Sammy makes fun music to listen to. There's always a playful edge, usually emerging out of a combination of his gravelly rock-shout voice, energetic guitar, and obvious but fun double-entendres about sex, highlighted in the next two tracks on side one (1981 twelve-inch vinyl, baby!), "Baby's On Fire" and "Can't Get Loose."
Side One concludes with "Heavy Metal," a great song in its own right but one that's also featured heavily in the R-rated animated film of the same name. For a kid raised on Bugs Bunny, The Flintstones, and Tom & Jerry, the sex, violence, and profanity of this movie was both startling and exciting. It was must-see TV on HBO after the parents went to sleep; you couldn't get caught dead watching this with their knowledge!
Side Two begins with three songs with a heavier emphasis on the genuine emotion of love without all the previous winks and nudges, "Baby It's You," "Surrender," and "Inside Lookin' In." All that sincerity is soundly swept away with "Sweet Hitchhiker," a ridiculous adolescent male fantasy about picking up a beautiful female hitchhiker so they can "take a ride." In case you didn't already know, the Eighties were not real big on political correctness, especially when it came to sexuality. It's in poor taste for 2019, but in 1981, it was a goofy teenage fantasy.
The final track of the album is a great cover of the Janis Joplin classic "Piece of My Heart," a perfect blend of Sammy's throaty vocals with the bright Eighties rock of Sammy and his band. It's exactly the kind of cover tune you'd expect to hear during the encore of a live show. It's a fitting end to a fun favorite of mine from the time of mullets and MTV.
WARNING! VIDEO NSFW!
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