was
limited to just 7 people, all of which slept on the same tour bus as the band. One of the
band members would be quoted as telling SPin in that article “there would have been three
limos back in the old days. Now we’re relying on hotel shuttle buses to take us to the gig.”
Spin magazine would perfectly summarize what happened to the band “industry insiders the ones
quick to point out births, deaths and rebirths, gleefully heralded that metal is dead. Anthrax
is touring clubs in a van to try & reconnect” says one record company executive who asked not
to be named “And they didn’t even do the big hair thing. Megadeth’s last album was a complete dog.
That formula is dead. We’ve all walked away from it. Nothing aged worse than that.
And it was true both warner brothers and columbia had phased out their metal departments.
The legendary heavy metal radio station KNAC in los angeles switched formats to play spanish
music. Add to that that mtv’s long running show headbangers ball was cancelled at that time.
Those old days of carrying out road cases full of makeup mirrors and leather pants
were also gone for SKid Row. The band was now wearing baggy shirts and shorts on stage,
something the band chalked up to convenience since they more eas fit into knapsacks instead
of large road cases. Warrant frontman Jani Lane who was also interviewed for the article doubted
the change in appearance was out of convenience telling Spin “it’s just not accepted anymore to
come out looking glam. It doesn’t help you get on the radio. I like dressing up or having a costume.
Now the whole band struggles with it. Do we try to fit in or do we do what we did five years ago and
never be accepted. Yeah I’ve worn flannel shirts, i’m ashamed to admit it.” When spin reached out to
other bands in the same article to talk about the state of metal poison refusing to comment on the
story while motley crue publicist didn't like the word metal being associated with the band.
Despite the band’s change in sound and appearance around the time of Subhuman Race,
frontman Sebastian Bach didn’t count himself a fan of alternative rock band at the time
taking aim at courtney love, nirvana criticizing their drug abuse going on to telling Spin “we
don’t cancel shows in this band” going on to call alternative and grunge and i quote “revenge of the
college people. They hated all of us rockers in high school because we got all of the chicksThen
they took over mtv and no rockers allowed. He would also share the same venom for MTV who helped
propel the band in the late 80’s early 90’s, but now rarely played the group’s videos telling Spin
“we bow at their feet. We work for a tv station. I was that 20 year old flavour of the month,
the eddie vedder/alainis morrissette thing and in five years it’ll be someone else.
MTV would even answer back against bach in the same article with Andy Schuon firing
back saying the network did play the video for one of the band’s singles from subhuman race
a few times since the network felt it needed some exposure saying “we do have an agenda. It reflects
what is happening in the music scene. As a genre, metal is not dead, but it’ not what it once was.”
The spin reporter who followed around skid row on their van halen tour interviewed fans who came to
the shows and made the conclusion that it was industry insiders who were more obsessed with
labels as fans spouted off both alternative and metal bands as their favourite acts at the time.
I’d love to know your guys thoughts are on this whole debate in the comments section.
By 1996 the band played a musical festival in Brazil sharing the bill with iron maiden,
king diamond Mercyful Fate and Motorhead. Upon returning to the states the members of Skid Row
knew it was over with Bolan reflecting to Louder Sound “I knew when I got off the plane at JFK
Airport that I’d never step on stage with Skid Row again, He would go to say “By then we were
viewed as a cartoon band, and the genre we were lumped into had been swallowed up and laughed at.”
The following year the wheels finally came off the band when two days before christmas in 1996
fired Sebastian Bach over the phone. It’s been long reported that A dispute over whether to
open for kiss on top of bach’s ego seemed to be the reason for the split. Bach reportedly wanted
to open for Kiss while his bandmates didn’t thinking they were too big to open for Kiss.
Bolan would tell the Chuck Shute podcast Things were pretty bad within the band — with all of us,
actually. [We] never heard from each other when we were home, and most of us lived 15 minutes
from each other's house. And it started to get not fun at one point, because it was just all bullshit
that went along with preparing to do stuff, and whatever it was. It was a relief in a way.
Scott Hill would point to a voicemail that bach left for snake saying
“That caused a giant uproar is what it did, and [Sebastian] did something to Snake that
was unacceptable… He called his house on Thanksgiving and said some horrible things
into his answering machine, and Snake says, ‘You know what? I’m not gonna be in a band with you
anymore.’ There you go. It’s as simple as that.” Following the firing of Bach, the remaining
members of Skid Row pursued other musical projects until reuniting with the band in 2000 with a new
singer in johnny sollinger who’d put out two albums with Since then the band has been a
constant presence on the touring circuit. Bach for his part would pursue a solo music career,
appear on broadway and even have a recurring character on the WB show gilmore girls. The band