No Substitute

I'm feeling emotionally drained today, glam fans.

Working in television news during times of great tragedy is more than a drag, it's an unhealthy burden. For this reason, I send the students and faculty of Virginia Tech good wishes. As such, the glam mistress is in need of some fun.

Yesterday, my friend "Vince Neilstein" over at www.metalsucks.net mentioned an eBay purchase of the self-titled Vinnie Vincent Invasion debut. I love the Vinnie Vincent Invasion!

Vinnie Vincent formed his "Invasion" back in 1985, after a short lived stint with KISS. In addition to Vincent, the band also featured future Slaughter members Mark Slaughter (!)  and Dana Strum plus drummer Bobby Rock. The self-titled debut featured singer Robert Fleischman.

Vinnie Vincent Invasion is on the loud side of glam Metal. The band's self-titled debut features these songs:

1. Boyz Are Gonna Rock
2. Shoot You Full of Love
3. No Substitute
4. Animal
5. Twisted
6. Do You Wanna Make Love
7. Back on the Streets
8. I Wanna Be Your Victim
9. Baby-O
10. Invasion

Back in the mid-80s when MTV was still awesome, Vincent and Strum hosted a ridiculous show featuring heavy metal videos. They appeared on TV all glammed up and it was pretty hot! Neither Vinnie or Dana knew how to read a TelePrompTer, so this made for some funny moments.

If you ever watched VH1 Classic Metal Mania, you've probably seen the video for "Boyz are Gonna Rock." Mark Slaughter is in this video, but the audio track is that of  Robert Fleischman. During the frenetic video, the band members completely trash their equipment. Vinnie Vincent swears this was reality and not acting. You be the judge. Here's the video for "Boyz are Gonna Rock:"

Comments

[Hard Rock Hideout]

This video kills me. I wish Vinnie would do something new.

[Metal Mark]

I remember VVI as being like mostly solos with very little song structure. Although I have not heard either album since the 80's.

[Vince Neilstein]

OH. MY. GOD. I want to make man love to Vinnie Vincent's guitar and experience orgasm as he shreds the shit out of that solo. AMAZING!!!

[aXe mAn]

I am also a big fan of Vinnie Vincent Invasion! Vinnie is a great guitarist! And it shows!

[Rhodeislandrock]

Vinnie Vincent is a talented guitarist and an excellent writer. Both VVI albums were solid, ALL SYSTEMS GO being the better of the two. Vinnie also played a significant role in KISS' early 80s and early 90s comebacks by co-writing some great songs.

Unfortunately, I don't think Vinnie has ever recovered from Dana Strum turning the Invasion into Slaughter. Too bad because the guy could still be a player in the game with the right people around him.

[bob_vinyl]

Vinnie Vincent sure can play fast. it's just a shame that he can't play well. I remember the album being a lot like Metal Mark describes it. I recently watched "Boyz are Gonna Rock" on youtube (I loved the random burning man in the video) and it was even worse than I remember. The song structure is completely generic and VV's riffs are disjointed and seldom fit in with anything other than his over-inflated ego's desire to show off. Hair metal certainly had its share of rotten bands (and a few good ones too), but VVI is among the very worst. Fast, unstructured, emotionless riffs don't make a good guitarist. VVI is an example of how technical skill actually hurts a band.

[Metalbearuk]

The first Vinnie Vincent invasion album was/is a classic, but I hated the 2nd.

The unreleased 3rd album is excellent too, nearly a return to the quality of the 1st album.

I think their songs were good and they should have kept Robert Fleischman for the vocals, although Mark Slaughters image was better.

[bob_vinyl]

I never heard the third Vinnie Vincent album, but if it's like the first, I can thank my lucky stars that I haven't. The first VVI begs the question, "how much crappier can it be?" At the time, I thought the answer was, "None more crappy." Then the second album came out and I was proven wrong!