My article about the Joyful Mysterieshttps://open.substack.com/pub/freedrift/p/the-joyful-mysteries?r=3umok&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=trueMy article about the Holy Rosary https://freedrift.substack.com/publish/post/181839853https://linktr.ee/FreedriftKevinhttps://freedrift.substack.com/

For nearly a decade, Hair Metal wasn’t a niche—it was mainstream rock. Then it vanished.Film scholar and historian Andrew Patrick Nelson joins me to make the case for Hair Metal as one of the most misunderstood eras in modern music history. What gets dismissed as camp or excess was, in reality, a genre built on virtuoso guitar playing, powerful vocalists, massive studio production, and an unmatched sense of fun.Andrew traces Hair Metal from its early-80s club roots through its late-80s commercial peak, to the harder turn of the early 90s that was abruptly cut short. We talk Quiet Riot, Dokken, David Lee Roth, Skid Row, and why bands that once filled stadiums were suddenly erased from radio and cultural memory almost overnight.Tracklist:Quiet Riot – “Cum on Feel the Noize” (1983)Kiss – “Lick It Up” (1983)Twisted Sister – “We’re Not Gonna Take It” (1984)Ratt – “Round and Round” (1984)Dokken – “Into the Fire” (1984)David Lee Roth – “Yankee Rose” (1986)Cinderella – “Nobody’s Fool” (1986)Mötley Crüe – “Girls, Girls, Girls” (1987)Guns N’ Roses – “Welcome to the Jungle” (1987)Poison – “Nothin’ But a Good Time” (1988)Warrant – “Heaven” (1989)Skid Row – “Slave to the Grind” (1991)

A reading of Merwin's gorgeous poem, "Vixen." Find the accompanying story at: https://freedrift.substack.com/p/109b1252-6f9c-4af0-a344-63315d453896