In the middle of AV Club’s interview with Chris Jericho about why Cotton Eye Joe is a “Tractor Beam of Shit,” the Ayatollah of Rock n’ Rolla dropped a Kick Axe reference. So I thought I’d check them out.

He lamented that it’s unfortunate nobody knows about these guys while everyone coherent in the 90s has Mambo Number 5, Scatman, and Cotton Eye Joe burned into the “why can’t I forget this” part of their brain. So far after listening to a few of these songs, Kick Axe seems pretty straight down the fairway for hair metal. If anything, people probably get them confused with other hair bands from the early 80s. All the songs the YouTube has dared to share start the same; a minute or so intro, mild guitars, and vocals that seem to be going through an AquaNet filter.

Maybe I got spoiled by experiencing Iron Maiden and Judas Priest and Hibria and 3 Inches of Blood and such before I heard these guys. I bet if it was 1985 and I was riding my bike to the arcade, this stuff would be great. But even then, I could be listening to Number of the Beast instead.

Anyway, here’s Alive & Kicking. They couldn’t even drop that trailing g.