Professors Pardo and Popoff, I am done with my top 10 homework assignment. Please grade my paper! 10 - The River / 3 Day Funk / Hard Driver - a 3-way mulligan from each record since the quality of tracks from this band is so very, very close. 9 - Seasons - Great moody closing piece. Has a much more serious, philosophical tone than the rest of the record and leaves a lasting impression. 8 - Silver Horses - Another salvo of epic outlaw metal that Badlands is so good at. Jake and Greg just totally cut loose on this one. 7 - Streets Cry Freedom - One of Ray’s best vocals. The song title and it’s mood mixed with current national events seem to be clicking right now, so I moved this up on my list. Love the dynamic change midway through the song! 6 - Soul Stealer - Jake had to meet the devil at the crossroads to come up with this riff! This song always has to be cranked up. 5 - Dog - That pummeling thrash riff mixed with the Badlands style works very well! A frenetic solo by Jake too. 4 - High Wire - What an album opener! A totally unhinged guitar riff and band performance that can indeed only be described as a high wire act, without a net! 3 - Whiskey Dust - Jake’s guitar parts are just unbelievable on this song. Perfectly distilled electric and slide guitar! Hearty story-telling by Ray about a woman your mama warned you about! 2 - Winter’s Call - Pete is rather hard on MTV, but that great forest fire-themed video was what introduced me to Badlands. I remember I had a date on a Saturday night, then came home and saw this on Headbangers Ball. I bought the debut CD days later and never looked back! 1 - Devil’s Stomp - I love the acoustic intro and the way the song builds tension and morphs into a vicious rocker. No song better describes that blazing Badlands outlaw attitude, lyrically or sonically, than this one! Honorable mentions - Ball and Chain, Rumbling Train (Ray is so bad-ass on this one!!!), Heaven’s Train, Lord Knows
Hi Pete, hi Martin, hope you guys are doing great . Here's my list: 10-Fire And Rain-Voodoo Highway 9-Heaven's Train-Voodoo Highway 8-Dancing On The Edge-S/T 7-Devil's Stomp-S/T 6-Streets Cry Freedom-S/T 5-Whiskey Dust-Voodoo Highway 4-The Last Time-Voodoo Highway 3-Hard Driver-S/T 2-Silver Horses-Voodoo Highway 1-High Wire-S/T
My favorite band all time. My top 10 are... 10. Fire and Rain (Vodoo Highway) 9. Healer (Dusk) 8. Sun Red Sun (Dusk) 7. The Last Time (Vodoo Highway) 6. Time Goes By (unreleased demos) 5. Show Me The Way (Vodoo Highway) 4. High Wire (Debut) 3. Dreams in the Dark (debut) 2. Jades song/Winters Call (debut) 1. Seasons (debut)
Yep. Unfortunately, Badlands were lost in the "Sea of Untranquility" with the Public unsure whether to peg them as just another Hair Metal band, almost ZERO marketing from Atlantic Records, and the emergence of Grunge with mumbling, off-key Eddie Vedder and company.
Good to see this honor. What an underrated band with this awesome singer. Happy to have this cool japanese cd-single with the bonus track "Time Goes By" - killer song and a must for every Badlands collector.
So interesting to hear about the most underrated, and one of my favourite, bands - Badlands! Such talent in that band! My list: 1. High Wire 2. Seasons 3. Winter´s Call 4. The Last Time 5. Devil´s Stomp
Phenomenal Band - as underrated/unappreciated as Rival Sons is today. Several I wanted to include but this is my top ten: 1. High Wire 2. The Last Time 3. Seasons 4. Dreams in the Dark 5. Winter's Call 6. Hard Driver 7. Dancing on the Edge 8. Healer 9. Heaven's Train 10. Sun Red Sun
1) Winter´s Call. 2) The Last Time. 3) High Wire. 4) Seasons. 5) Devil´s Stomp. 6) Whiskey Dust. 7) Love Don´t Mean a Thing. 8) Soul Stealer. 9) Dreams In The Dark. 10) Show Me The Way.
One of thee best debuts Albums....its a Great Record.....Rumbling Train, High Wire, Dancing on the Edge, Hard Driver, ., Winters Call, Seasons.,Streets Cry Freedom....2nd Album Voodoo is very Good too....Jake E Lee has never played better...a Great Guitar Tone...and Ray Gillen....must be Ian's brother ...Yikes He was a Great Singer...Great rythum section in Badlands too....I still listen too Badlands,...they were a pleasant surprise one of those musical Gems that come around....dont have dusk, may search it out
Absolutely great band! 1. The Last Time 2. Dreams in the Dark 3. Whiskey Dust 4. Winters Call 5. High Wire 6. Show me the Way 7. Hard Driver 8. Love Dont mean a Thing 9. Soul Stealer 10. Dancin on the Edge
Hooray! A Badlands top 10 ❤️ I had been fortunate to have seen them live in San Juan Capistrano back in ‘92. Gillain had already been pretty ill by then but the performance still, was fairly decent albeit incoherently loud at times. At the time, my mates and i, who had travelled a considerable distance to see them, had been attending the GIT in Hollywood. We met Jake backstage afterwards - he seemed a bit intimidated when we shamelessly informed him that we were from the school, but he was ever-gracious and chatty albeit, a bit bemused by how effusive we had been whilst in his presence HA HA - KIDS 1)Highwire 2)Winter’s Call 3)The Last Time 4)Dreams In The Dark 5)Seasons 6)Dancing On The Edge 7)The Streets Cry Freedom 8)Silver Horses 9)Soul Stealer 10) Devil’s Stomp • An Extreme top 10 would be lovely!
I agree, this band should have been huge. Don't understand why they weren't met Ray a few times, a real nice guy. Rip Ray. The band had many excellent songs, so I can agree with almost anyone's list here. So many great songs I find it difficult to rank one above another. I enjoy listening to them all.
