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by Justin Farrar

"Stripper grunge" is the phrase that popped into my head when I first heard My Darkest Days' 2010 single "Porn Star Dancing." After that, it didn't take long to start connecting the dots: Hinder's "Striptease," Saving Abel's "The Sex Is Good," Nickelback's "Midnight Queen," Cavo's "Champagne," Atom Smash's "Rocker Girl" and so on. If you're a fan of modern hard rock, you know exactly where I'm going with this: over the last decade (or so), a generation of bands has emerged that marry the brooding histrionics of post-grunge grunginess, hair metal decadence and hick-hop's working-class braggadocio. In other words: white dude/bro bands who pen riff-raging, big-beat, overly earnest anthems about strippers, cocaine, sex, whiskey, sweet cars, strippers, partying, cocaine, orgies, strippers and all the bummer vibes and toxic hangovers that inevitably accompany such sinfully decadent behavior.

There's a part of me that totally sees the historical inevitability of such a fusion, but there's another part of me that can't shake the contradiction buried at its roots. I'm old enough to remember the "hair metal vs. grunge" culture war of 1992 and '93. It sounds trite now, but teens were choosing sides and sticking to them. Even the musicians themselves were hurling insults at one another, most of which revolved around (1) hair metal dudes questioning grungers' sexuality ("homos") and (2) grungers questioning hair metal dudes' moral fiber ("sleazeballs"). The battle reached a tipping point at the 1992 MTV Video Music Awards, where apparently some kind of backstage skirmish broke out between Guns N' Roses (who weren't true hair metal, but close enough in terms of said moral fiber) and the gratuitously self-righteous and punk-sarcastic Nirvana.

Despite its intensity, the war didn't last long (pop fads never do). As fellow Rhapsody scribe Chuck Eddy so eloquently puts it, "rock and roll always forgets." By the mid- to late 1990s, those teens growing up in suburban and rural America were unaware of the seemingly oil 'n' water relationship between grunge and hair metal; it was hard rock to them, and they loved it all.

I consider the first true stripper-grunge anthem to be Stone Temple Pilots' "Sex Type Thing," which, granted, is early (fall 1992). Yet it contains several key elements: a dark and brooding sound not unlike Alice in Chains or Soundgarden coupled with sexual bravado and hyper-masculinity. "I am a man, a man. I'll give you something that you won't forget," growls Scott Weiland. Moreover, its groove is truly pole-worthy: heavy, with a grinding beat that's not too muddy or plodding. The fact that S.T.P. helped invent stripper grunge makes sense, considering grunge's older, underground fans dismissed them as "cock rockers" trying to cash in on the success of the subculture's authentic bands up in Seattle.

Another vital precursor was the John Corabi-led incarnation of Mötley Crüe, whose 1994 self-titled album, obviously influenced by Soundgarden and Alice in Chains, represented hair metal's grudging acceptance of America's ever-growing flannel army. Though the album didn't sell well compared to previous efforts, it still went gold, a solid sign that the two genres were slowly coming together. (By the way, the Crüe's video for 1987 single "Girls, Girls, Girls" is highly influential, packed as it is with strippers, poles, skin, motorcycles and black leather.)

In terms of laying the groundwork for stripper grunge, both Buckcherry and Kid Rock are huge. Obviously, neither one has much at all to do with grunge proper (though the former are certainly brooding at times). What both did is re-inject mainstream hard rock with a sleaze that would make the original hair metal bands proud. This was really kind of needed by the late 1990s, when such sourpusses as Staind and Creed (oh, the irony of "It's good to be the king") were all the rage. By comparison, Buckcherry's "Lit Up" ("I love the cocaine/ I love the cocaine/ Mama can't you wait, yeah!") and Kid Rock's pimp-tastic "Cowboy" ("Start an escort service for all the right reasons/ And set up shop at the top of Four Seasons") felt like breaths of fresh air -- or, rather, air pungent with the aromas of beer, cocaine, cigs and sweaty babes. These two tunes surely inspired a lot of bros-to-be picking up guitars for the very first time in 2000 and '01.

