𝐅𝐑𝐎𝐌 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐂𝐑𝐘𝐏𝐓𝐒 - 𝐂𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐁𝐑𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐏𝐀𝐒𝐓 𝐀𝐋𝐁𝐔𝐌 𝐑𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐀𝐒𝐄𝐒 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐇𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐑𝐘 𝐨𝐟 𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐃 𝐑𝐎𝐂𝐊 & 𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐕𝐘 𝐌𝐄𝐓𝐀𝐋…
August 22, 1988 — L.A. Guns released their second studio album, Cocked & Loaded via Vertigo Records. (Listen)
The album was recorded at Hollywood studios One on One, Music Grinder and Conway Recording, it was produced by Duane Baron, John Purdell and Tom Werman.
The album is the first to feature drummer Steve Riley. Rip and Tear, Never Enough, The Ballad of Jayne, I Wanna Be Your Man and Malaria were released as the album's singles.
Following the success of their self-titled debut album the previous year, L.A. Guns quickly set about recording the follow-up in 1989. Writing for all tracks were credited to all five members of the band, while Never Enough was co-written by Gregg Tripp and Phil Roy. Four tracks were re-recorded by the reunited classic lineup of the band in 1999 for the compilation Greatest Hits and Black Beauties, and the whole album was re-recorded for the release Cocked & Re-Loaded.
Background:
L.A. Guns recorded the follow-up to their 1988 self-titled debut album early the following year, working with producers Duane Baron, John Purdell and Tom Werman. Sessions took place at three Hollywood studios, One on One Studios, Music Grinder and Conway Recording. The album was the band's first to feature drummer Steve Riley, who took over from his predecessor Nickey "Beat" Alexander after the recording for L.A. Guns was completed. Five singles were released in promotion of the album, two of which charted in the US – The Ballad of Jayne reached No. 33 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 25 on the Mainstream Rock chart, while Rip and Tear reached No. 47 on the latter chart. Music videos for all five tracks were featured on the 1990 video Love, Peace & Geese.
Upon its release, Cocked & Loaded debuted at No. 89 on the US Billboard 200. It spent a total of 56 weeks on the chart, peaking at No. 38 in July 1990. In the same month, the album was certified gold by The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), for domestic sales in excess of 500,000 certified units.
Outside of the US, the album reached No. 23 on the Japanese Albums Chart, and No. 38 on the UK Albums Chart.
Critical Reception:
Media response to “Cocked & Loaded” was generally positive. Cash Box magazine claimed that the band had "𝚐𝚛𝚘𝚠𝚗 𝚋𝚢 𝚕𝚎𝚊𝚙𝚜 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚋𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚍𝚜" since the release of their self-titled debut the previous year, praising the performance of lead guitarist Tracii Guns in particular.
Billboard magazine's review was more mixed, as they described the album as "𝚊 𝚜𝚙𝚘𝚝𝚝𝚢 𝚊𝚏𝚏𝚊𝚒𝚛" and added that the band "𝚑𝚊𝚜 𝚊 𝚜𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚐𝚎𝚜 𝚘𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚖𝚎𝚝𝚊𝚕 𝚐𝚎𝚗𝚎𝚛𝚒𝚌 𝚊𝚝 𝚝𝚒𝚖𝚎𝚜, 𝚋𝚞𝚝 𝚠𝚑𝚎𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚖𝚎𝚖𝚋𝚎𝚛𝚜 𝚌𝚕𝚒𝚌𝚔... 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚢 𝚌𝚊𝚗 𝚛𝚞𝚗 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚋𝚎𝚜𝚝 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚙𝚊𝚌𝚔".
The opinion of Los Angeles Times writer Janiss Garza was similar, who claimed that "𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙻.𝙰.-𝚋𝚊𝚜𝚎𝚍 𝚚𝚞𝚒𝚗𝚝𝚎𝚝‘𝚜 𝚋𝚕𝚊𝚝𝚊𝚗𝚝 𝚍𝚒𝚜𝚛𝚎𝚐𝚊𝚛𝚍 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚜𝚞𝚋𝚝𝚕𝚎𝚝𝚢 𝚠𝚘𝚛𝚔𝚜, 𝚊𝚜 𝚕𝚘𝚗𝚐 𝚊𝚜 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚍𝚘𝚗’𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚔 𝚝𝚘𝚘 𝚍𝚎𝚎𝚙𝚕𝚢" and praised Magdalaine and Give a Little in particular as "𝚊 𝚏𝚎𝚠 𝚒𝚗𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚞𝚛𝚗𝚜".
Retrospectively, the album has received widespread critical acclaim. Steve Huey of music website AllMusic dubbed it "𝙻.𝙰. 𝙶𝚞𝚗𝚜' 𝚖𝚘𝚜𝚝 𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚜𝚒𝚜𝚝𝚎𝚗𝚝 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚎𝚏𝚏𝚎𝚌𝚝𝚒𝚟𝚎 𝚊𝚕𝚋𝚞𝚖", claiming that it "𝚖𝚊𝚗𝚊𝚐𝚎𝚜 𝚝𝚘 𝚋𝚊𝚕𝚊𝚗𝚌𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚞𝚗𝚍𝚎𝚛𝚕𝚢𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚍𝚊𝚛𝚔𝚗𝚎𝚜𝚜 𝚘𝚏 𝙶𝚞𝚗𝚜 𝙽‘ 𝚁𝚘𝚜𝚎𝚜' 𝚞𝚛𝚋𝚊𝚗 𝚘𝚞𝚝𝚕𝚘𝚘𝚔 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝙼ö𝚝𝚕𝚎𝚢 𝙲𝚛ü𝚎’𝚜 𝚙𝚊𝚛𝚝𝚢-𝚊𝚗𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚖 𝙶𝚕𝚊𝚖 𝙼𝚎𝚝𝚊𝚕". In particular, Huey praised the songwriting as "𝚊𝚖𝚘𝚗𝚐 [𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚋𝚊𝚗𝚍'𝚜] 𝚋𝚎𝚜𝚝", highlighting the tracks Never Enough and The Ballad of Jayne.
Rolling Stone magazine named Cocked & Loaded the 27th best "Hair Metal" album of all-time, praising the variety of material on the release including "𝚋𝚞𝚕𝚕𝚎𝚝-𝚋𝚎𝚕𝚝 𝚋𝚛𝚊𝚟𝚊𝚍𝚘" on Rip and Tear, 17 Crash and Give a Little, the "𝚑𝚊𝚛𝚍-𝙻𝚒𝚟𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚔𝚗𝚘𝚠𝚕𝚎𝚍𝚐𝚎" on display on "Sleazy Come Easy Go", and the "𝚙𝚛𝚘𝚐𝚐𝚒𝚎𝚛 𝚜𝚒𝚍𝚎" shown on Magdalaine and Malaria.
Watch the Official Music Video for Rip and Tear.
Watch the Official Music Video for Never Enough.
Watch the Official Music Video for I Wanna Be Your Man.
Watch the Official Music Video for Malaria.
Watch the Official Music Video for The Ballad of Jayne.
Notice: Any reviews shared here are for historical reference. The views and opinions expressed within are not always supported (in full or in part) by Into the Wells. — E.N. Wells
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