I saw these guys open for Tesla and Great White on City Island Harrisburg Pa. What a show! Badlands tore it up & Tesla wore the crowd out! By the time Great White came out, the crowd was at a fever pitch. Great White was so chill that the whole crowd sat in the grass and enjoyed the rest of the evening relaxing. Don't get me wrong, Great White sounded good. They just weren't the kind of high energy act that Badlands and Tesla were. 10) Shine On 09) Whiskey Dust 08) Tribal Moon 07) Soul Stealer 06) Jade's Song/Winter's Call 05) Dreams In The Dark 04) The Last Time 03) High Wire 02) Seasons 01) Streets Cry Freedom Listening to Soul Stealer after I posted and I had to move it up on the list. LOL!
Pete and Martin, I appreciate the chemistry of you two as a team and wanted to thank you for continuing to continue to do lists together. Added Badlands to my ever-growing 'to be listened' to list from watching the SoT channel. Looking forward to your next duo presentation.
10. Sun Red Sun 9. 3 Day Funk 8. Healer 7. Seasons 6. Shine On 5. The Last Time 4. Winter's Call 3. Dreams in the Dark 2. Streets Cry Freedom 1. Hard Driver
I initially got into Badlands from reading one of Martin's reviews as a matter of fact. 1. 3 Day Funk 2. Dancing on the Edge 3. The Last Time 4. Dreams in the Dark 5. Show Me the Way 6. Healer 7. Seasons 8. Fire and Rain 9. The River 10. Winter's Call
Love Badlands....one of "THE" Best,Blues-based hard rock bands'!!! My favorite songs(no particular order) - Three Day Funk/ Silver Horses/ Tribal Moon/ Love Don't Mean A Thing/ Dreams In The Dark/ Winter's Call/Ball & Chain/The Last Time/Soul Stealer/Whiskey Dust. Saw this band in '89 with GreatWhite & Tesla....a very,solid show....was a life-long fan from there.
Great show! Great lists from two of my favorite music Dudes! Gonna spin Badlands on my way to work to refresh my memory on these classics! Especially Dusk!
My personal fabourites 1.Dreams In The Dark 2 The Last Time 3 Winters Call 4 High Wire 5 Hard Driver 6 Whiskey Dust 7 Streets Cry Freedom 8 Silver Horses 9 3 Day Funk 10 Soul Stealer. Great band with too short a career.
I bought the debut back in 89. I loved it!! Lots of blues metal influences from Led Zeppelin, Humble Pie, Free and Aerosmith. Never heard Voodoo Highway until just a few months ago when I finally got it. Pretty good album but the debut was a masterpiece!!! RIP Ray Gillen.
I was lucky enough to see Badlands live on Oct. 20, 1989 (checked my stub...$17 too!) at Stabler Arena in Bethlehem, PA. They were the opening act for Great White and Tesla who were touring Twice Shy and The Great Radio Controversy, respectively. Badlands opened with Hard Driver, and also played Ball & Chain, Devil’s Stomp, Winter’s Call, High Wire, and Dreams In The Dark. Easily the best opening act I’ve ever seen.
Wow, thanks for this Pete abd Martin!! I too love those Badland albums and feel the same way as Pete that Badlands was more what Jake wanted to do, as opposed to Ozzy!! Jake really shines out and the rest of the band matches his intense performance note for note!!!! I gotta say I really like the Fire and Rain cover so that would of been my honorable mention but my no. 1 would be "Season's" I blew my eardrums out listening to Badlands first CD driving around in my Camero(along with Rust in Peace and Mindcrime) destroyed my ears.... Thank guys!!!!😈
Thanks for this, Pete, it's a shame this band is so unknown. They were absolutely amazing, if you like 70s hard rock and Led Zeppelin. Insane talent level. Also glad to see my favorite song ("The Last Time") finish 1st and 3rd on the two lists. I agree with you that Voodoo Highway is right up there with the debut, though very different albums.
ABSOLUTELY!!!! There are so many great songs from the Tony Martin era of Black Sabbath big time. The albums The Eternal Idol, The Headless Cross, and TYR are MASTERPIECES in my opinion. I do also love Cross Purposes and some of Forbidden also. The Tony Martin era of Black Sabbath is extremely underrated.
My Top 10 #10 Ball and Chain #9 Love Don't Mean AThing #8 Dreams in the Dark #7 Soulstealer #6 Shine on #5 High Wire #4 Whiskey Dust #3 Winter's Call #2 Streets Cry Freedom #1 Hard Driver Never had Dusk album guys keep Rockin
Badlands? A must watch. When I think back to what I consider really great records, I remember those I listened to constantly over a long period of time - say at least a year consistently. The Badlands debut was one of them. Loved every single one of the tunes. Jake & Ray, what can you say. Drawing a blank on Eric so it means he was not doing his G-n-R fills each song, ad infinitum. Will always be pushing for a spot in my top 10 debuts.
The classic example of a shooting star band....burning incredibly bright for a brief moment, and gone. Still one of my favorite hard rock bands of all time🤘🎶🔥
It's curious, many of my favorite songs from Badlands are in your bottom of he barrel. I love the three albums of them and every track. My favorites are: Rumblin' Train, Sun Red Sun, River, Healer, High Wire, Devil's Stomp, Whiskey Dust and on and on... Thanks to remeber this brilliant band.