Since the scare of Y2K, stripper grunge has come into its own, with many of its best adherents based in either Florida or Canada. Not only that, it's surprisingly diverse (kind of/possibly/not really). Bands like Nickelback, Cavo, Cold and Theory of a Deadman remain fairly dedicated to the second-gear wallop of Pearl Jam, Soundgarden and Alice in Chains. Hinder, in contrast, picks up on Buckcherry's shameless love of AC/DC and Guns N' Roses. Then there's the utterly tasteless Hollywood Undead, who come out of the whole Kid Rock/rapcore/nü metal nexus.

How much more mileage this genre has left is anybody's guess. Personally, I think My Darkest Days' brand new album, Sick and Twisted Affair -- a truly unlikely blend of post-grunge guitar jammers and synth-laced emo dance pop à la The White Tie Affair -- is a peek into its future. But we shall see.

Now on to the stripper grunge canon ...

Miss America

Saving Abel

That cover says it all: Miss America is red-blooded American power-rock packed full of hip-swaggering riffage, sexy talk, macho vibes and arena-sized anthems. Lead howler Jared Weeks has a love-hate relationship when it comes to the opposite sex. One minute the "sex is good," the next, love is a "contagious" disease that has forced him to his knees in ecstatic pain. Weeks, in other words, has got the blues, only his sound is more like Nickelback and Creed than Robert Johnson and John Lee Hooker.

Light It Up

Rev Theory

Rev Theory's Light It Up takes Nickelback's post-grunge magik tricks, delivers them with more of a streamlined metal approach than the heartland rock that identify that other band, and then marries them to heavy (and welcome) elements of Bleach-era Nirvana. This means these songs are singable as hell. Sometimes singer Rich Luzzi sounds a little overly serious (see "Broken Bones") and sometimes he sounds pretty tough (see the title track). Most importantly, when they want to rock, Rev Theory are pretty good.

Famous

Puddle Of Mudd

The Kansas City radio-metal big shots rein in their previous leanings toward the darker stuff on this, their third album. A more pronounced reliance on the quiet-loud rites of Kurt Cobain results in a handful of singles that may not fall under the metal category but do manage to get you singing along. Then "We Don't Have To Look Back Now" opens the door to the arm-waving, lighter-raised world of heartland rock. The Cobain-isms are more fun, though, and Puddle of Mudd are smart enough to go back to that particular well pronto. Easy to like.

Here And Now

Nickelback

Nickelback are scorned as the embodiment of what's wrong with modern hard rock: macho, misogynistic, violent. Yet they're just the latest in a long line of bad men reaching back to the blues. When, on the lovers' quarrel "This Means War," Chad Kroeger growls "You went and brought a knife to an all-out gun fight," he may be channeling Skip James, who sang "I get my 22-20. I cut that woman in two." But as with all bad dudes, Nickelback try to assuage their guilt with appeals to peace, in this case "When We Stand Together," a plea to our troubled world to wake up, unite and begin the healing.

Buckcherry

There's no overestimating the impact Buckcherry's debut has had on modern hard rock. In the late '90s, when post-grunge was only turning more and more serious/earnest, with acts such as Staind and Creed dominating the charts, the group re-injected hard rock with an (un)healthy dose of sleaze. But not all of this sleaze equals good times. Though it opens with the chant "I love my cocaine, I love my cocaine," a good portion of the album probes the dark side of addiction and debauchery a la Guns N' Roses. Case in point: Don't go anywhere near "Check Your Head" after pulling an all-nighter.

This Is Gonna Hurt

Sixx:A.M.

Not necessarily a soundtrack, Sixx:A.M.'s second full-length is more like a sonic complement to bassist and Motley Crue madman Nikki Sixx's second book, the identically titled This Is Gonna Hurt (which hopefully is as lurid as his first, The Heroin Diaries). Though Sixx's roots lie in hair metal, Sixx:A.M. is all about stripper-approved grunge a la My Darkest Days and Saving Abel. In other words, they're big on sing-along choruses and macho posturing while short on snarling riffage and hard grooves. The band even busts a little piano rock with the tunes "Smile" and "Goodbye My Friends."

