Hair metal from the ’80s has always been one of my secret loves. It’s what I grew up listening to until I discovered punk rock. Out of Austin, Texas, Dangerous Toys was always one of the bands that I gravitated to. Led by frontman Jason McMaster, who had such a blood-curdling screech it was almost like he’d been possessed, the band definitely stood out amongst all the spandex and hairspray. When this record originally came out back in 1989, the band was seen as one of the few hair metal bands willing to try and do something different. Their sound was less influenced by the blues like Cinderella but was more of a barroom style of metal, seemingly influenced by bands like Molly Hatchet or Black Oak Arkansas.
The one thing that made this band sound the same were the overly sexual songs like “Bones In The Gutter” and “Sport’n A Woody.” It’s because of songs like that and others like “Ten Boots (Stompin’)” that the record does sound a bit dated today, but other tracks still sound as strong as they did twenty-five years ago. In my opinion, “Scared,” a tribute to Alice Cooper, is one of the best hair metal songs of the whole genre, “Teas’n, Pleas’n” is one of those tracks that every ‘80s headbanger will always remember, and “Feels Like A Hammer” is one of the stronger ballads that had ever been recorded up to that point.
While some points of the band’s shtick seems laughable now, they were hip as shit when they came out, and fortunately some of the band’s songwriting is able to stand up to the years. When people look back on hair metal in about fifty years, they’ll look back at Dangerous Toys self-titled debut and say, “Wow, now those guys were different.” Listening to certain songs on the record will take people back and that’s what these guys should be remembered for.