Top Badlands Songs This is the quality of Badlands songs. Some of my favorites didn’t make either of your two lists. I just ranked them all, which may change slightly from day to day. 1-27 I would put in the Good to Great category. The bottom 7 are just “ok”, but I don’t think I would go as far as to call them bad. 1. Heaven’s Train- Jeff Martin’s drumming and percussion are AMAZING on this song. 2. Rumblin’ Train- To keep the train theme going. Amazing groove & I would put Jake’s solo from this song up against ANY blues solo, SRV, BB King, Joe Bonamassa, Paul Kossoff, Clapton, it doesn’t matter. 3. Winter’s Call 4. High Wire 5. 3 Day Funk- Badlands had many influences, much more than just Zep, here’s them indulging their Grand Funk. 6. Whiskey Dust- Speaking of influences, it’s also impossible to ignore the Free influence. 7. Tribal Moon 8. The Fire Lasts Forever 9. Dancing on the Edge 10. In a Dream- Ray Gillen at his best. (Being covered on American Idol shows this songs charm and versatility) 11. Voodoo Highway- Cinderella attempted to do this with “Bad Seamstress Blues”, but this is a full proper song. 12. Devil’s Stomp 13. Walking Attitude 14. The Last Time- This was written for the 1st album, and is the closest to his Ozzy style that Jake gets in Badlands. 15. Dreams in the Dark 16. Shine on 17. Soul Stealer 18. Love don’t mean a thing 19. Seasons 20. Ball and Chain 21. Sun Red Sun 22. Healer 23. The River 24. Streets Cry Freedom 25. Silver Horses 26. Fire and Rain 27. Show me the Way 28. Lord Knows 29. Ride the Jack 30. Joe’s Blues 31. Dog 32. Hard Driver 33. Jade’s song 34. Fat Cat
Great Blues/Hard Rock Band. My Top 10: Streets Cry Freedom (my fave) Dreams In The Dark Hard Driver The Last Time Winter's Call Shine On Love Don't Mean A Thing Dancing On The Edge Healer Sun Red Sun
3 years late, I know, but Badlands' first album is the most under-appreciated album of the 80's, IMO. When I introduce people to this band they always wonder why they've never heard of them.
Great show. Good to know that Voodoo Highway is definitely worth checking out as I only have the debut album, a flawless album. Dancing On The Edge, Hard Driver and Dreams In The Dark would be my top 3 from that album, although I'm a huge fan of Rumblin' Train too, as I feel it deserves some more love.
1) Winter's Call 2) Jade's Song 3) Dreams In The Dark 4) High Wire 5) The Last Time 6) Soul Stealer 7) Joe's Blues 8) Whiskey Dust 9) Streets Cry Freedom 10)Devil's Stomp
Only see one other poster Al Montez listing 'As Time Goes By' from the unreleased demos (have also seen it listed as a Dusk bonus track). Recommend all Badlands fans giving that song a spin (is available here on YT), and agree with Martin, as great as their 3 albums are the debut is the classic \m/ Anyway always subject to change but song rankings... 10. Devil's Stomp 9. Dancin' On The Edge 8. Hard Driver 7. Seasons 6. As Time Goes By 5. The Last Time 4. Streets Cry Freedom 3. Winters Call 2. High Wire 1. Dreams In The Dark
Martin was correct - saw two live footsge vids here where Ray mentions that Last Time was written with first album and narrowly missed the cut for the debut disc.
A killer band that didn't get the success they should have, Ray Gillan was one of the finest singers I have ever had the pleasure of seeing live, what you heard on record he could produce live. Quite honestly there really isn't a bad song on all three albums. Not a well thought out top 10 here cause I love every, song especially the entire first album. 1. Winters Call 2. High Wire 3 Streets Cry Freedom 4 Seasons 5 Rumblin' Train 6 Last Time 7 Shine On 8 3 Day Funk 9 Heavens Train 10 Sun Red Sun
So thankful that I got to see them at Derringers in Brockton, MA on the "Voodoo Highway" tour. I was front row. Jake had 2 orange Marshall stacks and played that Charvel like a goddamn doctor!! And, well, Ray was absolutely amazing. They did a great rendition of "Space Truckin'". I gotta throw "Whiskey Dust" in there, I love that track, such a great groove. For fuck's sake man, it's got tambourine!!!
Ouch. Could be a touchy subject. John Sykes unceremoniously canned when he was responsible for some of their greatest songs? I honestly don't know the history except Coverdale knew he had a monster record and decided to go with an all star band to promote it. No idea what Sykes didn't have to make the cut. To be honest, it's the first CD I ever bought and still love it to this day. Love the Blue Murder debut, as well.
In this vid, Martin calls Badlands a 'Corporate hair band' and trashtalks most of their music. If Pete does a vid about Blue Murder(imho a great Hard Rock act), I hope he does it alone or with sm who has a genuine love for their music.
The Last Time sounds more like the first album because I believe it was the very first song they ever wrote as a band. I have never understood why they did not out it on the first album. I think they said in an interview that they were just tired of it from playing it so much.
That first Badlands release is a freakin’ Classic. I have Voodoo Highway as well and have never given it a chance. I need to revisit it. All my top 10 would be from the 1st release. I don’t have Dusk. I need to search it out.
Love Badlands. All 3 albums are great. I always thought they could have pulled a Genesis and had Jeff Martin take over lead vocals after Ray passed but stylistically they are very different so they probably wouldn’t have been able to pull it off.
Tbh, I only really listen to the first album, so I'm gonna just rank the tracks on that album. 11. Rumblin' Train 10. Hard Driver 9. Jade's Song 8. Dancing on the Edge 7. Devil's Stomp 6. Dreams in the Dark 5. Ball and Chain 4. Seasons 3. Streets Cry Freedom 2. Winter's Call 1. High Wire
Pete, I’m a fairly recent watcher of the channel & not across everything you’ve put up however I don’t recall a mention of Mothers Finest @ any point. Are you a fan?
Absolutely loved this band for such a long time but having only recently discovered the alleged behavior of Ray Gillen in his final days, it is still too early to separate the two. Which is really sad as my younger brother and I had great times to this music and these songs were great to play on the axe.
10. Sun Red Sun 9. Dreams in the Dark 8. Silver Horses 7. 3 Day Funk 6. The last Time 5. Voodoo Highway 4. Streets Cry Freedom 3. High Wire 2. Rumblin' Train 1. Whiskey Dust
10 Sun red sun Dusk 9 Streets cry freedom Badlands 8 Dancing on the edge Badlands 7 Silver Horses Voodoo Highway 6 Seasons Badlands 5 Soul Stealer Voodoo Highway 4 High Wire Badlands 3 Dreams in the dark Badlands 2 The Last Time Voodoo Highway 1 Winters Call Badlands Great band not too familiar with Dusk only listened to it a few times.
Grunge was not happening in 1989. Yes, Nirvana released Bleach in 89, but huge rock albums like Dr Feelgood and Pump came out that year and MTV's Headbangers Ball was a massive success. 91 was the year that grunge hit. The next couple of years saw bands like Tool and Rage Against The Machine truly put the nail in the coffin of hair metal.