The Oracle

Godsmack

Godsmack have undergone numerous metamorphoses since dropping their debut album back in 1998. The group's fifth full-length, The Oracle, finds them turning back the clock. A lot of the production flourishes found on IV and Faceless have been stripped away in favor of brooding rawness. Heavy groovers like "Love-Hate-Sex-Pain" and "Shadow of a Soul" will have you thinking Godsmack dusted off their copies of Alice in Chains' Facelift and Dirt and rediscovered what they loved about vintage grunge.

Love Is In The Missile

Atom Smash

After a pair of EPs, Atomsmash drops its debut full-length. The salaciously titled Love Is in the Missile is a collection of punch-the-clock riff-rock that takes more than a few cues from Alice in Chains, Soundgarden and, of course, the mighty Nickelback. In terms of Bringing the Rawk, the Miami quintet has many of its post-grunge peers beat because it steers clear of the sappy-balladry trend that has gradually infected the genre since the rise of Saliva. Note to exotic dancers looking for new music: The tracks "Do Her Wrong," "Last Call" and "Mile High Love" are perfect for the pole.

Extreme Behavior

Hinder

Once you get past the fact that the cover has traded that toothsome young lass in her skivvies for a pic of over-styled alt rock brooders, there's little to distinguish this repackaged update of Hinder's 2005 break through. Two tracks are pasted on the end for shrewd collectors though - Steppenwolf's "Born To Be Wild," covered here with a Mephistophelean orchestra of distorted guitar rage, and, perhaps for balance, an after-hours piano-based take on "Get Stoned."

Core

Stone Temple Pilots

When San Diego's Stone Temple Pilots showed up a few years late to the Seattle flannel-shirt party (arriving from a few hundred miles to the south), critics sharpened their claws and sounded the alarm: the groundbreaking grunge movement had crossed over. True, the grinding guitars and gravely man-howl of frontman Scott Weiland didn't break an inch of ground, but the clutch of singles here -- commercial anthems like "Plush," "Creep," "Sex Type Thing" and "Wicked Garden" -- grabbed the MTV audience by the throat and propelled the debut to triple platinum.

Bright Nights Dark Days

Cavo

Talk about frontloaded. Bright Nights Dark Days opens with what will surely go down as Cavo's calling card: "Champagne." This tune is nuts. The protagonist, a total party dude, is all wigged out about his girl who is, apparently, losing it and totally wanting out of their relationship. He's searching for what went wrong. Then it hits him: "Could've been the champagne -- champagne. Could've been the cocaine -- cocaine." The rest of the album isn't as audacious, too concerned with Billboard-friendly grunge ballads. Cavo need to stick to what they do best: hard rock anthem ragers.

Superfiction

Cold

Scooter Ward opens these Florida post-grungers' fifth album deeply crooning an industrially clanked lament about how we live in a wicked world (which actually sounds like "Wiki world," ha ha). Later, he shouts out Elvis, Lennon and Sinatra. But the album's overriding theme seems to be tragic female entertainers, definitely in "American Dream" (featuring a pill-popping Hollywood starlet with relatives in rehab), and possibly also in "Emily" (who loses her voice and mind), "So Long June" (which begins with sirens and involves a loaded gun), "Delivering the Saint," and "Flight of the Superstar."

The Truth Is...

Theory Of A Deadman

Earnest and serious, post-grunge bands generally lack a sense of humor. Or, if they do, it's well hidden. Nickelback pals Theory of a Deadman are one of the rare ones that attempt to inject their riff-ragers with satire and irreverence. The results are always mixed. The Truth Is... kicks off with a fairly humorous ode to the "Lowlife." Tyler Connolly sings, "I got an '82 Fiero with a car seat in the middle." It's a pretty funny image. On the follow-up track, however, the group descends into abject misogyny when they turn "The Cat Came Back" into the utterly tasteless "Bitch Came Back."

