
Cherry Pie
Highest Billboard Position:
#10 in 1990
Hair Metal could very well have been the Disco equivalent of the late 80’s. Maybe not in terms of sound, but in attitude they were a lot closer than most people think. Neither lasted longer than five years, neither saw the end coming and they were both met with a huge amount of backlash only a couple of years after it ended. Decades after, both are looked as fun genres with music that a lot of people may crank up in their car, although they look around to make sure nobody is watching.
One of the last big stars of Hair Metal may have been the band that made the music world subconsciously look to end the musical style. Warrant had the big hair, the “power” ballads, and the harmonious Rock that was loud though lacked any real bite. Although it wasn’t their biggest hit at the time, Cherry Pie has become the song that they were synonymous with. There was nothing subtle about the sexual entendres, the video was exploitive even by Hair Metal standards and the song was as deep as a Paris Hilton thought. It was so over the top, it helped make the American music world ripe for an anti-Warrant sound. Coincidently, Smells Like Teen Spirit took the world by storm months later, and Warrant (and many like them) never had a hit again. Cherry Pie turned into Cherry Crap.



Comments
What I object to is that it gave cherry pie a bad name. I've never heard the Turbans' original version of "No No Cherry," but Frank Zappa covered this doo-wop gem I'm sure because it didn't sound all that innocent:
"Well, I found out, baby, that you told me great big lie
Well, I found out, baby, that you told me great big lie
'Cause when I got inside you didn't have no cherry pie"
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