Badlands is a Traditional Hard Rock band, Hard Rock was still popular in the US in the early 90s, but around '93, American Record Companies pulled the plug on Traditional Hard Rock/Metal bands and jumped on the Rap, Dance and Alternative bandwagon, which are much cheaper to produce than a Hard Rock act. Badlands own band history reflects that. They were still playing classic Hard Rock in '92/'93 but Atlantic Records didn' t like the direction of the band& dropped them from the label. (along with many other Hard rock/Metal bands on their roster)
It always sounded to me like the debut was more or less their Zeppelin and Voodoo was more or less their James Gang... Mr. Popoff not enjoying the cover (Fire and Rain) just as he said he didn't need to hear the Type O Beatles medley again..
Great show, guys! I'm going to do a top three song list below, but first I feel compelled to discuss this hair metal/dirty hair metal issue. I have never once thought of Badlands as a metal anything band. The first album always seemed like straightforward hard rock to me. They can also do more subdued rock songs. On subsequent albums, they ventured into more blues and funk-influenced styles much to my disappointment. But metal, hair metal, or dirty hair metal? No. Yes, Jake E. Lee has a crunchy guitar tone which I love and is immediately identifiable. Crunch doesn't necessarily equal metal. Hair metal means your music falls short of having the brute force of real metal and as if that isn't pathetic enough you also wear make-up in the same style as a woman. I guess dirty hair metal would mean your music falls short of being real metal, you try to look like a woman on purpose, and your hair looks as though you haven't washed it lately? But I digress. I like Ray Gillen's voice quite a bit; it has a nice mid-range quality. My biggest complaint about the vocals on many of the songs is that they are a little too low in the mix. If I was in that recording studio, I would have turned that knob just one click up and think the final product would have benefited greatly. Sometimes I listen to the songs on headphones and know there is power behind the vocals that just isn't cutting through the mix. 1. Dreams in the Dark - Yes, it is their most popular song. It isn't the best song technically, but it is so catchy and was my introduction to Badlands. 2. Winter's Call - Great song. Feature's both the soft and hard rocking elements. It is a better song than my number one pick and the vocals are mixed decently. 3. Seasons - Yes, it is definitely an homage to Zeppelin's "Ten Years Gone." Homage is being nice. They didn't just borrow the mood and atmosphere; many of the actual notes are the same and in the same order. Also, I didn't mind their cover of Jame's Taylor's "Fire and Rain." I really love the original and think this cover was interesting. Ray Gillen had the ability to carry this one off very melodically. The original always makes me want to cry. Literally, I will tear up and cry like a baby if nobody is watching me. It's as if the guys in Badlands didn't know it was supposed to be a sad song.
14:40 Martin Popoff talks about "stripping away all the Corporate stuff" from Badlands.I don't think Badlands ever had any Corporate backing in the first place. They didn't have an army of PR people like Madonna did or a carefully managed "defenders of social justice" image like U2 did. They were Hard Rock dudes playing their music, no edgelord bullshit or some manufactured rebellion. They were an honest, down to Earth band.
I think Badlands would have been big - grunge or not grunge - if they had massively toured non-stop throughout the years, even with no record label support. No one like Ray in a thousand years but could have carried on with someone else. Look at ACDC and Van Halen. Nothing like the original incarnation but we could've had 10 more years of Badlands music easily.
Professors Pardo and Popoff, I am done with my top 10 homework assignment. Please grade my paper!
10 - The River / 3 Day Funk / Hard Driver - a 3-way mulligan from each record since the quality of tracks from this band is so very, very close.
9 - Seasons - Great moody closing piece. Has a much more serious, philosophical tone than the rest of the record and leaves a lasting impression.
8 - Silver Horses - Another salvo of epic outlaw metal that Badlands is so good at. Jake and Greg just totally cut loose on this one.
7 - Streets Cry Freedom - One of Ray’s best vocals. The song title and it’s mood mixed with current national events seem to be clicking right now, so I moved this up on my list. Love the dynamic change midway through the song!
6 - Soul Stealer - Jake had to meet the devil at the crossroads to come up with this riff! This song always has to be cranked up.
5 - Dog - That pummeling thrash riff mixed with the Badlands style works very well! A frenetic solo by Jake too.
4 - High Wire - What an album opener! A totally unhinged guitar riff and band performance that can indeed only be described as a high wire act, without a net!
3 - Whiskey Dust - Jake’s guitar parts are just unbelievable on this song. Perfectly distilled electric and slide guitar! Hearty story-telling by Ray about a woman your mama warned you about!
2 - Winter’s Call - Pete is rather hard on MTV, but that great forest fire-themed video was what introduced me to Badlands. I remember I had a date on a Saturday night, then came home and saw this on Headbangers Ball. I bought the debut CD days later and never looked back!
1 - Devil’s Stomp - I love the acoustic intro and the way the song builds tension and morphs into a vicious rocker. No song better describes that blazing Badlands outlaw attitude, lyrically or sonically, than this one!
Honorable mentions - Ball and Chain, Rumbling Train (Ray is so bad-ass on this one!!!), Heaven’s Train, Lord Knows
Hi Pete, hi Martin, hope you guys are doing great . Here's my list:
10-Fire And Rain-Voodoo Highway
9-Heaven's Train-Voodoo Highway
8-Dancing On The Edge-S/T
7-Devil's Stomp-S/T
6-Streets Cry Freedom-S/T
5-Whiskey Dust-Voodoo Highway
4-The Last Time-Voodoo Highway
3-Hard Driver-S/T
2-Silver Horses-Voodoo Highway
1-High Wire-S/T
Two Very Cool Guys. Class Acts, Both. Very Likeable, Very Knowledgeable.
Martin & Pete !
Thanks Guys ! 🎸👍
My favorite band all time. My top 10 are...
