Love/Hate
Wasted in America

THE REVIEW

Jizzy Pearl, Skid Love, Jon E. Love, and Joey Gold: four guys whose names already say a lot about what our ears will hear. A sound directly born from the music scene of the Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles and its clubs, made of clattering guitars, catchy choruses, and a succession of tracks halfway between hard rock and metal that falls under the name of hair metal.

In short, all that clamor that was gifted to us towards the end of the eighties by bands of unruly thugs like Motley Crue, Guns N’ Roses, or Faster Pussycat. For a very brief season, even Love/Hate strutted as protagonists down the alleys of this festival of teased hair, glitter, and good music with their debut album in 1990.

Here, instead, we talk about the delicate moment of confirmation with their second effort, "Wasted In America," a difficult child to bring into the world, arriving after long disputes with the production company, which wanted another winning twin brother like "Blackout In The Red Room." Skid and company, however, decided to focus on change and to water their melodic lines with various experiments made of Arabesque sounds, a distorted, sometimes even sinister approach ("Don't Be Afraid"), and a massive dose of metal to further weigh down the atmosphere. Despite their good intentions and their undeniable attitude, the album never takes off and instead contorts within its own characteristics.

Legend has it that there are demos that, according to the musicians themselves, are significantly better than the final result. As if to say that production fell upon these twelve tracks, stripping them of their true essence. There remain flashes of light like the first single "Wasted In America," nestled between street metal and the allure of the sitar and the East. The slow, anti-racist "Don't Fuck With Me" and the carefree "Social Sidewinder." Meanwhile, many ideas are wasted in tracks that only partially find the right chemistry, struggling to hang on to mediocrity, perhaps helped by "high" references, like the Zeppelin-like attack of "Cream" or the well-learned lesson from father band Motley Crue in the second single "Evil Twin."

The ridiculous attempt at self-promotion by frontman Jizzy, who had himself raised crucified on the "Y" of Hollywood with the help of the other musicians and their entourage, served no purpose. Love/Hate stayed at a standstill and only Jizzy himself has continued, through ups, downs, and long pauses, to always be present in the band. Skid is now in the Philippines, Joey is enjoying life in Hawaii with his lovely family and his golf-player outfits, while guitarist Jon E. Love is still hustling in the U.S. underground rock scene with his namesake band.