Tuesday Two-Fer, III: Winger

By our friend HIM.

Back in the day, you couldn’t get me to listen to Winger. I found them too poppy, too image-focused, too damn cheesy. You know what? I was wrong. I was wrong to mistake the image for the sound, or the craftsmanship, or the hooks. When I finally took a look at what they were actually offering, I realized I was just blinded by my existing prejudices. Thank goodness we can grow as listeners.

 

First Pick: “Can’t Get Enough,” In The Heart Of The Young (1990)

What’s a man with perfect teeth, a suitably hairy chest, and a flowing mane of hair to do? Simple. Craft an ear nugget of a song with co-writer Reb Beach. Though this song likely earned them no more street cred (and the continued scorn of Beavis and Butthead), it was yet again proof that the former Alice Cooper sideman knew how to write catchy songs.

 

Second Pick: “Down Incognito,” Pull (1993)

Google lists Winger as a “progressive metal” band. That I disagree with. What is beyond dispute is that, while metal was on the wane, Winger was still capable of making interesting music. It’s a shame that a song this good never got the attention that it deserved.

 

Dishonorable Mention: “Purple Haze,” Winger (1988). With all due respect to Allyson and Dweezil, no. Just no.

Comments

[stu]

winger were the butt of a lot of jokes back in the day, but they produced some great songs. surprisingly, 2009’s “karma” might be their best album. how often can you say that about those ‘80s bands.

[GNR]

Down Incognito is by far my favorite Winger song. And yes, it's a shame that song didn't hit the scene a touch sooner... just lost in the grunge shuffle

[Bkallday]

Great band and very musically gifted. Their first cd was a hard rock classic imho, but Pull is a criminally underrated release from these guys. Unfortunately the posing didn't really help his cause, as far as being taken seriously as an artist. Not a big fan of their newer material, but yeah... they rocked back in the day.

[Gary]

Reb Beach was one of the most talented guitarists to come out of the 80’s. All those guys were top notch musicians. But as Bk deftly pointed out, Kips posing and preening detracted from that and got him pegged as a Bon Jovi pretty boy knockoff. That being said, they had some seriously kick assed tunes

[Metalboy!]

Thanks for the post HIM, though I gotta still side with Beavis & Butthead.

No matter how you cut it, Winger is cheesy and was a tad arrogant and can never live it down, regardless of the fact he has obviously toned it down after decades of well deserved abuse.

That said, the band does have a handful of great tunes (even though they’re still cheesy) such as “Can’t Get Enough”, “Headed for a Heartbreak”, “Madeleine”, “Miles Away”, “Battle Stations” (originally only available on the “Bill and Ted’s Excellent Journey” soundtrack) and the one that brought him all the wrath to begin with — their Top 40 hit (#26) “Seventeen”.

p.s. Still, as I discovered several years ago, Winger is superb live and Kip Winger himself is obviously quite an accomplished musician as further demonstrated by his classical music endeavors. But still cheesy!

[GlamBamThankYouMa'am]

Who cares if they "posed and preened"? I don't understand why bands like this got picked on for having an image when every single "heavy metal" and Grunge band had a premeditated image as well.

Wearing leather studs and spikes or flannel was just keepin it real, but dressing glam like Winger (AND EVERYONE ELSE IN THE 1980S) was not, I guess.

I also don't understand why every rock fan has to apologize for liking love songs/ballads. Liking songs about how miserable life is has been the hip thing in rock for 25 years, but I refuse to apologize for liking ballads. Being in a relationship is a wonderful thing and there is nothing "cheesy" about being normal.

We don't have to apologize for liking Glam Metal. Most rock fans are fucking arrogant, elitist creeps. They're the ones with the issues, we're normal.