10. Fire and Rain (Vodoo Highway)
9. Healer (Dusk)
8. Sun Red Sun (Dusk)
7. The Last Time (Vodoo Highway)
6. Time Goes By (unreleased demos)
5. Show Me The Way (Vodoo Highway)
4. High Wire (Debut)
3. Dreams in the Dark (debut)
2. Jades song/Winters Call (debut)
1. Seasons (debut)
A most criminally overlooked band.
Yep. Unfortunately, Badlands were lost in the "Sea of Untranquility" with the Public unsure whether to peg them as just another Hair Metal band, almost ZERO marketing from Atlantic Records, and the emergence of Grunge with mumbling, off-key Eddie Vedder and company.
Badland's album sales just doubled after this video came out! Great video Martin and Pete!
Good to see this honor. What an underrated band with this awesome singer. Happy to have this cool japanese cd-single with the bonus track "Time Goes By" - killer song and a must for every Badlands collector.
So interesting to hear about the most underrated, and one of my favourite, bands - Badlands! Such talent in that band! My list:
1. High Wire
2. Seasons
3. Winter´s Call
4. The Last Time
5. Devil´s Stomp
Phenomenal Band - as underrated/unappreciated as Rival Sons is today. Several I wanted to include but this is my top ten:
1. High Wire
2. The Last Time
3. Seasons
4. Dreams in the Dark
5. Winter's Call
6. Hard Driver
7. Dancing on the Edge
8. Healer
9. Heaven's Train
10. Sun Red Sun
1) Winter´s Call. 2) The Last Time. 3) High Wire. 4) Seasons. 5) Devil´s Stomp. 6) Whiskey Dust. 7) Love Don´t Mean a Thing. 8) Soul Stealer. 9) Dreams In The Dark. 10) Show Me The Way.
One of thee best debuts Albums....its a Great Record.....Rumbling Train, High Wire, Dancing on the Edge, Hard Driver, ., Winters Call, Seasons.,Streets Cry Freedom....2nd Album Voodoo is very Good too....Jake E Lee has never played better...a Great Guitar Tone...and Ray Gillen....must be Ian's brother ...Yikes He was a Great Singer...Great rythum section in Badlands too....I still listen too Badlands,...they were a pleasant surprise one of those musical Gems that come around....dont have dusk, may search it out
I was listening to a lot of Badlands and Babylon A.D. back in the day.
Hell yes. Glad there is another Babylon AD fan out there
I must say I am disappointed that Whiskey Dust didn't make a list. I LOVE that tune. But, yeah... you just cannot go wrong with this band.
Thank you guys for the Top 10 Badlands songs.
🎤🎸🎵🥁
If Badlands had come out 5-10 years earlier, they'd be legendary. They were great and very underrated. Jake E. Lee's style is so unique.
You’re right, if they actually would have thought of this in 82-83 and kept going, they’d probably be one of the best 80’s Hard Rock/Metal bands
Absolutely great band!
1. The Last Time
2. Dreams in the Dark
3. Whiskey Dust
4. Winters Call
5. High Wire
6. Show me the Way
7. Hard Driver
8. Love Dont mean a Thing
9. Soul Stealer
10. Dancin on the Edge
One of my all time favorite bands. Ray Gillen was an awesome singer.
Yes he was. One of the greatest.
Hooray! A Badlands top 10 ❤️
I had been fortunate to have seen them live in San Juan Capistrano back in ‘92. Gillain had already been pretty ill by then but the performance still, was fairly decent albeit incoherently loud at times.
At the time, my mates and i, who had travelled a considerable distance to see them, had been attending the GIT in Hollywood. We met Jake backstage afterwards - he seemed a bit intimidated when we shamelessly informed him that we were from the school, but he was ever-gracious and chatty albeit, a bit bemused by how effusive we had been whilst in his presence HA HA - KIDS
1)Highwire
2)Winter’s Call
3)The Last Time
4)Dreams In The Dark
5)Seasons
6)Dancing On The Edge
7)The Streets Cry Freedom
8)Silver Horses
9)Soul Stealer
10) Devil’s Stomp
• An Extreme top 10 would be lovely!
I agree, this band should have been huge. Don't understand why they weren't met Ray a few times, a real nice guy. Rip Ray. The band had many excellent songs, so I can agree with almost anyone's list here. So many great songs I find it difficult to rank one above another. I enjoy listening to them all.
I saw these guys open for Tesla and Great White on City Island Harrisburg Pa. What a show! Badlands tore it up & Tesla wore the crowd out! By the time Great White came out, the crowd was at a fever pitch. Great White was so chill that the whole crowd sat in the grass and enjoyed the rest of the evening relaxing. Don't get me wrong, Great White sounded good. They just weren't the kind of high energy act that Badlands and Tesla were.
10) Shine On
09) Whiskey Dust
08) Tribal Moon
07) Soul Stealer
06) Jade's Song/Winter's Call
05) Dreams In The Dark
04) The Last Time
03) High Wire
02) Seasons
01) Streets Cry Freedom
Listening to Soul Stealer after I posted and I had to move it up on the list. LOL!
Pete, Great Shirt, Great Album !
Pete and Martin, I appreciate the chemistry of you two as a team and wanted to thank you for continuing to continue to do lists together. Added Badlands to my ever-growing 'to be listened' to list from watching the SoT channel. Looking forward to your next duo presentation.
10. Sun Red Sun
9. 3 Day Funk
8. Healer
7. Seasons
6. Shine On
5. The Last Time
4. Winter's Call
3. Dreams in the Dark
2. Streets Cry Freedom
1. Hard Driver
Happy to hear we can expect more videos with Martin. You two make a good team.
I initially got into Badlands from reading one of Martin's reviews as a matter of fact.
1. 3 Day Funk
2. Dancing on the Edge
3. The Last Time
4. Dreams in the Dark
5. Show Me the Way
6. Healer
7. Seasons
8. Fire and Rain
9. The River
10. Winter's Call
Great band. My Top 3 in no particular order:
1. Silver Horses
2. Devil's Stomp
3. Dancing On The Edge
Love Badlands....one of "THE" Best,Blues-based hard rock bands'!!! My favorite songs(no particular order) - Three Day Funk/ Silver Horses/ Tribal Moon/ Love Don't Mean A Thing/ Dreams In The Dark/ Winter's Call/Ball & Chain/The Last Time/Soul Stealer/Whiskey Dust. Saw this band in '89 with GreatWhite & Tesla....a very,solid show....was a life-long fan from there.
