Warrant Cherry Pie
1990's Cherry Pie is a fantastic follow-up to 1989's Dirty Rotten Filthy Stinking Rich, producing much more polished songs with more authentic songwriting. From the huge and in your face Cherry Pie to the lyrically inspired I Saw Red, which was more inspired by real life if we are being honest, Cherry Pie (album) really shines from start to finish.
⭐ 8.5/10
Power ballads, bluesy rockers, and stadium shakers, Cherry Pie tops DRFSR. Warrant slays with I Saw Red, Uncle Tom's Cabin, and the legendary Mr. Rainmaker.
80s & 90s Swag
Cherry Pie is more than just MTV video hits as tracks 5-9 really support the album. Then you hit track 10 and, well, Mr. Rainmaker is just a thunderstorm of bitchin' metal.
Did I just use "authentic" for a hair metal album? I guess I did ...
Jani Lane and crew strip off the white leather for black. Not sure I dig it. Maybe I do. You know, the more I look back on it, maybe their white leather look was limited. I will have to revisit the theory ...
Anyway, Warrant's Cherry Pie is a really good album.
Things I need to know about Cherry Pie
I really have to know just how much Joey Allen and Erik Turner contribute to Warrant albums. Mike Slamer littered Dirty Rotten Filthy Stinking Rich with tasty solos. In Cherry Pie, it seems to be anyone but them, considering that they not only brought Slamer back, but brought in Tommy Girvin, C.C. DeVille (Poison), and Bruno Ravel and Steve West (Danger Danger).
Is Warrant just a bunch of actors supporting Jani Lane!?
Then again, who cares, right? I sure don't. Warrant is a blast. Jani Lane is (was?) awesome. Miss you, buddy.
Tracks 13 and 14 were not originally released on Cherry Pie
Cherry Pie notes
Cherry Pie is a bastion of both brazen and introspective lyrics. Who knew?
The callback to Dirty Rotten Filthy Stinking Rich absolutely slays me. WELL DONE, WARRANT! Well done.
Cherry Pie is just phenomenal, both the song and the album. Warrant returns immediately following D.R.F.S.R. to drop an even better album the second time around.
"I scream, you scream, we all scream for her" ... eons of quality lyric writing were just embarrased by these premium words.
"I'm a trained professional!" ... Cherry Pie KEEPS getting better.
KEY CHANGE! Warrant can't stop, won't stop!
Just an absolutely outstanding way to start an album. Huge riff, fantastic drumming from Steven Sweet, all around great music.
Uncle Tom's Cabin
NO ONE saw Uncle Tom's Cabin coming after popping Cherry Pie into their tape deck. Whoa!
Not only is it a bitchin' tune, but it has a message. Hair Metal Bands were not good at this sort of thing. White Lion is another band who comes to mind with When The Children Cry and Little Figther (White Lion).
Fun fact - Jani Lane's brother performs the acoustic intro.
I Saw Red
While not achieving Heaven's lofty #2 on the US Billboard Hot 100, I Saw Red still managed to check in at #10. And, for good reason, Jani Lane's lyric and songwriting is astoundingly good.
Great piano work. Tasteful bass from Jerry Dixon. Smart decisions on when to add distortion.
Also, I Saw Red goes against tradition, putting the power ballad in the third slot. Bold move, Warrant.
Bed of Roses
A fun song. They employ some Def Leppard choruses, layered vocals, and drum effects on Bed of Roses.
Love the callback to the beginning at the end of the song. I wish more songs employed this.
Sure Feels Good To Me
Bitchin' tune! A driving rock tune. No question as to the song's lyrical content.
The solo employs a range of fret action. Lots of a fills to keep the listener interested.
Huge dive bomb! Real clean ending to the song as the music cuts.
Love In Stereo
Love the rock piano in Love In Stereo.
LOVE! .... We're lovin' in stereo!
Waiiiit for it. Piano SOLO! Not a ton of them in hair metal.
Was Jani Lane REALLY that flabbergasted at the hotness and excitement of California girls? Didn't the Beach Boys write a hit song about them in 1965? Didn't Warrant contemporary, Diamond David Lee Roth cover the song on his solo album, just a couple of years prior in 1985?
Be honest Jani, you knew. You knew, man.
Blind Faith
Cherry Pie diverged from Dirty Rotten Filthy Stinking Rich's solo power ballad by having a major power ballad (I Saw Red) and a minor power ballad (Blind Faith).
Released as the fourth single, Blind Faith exhibits all the traits of a hit song. But For some reason or another the Warrant train didn't ride Blind Faith to commercial success, charting on the Billboard Hot 100 at #88.
... Hard to take slow ballad chords serious with that Ibanez RG metal axe there, pal!
Song And Dance Man
Song and Dance Man is an interesting addition to Cherry Pie. I'm not sure it knows what it wants to be. One minute it's an acoustic diddy, a hard rocker, then an open air 70s kind of feel, then to a hair metal bridge ... and back again.
You're The Only Hell Your Mama Ever Raised
Harsh tune, in the best possible way. A song about a slacking youth, You're The Only Hell Your Mama Ever Raised is every rocker's auto-bio tune.
The second time the name Suzie has been mentioned. Hmmm.
Standard singable chorus with a pleasant change at the end.
Mr. Rainmaker
That intro ... THAT INTRO!!!
Mr. Rainmaker makes it god damn rain like an Aaron Hernandez touchdown dance. (Too soon?)
Rad solo. Totally bodacious chorus. Bitchin' outro. Jani Lane is monstrous.
Mr. Rainmaker is the best song on the album. I stand by that.
Train Train
This one's for the rebels! Said in glorious falsetto.
Juke Logan (that's a stellar name) on harmonica, and a well played one at that.
Train Train stays true to it's blues core, whilst getting the hair band treatment. It was originally written by Blackfoot out of Jacksonville, Florida.
Ode To Tipper Gore
NSFW. It ... is what it is, a track dedicated our former VP's wife's crusade for censorship, especially in the arts. She founded the Parents Music Resource Center to deal with songs like, well, like Ode To Tipper Gore.
I think Pants would have a few words to say on this ...
Game Of War
Game Of War wasn't on the original release of Cherry Pie. I would know, I had the tape.
The verse isn't anything special. The chorus really sits right in the melodic cliche pocket.
Fluttery guitar work is enjoyable. And the solo takes a few unexpected turns, note-wise. Nice harmonized work to end it though.
Lots of a layered vocals in Game of War. Never a bad choice.
The Power
Wow! Strong inclusion on the bonus Cherry Pie release. This would have been great to include back in the day.
The Power was one of Warrant's two contributions to The Gladiator (1992 Soundtrack), a bare-knuckle boxing movie featuring a young Cuba Gooding, jr. and James Marshall (you know him as Pvt. Louden Downey from A Few Good Men), along with 80s perennials Brian Dennehy and Robert Loggia. The other song was a cover of Queen's We Will Rock You.
No joke, you got a free copy of the Gladiator soundtrack on tape with the purchase of a ticket to see the film - still in my closet today!
The Power is/was a dope tune. It still rocks solidly in my "get tough(er)" mix.
HA! That's not even real. But if it were, The Power would sit squarely in the middle.
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