The story of skid row began with founding members
bassist Rachel Bolan and guitarist Dave Snake Sabo both the Frank Zappa film Baby Snakes,
and some strange body hair he possessed. Sabo lived a few blocks away from jon bon jovi
who he was friends with growing up & It would be that relationship that would be instrumental in
Skid row’s success with Sabo telling Loudersound that the pair had made a pact when they were
only 7 years old to become rockstars with the first person getting their promising to help
out the other. He would recall to loudersound “It was obvious that Jon was gonna get there
first, but he said that when our band was right he would go out on a limb for us,” “And he
was true to his word. Jon came to see us live, critiqued us and provided the benefit of his
experience, which was invaluable he'd say. Bolan and Sabo who came from the Jersey Shore; In
the mid eighties Sabo was working at the Garden State Music Store when he met Bolan who came in
one day looking for some strings for his bass. Sabo would recall to Rolling Stone “He used to
come in all the time, and he just had this aura, or whatever you call it, about him.” in a
separate interview Sabo would tell Loudersound I’ll never forget that moment. This guy
walked in wearing a red beret and a pink leather jacket. He looked like a freakin’ star.
I just had to strike up a conversation he'd say. The pair hit it off, but Bolan was already
in a band at the time called Godsend, which he had played in for about a year, a group that
also helped him develop his songwriting skills.
Soon enough, the pair joined forces in 1986 but
while you may think the band’s name Skid Row came from the infamous neighbourhood in downtown los
angeles, it didn’t. Prior to calling themselves skid row, bolan and sabo threw around some names
including Darkness after the Aerosmith song with Sabo telling Rolling Stone “We thought up the
name when we were driving down the Garden State Parkway, We were on our way to practice, trying
to think of what to call ourselves, and we saw tire marks on the road from an accident. I think
I said, ‘Skid Marks,’ and Rachel said, ‘Skid Row.’ and thus the band's name was born. With a name in
tow both Bolan and Sabo would be bring different and some similar musical influences to Skid Row.
Bolan would tell Loudersound “When it came to writing we very quickly realised that while we
both came from different musical backgrounds – me from Judas Priest and Iron Maiden, while
Rachel’s roots are in The Ramones – our styles complemented each other. It also helped that
Kiss and Van Halen were a common denominator.” It didn’t take long for the pair to find bandmates
as they found guitarist Scotti Hill, a new york transplant who had moved to Jersey to play in the
states music scene, while drummer Rob Affuso was an NYU graduate whose resume included playing in
a Rush tribute band. Finding a frontman was a more difficult task. The band would enlist singer Matt
Fallon who had previously played with Anthrax and hit the club circuit around New Jersey, New York
and Connecticut It would be Sabo’s old friend Bon Jovi who by 1986 was a big star, who got Skid Row
to open for 3 shows for his band while they were playing some December shows in Pennsylvania. At
this time Fallon was still fronting the group and Skid Row were still unsigned, but following the
gigs it became apparent something needed to change with the band. Sabo would recall to Loudersound
what happened next saying “It was exciting playing in front of 7,000 people, sold-out, with one of
my best buds as the headliner,” “Then Doc comes into the dressing room and goes, ‘The band’s
great; the songs are great; but you need a singer. He’s not the guy. He’s not a star.’”
McGee promised to sign the band in addition to several major record labels sharing a similar
sentiment if they could find a new frontman.