Great show! Great lists from two of my favorite music Dudes! Gonna spin Badlands on my way to work to refresh my memory on these classics! Especially Dusk!
My personal fabourites
1.Dreams In The Dark
2 The Last Time
3 Winters Call
4 High Wire
5 Hard Driver
6 Whiskey Dust
7 Streets Cry Freedom
8 Silver Horses
9 3 Day Funk
10 Soul Stealer.
Great band with too short a career.
Hey Martin ! Got “Black Funeral” book. Personally signed to me too !
Only at page 60 - but it’s tremendous ! Absolutely tremendous !
I bought the debut back in 89. I loved it!! Lots of blues metal influences from Led Zeppelin, Humble Pie, Free and Aerosmith. Never heard Voodoo Highway until just a few months ago when I finally got it. Pretty good album but the debut was a masterpiece!!! RIP Ray Gillen.
I was lucky enough to see Badlands live on Oct. 20, 1989 (checked my stub...$17 too!) at Stabler Arena in Bethlehem, PA. They were the opening act for Great White and Tesla who were touring Twice Shy and The Great Radio Controversy, respectively. Badlands opened with Hard Driver, and also played Ball & Chain, Devil’s Stomp, Winter’s Call, High Wire, and Dreams In The Dark. Easily the best opening act I’ve ever seen.
Wow, thanks for this Pete abd Martin!! I too love those Badland albums and feel the same way as Pete that Badlands was more what Jake wanted to do, as opposed to Ozzy!! Jake really shines out and the rest of the band matches his intense performance note for note!!!!
I gotta say I really like the Fire and Rain cover so that would of been my honorable mention but my no. 1 would be "Season's"
I blew my eardrums out listening to Badlands first CD driving around in my Camero(along with Rust in Peace and Mindcrime) destroyed my ears....
Thank guys!!!!😈
For me top 5 are
1. Silver Horses
2. The Last Time
3. Dreams in the Dark
4. Winter's Call
5.Dancing on the Edge
Thanks for this, Pete, it's a shame this band is so unknown. They were absolutely amazing, if you like 70s hard rock and Led Zeppelin. Insane talent level. Also glad to see my favorite song ("The Last Time") finish 1st and 3rd on the two lists. I agree with you that Voodoo Highway is right up there with the debut, though very different albums.
1. Shine On
2. Rumblin’ Train
3. Devils Stomp
4. High Wire
5. Ball and Chain
6. Seasons
7. Fire and Rain
8. Soul Stealer
9. Winters Call
10. Fat Cat
Sugestion for you guys doing together: top 10 songs from Tony Martin era Black Sabbath!
YES!!!!
ABSOLUTELY!!!! There are so many great songs from the Tony Martin era of Black Sabbath big time. The albums The Eternal Idol, The Headless Cross, and TYR are MASTERPIECES in my opinion. I do also love Cross Purposes and some of Forbidden also. The Tony Martin era of Black Sabbath is extremely underrated.
Saw this band at Lamour in Brooklyn NY.Was hanging there alot during the 80s.
Great video! High Wire truly is a great kick off track... love it
I love Rumblin’ Train. Great attitude, great vocals & awesome guitar solo. It would have definitely made it into my top 10 list.
My Top 10 #10 Ball and Chain #9 Love Don't Mean AThing #8 Dreams in the Dark #7 Soulstealer #6 Shine on #5 High Wire #4 Whiskey Dust #3 Winter's Call #2 Streets Cry Freedom #1 Hard Driver Never had Dusk album guys keep Rockin
Badlands? A must watch. When I think back to what I consider really great records, I remember those I listened to constantly over a long period of time - say at least a year consistently. The Badlands debut was one of them. Loved every single one of the tunes. Jake & Ray, what can you say. Drawing a blank on Eric so it means he was not doing his G-n-R fills each song, ad infinitum.
Will always be pushing for a spot in my top 10 debuts.
Those three albums are stellar. They truly were the heirs to Zep’s throne, IMO.
My favs are Devils Stomp and Seasons.
That riff in Devil's Stomp is HUGE
Very cool, fellas....was really surprised neither of you included "Healer" in your top 10, though. Killer track, in my opinion.
Imho..i think The River on the dusk album is an amazing song and vocal and i play it constantly to this day..!
The classic example of a shooting star band....burning incredibly bright for a brief moment, and gone. Still one of my favorite hard rock bands of all time🤘🎶🔥
One of my favourites is Devils Stomp. Love it
It's curious, many of my favorite songs from Badlands are in your bottom of he barrel. I love the three albums of them and every track. My favorites are: Rumblin' Train, Sun Red Sun, River, Healer, High Wire, Devil's Stomp, Whiskey Dust and on and on... Thanks to remeber this brilliant band.
I really enjoyed the show and love this band.
Top Badlands Songs
This is the quality of Badlands songs.
Some of my favorites didn’t make either of your two lists.
I just ranked them all, which may change slightly from day to day.
1-27 I would put in the Good to Great category.
The bottom 7 are just “ok”, but I don’t think I would go as far as to call them bad.
1. Heaven’s Train- Jeff Martin’s drumming and percussion are AMAZING on this song.
2. Rumblin’ Train- To keep the train theme going. Amazing groove & I would put Jake’s solo from this song up against ANY blues solo, SRV, BB King, Joe Bonamassa, Paul Kossoff, Clapton, it doesn’t matter.
3. Winter’s Call
4. High Wire
5. 3 Day Funk- Badlands had many influences, much more than just Zep, here’s them indulging their Grand Funk.
