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Hundred Proof Love | ||||||||||||
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| Recording Artist: | Jerusalem Slim (Michael Monroe & Steve Stevens) | ||||||||||||
| Writers: | Jim
Vallance Michael Monroe Steve Stevens Jude Wilder |
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| Date Written: | July 1991 / Vancouver, Canada | ||||||||||||
| Albums: | Jerusalem Slim (PolyGram 1992) | ||||||||||||
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| Audio: | |||||||||||||
Michael Monroe: vocals, sax, harmonica, guitar, piano Steve Stevens: guitar, bass Ian McLagen: piano Sam Yaffa: bass Greg Ellis: drums |
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Produced by Michael Wagener |
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| Comments: |
I'd long been a fan of Steve's work with Billy, so it was a treat to sit in the same room and watch one of the world's great guitar players up close! A few days before they arrived in Vancouver I got a call from their management, asking if I could rent an electric bass guitar for Michael. A local music shop was kind enough to loan me a shiny new Ibanez, providing I promised to return it in pristine condition! Not a problem ... or so I thought. As luck would have it -- or not -- Michael's leather pants were covered in sharp steel studs, plus he had an enormous metal belt-buckle. To make matters worse, he played the bass very aggressively (imagine Sid Vicious meets Pete Townsend) ... so I spent much of our writing session wondering if I might end up buying a scratched electric bass! Fortunately, miraculously, the instrument survived the writing session! This was 1991, the tail end of the Glam Rock era. Each day Michael and Steve arrived at my studio dressed to kill: huge hair, tons of makeup, and flamboyant rock-star attire. I must say -- they were super-nice fellows. In the brief time I spent with them we managed to get a few songs started, and one song finished: "Hundred Proof Love". If I'm able to find a copy of our home-studio demo I'll post it here. I remember it being much less chaotic than the final recorded version. I'm not sure what happened in the interim, but Michael's comments (below) might shed some light. |
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“That was a mistake ... the worst thing that ever happened to me. Usually I get the quality of my stuff with that being the most important thing for me. I don’t care what, just as long as the albums I make are great. When Steve Stevens approached me and wanted to work with me, we made some demos for about a year. It seemed like it was going in the right direction. The guy looked the part and he’s a great player but then I was kind of concerned about him doing that two hands on the neck and noodling. He can play the Chuck Berry style too. So he did. I wanted Little Steven to produce that. Steven produced the Demolition 23 album. That’s why it’s such a great record. If Steven had produced the Jerusalem Slim album, it could have been good but then the record label wouldn’t go for that. Polygram wanted Michael Wagener, this German metal producer, who was the flavour of the month at the time. He had mixed Ozzy Osbourne’s ‘No More Tears.’ They thought he was the flavor of the month. Them two together, it just turned to shit. The whole record. I tried to stop it, then I couldn’t. My manager didn’t support me.
It became so anal retentive, complicated and stripped the soul of the album. Of course, Michael Wagener is encouraging Steve to play all these solos a million notes per second. I couldn’t stop it and it ended up costing over $700,000. I would have rather given that money to the homeless. I already owed [the label] for ‘Not Fakin’ It’ because they pulled the plug on that record too when I asked them to stop that commercial they had on TV. It said, “Michael Monroe — The brains behind Hanoi Rocks!” Hanoi Rocks had no brains. That was the best thing about the band. I didn’t want to be misrepresented. They said, “You don’t like the commercial?” I said, “No” and they said, “Okay, you want us to pull it?” I said, “Yes!” So they pulled the commercial and they pulled the plug on the whole album. I thought they were going to make a newer commercial but they said, “When you sell millions of records, then you can make demands like that!” I said, “If I’m not presented right, I’d rather do it on my own terms than not at all!” So therefore, I ended up owing the label about a million dollars at the end of Jerusalem Slim. All I could do was get off the label. It took me over a year. That whole project kind of ruined my career. The worst thing I think was that they put out the album. Then the thing was that at the mixing stage, when I had already just given up all hope, Steve Stevens comes up to me and says, “Hey Michael, Wagener’s mixing it all wrong!” I said, “What? You guys had something in common. You knew something that I didn’t know! Now you’re having a falling out with him?” I said, “Forget it. This album was done wrong from scratch. We recorded wrong. It’s produced wrong. Everything’s wrong with it! We had some songs that could have been good, but it was all wrong!” So he says, “Well, the only thing we can do to save it is to start from scratch”. Which he agreed to do. He said, “Okay, let’s start from scratch!” We went back to New York and we were supposed to start over. We even had this other guy mix one of the songs. It sounded better, but then Steve just disappeared. Next thing I know, I saw [Steve] playing with Vince Neil, the Mötley Crüe singer, [who was] starting a solo career. I saw the MTV awards ceremony on TV and Steve was playing with Vince Neil all of a sudden. He disappeared and ended up playing with him. As I looked at him, I said, “Well, forget about this!” The worst thing was that they put out his album and that was the worst thing that happened to me. Really that whole thing ruined my career. It took me over a year to get off the label. My deal was points for like ten years, but then a little over a year into it. One day, my lawyer called me and said, “Look Michael, they dropped you!” I said, “Alright! Fantastic! Thank God!” I called Little Steven and said, “Steven, I’m free! Now we can make a record that I always wanted with you producing!” And he says, “You know Michael, it’s great! One day, you make a million and next day you don’t!” |
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| Lyrics: | It's happy
hour, but no one's laughing Such a sobering scene This nightmare's just a stale runnin' dream Intoxicating me Beauty is only skin deep So let's get under the skin Liquor is quicker but truth of the matter Is slowly wearing thin Been giving so much lately Compassion fatigue No drinking to forget Is gonna rescue me ONE HUNDRED PROOF LOVE I NEED A HUNDRED PROOF LOVE IS IT HELL OR HIGH WATER ROLLING OVER ME I COULD DROWN IN MY MISERY ONE HUNDRED PROOF LOVE POUR ME THE HUNDRED PROOF LOVE AND I CHASE MY DEMONS DOWN OFF THE ROCKS 'COS I'M HANGING ON AND ON Like a full time saint, a visionary I can shock right through the jive No method missionary Could pull the wool over my eyes Radical departure From the way that you add vice To the vigilante vanguard of the artificial life Been fighting so much lately The war of nerves t's not about morality It's how you take the curves ONE HUNDRED PROOF LOVE IT TAKES A HUNDRED PROOF LOVE IS IT HELL OR HIGH WATER ROLLING OVER ME I COULD DROWN IN MY MISERY ONE HUNDRED PROOF LOVE STRAIGHT UP THE HUNDRED PROOF LOVE I SAVE MY STRENGTH FOR THE HARDEST KNOCK 'CAUSE THERE'S NO SURRENDER NO CONDITIONS, HURTING FOR HUNDRED PROOF LOVE Been giving so much lately Compassion fatigue No drinking to forget Will ever rescue me, no ONE HUNDRED PROOF LOVE FIND ME A HUNDRED PROOF LOVE IS IT HELL OR HIGH WATER ROLLING OVER ME I COULD DROWN IN MY MISERY ONE HUNDRED PROOF LOVE GIMME A HUNDRED PROOF LOVE I CHASE MY DEMONS DOWN OFF THE ROCKS 'COS THERE IS NO COMMON TOUCH WITHOUT A HUNDRED PROOF LOVE |
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