It's amazing how quickly Warrant went from being platinum selling megastars to the poster boys for everything that was suddenly wrong about the hair metal scene, but that's just what happened in the early 90's. A lot of that backlash had to come from the title track and video to the band's 1990 album Cherry Pie, a big obnoxious innuendo-laden song about...well, I'm sure you can figure it out. That song came to symbolize the hair metal scene's lack of originality and real meaning, paving the way for Nirvana and friends to clean house.

I think it's unfair to write the scene, band, and album off based on one song though. Sure, it's probably my least favorite Warrant song, but the rest of the album is surprisingly strong melodic rock. Check out the monster guitar hooks on Uncle Tom's Cabin or the power ballad perfection of I Saw Red and Blind Faith. Bed of Roses is a great melodic track, and Song and Dance Man, Mr. Rainmaker and the cover of Blackfoot's Train, Train give the album a dose of Southern swagger. Really, aside from the title track and the closing expletive-fest "Ode to Tipper Gore", Cherry Pie is a remarkably strong album, and one that doesn't deserve the reputation it has since picked up.

If you're dead set against the hair metal era, nothing I say will convince you otherwise. Those of us that grew up with bands like Warrant know a fun rock album when we hear it, and Cherry Pie definitely qualifies.

NOTE: The 2004 reissue of Cherry Pie features digitally remastered sound and a pair of bonus demo tracks - Game of War and The Power, the latter of which appeared on the soundtrack to the 1992 boxing movie Gladiator: Music From The Motion Picture (1992 Film). It's a shame they couldn't have added the cover of Queen's We Will Rock You from that same soundtrack. The remastering alone makes it worthwhile to replace your old version, but the bonus tracks are pretty good too.