THE VIDEO Trixter, "Give It to Me Good", Trixter, 1990, Mechanic/MCA
Click here to watch this video NOW!
SAMPLE LYRICS "So take me home tonight / like you know that you should / when you're ready to be bad / just give it! / give it to me good / (give it, give it) / give it to me good"
THE VERDICT I was in Seattle a couple of weeks ago and saw this CD in a $1 bin (technically it was a 92 cents bin, I think the 8 cents was tax) and didn't buy it. Even for a mere dollar, I just couldn't own a Trixter CD, even if it included this, their only real hit.
Why the anti-Trixter bias? Well, there's the obvious you-showed-up-to-this-party-six-years-late aspect. (Just because you got together in 1983 doesn't change the fact that your first album came out in 1990 -- and it's not like you hear old Trixter cuts on Metal Massacre.)
But more than that it's that I associate them with the other bands who also made this kind of derivative pop stuff with very bright, jangly guitar and got called metal because they had long hair and power ballads that appealed to the ladies -- think Bad English, Firehouse, and (shudder) Mr. Big. I definitely hate this song much less than I hate "When I See You Smile" or "When I Look into Your Eyes" (which are indeed not the same song), but that isn't saying much. I mean, a song like "To Be With You," makes me want to give up on music. Or long hair. Or both. He waited in a line to be with her? That's a little bit skeevy.
Also as long as I'm ranting: Bad English -- I mean for pete's sake, the singer is the "Missing You" guy and half the band was in Journey. "When I See You Smile" was written by the lady who brought us "Because You Loved Me" and "If I Could Turn Back Time." People, for the last time, long hair does not metal make! By comparison, this makes Kiss making records with Michael Bolton totally okay.
Anyway, I associate Trixter, fairly or not, with these bands who sort of come on the scene in the 90s and still have the long hair, but don't use any product and maybe pair it with flannel shirts (as if that's going to help their cred). In some ways, you can see this as an extension of the Bon Jovi/Def Leppard school of dressing like a regular guy who has a more elaborate than average grooming routine.
Actually this reminds me that I just finally got my hands on the book American Hair Metal (which I highly recommend for the ah-mazing photos), and it contains a pretty interesting and useful typology of this kind of metal. It breaks up glam/lyrical/lite/hair metal in four ways: Glam is the most obvious; colorful, over-the-top style (think Vinnie Vincent Invasion, early Crue, Poison). Frilly is sort of dandaical, adding in some lace and velvet and stuff (e.g. Britny Fox, older Cinderella, half the members of Faster Pussycat). Biker is less makeup, more leather and tattoos, lots of black (so LA Guns, later Motley Crue, the other half of Faster Pussycat).
Trixter fall into the fourth category, Heart throb (as do bands like Bon Jovi and Winger) -- guys you'd meet at the mall. Yes, there's long hair, but they're wearing jeans and loose-fitting shirts with pushed-up sleeves a la Sonny Crockett. Cute, non-threatening (except for Kip Winger), these are guys you could fantasize about, if not bringing home to your mom, then being the kind of nice guy who'd want to meet your mom.
And indeed, the whole point of this video seems to be to demonstrate that Trixter are precisely these kinds of guys. I don't even mean the song, with it's "take me home tonight, like you know that you should" lyrics. I mean purely the video, which shows the band in all manner of regular guy fun and hijinks. From playing in the garage, we're taken to riding ATVs, touch football in the park with some Tiffani Amber Thiessen-esque girls, and hitting a Jersey diner (so far as I can tell, the aptly named Suburban Diner in their hometown of Paramus). And this is not to be outdone by the actual performance segments of the video: PJ Farley can not stop elaborately tossing his hair and Steve Brown sings along while making completely ridiculous faces the entire time.
The weirdest thing is, if you actually listen to the lyrics (especially the first verse), this song is kind of an ode to sluts. Ignore all the cutesy harmonizing -- "and that's all riiii-iiight / I'm just a man, baby" is in response to "got your fancy cars, and your diamond rings / you don't need a love to last." (Wait, is this an ode to cougars?)
Okay, I digress. But really, did all the starry-eyed girls dialing MTV back in the days of DIAL MTV because they thought Pete Loran was dreamy and they wanted to ride around in a Jeep with him actually listen to this? All this "always did things my own way" and "I'm gonna teach you a thing or two / hey girl, you got a lot to learn" sounds at best noncommital, at worst threatening.
(Also you'd better click on that link because it actually goes to a video of Pete and PJ ON DIAL MTV with the toothy John Norris!!! And here he is with 'Downtown' Julie Brown. Wow. The fact that he is actually posting these videos himself makes this even more amazing.)
I mean really, Trixter. Really. I'm sure you don't love being lumped in with all these pretty boy bands that actually feature fairly ugly dudes (again, Mr Big par exemple). I'm sure you want to party it up with Jack Daniels and Jack Russell. But when your music sounds like this, and your videos are like a live-motion version of Non-threatening Boys Magazine, it's not like people are even going to notice your macho lyrical posturing.
Especially when your videos feature you doing somersaults (in jams no less!), playing guitars with 'Slaughter' written on them, and repeatedly giving the camera the thumb's up. And dirtbikes! Seriously, what is the average age of the audience here? We see a silly photo shoot, we go to a diner -- don't get me wrong, you seem like nice guys having a good time (which we always know I like). So why write a song that implies anyone in this band is about to be "bad"? Or is going to show a woman anything more lascivious than (I'm going to guess here) chicken fighting.
I know I usually try not to be this harsh, but this video is testing my patience. It's like one of those bad early 90s college series books for girls (Sweet Valley University or Freshman Dorm) come to life. So listen to my blog, like you know that you should, and when you're ready to be less lame, then I'll hear it -- give me something good!
P.S.: Yes you were supposed to sing along for those last couple lines, thanks.