6. Whiskey Dust- Speaking of influences, it’s also impossible to ignore the Free influence.
7. Tribal Moon
8. The Fire Lasts Forever
9. Dancing on the Edge
10. In a Dream- Ray Gillen at his best. (Being covered on American Idol shows this songs charm and versatility)
11. Voodoo Highway- Cinderella attempted to do this with “Bad Seamstress Blues”, but this is a full proper song.
12. Devil’s Stomp
13. Walking Attitude
14. The Last Time- This was written for the 1st album, and is the closest to his Ozzy style that Jake gets in Badlands.
15. Dreams in the Dark
16. Shine on
17. Soul Stealer
18. Love don’t mean a thing
19. Seasons
20. Ball and Chain
21. Sun Red Sun
22. Healer
23. The River
24. Streets Cry Freedom
25. Silver Horses
26. Fire and Rain
27. Show me the Way
28. Lord Knows
29. Ride the Jack
30. Joe’s Blues
31. Dog
32. Hard Driver
33. Jade’s song
34. Fat Cat
Great Blues/Hard Rock Band. My Top 10:
Streets Cry Freedom (my fave)
Dreams In The Dark
Hard Driver
The Last Time
Winter's Call
Shine On
Love Don't Mean A Thing
Dancing On The Edge
Healer
Sun Red Sun
Martin and Pete!! Grateful Dead's catalog needs your reviews!!!
3 years late, I know, but Badlands' first album is the most under-appreciated album of the 80's, IMO. When I introduce people to this band they always wonder why they've never heard of them.
Great show. Good to know that Voodoo Highway is definitely worth checking out as I only have the debut album, a flawless album. Dancing On The Edge, Hard Driver and Dreams In The Dark would be my top 3 from that album, although I'm a huge fan of Rumblin' Train too, as I feel it deserves some more love.
1) Winter's Call
2) Jade's Song
3) Dreams In The Dark
4) High Wire
5) The Last Time
6) Soul Stealer
7) Joe's Blues
8) Whiskey Dust
9) Streets Cry Freedom
10)Devil's Stomp
Those double note scales are a very signature Jake move. I love that. He really demonstrates it on Waiting For Darkness.
Best calls by Pete...3 Day Funk and Seasons.
Only see one other poster Al Montez listing 'As Time Goes By' from the unreleased demos (have also seen it listed as a Dusk bonus track). Recommend all Badlands fans giving that song a spin (is available here on YT), and agree with Martin, as great as their 3 albums are the debut is the classic \m/ Anyway always subject to change but song rankings...
10. Devil's Stomp
9. Dancin' On The Edge
8. Hard Driver
7. Seasons
6. As Time Goes By
5. The Last Time
4. Streets Cry Freedom
3. Winters Call
2. High Wire
1. Dreams In The Dark
No Rumblin’ Train? Epic epic guitar solo. My god. And Devil’s Stomp best riff ever!! And Whiskey Dust - that slide solo.
1. Winter’s Call
(Including Jade’s song)
2. Rumblin’ Train
3. High Wire
4. Devil’s Stomp
5. Soul Stealer
(Including Joe’s Blues)
6. Whiskey Dust
7. Seasons
8. Streets Cry Freedom
9. Dreams In The Dark
10. Silver Horses
Great ranking! I never heard you mention "Silver horses" from "Voodoo highway", which I think is one of their best songs. The guitar riff is awesome!
Martin was correct - saw two live footsge vids here where Ray mentions that Last Time was written with first album and narrowly missed the cut for the debut disc.
What an amazing band that never fulfilled their huge potential.
A killer band that didn't get the success they should have, Ray Gillan was one of the finest singers I have ever had the pleasure of seeing live, what you heard on record he could produce live. Quite honestly there really isn't a bad song on all three albums. Not a well thought out top 10 here cause I love every, song especially the entire first album.
1. Winters Call
2. High Wire
3 Streets Cry Freedom
4 Seasons
5 Rumblin' Train
6 Last Time
7 Shine On
8 3 Day Funk
9 Heavens Train
10 Sun Red Sun
What a truly great band.
So thankful that I got to see them at Derringers in Brockton, MA on the "Voodoo Highway" tour. I was front row. Jake had 2 orange Marshall stacks and played that Charvel like a goddamn doctor!! And, well, Ray was absolutely amazing. They did a great rendition of "Space Truckin'". I gotta throw "Whiskey Dust" in there, I love that track, such a great groove. For fuck's sake man, it's got tambourine!!!
plus the 5 songs that were not on the first cd are great too !!!!
Criminally Underrated Band. I’m happy to say that I own all their albums.. How about a top ten from Blue Murder?
Ouch. Could be a touchy subject. John Sykes unceremoniously canned when he was responsible for some of their greatest songs? I honestly don't know the history except Coverdale knew he had a monster record and decided to go with an all star band to promote it. No idea what Sykes didn't have to make the cut.
To be honest, it's the first CD I ever bought and still love it to this day. Love the Blue Murder debut, as well.
In this vid, Martin calls Badlands a 'Corporate hair band' and trashtalks most of their music. If Pete does a vid about Blue Murder(imho a great Hard Rock act), I hope he does it alone or with sm who has a genuine love for their music.
Their 1st 2 albums rank with purple whitesnake sabbath and zep. One of the greatest ever in my humble opinion
The Last Time sounds more like the first album because I believe it was the very first song they ever wrote as a band. I have never understood why they did not out it on the first album. I think they said in an interview that they were just tired of it from playing it so much.
That first Badlands release is a freakin’ Classic. I have Voodoo Highway as well and have never given it a chance. I need to revisit it.
All my top 10 would be from the 1st release. I don’t have Dusk. I need to search it out.
The covers album "Retraced" from Jake E Lee is also great.
100% agreed
I bought Retraced thinking it was going to be a run of the mill covers album. Wrong! Terrific versions of some obscure material.
true!
Love Badlands. All 3 albums are great. I always thought they could have pulled a Genesis and had Jeff Martin take over lead vocals after Ray passed but stylistically they are very different so they probably wouldn’t have been able to pull it off.
I got to know John West back in 1996. I have some original demos with John singing in Badlands.
Fantastic singer,..His tenure in Royal Hunt very underated.