Fallon was soon fired and the band would
undergo a 9 month search for a new singer. Future MOtley Crue frontman John Corabi was
offered to audition for the band, but things didn’t work out. It was during their search
for a new frontman the band would pen the hits including “Youth Gone Wild”, “18 and Life” and “I
Remember You” that appear on their debut album. The foursome soon grew so frustrated with the
search for a singer that they even formed a short lived cover band named The Blows which
played Sex Pistols and Ramones cover tunes. But their prayers would finally
be answered. Enter Sebastian Bach. Born in the bahamas to an accomplished painter and
gallery owner father Sebastian Bach's birth name was Sebastian Beirch as he was originally
named would spend his youth in California and in eastern Canada. He would admit to rolling
stone he was and i quote a “straight-A bully” at the private school he attended that was also
attended by Prince Andrew who he described in the same interview as and i quote “a fing ahole. By
the eight grade, his father would admit Sebastian started taking a liking to music, especially rock
n’ roll, but Bach would would butt heads over the way to go about having a career in music with his
father thinking his son should attend juilliard, but the future skid row frontman had other
thoughts. By the age of 15 he’d drop out of school and move to Toronto, Canada and change
his last name to Bach. Standing six foot three he looked a lot older than his age allowing him to
get into clubs and play with bands live including the act Kid Wikked. A band whose members in some
instances were twice Bach’s age. Bach would soon find himself performing at a wedding of a rock
photographer Mark Weiss and singing on stage with members of Twisted SIster and Kevin
Dubrow of Quiet Riot as well as guitarist Zakk Wylde . That wedding happened to be attended
by David Feld, who knew the guys in Skid Row. Feld would eventually land a job working for Atlantic
Records, which Skid Row would eventually sign to. I want to also note to you guys that in Sebastian
Bach’s Wikipedia fact or fiction he claimed it was jon bon jovi’s parents who were in attendance
at the wedding and asked Bach to try out for skid row. Rolling Stone magazine who profiled
the band in 1992 claimed it was David Feld who discovered the singer and got him to audition
for the band so you guys can take your pick. Either way skid row sent bach a tape featuring
a 4 song cassette of Skid Row demos that would include 18 and Life and Youth Gone Wild
with Bach recalling to Loudersound
“I kept listening to the tape because I couldn’t
get those two songs out of my head,” “I said if I could reinvent the melody lines – especially
in 18 And Life – and put in some Halford-esque kind of notes, I could make this into something
that I would really be proud of" he'd remember Bolan would tell Loudersound
his impressions of Bach saying “He sang the songs so high that we had
to reign him in, but after some work on his voice it all fell into place,”.
“Sebastian was very obnoxious and loud, but we needed a singer. The good thing was that
he also had drive – and then some. But frontmen were supposed to have spirit, right? he'd say
After meeting bach at the airport the band went to a rundown club named Mingles in South Amboy,
Jersey. Sabo would recall to Rolling Stone what happened that night saying “That night we got
drunk and decided to jam,” “We had so much fun onstage together. It was a mess, but it was
great. Then on the way out, we walked up the stairs and somebody called Baz an expletive so
he just started swinging. We’d just met the guy, and all of a sudden we’re in our first fistfight.
It was like instant bonding.” It would be Bach’s personality was a blessing and a curse..
He was charismatic, but also unpredictable. He would create headaches for the band in the
years that followed & ahead of signing with a major label Skid Row would sign a publishing deal
with John Bon Jovi and Ritchie sambora’s company Underground, something that would leave feelings
of bad blood in the years that followed. The deal with Underground would result in a lot of their
publishing royalties going to theBon Jovi pair. The band at one point came close to signing with
Guns N’ Roses and Aerosmith label Geffen Records. Skid Row would end up playing a poor showcase
for Geffen with famed A&R man Tom Zutaut who signed Guns N’ Roses and Motley Crue with
Sabo “One day Doc called and informed me we had signed to Geffen,” “It was the day I’d been
waiting for my whole life, but I was dismayed. This was the label that had told us we had maybe
two or three songs good enough for an album. Tom had asked us where we rehearsed, and when I
told him he said: ‘Well you won’t be seeing me in that garage’. I was amazed by his arrogance.
It was like Geffen were doing Doc a favour.” THe band ended up signing with Atlantic Records
and recording their debut album which was self titled with Alice Cooper/Dokken producer
Michael Wagener. The album would be recorded in the resort town of Lake Geneva. Located
next to the studio was a convention center where the band would track drums for their album .
Their self titled debut record would be released in 1989 and the band got some prime touring
spots spending half a year on the road opening for Bon Jovi on their New Jersey tour, as well as
playing with Aerosmith. During their off days from the tour the band even scheduled club shows to
hone their live shows and reach more fans. And It didn’t take long for Skid Row’s debut album to
sell a million copies as it was propelled by the success of three big singles including I remember
you, 18 and life, youth gone wild garnering a lot of radio play and play on mtv. While the band had
a lot to celebrate Bach’s antics also created a lot of problems for the band. In some respects
Skid Row soon became more recognized for the antics of Sebastian Bach than their music.
