‘I Wanna Rock: The ‘80s Metal Dream’ - Documentary Review

Paramount+ released a three-part documentary earlier this month called I Wanna Rock: The ‘80s Metal Dream (MTV Entertainment Studios). The documentary is directed by Tyler Measom and is only on Paramount+ - so it's worth a subscription to watch!

I watched the series over two nights. The segments are about an hour each, so easily digestible. Interviews feature John Corabi, Kip Winger, Janet Gardner, Snake Sabo, Dee Snider and other industry folks, including journalist Lonn Friend and music manager Vicky Hamilton.

Titles of the three segments:

Ep 101 - “I Wanna Be Somebody”
Ep 102 - “Headed for Heartbreak”
Ep 103 - “Smells Like Change”

You can pretty well guess what is covered by the segment titles. Of the three sections, I thought the most interesting bits were found in two and three.

The throwbacks to clips of musicians changing their look and sound to fit into the 80s metal mold was gold and I loved the little hunk showing when Michael Bolton tried to be a Glam singer (I wrote about that here once, years ago).

Janet Gardner talks about how she got into singing and her start with a Mormon singing group. Of course there's discussion of her parents' Mormon faith and conservative values and what they would think of their daughter wearing short skirts on stage with Vixen. Janet talks about her time in Vixen's heyday with mostly great memories and also addresses the rampant misogyny in the scene back in the 80s (and 90s and 00s and...)

The best parts of the documentary for me are the behind-the-scenes clips of Kip Winger working his butt off as an unknown session guy and then when he is tinkering in the studio with Reb Beach. Kip talks a lot about Winger's struggles and how Beavis and Butthead really hurt his band. He talks about the lean years during Grunge and also when his wife died. Then there is joy on his face as he walks viewers through his dream career of writing orchestral music.

Snake Sabo of Skid Row is pretty open and I will admit I did not know about his childhood trauma and mental health issues. I knew that he has been an advocate for mental health treatment in recent years, but good on him for coming out of the other side of abuse. He also touched on dealing with Sebastian Bach's drama a little, but not too much.

Seeing all the old promo photos from bands that made it huge - and those who didn't - is also a great treat. Watching all the photos flip, you can really make a nice playlist of some rare Glam. I mean, Candy is featured - with audio clips and an interview even! Really, "Whatever Happened To Fun?"

Your friend and mine, Riki Rachtman shows up to talk about what "killed" the 80s scene and he is dead right when he says it wasn't grunge so much as it was Garth - as in Garth Brooks and country music. I just read The Nineties by Chuck Klosterman and there's an entire section of the book dedicated to Garth Brooks and his complete domination of music in the 90s. For the first time, country was "cool" and mainstream and Garth released a chart-topping album almost every year of the 90s. His live shows were unmatched (I even saw one in like 1994 or 1995) and he was very upfront about what he liked. Garth apparently loves arena rock and over-the-top shows, so he modeled his career on that and making songs that he would like. So between country getting huge and grunge dominating the "traditional" rock market, 80s music was pushed aside and considered washed.

Watch the series for the Vicky Hamilton interviews and learn how horrible she was treated by a lot of big bands, especially Motley Crue and Poison. Then there's Guns n' Roses. No wonder the poor woman needed some therapy after all of that!