𝐅𝐑𝐎𝐌 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐂𝐑𝐘𝐏𝐓𝐒 - 𝐂𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐁𝐑𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐏𝐀𝐒𝐓 𝐀𝐋𝐁𝐔𝐌 𝐑𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐀𝐒𝐄𝐒 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐇𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐑𝐘 𝐨𝐟 𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐃 𝐑𝐎𝐂𝐊 & 𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐕𝐘 𝐌𝐄𝐓𝐀𝐋…
August 10, 1988 — Winger released their self-titled debut studio album via Atlantic Records. The album was produced by Beau Hill.
Background:
The band's musical style combined elements of Glam Metal and Progressive Metal. Kip Winger, in description of the band's musical ability and style, said, "𝙾𝚞𝚛 𝚋𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚔𝚗𝚘𝚠𝚗 𝚝𝚘 𝚖𝚞𝚜𝚒𝚌𝚒𝚊𝚗𝚜, 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚊 𝚕𝚘𝚝 𝚘𝚏 𝚖𝚞𝚜𝚒𝚌𝚒𝚊𝚗𝚜 𝚜𝚑𝚘𝚠𝚎𝚍 𝚞𝚙 𝚝𝚘 𝚜𝚎𝚎 𝚖𝚎 𝚙𝚕𝚊𝚢 — 𝚠𝚊𝚝𝚌𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐, 𝚝𝚛𝚢𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚘 𝚏𝚒𝚐𝚞𝚛𝚎 𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚑𝚘𝚠 𝙸‘𝚖 𝚙𝚕𝚊𝚢𝚒𝚗𝚐. 𝚆𝚎 𝚠𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚎 “𝚑𝚊𝚒𝚛 𝚋𝚊𝚗𝚍” [𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚜𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚘𝚏] 𝙳𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚖 𝚃𝚑𝚎𝚊𝚝𝚎𝚛."
The music was radio-friendly, but with a progressive twist. The lyrics, however, were typical of the age and genre.
The name Sahara appears in the lower right hand section of the album cover. The band initially wanted to call themselves "Sahara", but that name was taken by another band at the time. Though they ultimately chose the name Winger, "Sahara" remained on the cover.
A number of radio and video hits were extracted from the album, including Headed for a Heartbreak and Seventeen, peaking at No. 19 and No. 26 at the Billboard's single chart.
On February 11, 1989, the album peaked at number 21 on the Billboard 200, and after that stayed on the chart for 63 weeks. It achieved platinum status in the United States and went gold in Canada and Japan.
In 1990, the band was nominated for an American Music Award for Best New Heavy Metal Band. Winger guitarist Reb Beach also received praise from guitar magazines following the release of Winger‘s debut, with Guitar for the Practicing Musician voting him Best New Guitarist and Guitar World Magazine voting him Best New Talent.
In support of the album, Winger toured for over a year with bands like Bad Company, Scorpions, Cinderella, Bon Jovi, Skid Row, while also appearing at the World Series of Rock Festival in Wisconsin with BulletBoys, Poison, and Tesla in 1989.
Promotional videos were shot for the four singles Madalaine, Seventeen, Headed for a Heartbreak and Hungry.
The Wells Perspective:
I received a lot of grief for listening to Winger when I was in high school as many of my peers considered them a “𝚙𝚘𝚜𝚎𝚛” band. Fortunately, I never followed trends or listened to other people, especially when it came to my listening preferences. Sure, their music had a Pop-Metal sensibility, a commercialization, if you will. And this appealed to the masses, garnering them a much attention on MTV and in radio. But, their music went much deeper than the radio friendly tag that was pinned upon them. Not only was their sound was a blend of Glam, Heavy Metal and Progressive Rock, the musical talent, versatility and the virtuosity of the musicians was top notch. Kip Winger's classical background and keen ear for catchy hooks, along with the drum skills of Rod Morgenstein, and Reb Beach’s ability to adapt to any style of music was far and away beyond the level of their contemporaries. Just listen to the acoustic riff of Madalaine or the opening riff of Seventeen for good reference. If you listeners looked beyond the commercial appeal of the band and took a deeper dive into their catalog, I’m sure you will start to see (or hear) what I hear.
Like myself, Winger received a lot of undue hate from the Metal community and in television. In the 1990s, Winger was subject to mockery from MTV's animated series Beavis and Butt-head. Series creator Mike Judge later revealed that he had been incorrectly informed that Kip Winger had asked the network not to make jokes about the band on the series, which led to further jokes about the band, but later learned from Winger himself that he had never made any such stipulation. Stewart, an early character from the TV show, wore a Winger t-shirt during the show's original run on MTV during the 1990s as well as its one-season revival in 2011. Characterized as a wimp who looked up to Beavis and Butt-head, he wore the shirt in an attempt to emulate the duo, whose shirts had the logos of AC/DC and Metallica.
Links to Artists, Albums, and Music Videos:
Click this link to listen to the Winger via Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/album/winger/1092723303
Click this link to listen to Winger via Spotify: Winger https://open.spotify.com/album/4aMtQDeDMAHBfh7cE87PWo
Click here to watch the official music video for Madalaine via YouTube: https://youtu.be/D1IOJs6H9qg
Click here to watch official music video for Seventeen via YouTube: https://youtu.be/Irc5j1gkihY
Click here to watch official music video for Headed for a Heartbreak via YouTube: https://youtu.be/AIpRdbi9pYw
Click this link to watch the official music video for Hungry via YouTube: https://youtu.be/XLyWeO2MhPA
Click this link to follow Winger on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WingerTheBand
Click this link to follow Kip Winger on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KipWingerOfficial
Click this link to follow Reb Beach on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RebBeach
Click this link to follow Rod Morgenstein on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Rodmorgensteinofficial
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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