Nirvana's power chords and Pearl Jam's genuine lyrics may have thrown '80s hair bands like Warrant, Cinderella and Motley Crue off the charts, but alternative music hasn't killed them all yet. Some are still hanging on to their major label ties by an unraveling thread, but others like Warrant have moved on to underground indie labels, completing the flip-flop that took place in the music world at the beginning of the decade.
For Warrant, the days of "Cherry Pie" are long gone - no more big hair, no more stadiums, no more spraying girls with firehoses on MTV and no more big bucks from major record labels.
In reality, many of the '80s hard rock groups traded places with the top-selling alternative bands of today. In the post-grunge era, Warrant calls indie label CMC International home, along with L.A. Guns, Yes and a few other hard rock buddies. Warrant has released two albums on the label, the most recent being "Belly to Belly," which hit stores last month.
With original members Jani Lane (vocals), Erik Turner (guitar) and Jerry Dixon (bass), Warrant is carrying on, facing the fact that the days of selling out arenas around the world are over. The band still hits the road playing clubs, bringing classics like "Heaven," "Down Boys," "I Saw Red," "Uncle Tom's Cabin" and of course, "Cherry Pie" to its fans.
"It's a struggle," Lane admitted in a telephone interview with The Michigan Daily. "But we just get out there and play everywhere where they have electricity and do that street-level kind of marketing for the band, and as long as the people keep coming out, we'll keep playing."
After the reality of Warrant's situation set in, the band went through a complete facelift. Members cut their once poofy hair, grew their sideburns and traded the torn acid-washed jeans for some more respectable wear. The music has changed significantly too, with the songs taking more of an Alice In Chains or Stone Temple Pilots feel as opposed to the standard hair band shtick. Nevertheless, radio and MTV aren't interested in the new Warrant, and the band has been unsuccessful breaking into the mainstream.
"It's very difficult to get radio play right now with the stigma that surrounds the band, although the band sounds much different than it did back in the 'Dirty Rotten' and 'Cherry Pie' days," the 32-year-old Lane said. "I don't think bands like us will get played until it becomes a little less fashionable to hate us, and the alternative thing becomes a little more passé and redundant, which it's on its way to."
Lyrically, Lane has been reaching deeper into his soul to write more personal songs for Warrant and for an acoustic-based solo project he's been working on. He said when Warrant was on the Columbia record label for its debut "Dirty Rotten Filthy Stinking Rich," and the "Cherry Pie" and "Dog Eat Dog" albums, he wasn't allowed to write some of the darker songs which he would have liked to write. Now that the band's image has changed, he said he's been able to write more songs from his heart.
"I had a lot of positive and a lot of negative things happen, but I was never allowed to talk about the negative things, because that was a no-no," Lane said. "We were supposed to be a happy hair band from California."
Even though Warrant is still cranking out the tunes, it would be difficult to top the double-platinum success of 1990's "Cherry Pie" - the song, the video and the album. The steamy video featured model Bobbi Brown (who Lane later married) being sprayed by band members with a firehose, having a piece of cherry pie dropped in her lap and sucking on her finger. With lots of juicy t & a shots, the video epitomized the sex-laden hard rock video.
"'Cherry Pie' sort of became our nemesis," Lane said. "I took it very tongue and cheek, and it was supposed to be fun and not taken seriously, and it was supposed to be bubblegum-pop-metal-rock whatever you want to call it - a fun song.
"Of course we were marked as sexist pigs after the video," he continued. "I knew we weren't. I'm very respectful towards women. I've never been that kind of a person. The video was supposed to be funny, and it was taken (to be) very sexist. For God's sake, I ended up marrying the girl that I was supposedly treating like a chauvinistic pig in the video. We're divorced now, but not because I'm a sexist pig."
Success or not, Lane said he and Warrant plan to chug on, doing what they like doing best - making music. "Whatever we did, we did it well, so no need to apologize," he said. "It was hip back then, and it's a bit passé now, so you move on and try to stay relevant."
Warrant in 1996 with frontman Jani Lane (center).
Warrant during the band's heyday.