Adelitas Way

All American Nightmare

Hinder

Hinder is often tagged post-grunge, but that's really quite a stretch. All American Nightmare, the Oklahoma act's third full-length, has nothing at all to do with the brooding earnestness of Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Soundgarden, et al. Containing more than its fair share of arena-sized riffs and tattooed-dude swagger, the record fuses Kid Rock-inspired hick-rock and Puddle of Mudd's raucous sleaze. Several songs are borderline misogynist, particularly "Hey Ho," "Striptease" and the title track. But hey, that's nothing new; the same could be said of vintage Aerosmith and Black Oak Arkansas.

Sick And Twisted Affair

My Darkest Days

Just when you thought My Darkest Days couldn't get any trashier, the Canadian rockers drop their sophomore effort Sick and Twisted Affair. The album is about one thing and one thing only: s-e-x. "Just your typical hardcore, casual sex," sings Matt Walst on the lead single. "We're wild under the covers, crazy for each other." Musically, the band has pushed further into The White Tie Affair territory: dance-rock heavy on programming, synthesizers and other electronic flourishes. There are still guitar riffs and hot licks, at times, but this is club music for the most part -- four on the floor.

Motley Crue

Devil Without A Cause

Kid Rock

Highlighted by "Bawitdaba" and the revelatory (in 1998) "Cowboy," this is the album that made Kid Rock an MTV, tabloid and even Rolling Stone megastar after eight years of obscurity. No matter how you slice the overdose of white trash posturing, chugging guitars and metal beats just made for the stripper pole, "Cowboy"'s fast food appeal and redneck aesthetic marked a decided first for the mainstream. The title cut proves why Rock, regardless of his massive popularity, has a certain irrefutable cache. For better or for worse, "I Am the Bullgod" combines hip-hop and, um, grunge.

Between The Devil & The Deep Blue Sea

Black Stone Cherry

If Kid Rock wants to notch another anthem on his belt, he should cover Black Stone Cherry's "White Trash Millionaire." With lines like "Got two zig-zags and you know I'll share/ I'm everyone from nowhere," it's one of the catchier white-and-working-class anthems (and there are many). A big reason for the tune's success is the band's muddy thump of a groove, which is all over this album. Though Alice In Chains' sinister brand of grunge is a big influence, these boys are obviously fans of stoner metal and Southern rock. In this sense, they're kind of like the Brand New Sin of Kentucky.

American Tragedy (Deluxe Edition)

Hollywood Undead

The masked rap-rock crew's second outing, American Tragedy is a consciously heavier offering than their 2008 debut, Swan Songs. Kicking down the walls with "Been to Hell" -- a warning to folks looking for fame in L.A., built on a punk-simple, unstoppably anthemic riff -- the group may have serious intentions but there's plenty of party-bringing amid the yelled raps. (They even get away with referencing Grey Goose vodka: "We drink so much Goose we're becoming geese.") Hollywood Undead may be hated by a portion of the supposed "discerning" public, but the group really doesn't care.

Buckcherry

How could Buckcherry ever possibly top "Lit Up," their brilliant paean to excess? Well they can't. Nobody could. That song is the equivalent of Jason Alexander's portrayal of George Costanza on Seinfeld. This new album from Buckcherry does indeed rock, and "Out of Line" almost out-AC/DCs AC/DC, so the news isn't all bad.

My Darkest Days

My Darkest Days' debut album sounds like a cross between Nickelback and The White Tie Affair. In other words, these Canadian rockers make riff-a-licious post-grunge for the emo-pop dancefloor. If you're a woman with self-respect, you might want to sit this one out. More than a few tracks on this record, including the opener "Move Your Body" and the over-the-top lead single "Porn Star Dancing," are intensely sleazy. This is rock music tailor-made for three things only: Las Vegas gentlemen's clubs, stripper bars and late-night Madden NFL parties.

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Cheat Sheet: Stripper Grunge