Ahh Pete ur the man so is this great band
Tbh, I only really listen to the first album, so I'm gonna just rank the tracks on that album.
11. Rumblin' Train
10. Hard Driver
9. Jade's Song
8. Dancing on the Edge
7. Devil's Stomp
6. Dreams in the Dark
5. Ball and Chain
4. Seasons
3. Streets Cry Freedom
2. Winter's Call
1. High Wire
Saw a great gig with Badlands, who were excellent but alas for them they were co headlining with Mothers Finest!
whatta show
Pete, I’m a fairly recent watcher of the channel & not across everything you’ve put up however I don’t recall a mention of Mothers Finest @ any point. Are you a fan?
I thought they only had one album. Looks like i need to check the others out. I'm not a huge fan, but i do like Ray Gillan.
Absolutely loved this band for such a long time but having only recently discovered the alleged behavior of Ray Gillen in his final days, it is still too early to separate the two. Which is really sad as my younger brother and I had great times to this music and these songs were great to play on the axe.
10 dog
9 fat cat
8 tribal moon
7 healer
6 ride the jack
5 shine on
4 whiskey dust
3 dancin on the edge
2 the last time
1 high wire
First album is classic!!
Surprised to see that neither rumblin train or Devils stomp made it. The first had one of the best solos i ever heard.
10. Sun Red Sun
9. Dreams in the Dark
8. Silver Horses
7. 3 Day Funk
6. The last Time
5. Voodoo Highway
4. Streets Cry Freedom
3. High Wire
2. Rumblin' Train
1. Whiskey Dust
Excelllent
I like the song seasons too from the first album
the Dusk CD , enough said
cool!
Ball and Chain!!!🤘
The Last Time was written during the sessions for the first album I read before.
10 Sun red sun Dusk
9 Streets cry freedom Badlands
8 Dancing on the edge Badlands
7 Silver Horses Voodoo Highway
6 Seasons Badlands
5 Soul Stealer Voodoo Highway
4 High Wire Badlands
3 Dreams in the dark Badlands
2 The Last Time Voodoo Highway
1 Winters Call Badlands
Great band not too familiar with Dusk only listened to it a few times.
They were good 👍
Very surprised that "Devil's Stomp" didn't make the top ten.
"The Last Time" video was filmed at the same location as the video for Sas Jordan's "Make You a Believer".
Blue Murder (1989)
Grunge was not happening in 1989. Yes, Nirvana released Bleach in 89, but huge rock albums like Dr Feelgood and Pump came out that year and MTV's Headbangers Ball was a massive success. 91 was the year that grunge hit. The next couple of years saw bands like Tool and Rage Against The Machine truly put the nail in the coffin of hair metal.
Badlands is a Traditional Hard Rock band, Hard Rock was still popular in the US in the early 90s, but around '93, American Record Companies pulled the plug on Traditional Hard Rock/Metal bands and jumped on the Rap, Dance and Alternative bandwagon, which are much cheaper to produce than a Hard Rock act. Badlands own band history reflects that. They were still playing classic Hard Rock in '92/'93 but Atlantic Records didn' t like the direction of the band& dropped them from the label. (along with many other Hard rock/Metal bands on their roster)
It always sounded to me like the debut was more or less their Zeppelin and Voodoo was more or less their James Gang... Mr. Popoff not enjoying the cover (Fire and Rain) just as he said he didn't need to hear the Type O Beatles medley again..
Great show, guys! I'm going to do a top three song list below, but first I feel compelled to discuss this hair metal/dirty hair metal issue. I have never once thought of Badlands as a metal anything band. The first album always seemed like straightforward hard rock to me. They can also do more subdued rock songs. On subsequent albums, they ventured into more blues and funk-influenced styles much to my disappointment. But metal, hair metal, or dirty hair metal? No. Yes, Jake E. Lee has a crunchy guitar tone which I love and is immediately identifiable. Crunch doesn't necessarily equal metal. Hair metal means your music falls short of having the brute force of real metal and as if that isn't pathetic enough you also wear make-up in the same style as a woman. I guess dirty hair metal would mean your music falls short of being real metal, you try to look like a woman on purpose, and your hair looks as though you haven't washed it lately? But I digress.
I like Ray Gillen's voice quite a bit; it has a nice mid-range quality. My biggest complaint about the vocals on many of the songs is that they are a little too low in the mix. If I was in that recording studio, I would have turned that knob just one click up and think the final product would have benefited greatly. Sometimes I listen to the songs on headphones and know there is power behind the vocals that just isn't cutting through the mix.
1. Dreams in the Dark - Yes, it is their most popular song. It isn't the best song technically, but it is so catchy and was my introduction to Badlands.
2. Winter's Call - Great song. Feature's both the soft and hard rocking elements. It is a better song than my number one pick and the vocals are mixed decently.
3. Seasons - Yes, it is definitely an homage to Zeppelin's "Ten Years Gone." Homage is being nice. They didn't just borrow the mood and atmosphere; many of the actual notes are the same and in the same order.
Also, I didn't mind their cover of Jame's Taylor's "Fire and Rain." I really love the original and think this cover was interesting. Ray Gillen had the ability to carry this one off very melodically. The original always makes me want to cry. Literally, I will tear up and cry like a baby if nobody is watching me. It's as if the guys in Badlands didn't know it was supposed to be a sad song.
Like you said, it is weird to do a top 10 of only two albums.
Ray/ was a phenom singer. Buried not far from my N.J. Residence.
14:40 Martin Popoff talks about "stripping away all the Corporate stuff" from Badlands.I don't think Badlands ever had any Corporate backing in the first place. They didn't have an army of PR people like Madonna did or a carefully managed "defenders of social justice" image like U2 did. They were Hard Rock dudes playing their music, no edgelord bullshit or some manufactured rebellion. They were an honest, down to Earth band.
I think Badlands would have been big - grunge or not grunge - if they had massively toured non-stop throughout the years, even with no record label support. No one like Ray in a thousand years but could have carried on with someone else. Look at ACDC and Van Halen. Nothing like the original incarnation but we could've had 10 more years of Badlands music easily.
Silver horses is underated