Yeah, the Cherry Pie boys are still at it, trying to live down said tune, as well as the (dirty filth rotten stinking) drunken antics of their former singer Jani Lane. On these 14 newbies, reverting to blues-based hard rock works, even if they’re still writing about teen sex-capades. Try the upbeat ‘Innocence Gone’ on for fit, or the swagger of ‘Snake’. Thanks to VH-1 Classic, Behind the Music, etc. we’re at a point when old 80s glam acts no longer have to modernize/update their sound (usually was disastrous anyway), but embrace the lyrical excesses and style that made them big in the first place. Even without the similarities to ‘Uncle Tom’s Cabin’, ‘Dusty’s Revenge’ verbally references twenty years ago!

After a couple of rockers, it’s into ballad territory (‘Home’, ‘What Love Can Do’). ‘Life’s A Song’, while neither a ballad, nor a rocker, could be something from 70s Cali acts like The Eagles (safe). Warrant gets their mojo back on ‘Show Must Go On’, which is as much about backstage as it deals with on stage! Speaking of rockin’ and rollin’ the wah wah guitar ‘Cocaine Freight Train’ might be as hard & fast as they’ve been since the debut. Squawk box appears on ‘Candy Man’ and the aptly named ‘Last Straw’ closes the disc on a bonafide rock note. Aside from about one-third of the album being requisite ballads, “Rockaholic” is a pleasant surprise!