Bach would publicly blast Jon Bon Jovi, who discovered the band at the cost of him
taking a large portion of their publishing. Couple that with a hugely controversial t-shirt
that Sebastian Bach was photographed wearing backstage. Add to that a december 1989 show
opening for Aerosmith when Bach was struck in the head by a bottle thrown from the audience. He
ould hurl the bottle back into the crowd striking an innocent young fan & it would result in Bach
being on probation for three years and being sued by the family of the young fan with Bach
revealing to Rolling Stone in 1991 “I basically gave them everything I’d earned,” I’ve done a
whole video on this event the link is down below. Bolan would admit his frustration
with Bach telling Loudersound “It used to bug the hell out of me when he said
things that Dee Snider, David Lee Roth and even Paul Stanley had used before,” “It was so obvious.
As our career progressed, pretty much all the shit that Sebastian said on stage became irritating.
He’d tell an audience what a song was about, but it had nothing to do with the lyrics I’d written.
Unless I ignored it, I’d have walked off he'd say. Tensions aside the band managed to release
their second album Slave to the Grind in June of 1991. The album cover would be done by
Bach’s own father. The album made history becoming the first hard rock album to debut at number 1
on the charts. The success of the album took Bach by surprise who would admit to Rolling Stone “I
thought this album would enter the charts at like Number 100, not Number One,” “I felt…strange,”
“I felt like I was walking a fin’ tightrope or something.” Bach would hear the news that Skid Row
had knocked rap act NWA from the number one spot ahead of playing an opening show for GUns
n’ ROses at the Spectrum in Philadelphia. Dave Snake Sabo would tell Rolling Stone where
the band’s mind was at when they put out their second album 1991’s Slave to the Grind saying
“For us, it’s not just that we want to sell another four million records. What we want
to do is stay around awhile, like Aerosmith. We’d trade some sales for some respect,
because we’re serious about the music.” Rachel Bolan would add in the same interview
“We’d like to be like one of the incredibly cool bands we grew up on, whether
it was the Sex Pistols or Kiss, “We’d like to be great, you know?”
The tour to support the album was only met with more antics from Bach. During a summer 1991
show opening for Guns N’ Roses at Wembley Stadium. It was at this gig that the Brent Council issued
a written warning to the band not to play the song Get the F Out warning the band they could be
banned for life and could possibly face jail time. Bach, going against the advice of his bandmates
read the Council’s letter on stage to nearly 100,000 fans. And a year later Skid Row were
headlining with Pantera and Soundgarden opening in London Bach dropped his pants wiping
his butt with a copy of the Daily Star. Add to the friction, escalating drug use amongst
the band members, it was no surprise that the band was on their way to premature destruction.
Bolan would recall to Louder Sound “We had everything in front of us,” “It became a sore
point. To this day I tell people never to do drugs, they’ll end up destroying themselves
or what they’re working towards.” By late 1992 the band would release a covers EP called
B Side Ourselves that would end up going gold. The following year in 1993 Skid Row’s manager
would tell the band they should take a break being quoted in spin magazine as saying
“wait for all this seattle shit to die down.” Two years later the band would release their
third album 1995’s Subhuman Race. The band would drop Michael Wagener deciding to work with
Metallcia producer Bob Rock. Musical tastes had significantly changed by this point in time and
it can be heard on the album. The record failed to achieve the success of the group’s first two
records only peaking at number 35 on the billboard album charts. And Sabo would claim he was dealing
with writers block after the band got off the road in 1993 telling Loudersound “When I came off
tour I couldn’t write a song to save my life.” Tensions only escalated within the group as the
band didn’t enjoy working with Bob Rock and Bach wanted a bigger role in song writing. With Sabo
telling Loudersound “I could understand his desire to write songs,” “Rachel and I had been learning
our craft for eleven years. Sebastian could sing 18 And Life way better than I ever could, but
writing a song like that isn’t something you can just snap your fingers and learn. When
that distinction got lost, that’s when the real troubles began. The most interesting thing
about Sebastian’s ego was that it grew more and more out of control the smaller the band became.”
