jaguarr
Be Your Own Hero
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Alright, here's today's obscure 80's Hair Band:
Warlock
I can remember being in high school in '85 and feeling all funny in the pants whenever Warlock videos would come on Headbanger's Ball because Doro was HAWT! And, she could really sing her ass off, too.
See and hear for yourself.
This is one of those bands that, while cliche for the time, was still very talented and had a lot to offer. They just sort of fizzled out before they really got going, though.
jag
Warlock
From Rockdetector.com
With German Metal being taken to the global masses by the likes of SCORPIONS and ACCEPT in the 80's it was to be the female fronted WARLOCK who had the next shot at commercial success worldwide. Despite major backing, their obvious talents and delectable lead vocalist, WARLOCK fell apart just as they were poised to break big. WARLOCK first came together in 1982 in Dusseldorf, Pesch having paid her dues as solo singer in the Dusseldorf cathedral choir before joining Heavy Metal band SNAKEBITE. During 1981 Pesch, guitarist Rudy Graf and bassist Frank Rittel, together with STALLION drummer Thomas Franke, had operated as BEAST, issuing a rehearsal demo tape.
The band started out with their Mausoleum Records debut 'Burning The Witches' in 1984 with an uncompromising heavy metal sound courtesy of the twin guitars and with a truly gifted metal vocalist in Pesch. Not only blessed with a dynamic range Pesch also retained a unique and natural rasp to her vocal style that combined with her looks marked her as a valuable focal point for WARLOCK. At one point magazines raced to get pictures of Pesch when at a Dutch gig, and unbeknown to her for a few seconds, her studded leather bra came undone! Naturally the photographers had a field day with the image providing some Metal magazines with welcome posters.
Although opening Mausoleum album, 1984's 'Burning The Witches', is laden down with too many stodgy metal-by-numbers songs, the underlying quality of the band shone through. By their signing with major label Vertigo Records, WARLOCK had matured as songwriters and consequently 1985's 'Hellbound' is a far superior effort. The band put in a notable gig on September 14th 1985, performing at the 'Metal Hammer Fest' in Loreley, Germany sharing a diverse billing with NAZARETH, VENOM, HEAVY PETTIN, WISHBONE ASH, SAVAGE GRACE, RUNNING WILD, TYRAN PACE, PRETTY MAIDS and METALLICA.
Rudy Graf took time out to gain production credits on ASSASSIN's 1986 demo tape ''The Saga Of Nemesis'. WARLOCK supported W.A.S.P. on a British tour in 1986 promoting the 'True As Steel' album. Despite this progress on the international scale WARLOCK's internal politics were none too good and Graf was to join RAGE in 1986. Szigeti quit in 1987 for U.D.O., taking bassist Frank Rittel with him, to be replaced by American Tommy Bolin. The line-up for the 'Triumph And Agony' album being Pesch, Bolin, bassist Tommy Hendrickson and drummer Michael Eurich. As the 90s drew in it was clear that WARLOCK the band had been demoted. Any pretence at a band project was dropped in 1989 when the 'Force Majuere' album was issued under the title of simply DORO. The band at this point featured ex-RAINBOW drummer Bobby Rondinelli, guitarist John Levin and bassist Tommy Hendrikson. Keyboards were contributed by DIO's Claude Schnell. DORO, relocating to New York and teamed up with outside songwriters along with GENE SIMMONS of KISS in the production chair, was being groomed as a potential solo star.
In 1992 Rittel and Szigeti formed CORACKO (later titled STONEWASHED) with vocalist Dirk Wicke and drummer Marin Englar. Eurich joined CASANOVA. Hendrickson later journeyed through WAR AND PEACE and JAILHOUSE. The man also supplied bass to GEORGE LYNCH's 1993 album 'Sacred Groove'.
During 2001 German Metal band POWERGOD would cover 'Burning The Witches' on their 'Bleed For The Gods' album. DORO is still a major Metal icon in her native land with a steady stream of solo releases behind her. Always popular in Germany, more recent albums has seen DORO's fanbase widening globally.
DORO celebrated her twentieth anniversary with a show held in Düsseldorf on the 13th December 2003. This event witnessed a unique set spanning her career and including guesting former members of WARLOCK. The interest in WARLOCK was renewed when it was announced that Pesch would reunite with her early band members for a one off reunion show at the August 2004 'Wacken Open Air' festival. This gig to include a performance alongside the 'Metal Classic Night Orchestra'. Novelly, WARLOCK asked fans to choose the set list for the gig from an internet poll.
The WARLOCK pairing of Niko Arvanitis and Peter Szigeti would perform at the 'Rock Classic Allstars' show at the Bochum Zeche Bochum on 22nd April 2005 as part of a celebrity band comprising "Star Search" winner Martin Kesici, the SWEET credited Jeff Brown, AXEL RUDI PELL and bassist Volker Krawczak, Kai Hoffmann from SECRET DISCOVERY and soccer star Holger Aden.
I can remember being in high school in '85 and feeling all funny in the pants whenever Warlock videos would come on Headbanger's Ball because Doro was HAWT! And, she could really sing her ass off, too.
See and hear for yourself.
This is one of those bands that, while cliche for the time, was still very talented and had a lot to offer. They just sort of fizzled out before they really got going, though.
jag
What's hilarious to me is that Rob Halford basically DEFINED the heavy metal dress code back in the early 80's with all his Leather Daddy garb. Pretty well every band in the world started copping at least parts of what he was doing and were wearing basically the same stuff as Rob did without really understanding the meaning behind it. The other half started mimicking David Johanssen and the New York Dolls with all the makeup and frilly clothes, so go figure. And then you had guys like Motley Crue that did BOTH. Haha! Pretty funny to think of all these gay influences on such a "manly" genre of music. 
Did you know Aerosmith's "Dude Looks Like a Lady" is based on Vince Neil? Ha! 
