Every dispatch we dig up a band the world forgot and dare you to name them. First to nail it wins a Sleazewire exclusive, limited-edition shirt — never restocked, never sold in the store. Bragging rights included.
This edition’s mystery band:
CLUE 2 · Their 1989 debut was titled “Law Of The Order”.
CLUE 3 · Legend says a certain red-haired frontman “borrowed” a few too many of Black’s moves.
Know it? Reply to the Dispatch email or DM us your answer. One winner, drawn from the correct guesses. The reveal drops in the next edition.
Two videos worth the click this week: Spread Eagle tearing through UFO’s “Pushed To The Limit”, and Europe going full orchestral-swagger on “Scandinavian Eyes”. One’s a gutter, one’s a cathedral. Play them back to back.
Over on r/hairmetal the eternal bar fight is raging again: which criminally overlooked band actually deserved to be huge? Names getting hurled across the room this week — Shark Island, Roxx Gang, Kik Tracee, Sleeze Beez. Pick a hill. Die on it.
August 1989: the Moscow Music Peace Festival packed Lenin Stadium with Bon Jovi, Mötley Crüe, Skid Row, Cinderella, Scorpions and Ozzy for a two-day anti-drug benefit. An anti-drug benefit. Headlined by the most chemically enthusiastic bands on Earth. The music was massive, the backstage was a documentary nobody was allowed to film, and Crüe didn’t speak to Bon Jovi for years afterward. Peak everything.
“These go to eleven.”— Nigel Tufnel, This Is Spinal Tap (1984)
A pack of ex-punks (Minor Threat, Dag Nasty, Big Boys) who traded hardcore for whiskey-soaked L.A. sleaze and made it filthier than anyone on the Strip. Southern boogie, boogie-woogie piano, zero hairspray. Produced by Tom Werman, four stars from Rolling Stone, half a million sold, and still not a household name. Criminal. Discogs
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