Michael Monroe – I Live Too Fast To Die Young -

7,101

5 stars

*Nice flashy album cover for I Live Too Fast To Die Young. Of course Michael Monroe draped all over it.*

Audio CD (paid link)

Michael Monroe burst upon the rock scene with his band Hanoi Rocks in the late seventies. Brilliant band, all attitude, make up, high heels, elbows pointed at the ceiling as they thrashed their guitars. Glam Metal at its best. Originating from Finland, by the time of their fourth album, “Two Steps from the Move,” the classic lineup was four Finns: Monroe – lead vocals and saxophone, Andy McCoy – lead guitar, Nasty Suicide – lead guitar, Sami Yaffa – bass guitar, and on drums from London, England was Nicholas Charles Dingley, far better known as Razzle.

*Michael Monroe on stage and prepared for anything. Always*
*performing a pleasing selection of songs from across his career when*
*live. But any of the songs from this latest release will fit perfectly*
*into the live set.*

Although the last to join, Razzle had soon become the heart and soul of the band. Upon its release, “Two Steps from the Move,” produced by Bob Ezrin, had shot up the British charts. The band started touring to packed out houses across Europe and Japan. They were also the darlings of the media; the future looked bright. In the influential weekly rock newspaper Sounds, Hanoi Rocks was voted the second best band in the world, coming up short against Marillion! But most importantly for all you girls out there, Michael Monroe was voted the ‘Sex Symbol of the Year.’

The band then set off on that all important first major tour of America. Sadly, after a few dates, Michael Monroe threw himself about just a little too much fracturing his ankle. Whilst Michael recovered, a few dates had to be put back, so the band went to Las Vegas for a holiday. One night Razzle met up with Motley Crue and went back to their house for a party. Razzle got in a car with Vince Neil, lead singer with Motley Crue, a drunken motor car accident occurred, and amongst the lives that were ruined in this incident, Razzle lost his. This incident is dramatically recalled in Motley Crue’s film, “The Dirt.” To all intent and purposes, this was the end of Hanoi Rocks. They struggled on for a few months with replacements, but the magic was gone.

*They may look like a bunch of rough and tumble but combining together on stage they become a fireball.*

For the rest of the century Michael Monroe was a solo artist, occasionally joining or forming other bands like the dynamite Demolition 23 but although successful, never really touching what had gone before.

In 2002 it was decided to dust down Hanoi Rocks again. The venture lasted until 2009 with various albums being released, all well received, and the lineup changed as well. But time to move on.

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The Michael Monroe Band debuted in 2010, meeting almost immediate success. Album sales were all good, and the band was much in demand on the festival circuit, selling out medium sized venues across the planet. The band at first had Ginger Wildheart on lead guitar and vocals, but this really was a case of too much talent in one band.

*One of the world’s greatest front men doing what he does best.*
*When he is not singing or playing saxophone, you’ll find him hanging*
*from the beams or body surfing out into the crowds.*
*The man is fearless.*

By 2022 and this cracking album, the lineup has stabilized to Steve Conte (ex-New York Dolls) on lead guitar and vocals, Rich Jones on lead guitar and vocals, Karl Rockfist on drums, and an old friend from Hanoi Rock days, Sami Yaffa on bass guitar. Michael Monroe performed lead vocals and assorted instruments.

As soon as opening song ‘Murder the Summer Of Love’ blasts off you know you are in for a fierce ride. The guitars lock together, the rhythm section thunders, whilst Michael Monroe, after an opening soul searching scream, comes spitting out, “No fun in the California sun.” From here on it’s all hands to the wheel as rock’n’roll careers down the tracks.

The songs have great balance in harder and faster, in these present times a short sharp jab of rock’n’roll is just what we all need. Lean and mean cuts like ‘Young Drunks and Old Alcoholics,’ ‘All Fighter,’ where Monroe’s early punk rock roots shine through, while ‘Everybody’s Nobody’ is the ultimate call to arms for the masses to come out and party.

*Always at the front of any line up is our Michael. But it’s been a long*
*time since he has had such a tight knit unit with him.*

Click here for blasts from the past

The band saunters down the Rolling Stones avenue with ‘Can’t Stop Falling Apart,’ leaving you thinking what would the Stones like more than to have a new song like this? There is a power ballad in ‘Antisocialite,’ a song that will have the lighters held aloft in the stadiums of the world.

The title song hits you right between the eyes with a driving back beat, a defiant chorus just dripping with Michael Monroe attitude. To top the song off, Slash of Guns & Roses steps forward to take the guitar solo.

As Michael Monroe says of his new album, “It has a lot of colour and energy, of course it’s rock’n’roll, but punk is always going to be part of who we are, that will never die.”

A great rock’n’roll record deserving of a wide audience.