Warrant
Dirty Rotten Filthy Stinking Rich

THE REVIEW

Active in the prolific Los Angeles scene since 1984, Warrant landed an important record deal only five years later, signing with the major label Columbia Records. Despite a rather bizarre title like “Dirty Rotten Filthy Stinking Rich,” the debut album of the band led by the blonde singer Jani Lane immediately smashed U.S. box offices, soaring high on the charts and quickly becoming double platinum.

With a sound elegantly suspended between sleazy metal à la Mötley Crüe, the melodic American hard rock of Journey, and the pyrotechnic technicalities of Van Halen school, this combo manages to have a strong impact on the general public, landing three singles in the American top 10: the now-famous “Down Boys,” the beautiful and emotional power ballad “Sometimes She Cries,” and the acoustic “Heaven,” which reached position #2 on the prestigious Billboard chart. With this work, Warrant offers us undeniable gems which are alternated with canonical yet always brilliant pieces like “In the Sticks” or “Ridin’ High”; “Dirty Rotten Filthy Stinking Rich” is, overall, a commendable example of melodic rock effectively sprinkled with catchy pop overtones, enhanced by an original and refined riffing. The comparison to the shiny style of Poison (the glam metal band of Bret Michaels, originally from Pittsburgh but transplanted to California) seems almost mandatory to laymen, especially due to the numerous dates Warrant held in their company at the time, but the comparison is entirely misleading: this band's offering is primarily linked to the elegant and bold hard rock found in essential works like “Tooth and Nail” (1984) by Dokken and “Out of The Cellar” (1983) by Ratt, incorporating characteristics decidedly closer to Bon Jovi’s “Slippery When Wet” (1985). The singer and emotional leader Jani Lane, always an excellent songwriter, shows amazing versatility, managing to best highlight the performance of energetic songs while gently settling into the delicate pace of tender and dreamy ballads.

We cannot avoid mentioning the powerful rhythm gallop unfolded in “Big Talk,” one of the most successful songs of the batch, and the dynamic “So Damn Pretty (Should Be Against the Law),” two tracks that seal an album of excellent craftsmanship, which, while not representing the zenith of Warrant's production—identifiable in the later and more mature “Cherry Pie” (1991) and “Dog Eat Dog” (1993)—proves to be one of the best works ever published in the field of melodic hard rock, effectively embodying the last glorious blaze of a musical genre destined to fade in the early nineties under the acid rains unleashed by the depressive clouds of Seattle grunge. (Enrico Rosticci)

01) 32 PENNIES
02) DOWN BOYS
03) BIG TALK
04) SOMETIMES SHE CRIES
05) SO DAMN PRETTY (SHOULD BE AGAINST THE LAW)
06) D.R.F.S.R.
07) IN THE STICKS
08) HEAVEN
09) RIDIN' HIGH
10) COLD SWEAT