For the rock artists who defined the 1980s, the early ’90s were tough. Hair metal was out, grunge was in and for guitarists such as Steve Stevens it meant a necessary period of adjustment.
That’s what the man best known for his work with Billy Idol has been reflecting on in an interview with the VPR Rocks podcast. Stevens recalled working on Exposed, the solo album by Mötley Crue singer Vince Neil, when grunge broke in 1991 and feeling the change in the air. He defended the record, suggesting it was just released at the wrong time.
“I think a lot of people like it,” he argued. “I’ve seen it come around (and) it gets the recognition, and also the Mötley record they did with John Corabi, because that was a really great record. You know, it just so happened that the whole Seattle thing hit right at that same point, and the tides were changing.”
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Of course, Stevens was old enough to remember this happening before during punk: “I’d seen the sea change in guys that were listening to Emerson, Lake & Palmer suddenly having to cut their hair and like New Wave.”
“It’s healthy, you know. You know, music every decade has to belong to the kids, the youth of that decade. They have to make their own music and believe in it. I didn’t want to listen to the music my older brother listened to, or he didn’t want to listen to music that my parents listened to. So, I was never frightened by the change.”
He recalls a session he did during this time which summed up the shift. “You know, I just found it really funny. I remember going in to do a session in the ’90s for somebody, and they said, ‘That’s great, Steve. But could you play not so well? And less vibrato’. And I just laughed.
“I knew exactly what they were saying, you know, play more like the grunge thing. But, you know, that was cool.”
“I loved Soundgarden right from the moment I heard them,” he added. “And I never attached a lot of those bands to a name, you know? I think names get thrown at bands; you can’t pigeonhole the great bands.
“So, I think that it’s really healthy. It’s good to challenge what you already know. And I look for the good in everything. I don’t know. That’s just my nature.”