Spin magazine did a pretty great piece on Skid Row and a number of other bands
on the state of metal in 1995. The article would really shed light on how things
had changed for the band in just a few short years. Despite the fact that they were opening
for van halen by 1995, Their touring crew was limited to just 7 people, all of which slept
on the same tour bus as the band. One of the band members would be quoted as telling SPin
in that article “there would have been three limos back in the old days. Now we’re relying
on hotel shuttle buses to take us to the gig.” Spin magazine would perfectly summarize what
happened to the band “industry insiders the ones quick to point out births, deaths and rebirths,
gleefully heralded that metal is dead. Anthrax is touring clubs in a van to try & reconnect”
says one record company executive who asked not to be named “And they didn’t even do the big hair
thing. Megadeth’s last album was a complete dog. That formula is dead. We’ve all walked
away from it. Nothing aged worse than that. And it was true both warner brothers and
columbia had phased out their metal departments. The legendary heavy metal radio station KNAC
in los angeles switched formats to play spanish music. Add to that that mtv’s long running show
headbangers ball was cancelled at that time. Those old days of carrying out road cases
full of makeup mirrors and leather pants were also gone for SKid Row. The band was
now wearing baggy shirts and shorts on stage, something the band chalked up to convenience
since they more eas fit into knapsacks instead of large road cases. Warrant frontman Jani Lane
who was also interviewed for the article doubted the change in appearance was out of convenience
telling Spin “it’s just not accepted anymore to come out looking glam. It doesn’t help you get on
the radio. I like dressing up or having a costume. Now the whole band struggles with it. Do we try to
fit in or do we do what we did five years ago and never be accepted. Yeah I’ve worn flannel shirts,
i’m ashamed to admit it.” When spin reached out to other bands in the same article to talk about the
state of metal poison refusing to comment on the story while motley crue publicist didn't like
the word metal being associated with the band. Despite the band’s change in sound and
appearance around the time of Subhuman Race, frontman Sebastian Bach didn’t count himself
a fan of alternative rock band at the time taking aim at courtney love, nirvana criticizing
their drug abuse going on to telling Spin “we don’t cancel shows in this band” going on to call
alternative and grunge and i quote “revenge of the college people. They hated all of us rockers in
high school because we got all of the chicksThen they took over mtv and no rockers allowed. He
would also share the same venom for MTV who helped propel the band in the late 80’s early 90’s, but
now rarely played the group’s videos telling Spin “we bow at their feet. We work for a tv station.
I was that 20 year old flavour of the month, the eddie vedder/alainis morrissette thing
and in five years it’ll be someone else. MTV would even answer back against bach in
the same article with Andy Schuon firing back saying the network did play the video for
one of the band’s singles from subhuman race a few times since the network felt it needed some
exposure saying “we do have an agenda. It reflects what is happening in the music scene. As a genre,
metal is not dead, but it’ not what it once was.” The spin reporter who followed around skid row on
their van halen tour interviewed fans who came to the shows and made the conclusion that it was
industry insiders who were more obsessed with labels as fans spouted off both alternative and
metal bands as their favourite acts at the time. I’d love to know your guys thoughts are on
this whole debate in the comments section. By 1996 the band played a musical festival
in Brazil sharing the bill with iron maiden, king diamond Mercyful Fate and Motorhead. Upon
returning to the states the members of Skid Row knew it was over with Bolan reflecting to Louder
Sound “I knew when I got off the plane at JFK Airport that I’d never step on stage with Skid
Row again, He would go to say “By then we were viewed as a cartoon band, and the genre we were
lumped into had been swallowed up and laughed at.” The following year the wheels finally came off
the band when two days before christmas in 1996 fired Sebastian Bach over the phone. It’s been
long reported that A dispute over whether to open for kiss on top of bach’s ego seemed to be
the reason for the split. Bach reportedly wanted to open for Kiss while his bandmates didn’t
thinking they were too big to open for Kiss. Bolan would tell the Chuck Shute podcast Things
were pretty bad within the band — with all of us, actually. [We] never heard from each other when
we were home, and most of us lived 15 minutes from each other's house. And it started to get not
fun at one point, because it was just all bullshit that went along with preparing to do stuff,
and whatever it was. It was a relief in a way. Scott Hill would point to a voicemail
that bach left for snake saying “That caused a giant uproar is what it did,
and [Sebastian] did something to Snake that was unacceptable… He called his house on
Thanksgiving and said some horrible things into his answering machine, and Snake says, ‘You
know what? I’m not gonna be in a band with you anymore.’ There you go. It’s as simple as that.”
Following the firing of Bach, the remaining members of Skid Row pursued other musical projects
until reuniting with the band in 2000 with a new singer in johnny sollinger who’d put out two
albums with Since then the band has been a constant presence on the touring circuit. Bach
for his part would pursue a solo music career, appear on broadway and even have a recurring
character on the WB show gilmore girls. The band
